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abstemius005

Page history last edited by Laura Gibbs 16 years, 2 months ago

 

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DE RUSTICO AMNEM TRANSITURO

 

Source: Abstemius 5 (You can see a 1499 edition of Abstemius online, but I am doing my transcription from the 1568 edition of Aesopi fabulae in the EEBO catalog.)

 

Latin Text:

 

Rusticus torrentem transiturus, qui forte imbribus excreverat, quaerebat vadum. Et cum primum eam fluminis partem tentasset, quae quietior placidiorque videbatur, reperit eam altiorem quam animo erat opinatus. Rursus ibi breviorem tutioremque adinvenit, ubi maiori aquarum strepitu fluvius decurrebat. Tunc secum "Quam tutius (inquit) clamosis aquis, quam quietis et silentibus vitam nostram credere possumus." Hac admonemur fabula ut minus verbosos et minaces quam quietos extimescamus.

 

Here is a segmented version to help you see the grammatical patterns:

 

Rusticus

torrentem transiturus,

qui forte imbribus excreverat,

quaerebat vadum.

Et cum primum

eam fluminis partem tentasset,

quae quietior placidiorque videbatur,

reperit eam altiorem

quam animo erat opinatus.

Rursus

ibi breviorem tutioremque adinvenit,

ubi maiori aquarum strepitu fluvius decurrebat.

Tunc secum

"Quam tutius (inquit) clamosis aquis,

quam quietis et silentibus

vitam nostram credere possumus."

Hac admonemur fabula

ut minus verbosos et minaces

quam quietos extimescamus.

 

Translation: A farmer was about to cross a rushing stream which by chance had swollen with rains, and he sought a ford. First, he tried that part of the stream which seemed quieter and more peaceful, and he found it to be deeper than he had thought. Then he found that place was shallower and safer where the stream flowed by with a greater burbling of the waters. Then he said to himself, "How much more safely can we entrust our life to the roaring waters rather than to the quiet and noiseless waters." We are warned by this fable that we should fear noisy, threatening people than those people who keep quiet.

 

[This translation is meant as a help in understanding the story, not as a "crib" for the Latin. I have not hesitated to change the syntax to make it flow more smoothly in English, altering the verb tense consistently to narrative past tense, etc.]

 

Sir Roger L'Estrange

 

Sir Roger L'Estrange included the fables of Abstemius in his amazing 17th-century edition of Aesop's fables. Here is L'Estrange's translation:

 

A Country-man that was to pass a River, founded it up and down to try where it was most fordable: and upon Trial he made this Observation on't: Where the Water ran Smooth, he found it Deepest; and on the contrary, Shallowest where it made most Noise.

There's More Danger in a Reserv'd and Silent, than in a Noisy, Babbling Enemy.

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