Phaedrus I.1 The lamb and the wolf.

The nice thing about fables is, is that they are short, have a point and are relatively easy. You may think of fables as children’s stories because the roles are played by animals. This is true for modern times, but the Hitopadesha and the Panchatantra, the Indian cycle of fables composed in Sanskrit at least a couple of centuries BC, were certainly not. Fables serve to bring points of conduct and warnings forward readely applicable to everyone’s life. Most famous in the West are those by Aesop (620 – 584 BC). His fables gained wide popularity and were translated and adapted by the Roman poet Phaedrus (15 BC- 50 AD), In all honesty, he was not the most gifted poet, but it is all we have.

A point of interest is, is that both Aesop and Phaedrus started their carreer as slaves. Could it be that people in such a position must have a greater feeling for human conduct in order to survive, than their masters?

PHAEDRI AVGVSTUI LIBERTI FABVLARVM AESOPIARVM LIBER PRIMVUS

I. Lupus et Agnus

Ad rivum eundem lupus et agnus venerant,
siti compulsi. Superior stabat lupus,
longeque inferior agnus. Tunc fauce improba
latro incitatus iurgii causam intulit;
'Cur' inquit 'turbulentam fecisti mihi
aquam bibenti?' Laniger contra timens
'Qui possum, quaeso, facere quod quereris, lupe?
A te decurrit ad meos haustus liquor'.
Repulsus ille veritatis viribus
'Ante hos sex menses male' ait 'dixisti mihi'.
Respondit agnus 'Equidem natus non eram'.
'Pater hercle tuus' ille inquit 'male dixit mihi';
atque ita correptum lacerat iniusta nece.
Haec propter illos scripta est homines fabula
qui fictis causis innocentes opprimunt.

rivus, I small stream

sitis, f. thirst.

superior  note that Latin can use an adjective where we use an adverb. So not  `the superior wolf’ but `the wolf was standing….’

inferior can’t be a problem now

fauce improba with wicked throat (fauces, f.)

latro –onis, m brigand

incitatus stirred up

iurgium strife, quarrel

incitatus iurgii causam stirred up a cause for strife                                          

inferre bring forward

turbulentus restless, turbulent

mihi goes with bibenti

laniger `wool-bearer’

qui   not the relativum, but quī with long i `how’(the Romans made no distinction in writing between long and short vowels, but in dictionaries you will find sometimes these strokes in order to distinguish between various homonyms and to guide in pronounciation.)

quaeso I pray, `please’ (only this form  and quaesumus)

queror questus sum complain

haurio hausi haustum draw out water

repello reppulli repulsum thrust back

veritatis viribus by the power of thruth

male dico + dative : speak bad about someone

equidem even

corripio ripui reptum seize

correptum, supply `agnum’

lacero -avi -atum tear to pieces 

nex necis, f death

fictis causis by made up reasons

Haec propter illos scripta est homines fabula, in English word order: haec fabula scripta est propter illos homines