Phaedrus: FABVLARVM AESOPIARVM LIBRI QVINQVE

Exemplis continetur Aesopi genus;
nec aliud quicquam per fabellas quaeritur
quam corrigatur error ut mortalium,
acuatque sese diligens industria.
quicumque fuerit ergo narrandi iocus,
dum capiat aurem et servet propositum suum,
re commendatur, non auctoris nomine.
equidem omni cura morem servabo senis.
sed si libuerit aliquid interponere,
dictorum sensus ut delectet varietas,
bonas in partes, lector, accipias velim
ita, si rependet illi brevitas gratiam.
cuius verbosa ne sit commendatio,
attende cur negare cupidis debeas,
modestis etiam offerre quod non petierint.

Aesop’s kind is contained in examples;
nor is anything else sought through the little fables
than that the error of mortals be corrected,
and that diligent industry sharpen itself.
Whatever the jest of narrating shall be,
so long as it takes the ear and keeps its own purpose,
it is commended by the matter, not by the author’s name.
For my part, with every care I will keep the old man’s manner.
But if it pleases me to interpose something,
so that the variety of the sayings may delight the sense,
I would wish you, reader, to receive it in good part—
provided that brevity repay it with grace.
That its commendation be not verbose,
attend why you ought to deny to the desirous,
and even to offer to the modest what they have not requested.

I. Iuvencus Leo et Praedator

1. The Juvenile Lion and the Predator

Super iuvencum stabat deiectum leo.
praedator intervenit, partem postulans.
'Darem' inquit 'nisi soleres per te sumere';
et improbum reiecit. forte innoxius
viator est deductus in eundem locum,
feroque viso rettulit retro pedem.
cui placidus ille 'Non est quod timeas' ait,
'et quae debetur pars tuae modestiae
audacter tolle'. tunc diviso tergore
silvas petivit, homini ut accessum daret.

Over a felled young bull a lion was standing.
a plunderer intervened, demanding a portion.
'I would give,' he says, 'if you were not wont to take on your own';
and he repelled the impudent man. By chance a harmless
traveler was conducted into the same place,
and, the wild beast seen, he drew his step back.
to whom that placid one says, 'There is nothing for you to fear,
and the share that is owed to your modesty
take boldly.' Then, the hide having been divided,
he made for the woods, so as to give the man access.

Exemplum egregium prorsus et laudabile;
verum est aviditas dives et pauper pudor.

An entirely outstanding and laudable example;
but in truth avidity is rich and modesty poor.

II. Anus Diligens Iuvenem, Item Puella

2. An Old Woman Loving a Youth, Likewise a Girl

A feminis utcumque spoliari viros,
ament, amentur, nempe exemplis discimus.

By women, in whatever way, men are despoiled,
whether they love or are loved, indeed we learn by examples.

Aetatis mediae quendam mulier non rudis
tenebat, annos celans elegantia,
animosque eiusdem pulchra iuvenis ceperat.
ambae, videri dum volunt illi pares,
capillos homini legere coepere invicem.
qui se putaret fingi cura mulierum,
calvus repente factus est; nam funditus
canos puella, nigros anus evellerat.

An experienced woman was holding a certain man of middle age,
hiding her years with elegance,
and a beautiful young woman had captured that same man’s affections.
Both, while they wish to seem his equals,
began to pick the man’s hairs in turn.
He, thinking himself being groomed by the care of the women,
suddenly was made bald; for utterly
the girl plucked the gray ones, the old woman the black ones.

III. Aesopus ad Quendam de Successu Improborum

3. Aesop to a Certain Man on the Success of the Wicked

Laceratus quidam morsu vehementis canis,
tinctum cruore panem misit malefico,
audierat esse quod remedium vulneris.
Tunc sic Aesopus: 'Noli coram pluribus
hoc facere canibus, ne nos vivos devorent,
cum scierint esse tale culpae praemium'.

A certain man, lacerated by the bite of a vehement dog,
sent bread tinctured with blood to the malefactor,
for he had heard that this was a remedy for the wound.
Then Aesop thus: 'Do not do this before many dogs,
lest they devour us alive,
when they have learned that such is the reward for fault'.

Successus improborum plures allicit.

The success of the wicked allures many.

IV. Aquila Feles et Aper

4. The Eagle, the Cat, and the Boar

Aquila in sublimi quercu nidum fecerat;
feles, cavernam nancta in media, pepererat;
sus nemoris cultrix fetum ad imam posuerat.
tum fortuitum feles contubernium
fraude et scelesta sic evertit malitia.
ad nidum scandit volucris: 'Pernicies' ait
ʻtibi paratur, forsan et miserae mihi.
nam, fodere terram quod vides cotidie
aprum insidiosum, quercum vult evertere,
ut nostram in plano facile progeniem opprimatʻ.
terrore offuso et perturbatis sensibus
derepit ad cubile saetosae suis;
'Magno' inquit 'in periclo sunt nati tui.
nam, simul exieris pastum cum tenero grege,
aquila est parata rapere porcellos tibi'.
hunc quoque timore postquam complevit locum,
dolosa tuto condidit sese cavo:
inde evagata noctu suspenso pede,
ubi esca sese explevit et prolem suam,
pavorem simulans prospicit toto die.
ruinam metuens aquila ramis desidet:
aper rapinam vitans non prodit foras.
quid multa? inedia sunt consumpti cum suis,
felisque catulis largam praebuerat dapem.

An eagle had made a nest in a lofty oak;
a cat, having found a cavern in the middle, had given birth;
a sow, inhabitress of the grove, had placed her brood at the base.
Then the cat thus overturned the fortuitous cohabitation
by fraud and wicked malice.
She climbs to the bird’s nest: 'Destruction,' she says,
'is being prepared for you, and perhaps for wretched me as well.
For that insidious boar whom you see digging the earth every day
wants to overturn the oak, so that on level ground he may easily crush our progeny.'
Terror having been poured in and her senses perturbed,
she creeps down to the bed of the bristly sow;
'In great peril,' she says, 'are your young.
For, as soon as you go out to pasture with your tender herd,
the eagle is ready to snatch your piglets from you.'
After she filled this place too with fear,
the crafty one safely hid herself in her hollow:
thence, roaming out by night on tiptoe,
when she had filled herself and her offspring with food,
feigning dread she looks out all day.
The eagle, fearing a collapse, settles on the branches:
the boar, avoiding rapine, does not go forth outside.
Why many words? By starvation they were consumed with their young,
and had provided a bountiful feast for the cat’s kittens.

Quantum homo bilinguis saepe concinnet mali,
documentum habere hinc stulta credulitas potest.

How much evil a double-tongued man often concocts,
foolish credulity can have a document from this.

V. Tib. Caesar ad Atriensem

5. Tiberius Caesar to the Atrium Steward

Est ardalionum quaedam Romae natio,
trepide concursans, occupata in otio,
gratis anhelans, multa agendo nil agens,
sibi molesta et aliis odiosissima.
hanc emendare, si tamen possum, volo
vera fabella; pretium est operae attendere.

There is a certain nation of busybodies at Rome,
running about in trepidation, occupied in leisure,
gasping for nothing, by doing many things doing nothing,
troublesome to itself and most odious to others.
This I wish to amend, if indeed I can, by a true little fable;
it is worth the effort to attend.

Caesar Tiberius cum petens Neapolim
in Misenensem villam venisset suam,
quae, monte summo posita Luculli manu,
prospectat Siculum et respicit Tuscum mare,
ex alte cinctis unus atriensibus,
cui tunica ab umeris linteo Pelusio
erat destricta, cirris dependentibus,
perambulante laeta domino viridia,
alveolo coepit ligneo conspargere
humum aestuantem, iactans come officiolum:
sed deridetur. inde notis flexibus
praecurrit alium in xystum, sedans pulverem.
agnoscit hominem Caesar, remque intellegit:
'Heus!' inquit dominus. ille enimvero adsilit,
donationis alacer certae gaudio.
tum sic iocata est tanta maiestas ducis:
'Non multum egisti et opera nequiquam perit;
multo maioris alapae mecum veneunt'.

Tiberius Caesar, when on his way to Naples
had come into his Misenum villa, his own,
which, set on the mountain’s summit by Lucullus’s hand,
looks out upon the Sicilian and looks back upon the Tuscan sea,
from the high‑girt atrienses, one,
whose tunic from the shoulders with Pelusian linen
was strapped back, with tassels hanging down,
as the cheerful master was walking through the green places,
began with a little wooden basin to sprinkle
the sweltering ground, flaunting his comely little officiolet;
but he is mocked. Then, by familiar windings,
he runs ahead into another xystus, settling the dust.
Caesar recognizes the man, and understands the business:
“Hey!” says the master. He indeed springs up,
eager with the joy of a sure donation.
Then thus did the so great majesty of the leader jest:
“You have not done much, and the work perishes to no purpose;
slaps are for sale at a much higher price with me.”

VI. Aquila et Cornix

6. Eagle and Crow

Contra potentes nemo est munitus satis;
si vero accessit consiliator maleficus,
vis et nequitia quicquid oppugnant, ruit.

Against the powerful no one is fortified enough;
if indeed a maleficent counselor has joined,
whatever violence and iniquity attack, collapses.

Aquila in sublime sustulit testudinem:
quae cum abdidisset cornea corpus domo,
nec ullo pacto laedi posset condita,
venit per auras cornix, et propter volans
'Opimam sane praedam rapuisti unguibus;
sed, nisi monstraro quid sit faciendum tibi,
gravi nequiquam te lassabit pondere.'
promissa parte suadet ut scopulum super
altis ab astris duram inlidat corticem,
qua comminuta facile vescatur cibo.
inducta vafris aquila monitis paruit,
simul et magistrae large divisit dapem.
sic tuta quae Naturae fuerat munere,
impar duabus, occidit tristi nece.

The Eagle lifted a Tortoise on high:
which, when it had hidden its body in its corneous house,
and, shut up, could in no way be harmed,
there came through the airs a Crow, and flying alongside said,
'A truly opulent prey you have snatched with your talons;
but, unless I show what must be done for you,
the heavy weight will weary you to no purpose.'
A share having been promised, she advises that, over a crag,
from the high stars she dash the hard shell,
where, shattered, she may easily feed upon the food.
Led on, the Eagle obeyed the wily counsels,
and at once she lavishly divided the feast with her instructress.
Thus she who had been safe by the gift of Nature,
unequal to two, perished by a sad death.

VII. Muli Duo et Latrones

7. Two Mules and Robbers

Muli gravati sarcinis ibant duo:
unus ferebat fiscos cum pecunia,
alter tumentis multo saccos hordeo.
ille onere dives celsa cervice eminens,
clarumque collo iactans tintinabulum;
comes quieto sequitur et placido gradu.
subito latrones ex insidiis advolant,
interque caedem ferro ditem sauciant:
diripiunt nummos, neglegunt vile hordeum.
spoliatus igitur casus cum fleret suos,
'Equidem' inquit alter 'me contemptum gaudeo;
nam nil amisi, nec sum laesus vulnere'.

Two mules, weighed down with burdens, were going:
one was carrying fiscal coffers with money,
the other sacks swelling with much barley.
that one, rich in load, eminent with a lofty neck,
and flaunting at his neck a bright little bell;
his companion follows with a quiet and placid step.
suddenly robbers fly up from ambush,
and amid the slaughter they wound with steel the rich one:
they plunder the coins, they neglect the cheap barley.
therefore, when the despoiled one was weeping his misfortunes,
'Indeed,' says the other, 'I rejoice that I was despised;
for I have lost nothing, nor am I injured by a wound'.

Hoc argumento tuta est hominum tenuitas,
magnae periclo sunt opes obnoxiae.

By this argument, human tenuity is safe;
great wealth is subject to peril.

VIII. Cervus ad Boves

8. The Stag to the Oxen

Cervus nemorosis excitatus latibulis,
ut venatorum effugeret instantem necem,
caeco timore proximam villam petit,
ut opportuno se bovili condidit.
hic bos latenti 'Quidnam voluisti tibi,
infelix, ultro qui ad necem cucurreris?
at ille supplex 'Vos modo' inquit 'parcite:
occasione rursus erumpam data'.
spatium diei noctis excipiunt vices;
frondem bubulcus adfert, nil adeo videt:
eunt subinde et redeunt omnes rustici,
nemo animadvertit: transit etiam vilicus,
nec ille quicquam sentit. tum gaudens ferus
bubus quietis agere coepit gratias,
hospitium adverso quod praestiterint tempore.
respondit unus 'Salvum te cupimus quidem,
sed, ille qui oculos centum habet si venerit,
magno in periclo vita vertetur tua'.
haec inter ipse dominus a cena redit;
et, quia corruptos viderat nuper boves,
accedit ad praesaepe: 'Cur frondis parum est?
stramenta desunt. tollere haec aranea
quantum est laboris?' dum scrutatur singula,
cervi quoque alta conspicatur cornua;
quem convocata iubet occidi familia,
praedamque tollit.

A stag, roused from his wooded hiding-places,
to escape the pressing death of the hunters,
in blind fear seeks the nearest villa,
and hides himself in a convenient cowshed.
Here an ox to the one hiding: 'What ever have you intended for yourself,
unlucky one, you who have run of your own accord to death?'
But he, a suppliant, says: 'Only you, spare me:
with opportunity given I will break out again.'
The span of day; the turns of night take their place;
the cowherd brings leafy fodder, he sees nothing at all to that degree;
from time to time all the rustics go and return,
no one takes notice: even the overseer passes by,
nor does he perceive anything. Then the wild creature, rejoicing,
began to give thanks to the quiet oxen,
because they had furnished hospitality in an adverse time.
One replied: 'We do indeed wish you safe,
but, if he who has a hundred eyes comes,
your life will be turned into great peril.'
Meanwhile the master himself returns from dinner;
and, because he had lately seen the oxen in a spoiled condition,
he goes up to the manger: 'Why is there too little foliage?
the straw is lacking. How much labor is it to remove these spiderwebs?'
While he scrutinizes each particular,
he catches sight also of the stag’s lofty horns;
and, having called together the household, he orders him to be killed,
and carries off the prey.

Haec significat fabula
dominum videre plurimum in rebus suis.

This fable signifies
that the master sees the most in his own affairs.

IX. Auctor

9. Author

Aesopi ingenio statuam posuere Attici,
servumque collocarunt aeterna in basi,
patere honoris scirent ut cuncti viam
nec generi tribui sed virtuti gloriam.
quoniam occuparat alter ut primus foret,
ne solus esset, studui, quod superfuit.
nec haec invidia, verum est aemulatio.
quodsi labori faverit Latium meo,
plures habebit quos opponat Graeciae.
si Livor obtrectare curam voluerit,
non tamen eripiet laudis conscientiam.
si nostrum studium ad aures pervenit tuas,
et arte fictas animus sentit fabulas,
omnem querellam submovet felicitas.
sin autem rabulis doctus occurrit labor,
sinistra quos in lucem natura extulit,
nec quidquam possunt nisi meliores carpere,
fatale exilium corde durato feram,
donec Fortunam criminis pudeat sui.

The Athenians set up a statue to Aesop’s genius,
and they placed a slave upon an eternal base,
so that all might know the way of honor lies open,
and that glory is granted not to birth but to virtue.
Since another had preempted it so as to be first,
lest he be alone, I applied myself to what remained.
Nor is this envy; it is truly emulation.
But if Latium shall favor my labor,
it will have more men to set against Greece.
If Malice should wish to disparage my care,
yet it will not snatch away the consciousness of praise.
If our zeal has reached your ears,
and the mind perceives fables fashioned by art,
happiness removes every complaint.
But if, however, my work encounters wranglers trained,
whom nature has brought into the light left-handed (ill-omened),
and who can do nothing except carp at their betters,
I shall bear the fated exile with a hardened heart,
until Fortune is ashamed of her own crime.