Irenaeus Fable 98: Vulpes et Pardus

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 Vulpe et Pardo, the story of the debate between the fox and the leopard about the true meaning of beauty. In Perry's indexing system, this is Perry 12.

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

Altercabantur Vulpes et Pardus de pulchritudine, qua in re Pardus longo intervallo existimans superare Vulpem, ostentabat pellis suae varietates, et contra Vulpinae fuliginem et fuscum colorem multis deprimebat. Vulpes autem, cum ab illa parte se superari cerneret: Iactas (inquit) varietates tuas in pelle; ego maiores habeo in mente. Et quanto anima praestat corpore, tanto specie te praecello. Indicat in homine magis attendi pulchritudinem mentis, quam cutis aut pellis.

Altercabantur
Vulpes et Pardus
de pulchritudine,
qua in re
Pardus
longo intervallo
existimans superare Vulpem,
ostentabat
pellis suae varietates,
et contra
Vulpinae fuliginem
et fuscum colorem
multis deprimebat.
Vulpes autem,
cum ab illa parte
se superari cerneret:
Iactas (inquit)
varietates tuas in pelle;
ego
maiores habeo in mente.
Et quanto
anima praestat corpore,
tanto
specie te praecello.
Indicat
in homine
magis attendi
pulchritudinem mentis,
quam cutis aut pellis.

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

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