Irenaeus Fabula 22. Lupus et Ovis

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 Lupus et Ovis, the story of an injured wolf who asked a sheep for help. In Perry's indexing system, this is Perry 160.

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

Iacebat humi Lupus male tractatus a canibus et cibi indigus ac appetens. Visam eminus Ovem vocat; rogat ut de vicino fonte sibi aquam afferat. Quid aqua esurienti? (inquit illa); quaere tibi prius cibum. Sufficit (inquit Lupus) si potum praestes; de cibo mihi providebo. Illa, verba et finem Lupi subodorans: Capio te, amice Lupe (ait): si tibi aquam dedero, dedero etiam cibum; de me te cibaturus es. Vale; alio vocor, longe a tuis dentibus et ventre. Indicat non se hosti committendum.

Iacebat humi Lupus
male tractatus a canibus
et cibi indigus ac appetens.
Visam eminus Ovem
vocat;
rogat
ut de vicino fonte
sibi aquam afferat.
Quid aqua esurienti?
(inquit illa);
quaere tibi prius cibum.
Sufficit (inquit Lupus)
si potum praestes;
de cibo mihi providebo.
Illa,
verba et finem Lupi
subodorans:
Capio te, amice Lupe (ait):
si tibi aquam dedero,
dedero etiam cibum;
de me
te cibaturus es.
Vale; alio vocor,
longe a tuis dentibus et ventre.
Indicat
non se hosti committendum.


Here's an illustration for the fable (image source) from a 19th-century edition of Aesop's fables:

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