Phaedrus: FABVLARVM AESOPIARVM LIBRI QVINQVE

Phaedri libellos legere si desideras,
uaces oportet, Eutyche, a negotiis,
ut liber animus sentiat uim carminis.
"Verum" inquis "tanti non est ingenium tuum,
momentum ut horae pereat officiis meis."
Non ergo causa est manibus id tangi tuis,
quod occupatis auribus non conuenit.
Fortasse dices: "Aliquae uenient feriae,
quae me soluto pectore ad studium uocent."
Legesne, quaeso, potius uiles nenias,
impendas curam quam rei domesticae,
reddas amicis tempora, uxori uaces,
animum relaxes, otium des corpori,
ut adsuetam fortius praestes uicem?
Mutandum tibi propositum est et uitae genus,
intrare si Musarum limen cogitas.
Ego, quem Pierio mater enixa est iugo,
in quo Tonanti sancta Mnemosyne Ioui,
fecunda nouies, artium peperit chorum,
quamuis in ipsa paene natus sim schola,
curamque habendi penitus corde eraserim,
nec Pallade hanc inuita in uitam incubuerim,
fastidiose tamen in coetum recipior.
Quid credis illi accidere qui magnas opes
exaggerare quaerit omni uigilia,
docto labori dulce praeponens lucrum?
Sed iam, "quodcumque fuerit," ut dixit Sinon
ad regem cum Dardaniae perductus foret,
librum exarabo tertium Aesopi stilo,
honori et meritis dedicans illum tuis.
Quem si leges, laetabor; sin autem minus,
habebunt certe quo se oblectent posteri.
Nunc, fabularum cur sit inuentum genus,
breui docebo. Seruitus obnoxia,
quia quae uolebat non audebat dicere,
affectus proprios in fabellas transtulit,
calumniamque fictis elusit iocis.
Ego illius pro semita feci uiam,
et cogitaui plura quam reliquerat,
in calamitatem deligens quaedam meam.
quodsi accusator alius Seiano foret,
si testis alius, iudex alius denique,
dignum faterer esse me tantis malis,
nec his dolorem delenirem remediis.
Suspicione si quis errabit sua,
et, rapiens ad se quod erit commune omnium,
stulte nudabit animi conscientiam,
huic excusatum me uelim nihilo minus.
Neque enim notare singulos mens est mihi,
uerum ipsam uitam et mores hominum ostendere.
rem me professum dicet fors aliquis grauem.
Si Phryx Aesopus potuit, si Anacharsis Scythes
aeternam famam condere ingenio suo,
ego litteratae qui sum proprior Graeciae,
cur somno inerti deseram patriae decus,
Threissa cum gens numeret auctores deos,
Linoque Apollo sit parens, Musa Orpheo,
qui saxa cantu mouit et domuit feras
Hebrique tenuit impetus dulci mora?
Ergo hinc abesto, Liuor, ne frustra gemas,
quom iam mihi sollemnis dabitur gloria.
Induxi te ad legendum?

If you desire to read the little books of Phaedrus,
you must be free, Eutyches, from business,
so that a liberated mind may feel the force of the poem.
"But," you say, "your talent is not of such weight
that an hour should perish to the duties of my day."
It is therefore not a reason that they be handled by your hands,
because with ears occupied they are not suitable.
Perhaps you will say: "Some holidays will come,
which with an unbound breast will call me to study."
Will you, I beg, read trifling jests instead,
devote your care to domestic affairs,
restore time to friends, be free for your wife,
loosen your spirit, give leisure to your body,
that you may more strongly perform the accustomed turn?
You must change your purpose and the kind of life,
if you think to enter the threshold of the Muses.
I, whom a mother bore upon the Pierian ridge,
in whose yoke holy Mnemosyne nine times
begat a fertile chorus of the arts for Thunderer Jupiter,
although I was almost born within that very school,
and I would have quite erased from my heart the care of holding office,
nor would I have, unwilling, lain down to this life by Pallas,
yet I am received into the company with fastidious air.
What do you think will happen to him who seeks
to heap up great riches by every vigil,
preferring the sweet gain to learned labor?
But now, "whatever it may be," as Sinon said
to the king when he had been led through the Trojan line,
I will inscribe a third book in Aesop’s stylus,
dedicating it to your honor and merits.
If you read it, I will rejoice; but if rather you do not,
they will certainly have by what they may amuse themselves, the posterity.
Now why the genre of fables was invented,
I will briefly teach. Subject to servitude,
because he dared not say what he wished,
he transferred his own affections into little tales,
and fooled calumny with invented jests.
I made a path for that man's foot,
and I thought out more than he had left behind,
choosing some things of my own to the detriment.
But if another accuser were of Seianus,
if another witness, another judge finally,
I would confess that I were worthy of such great evils,
nor would I share the pain with remedies.
If anyone will wander by his own suspicion,
and, snatching to himself what will be common to all,
will foolishly lay bare the conscience of the mind,
to him I would wish to be excused no less.
For it is not my purpose to note individuals,
but to show life itself and the mores of men.
Perhaps some will say that I professed a serious thing.
If Phrygian Aesop could, if Anacharsis the Scythian
could found eternal fame by his genius,
I who am nearer to learned Greece in letters,
why should I abandon the glory of my country to inert sleep,
when Thrace counts the gods among its authors,
and Apollo is father with the lyre, the Muse with Orpheus,
who moved the rocks by song and tamed beasts
and stayed the Hebrew onsets with gentle delay?
Therefore be absent from this place, Envy, lest you moan in vain,
since a solemn glory will now be given to me.
Have I induced you to read?

Sincerum mihi
candore noto reddas iudicium peto.

A sincere judgment to me
by your well-known candor render, I ask.

I. Anus ad Amphoram

1. An old woman to the amphora

Anus iacere uidit epotam amphoram,
adhuc Falerna faece e testa nobili
odorem quae iucundum late spargeret.
Hunc postquam totis auida traxit naribus:
"O suauis anima, quale in te dicam bonum
antehac fuisse, tales cum sint reliquiae!"
Hoc quo pertineat dicet qui me nouerit.

An old woman saw an amphora emptied of drink,
still with Faleran dregs from a noble jar
whose scent would widely diffuse a pleasant odour.
After she greedily drew this into her whole nostrils:
"O sweet soul, what good shall I say was in you
before now, since such are the remains!"
To what this pertains he who knows me will say.

II. Panthera et Pastores

2. Panther and the Shepherds

Solet a despectis par referri gratia.
Panthera inprudens olim in foueam decidit.
Videre agrestes; alii fustes congerunt,
alii onerant saxis; quidam contra miseriti
periturae quippe, quamuis nemo laederet,
misere panem ut sustineret spiritum.
Nox insecuta est; abeunt securi domum,
quasi inuenturi mortuam postridie.
At illa, uires ut refecit languidas,
ueloci saltu fouea sese liberat
et in cubile concito properat gradu.
Paucis diebus interpositis prouolat,
pecus trucidat, ipsos pastores necat,
et cuncta uastans saeuit irato impetu.
Tum sibi timentes qui ferae pepercerant
damnum haut recusant, tantum pro uita rogant.
At illa: "Memini quis me saxo petierit,
quis panem dederit; uos timere absistite;
illis reuertor hostis qui me laeserunt."

It is customary that grace is repaid by the despised.
A heedless panther once fell into a pit.
The countryfolk saw it; some piled up clubs,
others heaped on stones; some, on the contrary, pitying
the beast about to perish, though no one would injure it,
pitifully gave bread to sustain its breath.
Night followed; the woodcutters went home,
as if to find it dead on the next day.
But it, when it renewed its languid strength,
with a swift leap freed itself from the pit
and hastened to its lair with hurried step.
After a few days it flew forth,
slaughtered the flock, killed the very shepherds,
and ravaging all things raged with an angry onrush.
Then those who had spared the beast, fearing for themselves,
did not refuse to pay damages, begging only for their lives.
But it: "I remember who beset me with a stone,
who gave me bread; cease to fear, you;
I turn back upon as enemies those who harmed me."

III. Aesopus et Rusticus

3. Aesop and the Rustic

Vsu peritus hariolo ueracior
uulgo perhibetur; causa sed non dicitur,
notescet quae nunc primum fabella mea.
Habenti cuidam pecora perpererunt oues
agnos humano capite. Monstro territus
ad consulendos currit maerens hariolos.
Hic pertinere ad domini respondet caput,
et auertendum uictima periculum.
Ille autem adfirmat coniugem esse adulteram
et insitiuos significari liberos,
sed expiari posse maiore hostia.
Quid multa? Variis dissident sententiis,
hominisque curam cura maiore adgrauant.
Aesopus ibi stans, naris emunctae senex,
natura numquam uerba cui potuit dare,
"Si procurare uis ostentum, rustice,
uxores" inquit "da tuis pastoribus."

A soothsayer practised in use is deemed more truthful than a learned hariolus; but the cause is not told, which my little tale will now first make known. To a certain man his flocks produced sheep bearing lambs with human heads. The man, terrified by the monster, runs sorrowing to consult the harioli. This one answers that it concerns the master’s head, and that the victim’s peril must be averted. The other, however, affirms the wife to be adulterous and that the children signify treachery, but that it can be expiated by a greater victim. What need of more words? They disagree with various opinions, and the man’s care is burdened by yet greater care. Aesopus there standing, an old man of wiped nose, by nature never one to whom words could be readily given, says: "If you wish to procure an ostentation, countryman, give your wives to your shepherds."

IV. Lanius et Simius

4. The Butcher and the Monkey

Pendere ad lanium quidam uidit simium
inter relicuas merces atque opsonia;
quaesiuit quidnam saperet. Tum lanius iocans
"Quale" inquit "caput est, talis praestatur sapor."
Ridicule magis hoc dictum quam uere aestimo;
quando et formosos saepe inueni pessimos,
et turpi facie multos cognoui optimos.

A certain man saw a simian hanging at the butcher’s among the remaining merches and opsonia;
he inquired what sort of savor it had. Then the butcher, jesting, said, "As the head is, such a flavor is supplied."
I judge this saying more ridiculous than true; for I have often found the formosos to be the very worst,
and have known many most excellent men with a shameful face.

V. Aesopus et Petulans

5. Aesopus and Petulans

Successus ad perniciem multos deuocat.
Aesopo quidam petulans lapidem impegerat.
"Tanto" inquit "melior!" Assem deinde illi dedit
sic prosecutus: "Plus non habeo mehercule,
sed unde accipere possis monstrabo tibi.
Venit ecce diues et potens; huic similiter
impinge lapidem, et dignum accipies praemium."
Persuasus ille fecit quod monitus fuit,
sed spes fefellit impudentem audaciam;
comprensus namque poenas persoluit cruce.

Success draws many to ruin.
A certain petulant fellow had hurled a stone at Aesop.
"By that much better!" he said, and then gave him an as,
and thus pursued: "I have no more, by Hercules,
but I will show you where you can get some.
Behold a rich and powerful man approaches; strike a stone at him likewise,
and you will receive a fitting reward."
Persuaded, he did what he had been advised,
but hope deceived his impudent daring;
for, being seized, he paid the penalties on the cross.

VI. Musca et Mula

6. The Fly and the Mule

Musca in temone sedit et mulam increpans
"Quam tarda es" inquit "non uis citius progredi?
Vide ne dolone collum conpungam tibi."
Respondit illa: "Verbis non moueor tuis;
sed istum timeo sella qui prima sedens
cursum flagello temperat lento meum,
et ora frenis continet spumantibus.
quapropter aufer friuolam insolentiam;
nam et ubi tricandum et ubi sit currendum scio."
Hac derideri fabula merito potest
qui sine uirtute uanas exercet minas.

A fly sat on the pole and, chiding the mule,
"How slow you are," she said, "do you not wish to go more swiftly?
See lest with guile I pierce your neck."
She answered: "I am not moved by your words;
but I fear that rider who, sitting first in the saddle,
and restrains my mouth with foaming reins.
Wherefore take away frivolous insolence;
for I know where to amble and where it is to run."
By this the fable may rightly be mocked
who, without virtue, practices vain threats.

VII. Lupus ad Canem

7. The Wolf to the Dog

Quam dulcis sit libertas breuiter proloquar.
Cani perpasto macie confectus lupus
forte occurrit; dein, salutati inuicem
ut restiterunt," Vnde sic, quaeso, nites?
Aut quo cibo fecisti tantum corporis?
Ego, qui sum longe fortior, pereo fame."
Canis simpliciter: "Eadem est condicio tibi,
praestare domino si par officium potes."
"Quod?" inquit ille. "Custos ut sis liminis,
a furibus tuearis et noctu domum.
Adfertur ultro panis; de mensa sua
dat ossa dominus; frusta iactat familia,
et quod fastidit quisque pulmentarium.
Sic sine labore uenter impletur meus."
"Ego uero sum paratus: nunc patior niues
imbresque in siluis asperam uitam trahens.
Quanto est facilius mihi sub tecto uiuere,
et otiosum largo satiari cibo!"
"Veni ergo mecum." Dum procedunt, aspicit
lupus a catena collum detritum cani.
"Vnde hoc, amice?" "Nil est." "Dic, sodes, tamen."
"Quia uideor acer, alligant me interdiu,
luce ut quiescam, et uigilem nox cum uenerit:
crepusculo solutus qua uisum est uagor."
"Age, abire si quo est animus, est licentia?"
"Non plane est" inquit. "Fruere quae laudas, canis;
regnare nolo, liber ut non sim mihi."

How sweet liberty is I will briefly speak.
A wolf, consumed with emaciation, chanced upon a dog, sated with food;
then, after greeting one another as they stood, "Whence so, I pray, dost thou shine?
Or by what food hast thou made so great a body?
I, who am by far the stronger, perish of hunger."
The dog simply: "The condition is the same for you,
if you can perform a like service to a master."
"What?" he says. "That you be guardian of the threshold,
that you defend the house from thieves and watch at night.
Bread is brought spontaneously; the master from his table
gives bones; the household casts scraps,
and what each scorns of the stew.
Thus my belly is filled without toil."
"I indeed am ready: now I endure snow
and rain in the woods, leading a harsh life.
How much easier for me to live under a roof,
and be glutted idly with abundant food!"
"Then come with me." As they go, the wolf sees
the dog's neck worn by a chain about him.
"Whence this, friend?" "It is nothing." "Tell me, pray, yet."
"Because I seem fierce, they bind me by day,
that I may rest in the light, and be wakeful when night comes:
when loosed at dusk I wander where I please."
"Well then, is there leave to depart if the mood is to go?"
"It is not altogether so," he says. "Enjoy those things you praise, dog;
I do not desire to rule, so that I may not be free for myself."

VIII. Soror ad Fratrem

8. Sister to Brother

Praecepto monitus saepe te considera.
Habebat quidam filiam turpissimam,
idemque insignem pulchra facie filium.
Hi speculum, in cathedra matris ut positum fuit,
pueriliter ludentes forte inspexerunt.
Hic se formosum iactat; illa irascitur
nec gloriantis sustinet fratris iocos,
accipiens (quid enim?) cuncta in contumeliam.
Ergo ad patrem decurrit laesura inuicem,
magnaque inuidia criminatur filium,
uir natus quod rem feminarum tetigerit.
Amplexus ille utrumque et carpens oscula
dulcemque in ambos caritatem partiens,
"Cotidie" inquit "speculo uos uti uolo,
tu formam ne corrumpas nequitiae malis,
tu faciem ut istam moribus uincas bonis."

Often, warned by the precept, consider yourself.
Once a certain man had a most shameful daughter,
and the same man a son distinguished by a fair face.
These, the mirror having been placed on their mother's chair,
playing in boyish fashion, by chance looked into it.
He boasts himself handsome; she grows angry
and cannot endure the boasting jests of her brother,Therefore she runs down to their father, about to be injured in turn,
and with great envy accuses her son,
because a man was born who touched a woman's matters.
He embraces them both and snatching kisses
and apportioning sweet affection to both, says,
"Daily," he says, "I want you to use the mirror;
you, lest you corrupt your form by wickedness,
you, that by good manners you may conquer that face."

IX. Socrates ad Amicos

CHAPTER 9. Socrates to Friends

Vulgare amici nomen sed rara est fides.
Cum paruas aedes sibi fundasset Socrates
(cuius non fugio mortem si famam adsequar,
et cedo inuidiae dummodo absoluar cinis),
ex populo sic nescioquis, ut fieri solet:
"Quaeso, tam angustam talis uir ponis domum?"
"Vtinam" inquit "ueris hanc amicis impleam!"

The name "friend" is common, but faith is scarce.
When Socrates had founded for himself a small house,
(whose death I do not avoid if I attain fame,
and I yield to envy so long as my ash is absolved),
from the people then some one, as is wont to happen:
"Pray, do you set so narrow a house, O such a man?"
"Would that," he says, "that I might fill this house with true friends!"

X. Poeta de Credere et non Credere

10. Poet on Credere and Non Credere

Periculosum est credere et non credere.
Vtriusque exemplum breuiter adponam rei.
Hippolytus obiit, quia nouercae creditum est;
Cassandrae quia non creditum, ruit Ilium.
Ergo exploranda est ueritas multum, prius
quam stulte praua iudicet sententia.
Sed, fabulosam ne uetustatem eleuem,
narrabo tibi memoria quod factum est mea.
Maritus quidam cum diligeret coniugem,
togamque puram iam pararet filio,
seductus in secretum a liberto est suo,
sperante heredem suffici se proximum.
qui, cum de puero multa mentitus foret
et plura de flagitiis castae mulieris,
adiecit, id quod sentiebat maxime
doliturum amanti, uentitare adulterum
stuproque turpi pollui famam domus.
Incensus ille falso uxoris crimine
simulauit iter ad uillam, clamque in oppido
subsedit; deinde noctu subito ianuam
intrauit, recta cubiculum uxoris petens,
in quo dormire mater natum iusserat,
aetatem adultam seruans diligentius.
Dum quaerunt lumen, dum concursant familia,
irae furentis impetum non sustinens
ad lectum uadit, temptat in tenebris caput.
Vt sentit tonsum, gladio pectus transigit,
nihil respiciens dum dolorem uindicet.
Lucerna adlata, simul adspexit filium
sanctamque uxorem dormientem [illum prope],
sopita primo quae nil somno senserat,
representauit in se poenam facinoris
et ferro incubuit quod credulitas strinxerat.
Accusatores postularunt mulierem,
Romamque pertraxerunt ad centumuiros.
Maligna insontem deprimit suspicio,
quod bona possideat. Stant patroni fortiter
causam tuentes innocentis feminae.
A diuo Augusto tum petiere iudices
ut adiuuaret iuris iurandi fidem,
quod ipsos error implicuisset criminis.
Qui postquam tenebras dispulit calumniae
certumque fontem ueritatis repperit,
"Luat" inquit "poenas causa libertus mali;
namque orbam nato simul et priuatam uiro
miserandam potius quam damnandam existimo.
Quod si delata perscrutatus crimina
paterfamilias esset, si mendacium
subtiliter limasset, a radicibus
non euertisset scelere funesto domum."
Nil spernat auris, nec tamen credat statim,
quandoquidem et illi peccant quos minime putes,
et qui non peccant impugnantur fraudibus.
Hoc admonere simplices etiam potest,
opinione alterius ne quid ponderent.
Ambitio namque dissidens mortalium
aut gratiae subscribit aut odio suo.
Erit ille notus quem per te cognoueris.
Haec exsecutus sum propterea pluribus,
breuitate nimia quoniam quosdam offendimus.

It is perilous to believe and not to believe.
I will put forth briefly an example of each case.
Hippolytus died because he was believed by his stepmother;
Ilium fell because Cassandra was not believed.
Therefore truth must be much examined before
a foolish and perverse judgment pronounces.
But, lest I raise a legendary antiquity,
I will tell you from memory what happened to me.
A certain husband, when he loved his wife,
and was already preparing a pure toga for his son,
was led aside in secret by his freedman,
the latter hoping to suffice as the nearest heir.
Who, when he had lied much about the boy
and more about the vices of the chaste woman,
added what he thought would most of all
grieve a lover: that she frequented an adulterer,
and that the house’s reputation was defiled by foul rape.
That man inflamed by the false crime of his wife
pretended a journey to his villa, and secretly in the town
he hid himself; then at night suddenly he entered the door,
making straight for his wife’s bedroom,
in which the mother had ordered to sleep her grown son,
keeping his mature age more diligently.
While they seek the light, while the household runs together,
not sustaining the attack of his raging anger
he goes to the bed, gropes the head in the dark.
When he feels it shorn, he transfixes the breast with his sword,
looking back at nothing while he avenges the pain.
A lamp being brought, at once he saw the son
and the holy wife sleeping [him nearby],
who, first having sensed nothing in sleep,
represented to herself the punishment of the crime
and fell upon the steel which credulity had tightened.
Accusers summoned the woman,
and dragged her to Rome before the centumviri.
A malignant suspicion presses down the innocent,
because she possesses goods. The patrons stand bravely
defending the cause of the innocent woman.
To the divine Augustus then they petitioned judges
to aid the faith of an oath, because error had involved them in the crime.
Who, after he scattered the darkness of the calumny
and found a certain source of truth,
said, "Let the evil freedman pay the penalties;
for I think the widow deprived both of a son and of a husband
to be more pitiable than condemnable.
But if, when the accusations were brought, the paterfamilias
had investigated, if he had subtly smoothed the falsehood,
he would not have overturned the house from its roots with the fatal crime."
Let no ear scorn this, nor yet believe at once,
since even those whom you least suppose sin, sin,
and those who do not sin are attacked by frauds.
This can also admonish the simple not to weigh anything
by another’s opinion.
For ambition, the dissenter among mortals,
either subscribes to favors or to its own hatred.
He will be known whom you have recognized through yourself.
I have pursued these things for many reasons,
since by too great brevity we offend some.

XI. Eunuchus ad Improbum

11. Eunuch to the Wicked

Eunuchus litigabat cum quodam improbo,
qui super obscena dicta et petulans iurgium
damnum insectatus est amissi corporis.
"En" ait "hoc unum est cur laborem ualidius,
integritatis testes quia desunt mihi.
Sed quid Fortunae, stulte, delictum arguis?
Id demum est homini turpe quod meruit pati."

A eunuch was disputing with a certain reprobate,
who, after obscene words and a petulant quarrel,
had pursued the injury of a man whose body had been lost.
"Behold," he said, "this one thing is why I endure the suffering the more strongly,
because witnesses of my integrity are lacking to me.
But why, fool, do you charge Fortune with the fault?
That, in the end, is shameful for a man—to suffer what he has deserved to suffer."

XII. Pullus ad Margaritam

12. The Chick to the Pearl

In sterculino pullus gallinacius
dum quaerit escam margaritam repperit.
"Iaces indigno quanta res" inquit "loco!
Hoc si quis pretii cupidus uidisset tui,
olim redisses ad splendorem pristinum.
Ego quod te inueni, potior cui multo est cibus,
nec tibi prodesse nec mihi quicquam potest."
Hoc illis narro qui me non intellegunt.

In a dung-heap a hen’s chick
while seeking food found a pearl.
"You lie in so unworthy a place!" he said.
"If any man, covetous of your price, had seen you,
once you would have returned to your pristine splendour.
I, who found you, am the better one — to whom food is by far more precious,
neither can it profit you nor avail me in any way."
I tell this to those who do not understand me.

XIII. Apes et Fuci Vespa Iudice

13. Bees and Drones, the Wasp as Judge

Apes in alta fecerant quercu fauos.
Hos fuci inertes esse dicebant suos.
Lis ad forum deducta est, uespa iudice;
quae, genus utrumque nosset cum pulcherrime,
legem duabus hanc proposuit partibus:
"Non inconueniens corpus et par est color,
in dubium plane res ut merito uenerit.
Sed, ne religio peccet inprudens mea,
aluos accipite et ceris opus infundite,
ut ex sapore mellis et forma faui,
de quis nunc agitur, auctor horum appareat."
Fuci recusant, apibus condicio placet.
Tunc illa talem rettulit sententiam:
"Apertum est quis non possit et quis fecerit.
Quapropter apibus fructum restituo suum."
Hanc praeterissem fabulam silentio,
si pactam fuci non recusassent fidem.

Bees had made hives in a high oak.
The wasps called these their own lazy ones.
The dispute was brought to court, the wasp acting as judge;
she, who knew each genus most perfectly,
proposed this law to the two parties:
"Since the body is not discordant and the colour is equal,
the matter plainly comes into doubt as it ought.
But, lest my unwise scruple err,
take scoops and pour wax into the combs,
so that from the taste of the honey and the form of the comb,
the author of that which is now in question may appear."
The wasps refuse; the condition pleases the bees.
Then she returned this sentence:
"It is open who cannot and who has made it.
Therefore I restore the fruit to the bees."
I would have passed over this fable in silence,
if the wasps had not refused the pacted faith.

XIV. De Lusu et Seueritate

14. On Play and Severity

Puerorum in turba quidam ludentem Atticus
Aesopum nucibus cum uidisset, restitit,
et quasi delirum risit. Quod sensit simul
derisor potius quam deridendus senex,
arcum retensum posuit in media uia:
"Heus" inquit "sapiens, expedi quid fecerim."
Concurrit populus. Ille se torquet diu,
nec quaestionis positae causam intellegit.
Nouissime succumbit.

Seeing Aesop playing with nuts in a throng of boys, a certain Atticus
stopped and laughed as if mad. Which the old man perceived at once,
and knew himself to be rather the derider than the mocked,
holding back his bow he set it in the middle of the road:
"Hey," he said, "wise one, explain what I have done."
The people ran together. He twists himself long,
and does not understand the reason for the question put.
At last he yields.

Tum uictor sophus:
"Cito rumpes arcum, semper se tensum habueris;
at si laxaris, cum uoles erit utilis."
Sic lusus animo debent aliquando dari,
ad cogitandum melior ut redeat tibi.

Then the triumphant sophist:
"You will soon break the bow, if you always keep it drawn;
but if you slacken it, it will be useful when you wish."
Thus diversions ought sometimes to be given to the mind,
so that you may return to thinking better for it.

XV. Canis ad Agnum

15. Dog to the Lamb

Inter capellas agno palanti canis
"Stulte" inquit "erras; non est hic mater tua."
Ouesque segregatas ostendit procul.
"Non illam quaero quae cum libitum est concipit,
dein portat onus ignotum certis mensibus,
nouissime prolapsam effundit sarcinam;
uerum illam quae me nutrit admoto ubere,
fraudatque natos lacte ne desit mihi."
"Tamen illa est potior quae te peperit." "Non ita.
Beneficium sane magnum natali dedit,
ut expectarem lanium in horas singulas!
Vnde illa sciuit niger an albus nascerer?
Age porro, parere si uoluisset feminam,
quid profecisset cum crearer masculus?
Cuius potestas nulla in gignendo fuit,
cur hac sit potior quae iacentis miserita est,
dulcemque sponte praestat beneuolentiam?
Facit parentes bonitas, non necessitas."
[His demonstrare uoluit auctor uersibus
obsistere homines legibus, meritis capi.]

Among the goats a dog searching for his lamb said, "Fool, you wander; this is not your mother."
And he showed the sheep separated off in the distance.
"I do not seek the one who conceives whenever she pleases,
then bears an unknown burden for certain months,
finally, collapsing, casts off her pack;
but the one who nourished me at her offered teat,
and who, by denying milk, would defraud her offspring of sustenance."
"Yet she who bore you is the better." "Not so.
She certainly gave the great benefit of birth,
that I might expect to be butchered at every hour!
From where did she know whether I should be born black or white?
Come now, if she had wished to produce a female,
what would that have availed, since I was created a male?
Whose power there was none in begetting,
why should she be superior who pitied the one lying there,
and of her own accord showed sweet benevolence?
Goodness makes parents, not necessity."
[By these lines the author wished to show that men resist laws and are seized by merits.]

XVI. Cicada et Noctua

16. The Cicada and the Noctua

Humanitati qui se non accommodat
plerumque poenas oppetit superbiae.
Cicada acerbum noctuae conuicium
faciebat, solitae uictum in tenebris quaerere
cauoque ramo capere somnum interdiu.
Rogata est ut taceret. Multo ualidius
clamare occepit. Rursus admota prece
accensa magis est.

He who does not accommodate himself to humanity
for the most part suffers the penalties of pride.
The cicada made a bitter reproach against the noctua,
accustomed to seek sustenance in darkness
and to take sleep on a hollow branch by day.
She was asked to be silent. She began to cry out much more strongly.
Again, when a prayer was offered, she grew the more inflamed.

Noctua, ut uidit sibi
nullum esse auxilium et uerba contemni sua,
hac est adgressa garrulam fallacia:
"Dormire quia me non sinunt cantus tui,
sonare citharam quos putes Apollinis,
potare est animus nectar, quod Pallas mihi
nuper donauit; si non fastidis, ueni;
una bibamus." Illa, quae arebat siti,
simul gaudebat uocem laudari suam,
cupide aduolauit. Noctua, obsepto cauo,
trepidantem consectata est et leto dedit.
Sic, uiua quod negarat, tribuit mortua.

The owl, when she saw that there was no help for her and that her words were despised,
addressed the gabbling deceiver with this:
"Dormire quia me non sinunt cantus tui,
sonare citharam quos putes Apollinis,
potare est animus nectar, quod Pallas mihi
nuper donauit; si non fastidis, ueni;
una bibamus." — "Because your songs do not let me sleep,
to play the cithara which you fancy of Apollo,
my spirit drinks nectar, which Pallas recently gave me;
if you do not scorn it, come; let us drink together."
She, who was parched with thirst,
at once rejoiced that her voice was praised,
and eagerly flew toward her. The owl, having barricaded the hollow,
pursued the trembling one and delivered her to death.
Thus she granted, to the dead, what she had denied to the living.

XVII. Arbores in Deorum Tutela

17. Trees in the Guardianship of the Gods

Olim quas uellent esse in tutela sua
diui legerunt arbores. Quercus Ioui,
at myrtus Veneri placuit, Phoebo laurea,
pinus Cybebae, populus celsa Herculi.
Minerua admirans quare steriles sumerent
interrogauit. Causam dixit Iuppiter:
"Honorem fructu ne uideamur uendere."
"At mehercules narrabit quod quis uoluerit,
oliua nobis propter fructum est gratior."
Tum sic deorum genitor atque hominum sator:
"O nata, merito sapiens dicere omnibus.
Nisi utile est quod facimus, stulta est gloria."
Nihil agere quod non prosit fabella admonet.

Once the gods chose which trees should be in their tutela
the oak pleased Jupiter,
but the myrtle pleased Venus, the laurel Phoebus,
the pine Cybele, the poplar to towering Hercules.
Minerva, admiring why they should take sterile ones,
asked the cause. Jupiter told it:
"That we may not seem to vend honor for fruit."
"But, by Hercules," someone replied, "anyone will say what he wishes,
the olive is more pleasing to us on account of its fruit."
Then thus the begetter of gods and sower of men:
"O daughter, justly wise to speak to all.
Unless that which we do is useful, glory is foolish."
The little fable admonishes to do nothing that is not profitable.

XVIII. Pauo ad Iunonem de uoce sua

18. Peacock to Juno on His Voice

Pauo ad Iunonem uenit, indigne ferens
cantus luscinii quod sibi non tribuerit;
illum esse cunctis auribus mirabilem,
se derideri simul ac uocem miserit.
Tunc consolandi gratia dixit dea:
"Sed forma uincis, uincis magnitudine;
nitor smaragdi collo praefulget tuo,
pictisque plumis gemmeam caudam explicas."
"Quo mi" inquit "mutam speciem si uincor sono?"
"Fatorum arbitrio partes sunt uobis datae;
tibi forma, uires aquilae, luscinio melos,
augurium coruo, laeua cornici omina;
omnesque propriis sunt contentae dotibus.
Noli adfectare quod tibi non est datum,
delusa ne spes ad querelam reccidat."

The peacock came to Juno, bearing indignantly
that the nightingale’s song had not been granted to him;
that the latter was wondrous to every ear,
while he himself was mocked as soon as he sent forth his voice.
Then the goddess, for the sake of consoling, said:
"But in form you conquer, you conquer in magnitude;
the sheen of emerald gleams upon your neck,
and with painted plumes you display a gem-like tail."
"Of what use to me," he said, "is a mute appearance if I am vanquished by sound?"
"By the will of the Fates parts have been allotted to you;
to you beauty, to the eagle its strength, to the nightingale its melody,
augury to the crow, ominous signs to the left to the rook;
and all are content with their own endowments.
Do not covet what has not been given to you,
lest deceived hope fall back into complaint."

XIX. Aesopus Respondet Garrulo

19. Aesop Replies to Garrulus

Aesopus domino solus cum esset familia,
parare cenam iussus est maturius.
Ignem ergo quaerens aliquot lustrauit domus,
tandemque inuenit ubi lucernam accenderet,
tum circumeunti fuerat quod iter longius
effecit breuius: namque recta per forum
coepit redire. Et quidam e turba garrulus:
"Aesope, medio sole quid tu lumine?"
"Hominem" inquit "quaero." Et abiit festinans domum.
Hoc si molestus ille ad animum rettulit,
sensit profecto se hominem non uisum seni,
intempestiue qui occupato adluserit.

When Aesop was alone with his master of the household,
he was ordered to prepare the dinner earlier.
Therefore, seeking a fire, he searched the house several times,
and at last found where he might light a lamp;
then, to one going about, there was a way that made a longer route shorter:
for he began to return straight through the forum. And a certain talkative man from the crowd said:
"Aesop, in the middle of the sun what use have you of a light?"
"I seek a man," he replied. And he went off hastening home.
If that troublesome fellow reflected this back to his mind,
he certainly perceived that he had not seen the man, and that he had untimely mocked one who was occupied.

Epilogus

Epilogue

Supersunt mihi quae scribam, sed parco sciens:
primum, esse uidear ne tibi molestior,
distringit quem multarum rerum uarietas;
dein, si quis eadem forte conari uelit,
habere ut possit aliquid operis residui;
quamuis materiae tanta abundet copia,
labori faber ut desit, non fabro labor.
Breuitatis nostrae praemium ut reddas peto
quod es pollicitus; exhibe uocis fidem.
Nam uita morti propior est cotidie;
et hoc minus redibit ad me muneris,
quo plus consumet temporis dilatio.
Si cito rem perages, usus fiet longior;
fruar diutius si celerius coepero.
Languentis aeui dum sunt aliquae reliquiae,
auxilio locus est: olim senio debilem
frustra adiuuare bonitas nitetur tua,
cum iam desierit esse beneficio utilis,
et Mors uicina flagitabit debitum.
Stultum admouere tibi preces existimo,
procliuis ultro cum sis misericordiae.
Saepe impetrauit ueniam confessus reus:
quanto innocenti iustius debet dari?
Tuae sunt partes; fuerunt aliorum prius;
dein simili gyro uenient aliorum uices.
Decerne quod religio, quod patitur fides,
ut gratuler me stare iudicio tuo.
Excedit animus quem proposui terminum,
sed difficulter continetur spiritus,
integritatis qui sincerae conscius
a noxiorum premitur insolentiis.
Qui sint, requiris. Apparebunt tempore.
Ego, quondam legi quam puer sententiam
"Palam muttire plebeio piaculum est,"
dum sanitas constabit, pulchre meminero.

I have more things to write, but knowing I spare them:
first, that I may not seem burdensome to you,
whom the variety of many matters distracts;
then, if perhaps anyone else should attempt the same things,
that there may remain something of the work to have;
although so great an abundance of material is available,
that the craftsman may lack for labor, not the work for the craftsman.
I ask that you render the reward of our brevity
which you promised; lend faith to the voice.
For life draws nearer to death every day;
and this gift will return to me the less,
the more delay of time will consume it.
If you accomplish the matter quickly, its use will be longer;
I shall enjoy it longer if I begin more swiftly.
While there are some remnants of a failing age,
there is place for aid: once your goodness
will toil in vain to help one weakened by old age,
when he shall have ceased to be useful through your benefaction,
and Neighboring Death will demand what is owed.
I reckon it foolish to move pleas to you,
since you are inclined of your own accord to mercy.
Often the guilty, having confessed, obtained pardon:
how much more justly ought it be given to the innocent?
The parts are yours; they were others' before;
then, by a like circuit, will come the turns of others.
Decide what religion allows, what faith permits,
that I may stand rejoicing in your judgment.
The mind exceeds the limit I proposed,
but the spirit is held back with difficulty,
he who, conscious of unblemished integrity,
is pressed by the insolences of the wicked.
You ask who they are. They will appear in time.
I once read—since I was a boy—the sentence:
"To mutter openly is a plebeian offense,"—
while health shall hold, I will remember it well.