HOME | Barlow's Aesop: Previous Page - Next Page  

Barlow 29. DE CANE ET BOVE

ONLINE FORUM: At the Aesopus Ning Forum, you can ask questions about this fable. You will also  find links there to additional learning materials to help you in reading the Latin (vocabulary, grammar commentary, simplified version, quizzes, macrons, etc.).

In praesepi faeni pleno decumbebat Canis. Venit Bos ut comedat faenum, cum Canis, confestim sese erigens, tota voce elatravit. Cui Bos: “Dii te, cum ista tua invidia, perdant (inquit): nec enim faeno ipse vesceris, nec me vesci sines.”

Translation: A dog was lying in a manger full of hay; an ox came in to eat the hay, when the dog immediately rose up and barked loudly. The ox said to the dog: Damn you and that envy of yours, for you yourself do not eat the hay, and you do not let me eat it.

[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.]

The Moral of the Story:

Ita sumus natura comparati

ut aliis invideamus,

quod ipsi

vel naturae imprudentia

vel mentis inopia

nullo modo

consequi possumus.

Illustration: Here is an illustration from this edition, by the renowned artist Francis Barlow; click on the image for a larger view. You can also see, in addition to the vicious dog and the ox, some other inhabitants of the barnyard, including the baby chicks underfoot: they better watch out!