99. De Equo Despecto

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 Equo Despecto, the story of a race-horse who runs better than he looks! This is not a fable indexed in Perry, but you can find it in Abstemius.

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

Cum ad proximos Circenses ludos Equi multi adducerentur, et producerentur in medium, iique elegantes, generosi, compti, aureis frenis et phaleris insignes, inter eos unus apparuit inelegans, et male curatus ac pexus, qui ab omnibus idcirco despectui habebatur, et indignus qui cum aliis concurreret; sed cum cursu probandi proluderent, et is ceteros longo post se intervallo relictos superaret, tum demum omnes mirari et dicere ab externa specie de rebus minime iudicandum, sed a virtute et generositate, quae se per opus probat et innotescit.

Cum
ad proximos Circenses ludos
Equi multi adducerentur,
et producerentur in medium,
iique elegantes,
generosi, compti,
aureis frenis et phaleris
insignes,
inter eos
unus apparuit
inelegans,
et male curatus ac pexus,
qui
ab omnibus idcirco
despectui habebatur,
et indignus
qui cum aliis concurreret;
sed
cum
cursu probandi
proluderent,
et is
ceteros
longo post se intervallo
relictos superaret,
tum demum
omnes mirari
et dicere
ab externa specie
de rebus
minime iudicandum,
sed a virtute et generositate,
quae
se per opus probat
et innotescit.

Here's an illustration for the fable (image source):

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