Irenaeus Fable 77. De Duobus Equis.

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 De Duobus Equis, the story of what happens when a man acquires a brand-new horse for his stable. This is another fable from Abstemius.

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

Quidam Eques unico instructus Equo, alterum emit priori longe inferiorem, quem tamen impensius ac diligentius multo curabat. Unde stupefactus, cum percontaretur ab alio Equo, qui id fieret, ut novus, et in nullo sibi comparandus, praeferretur: forte inde respondit, quod ea est hominum natura, ut exteros et novos hospites, antiquis licet melioribus, liberalius excipiant.

Quidam Eques
unico instructus Equo,
alterum emit
priori longe inferiorem,
quem tamen
impensius ac diligentius multo
curabat.
Unde stupefactus,
cum percontaretur ab alio Equo,
qui id fieret,
ut novus,
et in nullo sibi comparandus,
praeferretur:
forte inde respondit,
quod ea est hominum natura,
ut exteros et novos hospites,
antiquis licet melioribus,
liberalius excipiant.

Here's an illustration for the fable (image source), showing two horses:

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