Agitabat Coriarius quidam una Equum et Asinum onustum. Sed in via fatiscens, Asinus rogabat Equum ut sibi succurreret et velit portiunculam oneris tanti tolerare. Recusabat Equus et mox Asinus oneri totus succubuit et halitum clausit supremum. Herus accedens mortuo Asino sarcinam detraxit et, pelle superaddita excoriata, omnia Equo imposuit. Quod cum sensisset Equus, ingemuit, inquiens, “Quam misellus ego, qui, cum portiunculam oneris socii ferre recusaverim, iam totam sarcinam cogar tolerare.”Agitabat Coriarius quidam
= We meet one of the main characters of the story here: the "skinner" (from Latin corium, meaning "skin, hide").
una Equum et Asinum onustum.
= Here we meet the other two characters in the story: the horse and the donkey. Careful with the word una, which is used adverbially here (you can find many other Latin adverbs that likewise have this feminine ablative singular ending: ultra, infra, supra, etc., having been abbreviated from noun phrases originally built with nouns like via or parte).
Sed in via fatiscens,
= Of course, since it is the donkey who is loaded down, he is the one who is having a hard time! The literal meaning of fatiscens is "falling apart, coming to pieces" and has the metaphorical connotations of becoming exhausted and thus breaking down.
Asinus rogabat Equum
= This question is going to be the crux of the fable: can you guess what the donkey is going to ask the horse?
ut sibi succurreret
= Here we learn one purpose of the donkey: he would like for the horse to come to his aid! The reflexive pronoun refers back to the subject of the main verb, rogabat.
et velit portiunculam oneris tanti tolerare.
= Here is another request: the donkey would like for the horse to take a tiny bit of the load, with portiuncula as a diminutive of the noun portio.
Recusabat Equus
= The horse's refusal comes as no surprise - but it will have consequences that the horse himself does not even imagine!
et mox Asinus oneri totus succubuit
= The verbsuccubuit takes a dative complement, oneri, while the adjective totus modifies the subject of the verb, so you might want to translate it as an adverb, rather than an adjective.
et halitum clausit supremum.
= The noun phrase halitum supremum wraps around the verb.
Herus accedens
= Remember the tanner who is driving the animals? Here he is again!
mortuo Asino sarcinam detraxit
= The verb detraxit takes a direct object, sarcinam, as well as a dative complement, asino: “take (something) off (somebody).”
et, pelle superaddita excoriata,
= An ablative absolute construction, consisting of the ablative participle superaddita and the ablative noun phrase pelle excoriata (the hide which the man has stripped from the donkey).
omnia Equo imposuit.
= Here is the main verb of which the master, herus, is the subject: (herus omnia equo imposuit.
Quod cum sensisset Equus,
= The relative pronoun connects back to the previous sentence, referring to the general situation described there, i.e. the horse having to bear all the extra weight; the subjunctive, introduced by cum, gives causal background information as to why the horse groaned.
ingemuit, inquiens,
= This is the present active participle of the defective verb inquam, used to indicate a direct quotation.
“Quam misellus ego,
= The verb sum is implied: quam misellus ego (sum), “how miserable am I!”
qui, cum portiunculam oneris socii ferre recusaverim,
= The subjunctive, introduced by cum, gives causal background information; this is why the horse now has to carry the whole load.
iam totam sarcinam cogar tolerare.”
= The horse realizes now that is going to have to literally "bear" this burden and, metaphorically, he is going to have to "tolerate" the situation, which is the result of his own selfish behavior.
Here is the illustration of the fable by Francis Barlow:
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