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DE LUPO ET HIRCO

 

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*Not included in Bolchazy-Carducci book.*

 

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

 

Latin Text:

 

Agno comitanti Caprum Lupus fit obviam, rogatque cur relicta Matre olidum sequatur hircum, suadetque ut ad ubera Matris distenta lacte redeat. Ille vero, Mater mea huic hirco, O Lupe, commisit, Huic summa cura meae salutis data est. Parenti potius quam tibi obsequendum, qui me seducere istis dictis quaeris, et subductum postea decerpere.

 

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

 

Agno

comitanti Caprum

Lupus fit obviam,

rogatque

cur

relicta Matre

olidum sequatur hircum,

suadetque

ut ad ubera Matris

distenta lacte

redeat.

Ille:

Vero,

Mater mea

huic hirco, O Lupe,

commisit.

Huic

summa cura meae salutis

data est.

Parenti

potius quam tibi

obsequendum,

qui

me seducere

istis dictis quaeris,

et subductum

postea decerpere.

 

Translation: There was a lamb, accompanied by a billy-goat, and a wolf rang into them and asked why he had abandoned his mother and was following a stinky billy-goat. The wolf then urged the lamb to go back to his mother's teats which were swollen with milk. The lamb replied, In fact, O wolf, my mother entrusted me to this goat. To him the whole care of my welfare has been given. I should obey my parent rather than you, since you just want to lead me astray with those words of yours, and after you've led me aside to carry me off.

 

[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 572.

 

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.

 

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