Irenaeus Fabula 49. Formica

I've embarked 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 Formica, the story of the origin of the ant. In Perry's indexing system, this is Perry 166.

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

Quae nunc Formica est, dicitur homo fuisse Agricola, assuetus furari et clam surripere vicinorum messes et sata. Unde indignati, Dii eum in hanc bestiolae naturam transformarint; quae, inveteratae consuetudinis haud oblita, formam hominis, non mores suos, exuerit. Ut antea, huc et illuc per campos excurrit, furtim grana suffuratura vicinorum. Adeo Naturam et mores suos dediscere difficile est.

Quae nunc Formica est,
dicitur homo fuisse Agricola,
assuetus furari
et clam surripere
vicinorum messes et sata.
Unde indignati, Dii
eum
in hanc bestiolae naturam transformarint;
quae,
inveteratae consuetudinis haud oblita,
formam hominis,
non mores suos,
exuerit.
Ut antea,
huc et illuc per campos excurrit,
furtim grana suffuratura vicinorum.
Adeo
Naturam et mores suos dediscere
difficile est.

Here's an illustration for the fable (image source), showing an ant carrying a seed:

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