Saturday, June 09, 2007

Relocated to eLatin eGreek eLearn

Hello everybody, and my apologies for having forgotten to post something here sooner! Andrew Reinhard has set up a delightful ning community, eLatin eGreek eLearn, where you can create blogs, forums, all kinds of wonderful stuff.

So, I'm posting my Latin Via Fables materials at this new address:

http://eclassics.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?user=lauragibbs

I hope to "see" you there!

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

De vulpe et gallo

Title: De vulpe et gallo: The Fox and The Rooster

Source: Steinhowel's Aesop (1477).

Parallels: For parallel versions, see Perry 562.

Latin Text:

Vulpis aliquando sustinens famem ivit ad villam quandam, et veniens ante gallum dicebat ei: O domine meus galle, quam pulchram vocem habebat dominus meus pater tuus. Nam ego cupiens audire vocem tuam veni huc, unde rogo te, ut canas alta voce, ut audiam, utrum tu an pater tuus pulchriorem habeas vocem. Tunc gallus cum clamore clausis oculis coepit canere. At vulpis insiliens in eum, cepit eum et portavit in silvam. Tunc homines villae illius insequentes eum dicebant quia vulpis portat gallum nostrum. Audiens autem gallus dixit vulpi: Audis, domina, quid dicunt villani turpes? dic ergo illis quia meum gallum, non vestrum porto. Tunc vulpes dimittens gallum ex ore dicebatquia meum, non vestrum porto, gallus autem evolans in arborem dicebat: Mentiris, domina mea, mentiris, ipsis sum, non tuus! Vulpis autem percutiens buccam suam cum palma sua dicebat: O bucca, quanta dicis, quanta loqueris. Certe, si modo locuta non fuisses, praedam tuam non ammisisses. Sic et multi homines cum multa loquuntur damnum non effugiunt.

Here is a segmented version to help you see the grammatical patterns:

Vulpis aliquando
sustinens famem
ivit ad villam quandam,
et veniens ante gallum
dicebat ei:
O domine meus galle,
quam pulchram vocem habebat
dominus meus pater tuus.
Nam ego
cupiens audire vocem tuam
veni huc,
unde rogo te,
ut canas alta voce,
ut audiam,
utrum tu
an pater tuus
pulchriorem habeas vocem.
Tunc gallus
cum clamore
clausis oculis
coepit canere.
At vulpis
insiliens in eum,
cepit eum
et portavit in silvam.
Tunc homines villae illius
insequentes eum
dicebant
quia vulpis
portat gallum nostrum.
Audiens autem gallus
dixit vulpi:
Audis, domina,
quid dicunt villani turpes?
dic ergo illis
quia
meum gallum, non vestrum
porto.
Tunc vulpes
dimittens gallum
ex ore dicebat
quia
meum, non vestrum porto,
gallus autem
evolans in arborem
dicebat:
Mentiris, domina mea, mentiris,
ipsis sum,
non tuus!
Vulpis autem
percutiens buccam suam
cum palma sua
dicebat:
O bucca, quanta dicis,
quanta loqueris.
Certe,
si modo locuta non fuisses,
praedam tuam
non ammisisses.
Sic et multi homines
cum multa loquuntur
damnum non effugiunt.

Translation:

Once upon a time a fox, who was suffering from hunger, went to a certain farmhouse and going up to the rooster she said to him, "O Mister Rooster, what a beautiful voice your father, Mister Rooster, had! Wanting to hear your voice I have come here; so, I ask you to sing out loud so that I can hear whether you or your father has the more beautiful voice. Then the rooster with a squawk closed his eyes and began to sing. Then the fox leaped on the rooster, grabbed him, and carried him off toward the forest. Then the people of the farmhouse chased them saying: The fox has got our rooster! Then the rooster heard them and said to the fox: Do you hear, Madame, what the nasty farmhands are saying? You should say to them, "I am carrying MY rooster, not yours!' So the fox let go of the rooster as she opened her mouth to say: I am carrying mine, not yours! But the rooster flew away up into a tree and said: You are wrong, Madame, you are wrong! I am theirs, not yours! The fox, however, grabbed her mouth with her paw and said: "O mouth! You talk too much, you say too much! If, in fact, you had just stayed quiet, you would have not lost your prize! Soit is that many people, when they talk too much, cannot escape harm.

[This translation is meant as a help in understanding the story, not as a "crib" for the Latin. I have not hesitated to change the syntax to make it flow more smoothly in English, altering the verb tense consistently to narrative past tense, etc.]

This edition of Aesop's fables provided the basis for the first printed Aesop's fables in English, published by William Caxton in 1484. Here is Caxton's version:

/ Of a foxe / whiche came toward a Cocke / And sayd to hym / I wold fayne wete / yf thow canst as wel synge as thy fader dyde / And thenne the Cock shette his eyen / and beganne to crye and synge / And thenne the Foxe toke and bare hym awey / And the peple of the towne cryed / the foxe bereth awey the cok / And thenne the Cocke sayd thus to the Foxe / My lord vnderstandest thow not / what the peple sayth / that thow berest awey theyr cock / telle to them / that it is thyn / and not theyrs / And as the foxe sayd / hit is not yours / but it is myn / the cok scaped fro the foxe mouthe / and flough vpon a tree / And thenne the Cok sayd to the fox thow lyest / For I am theyrs and not thyn / And thenne the foxe beganne to hytte the erthe bothe with his mouthe & heed sayenge / Mouthe / thow hast spoken to moche / thow sholdest haue eten the Cok / had not be thyn ouer many wordes /

Illustration:

Here is an illustration from this edition, by the renowned artist Francis Barlow; click on the image for a larger view.


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Monday, January 29, 2007

De lupo et agno

Title: De lupo et agno: The Wolf and The Lamb

Source: Steinhowel's Aesop.

Parallels: For parallel versions, see Perry 155.

Latin Text:

Esopus de innocente et improbo talem retulit fabulam. Agnus et lupus sitientes ad rivum e diverso venerunt; sursum bibebat lupus, longeque inferior agnus. Lupus ut agnum vidit sic ait: Turbasti mihi aquam bibenti. Agnus patiens dixit: Quomodo aquam turbavi tibi, quae ad me de te recurrit? Lupus non erubuit veritatem ac: Maledicis mihi? inquit. Agnus ait: Non maledixi tibi. At lupus: Et ante sex menses ita pater tuus mihi fecit. Agnus ait: nec ego tunc natus eram. At lupus denuo ait: Agrum mihi pascendo devastasti. Agnus inquit: Cum dentibus caream, quomodo id facere potui? Lupus demum ira concitus ait: Licet tua nequeam solvere argumenta, cenare tamen opipare intendo; agnumque cepit, innocentique vitam eripuit ac manducavit. Fabula significat, quod apud improbos calumniatores ratio et veritas non habent.

Here is a segmented version to help you see the grammatical patterns:

Esopus
de innocente et improbo
talem retulit fabulam.
Agnus et lupus
sitientes
ad rivum e diverso venerunt;
sursum bibebat lupus,
longeque inferior agnus.
Lupus
ut agnum vidit
sic ait:
Turbasti mihi aquam
bibenti.
Agnus patiens dixit:
Quomodo aquam turbavi tibi,
quae ad me de te recurrit?
Lupus non erubuit veritatem ac:
Maledicis mihi? inquit.
Agnus ait:
Non maledixi tibi.
At lupus:
Et ante sex menses
ita pater tuus mihi fecit.
Agnus ait:
nec ego tunc natus eram.
At lupus denuo ait:
Agrum mihi
pascendo devastasti.
Agnus inquit:
Cum dentibus caream,
quomodo id facere potui?
Lupus demum
ira concitus ait:
Licet
tua nequeam solvere argumenta,
cenare tamen opipare intendo;
agnumque cepit,
innocentique vitam eripuit
ac manducavit.
Fabula significat,
quod
apud improbos calumniatores
ratio et veritas non habent.

Translation:

Aesop reported this fable about an innocent person and a scoundrel. The lamb and the wolf were thirsty and from their separate places they came to the stream. The wolf was drinking upstream, and the lamb was drinking way off downstream. The wolf, when he saw the lamb, spoke as follows: "You have muddied my water while I am drinking." The lamb patiently replied, "How could I disturb your water, when the water is flowing down to me from you?" The wolf, who did not blush at the truth, said, "Are you cursing me?" The lamb said, "I didn't curse you." The wolf said: "And six months ago your father did the same thing to me." The lamb said, "I wasn't even born then." The wolf spoke up again, "You have laid waste my field by feeding on the grass there." The lamb said: "Since I don't have any teeth, how could I have done that?" The wolf finally got all fired up with anger and said: "Even if I am not able to refute your arguments, I nevertheless plan to have a sumptuous dinner." And he grabbed the lamb, and killed that innocent creature, and ate his fill. The moral of the story is the among wicked scoundrels, reason and truth are of no account.

[This translation is meant as a help in understanding the story, not as a "crib" for the Latin. I have not hesitated to change the syntax to make it flow more smoothly in English, altering the verb tense consistently to narrative past tense, etc.]

The first printed edition of Aesop's fables in English was published in 1484 by William Caxton. Here is his version of this fable!

Of the Innocent and of the shrewe Esope reherceth to vs suche a fable / how it was so / that the lambe and the wulf had bothe thurst / and went bothe to a Ryuer for to drynke / It happed that the wulf dranke aboue & the lambe dranke bynethe / And as the wulf sawe and perceyued the lambe / he sayd with a hyghe voys / Ha knaue why hast thou troubled and fowled my water / whiche I shold now drynke / Allas my lord sauf your grece / For the water cometh fro yow toward me / Thenne sayd the wulf to the lambe / Hast thow no shame ne drede to curse me / And the lambe sayd My lord with your leue / And the wulf sayd ageyne / Hit is not syxe monethes passyd that thy fader dyd to me as moche / And the lambe ansuerd yet was I not at that tyme born / And the wlf said ageyne to hym / Thou hast ete my fader / And the lambe ansuerd / I haue no teeth / Thenne said the wulf / thou arte wel lyke thy fader / and for his synne & mysded thow shalt deye / The wulf thenne toke the lambe and ete hym /
This fable sheweth that the euylle man retcheth not by what maner he may robbe & destroye the good & innocent man


Illustration:

Here is an illustration from an edition of the fables published in 1501; click on the image for a larger view.


Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.