Irenaeus Fable 84: Aquila et Testudo Volans

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 Testudine et Aquila, the story of the foolish turtle who wanted to fly. In Perry's indexing system, this is Perry 230.

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

Testudo videns Aquilam se pennarum remigio in altum levare, et multa aeris spatia facillime labore dimetiri, coepit desiderare sortem ipsius, saltem rogavit Aquilam, ut se in sublime portaret, ut posset hac voluptate frui, spectare et intueri caelum et terrarum tractus et maris; morem gessit Aquila cupiditati Testudinis, et ungue prehensam per inane sustulit, unde statim dimisit ex alto, meritas poenas dantem temerariae suae cupiditatis.

Testudo
videns Aquilam
se
pennarum remigio
in altum levare,
et multa aeris spatia
facillime labore dimetiri,
coepit desiderare sortem ipsius,
saltem rogavit Aquilam,
ut se in sublime portaret,
ut posset
hac voluptate frui,
spectare et intueri caelum
et terrarum tractus et maris;
morem gessit Aquila
cupiditati Testudinis,
et ungue prehensam
per inane sustulit,
unde statim
dimisit ex alto,
meritas poenas dantem
temerariae suae cupiditatis.

Here's an illustration for the fable (image source) by Stephanie Smith - and be sure to visit her website and blog for more great illustrations. She does fabulous work - wow!

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