Fable 18: Accipiter Columbam Insequens

Here's the next fable with a kind of running commentary that is not entirely possible within the confines of the forthcoming book from Bolchazy-Carducci. This will be Fable 18 in the book: De Accipitre Columbam Insequente. For more information Fable about this fable, see the Discussion Forum for this fable at the Aesopus Ning.

Cum Accipiter Columbam praecipiti insequeretur volatu, villam quandam ingressus, a Rustico captus est, quem blande, ut se dimitteret, obsecrabat. “Non etenim te laesi,” dixit. Cui Rusticus: “Nec haec te laeserat.”

Cum Accipiter
= As usual, we meet one of the main characters in the fable right away: the hawk.

Columbam praecipiti insequeretur volatu,
= The subjunctive, introduced by cum, gives causal background information as to why the hawk was caught; the deponent verb insequeretur is transitive and takes a direct object in the accusative. The ablative phrase wraps around the verb.

villam quandam ingressus,
= The deponent participle ingressus is transitive and takes a direct object in the accusative.

a Rustico captus est,
= Now we meet the other main character of the story: the "rustic" man, or peasant.

quem blande,
= The relative pronoun, in the accusative case, refers back to the peasant in the previous clause.

ut se dimitteret, obsecrabat
= The ut clause expresses the wish expressed by the hawk: he implored the man to let him go. The reflexive pronoun refers to the subject of the main verb, the hawk.

“Non etenim te laesi,” dixit.
= The postpositive particle is in second position, as you would expect. The hawk is speaking, and the pronoun te refers to the man who is holding the hawk captive.

Cui Rusticus:
= The referent of the relative pronoun is the hawk, with an implied verb of speaking: cui (accipitri) rusticus (inquit).

“Nec haec te laeserat.”
= The feminine pronoun refers to the dove (feminine noun). Since it is the man who is speaking, the pronoun "you" refers to the hawk he holds captive. You can replace the word nec with the words et non, if that helps to clarify the meaning for you: et haec (columba) te non laeserat.

Here is the illustration of the fable by Francis Barlow:

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The Aesopus Ning is now open for business - so, for more fables and to share your questions and comments with others, come visit the Ning!

Fable 17: Agricola et Ciconia

Here's the next fable with a kind of running commentary that is not entirely possible within the confines of the forthcoming book from Bolchazy-Carducci. This will be Fable 17 in the book: De Agricola et Ciconia. For more information Fable about this fable, see the Discussion Forum for this fable at the Aesopus Ning.

Laqueum praetendit Rusticus gruibus anseribusque, sata depascentibus. Capitur et Ciconia. Supplicat illa et innocentem sese clamitat, nec gruem nec anserem esse, sed avium omnium optimam, quippe quae parentibus sedulo inservire eundemque senio confectum alere consueverat. Agricola: “Horum (inquit) nihil me fugit; verum cum nocentibus postquam te cepi, cum nocentibus morieris.”

Laqueum praetendit Rusticus
= The opening words introduce us to one of the main characters: a man of the countryside, a "rustic" person, a peasant.

gruibus anseribusque, sata depascentibus.
= The man is laying a trap for these birds in particular, the cranes and the geese, because they are devastating his crops. The participle sata is used substantively, meaning “crops, things sown in the fields.”

Capitur et Ciconia.
= Here we meet the other main character of the story: a stork, who is inadvertently caught in the net. Note the adverbial use of et, meaning “also."

Supplicat illa
= The pronoun refers to the stork.

et innocentem sese clamitat,
= Accusative plus infinitive constructions in indirect statement, with sese (alternate form of se) as the subject, and innocentem as a predicate adjective: innocentem sese (esse).

nec gruem nec anserem esse,
= Continuation of the accusative plus infinitive construction, with the accusative subject implied, and the other birds as predicate nouns: (se) nec gruem nec anserem esse.

sed avium omnium optimam,
= Continuation of the accusative plus infinitive construction, with the subject and the infinitive implied, and optimam as a predicate adjective: avium omnium optimam (se esse).

quippe quae parentibus sedulo inservire
= The particle quippe is often used with the relative pronoun to mean “inasmuch as (she is) someone who . . .” The verb inservire takes a dative complement, and you now need to wait to find out what is governing this infinitive form.

eundemque senio confectum alere consueverat.
= Now you learn that the infinitives inservire and alere are both complements to consueverat. The word eundem (masculine accusative singular of idem) refers to the stork’s aforementioned parent: eundem (parentem) senio confectum.

Agricola: “Horum (inquit) nihil me fugit;
= Note the insertion of the verb of speaking as a kind of postpositive. The phrase horum nihil is a partitive genitive: nihil (nothing) horum (of these things) = “none of these things.”

verum
= Note the emphatic verum in first position; this is something equivalent to starting an English sentence with "By God!"

cum nocentibus postquam te cepi,
= The adjectival nocentibus refers to the other birds - the geese and the cranes - who had been feasting on the man's crops.

cum nocentibus morieris.”
= Note the parallel construction with the repeated prepositional phrase.

Here is the illustration of the fable by Francis Barlow:

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The Aesopus Ning is now open for business - so, for more fables and to share your questions and comments with others, come visit the Ning!

Fable 16: Cicada et Formica

Here's the next fable with a kind of running commentary that is not entirely possible within the confines of the forthcoming book from Bolchazy-Carducci. This will be Fable 16 in the book: De Cicada et Formica. For more information Fable about this fable, see the Discussion Forum for this fable at the Aesopus Ning.

Dum per aestatem Cicada cantat, Formica suam exercet messem, trahendo in antra grana et in hiemem reponendo. Saeviente autem bruma, famelica Cicada venit ad Formicam et mendicat victum; renuebat autem Formica, dictitans sese laborasse, dum illa cantabat.

Dum per aestatem Cicada cantat,
= The first sentence introduces one of the two main characters in the story: the cricket.

Formica suam exercet messem,
= Here is the other main character in the story: the ant. Note that the noun phrase wraps around the verb.

trahendo in antra grana
= Note the use of the gerund in the ablative case; as a verbal noun, the gerund can take a direct object, as it does here. The ablative here expresses the activity going on in order to carry out the harvest: the grains have to be brought into the ant's hole.

et in hiemem reponendo.
= Another gerund in the ablative case, explaining more of what happens during the harvest. Note the metaphorical use of in here; instead of expressing space, it expresses time. (Most expressions of location in space can also be used as metaphorical expressions of time.)

Saeviente autem bruma,
= Ablative absolute construction, with the postpositive particle in second position, as you would expect.

famelica Cicada
= The adjective explains the cricket's situation when there is no longer food for the taking out there in the field!

venit ad Formicam
= Although it is unclear whether the verb here should be taken as present or perfect, it does not matter for the purposes of storytelling (Latin freely intermingles present and past tense verbs in telling a story); as you read on, you will see that the verb probably should be taken as present tense.

et mendicat victum;
= The present tense verb here confirms that venit should probably also be considered present tense. Careful with victum - this is the accusative of the fourth-declension noun, victus, a verbal noun or supine from the verb vivere. (Because this verb is not transitive, its supine is a bit harder to recognize, since you are not used to seeing a perfect participle for this verb.) The root of this word is the same as in the word vivere, "to live," because you need food to live (it is NOT from the word vincere, "to defeat," although the perfect participle of that verb is, indeed, victus).

renuebat autem Formica,
= Note the postpositive participle in second position, just as you would expect.

dictitans
= This is an intensifed iterative form of the verb dicere -> dictitare.

sese laborasse,
= Accusative plus infinitive construction in indirect statement; sese is an alternate form of se (referring back to the main subject of the sentence, the ant), and laborasse is an alternate form of laboravisse.

dum illa cantabat.
= The pronoun here refers to the cricket, who was indeed singing, as we learned in the very opening words of the fable.

Here is the illustration of the fable by Francis Barlow:

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The Aesopus Ning is now open for business - so, for more fables and to share your questions and comments with others, come visit the Ning!