Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Irenaeus Fabula 30. De Turdo

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 De Turdo, the story of the thrush and the bird-lime. Although this story is not found as such in Perry, you can read a version in Townsend.

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

Turdus in retia Aucupis incurrens, nec se extricare valens supra modum suam sortem dolebat, non tam quod sibi moriendum esset, quantum quod suis ipse armis periret, visco enim captus erat, et viscum e turdorum stercore fieri aiunt; quem enim non taedeat mori, qui suae mortis causa sit?

Turdus
in retia Aucupis incurrens,
nec se extricare valens
supra modum
suam sortem dolebat,
non tam quod
sibi moriendum esset,
quantum quod
suis ipse armis periret,
visco enim captus erat,
et viscum
e turdorum stercore
fieri aiunt;
quem enim non taedeat mori,
qui suae mortis causa sit?

Here's an illustration for the fable (image source), showing a Bicknell's thrush, a North American bird:




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

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