| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

abstemius016

Page history last edited by Laura Gibbs 14 years, 11 months ago

 

HOME | Abstemius: Previous Page - Next Page

 

DE MUSCA QUAE QUADRIGIS INSIDENS PULVEREM SE EXCITASSE DICEBAT

 

Source: Abstemius 16 (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:

 

Quadrigae in stadio currebant, quibus musca insidebat. Maximo autem pulvere, tum equorum pedum pulsu, tum rotarum volutatione, exorto, dicebat musca, "Quam magnam vim pulveris excitavi!" Haec fabula ad eos spectat, qui, cum ignavi sint, alienam tamen gloriam suis magnificis verbis in se transferre conantur.

 

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

 

Quadrigae

in stadio currebant,

quibus musca insidebat.

Maximo autem pulvere,

tum equorum pedum pulsu,

tum rotarum volutatione,

exorto,

dicebat musca,

"Quam magnam vim pulveris

excitavi!"

Haec fabula ad eos spectat,

qui,

cum ignavi sint,

alienam tamen gloriam

suis magnificis verbis

in se transferre conantur.

 

Translation: A four-horse chariot was racing in the stadium, and there was a fly sitting on the chariot. When a mighty dust was stirred up, now from the pounding of the horses' hooves, now from the turning of the wheels, the fly said, "What a great force of dust I have aroused!" This fable focuses on those who, although they are lazy, nevertheless try with their boasting words to shift onto themselves other people's glory.

 

[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:

 

What a Dust do I raise! says the Fly upon the Coach-Wheel and what a rate do I drive at, says the same Fly again upon the Horse's Buttock. This Fly in the Fable, is every Trifling Arrogant Fop in Nature, by what Name or Title soever Dignify'd, or Distinguish'd.

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.