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DE RUSTICO ET MURE

Source: Abstemius 50 (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:

Heremita quidam vir sanctissimae vitae militem hortabatur ut relicta saeculi militia quam absque Dei offensa et animae discrimine pauci exercent, tandem se corporis traderet quieti et animae consuleret saluti. Cui miles: Faciam, inquit, quod mones pater. Verum enim est quod hoc tempore milites neque stipendia exigere valeant licet exigua sint neque praedari possint. Fabula indicat multos vitiis renuntiare quia illa amplius exercere non possunt.

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

vir sanctissimae vitae

militem hortabatur

ut

relicta saeculi militia

quam

absque Dei offensa et animae discrimine

pauci exercent,

tandem

se corporis traderet quieti

et animae consuleret saluti.

Cui miles:

Faciam, inquit,

quod mones pater.

Verum enim est

quod hoc tempore

milites

neque stipendia exigere valeant

licet exigua sint

neque praedari possint.

Fabula indicat

multos

vitiis renuntiare

quia

illa amplius exercere

non possunt.

Translation: A certain hermit, a man of a most holy lifestyle, urged a soldier that he give up the warfare of this world, which few can manage to do without offending God and endangering their soul. Instead, he urged the soldier to consign himself to the rest of the body and to concern himself with the welfare of his soul. The soldier told the hermit: I will do what you advise, Father. The fact of the matter is that at this time soldiers are not able to collect their pay, meager as it is, nor are they able to get any good plunder. The fable shows that many people renounce wicked activities only because they are prevented from conducting them any longer.

[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:

There was a Holy Man, that took a Soldier to task, upon the Subject of his Profession, and laid before him the Hazard, the Sins, and the Troubles that attend People of that Trade: Wherefore, says he, for your Soul's Sake, Sir, pray give it over. Well! Father, says the Soldier, I'll do as you bid me; for really we are so ill paid, and there's so little to be gotten by Pillage, that I fancy I had e'en as good betake myself to a godly Life. When People can live no longer by their Sins, 'tis high time for them to mend their Manners.

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