Friday, April 24, 2009

Irenaeus Fabula 12. De Cornice et Cane

I'm embarking on a new Latin fable project here at the Latin Via Fables blog: digitizing the 300 fables in the Mithologica sacro-profana, seu florilegium fabularum by P. Irenaeus, published in 1666, which has recently become available at GoogleBooks. For a complete index of the fables in the book, with links to the fables I've digitized so far, check out the Aesopus wiki page at Aesopus.PBwiki.com.

Today's fable is De Cornice et Cane, the story of the crow and the dog and the goddess Athena. In Perry's indexing system, this is Perry 127.

To make reading the fable easier, I've provided a segmented version of the story below.

Cornix Deae Minervae sacra faciens, Canem ad epulas sacrificii invitavit. Cui Canis: "Ut quid tu (ait) Minervae sacrificas, cum ipsa te oderit, et in tantum aversetur, ut auguriis etiam tuis fidem abrogarit?" At illa: "Et ob id (inquit) eo magis ei sacrificia et honorem impendo, ut cum ea in gratiam redeam." In hoc vel maxime veri cultoris Dei formam praescribens: si creatura, Deo quibuscumque auspiciis etiam irato aversoque, cultum sacrificiumque cordis contriti et humiliati, studet impendere, ut quocumque tandem modo, cum eo in gratiam redeat.

Cornix
Deae Minervae sacra faciens,
Canem
ad epulas sacrificii invitavit.
Cui Canis:
"Ut quid tu (ait)
Minervae sacrificas,
cum ipsa te oderit,
et in tantum aversetur,
ut auguriis etiam tuis
fidem abrogarit?"
At illa:
"Et ob id (inquit)
eo magis
ei sacrificia et honorem
impendo,
ut cum ea
in gratiam redeam."
In hoc vel maxime
veri cultoris Dei formam
praescribens:
si creatura,
Deo
quibuscumque auspiciis
etiam irato aversoque,
cultum sacrificiumque
cordis contriti et humiliati,
studet impendere,
ut quocumque tandem modo,
cum eo in gratiam redeat.

Here's an illustration for the fable (image source), showing the statue of Athena in the full-sized replica of the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee:



Aesop's Fables in Latin now available at Amazon.com.

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