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DE AUCUPE ET PALUMBE

 

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Source: Aesop's Fables, 1687 (illustrated by Francis Barlow).

 

Introduction: The words spoken by the fowler (bird-catcher) at the end of this story echo a lesson found in the Bible: "He who digs a pit will fall into it." (Proverbs 26:27). In other words, if you lay a trap for someone else, you may just fall into that trap yourself! That is what you will see happen in this story: while the fowler is trying to bring about the death of another creature, he ends up bringing about his own demise. The fable tells us that he accidentally, "ex improviso," steps on the deadly snake: do you think it is a coincidence? or could it be the fowler's fate?(Or, to use a different cultural model, could it be his karma?) For another story about what happens to the fowler while he is laying a trap, see the story of the ant and the dove. For another story about the danger posed by snakes, see the story of the peasant and the frozen snake.

 

Latin Text:

 

It foras Auceps; videt nidulantem procul in altissima arbore Palumbem. Adproperat et, dum insidias molitur, premit forte calcibus Anguem, qui ex improviso mordebat. Auceps, subito exanimatus malo: "Me miserum! (inquit) Dum alteri insidior, ipse dispereo."

 

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

 

It foras Auceps;

videt

nidulantem procul

in altissima arbore

Palumbem.

Adproperat et,

dum insidias molitur,

premit forte calcibus Anguem,

qui ex improviso mordebat.

Auceps,

subito exanimatus malo:

"Me miserum! (inquit)

Dum alteri insidior,

ipse dispereo."

 

Translation: A bird-catcher went outside and saw at a distance a ring-dove nesting up in a high tree. The bird-catcher ran up and as he was laying a trap, he pressed his heel by accident upon a snake, who unexpectedly bit him. A bird-catcher, suddenly stunned by the accident, said: "Woe is me! While I was plotting against somebody else, I myself have met my doom."

 

[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.]

 

 

Parallels: For parallel versions, see Perry 115.

 

Related Links: Crossword Puzzle

 

Illustration: Here is an illustration from this edition, by the renowned artist Francis Barlow; click on the image for a larger view. You can see the viper coiling around the man's foot, its teeth sunk into the man's flesh, although the man apparently does not feel a thing yet - and even the hunting dog is gazing up at the bird in the tree, oblivious to his master's peril. While the story tells us that the hunter is using a snare to trap the bird, that is not what we see in the image: this hunter is going after the bird with a gun.

 

 

 

 

 

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