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Barlow 46. DE LEONE, ASINO ET GALLO

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Gallus aliquando cum Asino pascebatur, Leone autem aggresso Asinum, Gallus exclamavit, et Leo, qui Galli vocem timet, fugere incipit. Asinus, ratus propter se fugere, aggressus est Leonem; ut vero procul a gallicinio persecutus est, conversus Leo Asinum devoravit, qui moriens clamabat, “Iusta passus sum; ex pugnacibus enim non natus parentibus, quamobrem in aciem irrui?"

Translation: A rooster was once grazing together with a donkey, and when a lion attacked the donkey, the rooster crowed; the lion, who is afraid of the rooster's crowing, took off in flight. The donkey, thinking that the lion was running away on his account (i.e., not because of the rooster crowing), ran after the lion. But as soon as he had followed the lion beyond the range of the rooster's crowing, the lion turned around and devoured the donkey. As he was dying, the donkey exclaimed, "I suffer justly: since I was not born of combative parents, why did I rush into the line of battle?"

[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.]

Illustration: Here is an illustration from this edition, by the renowned artist Francis Barlow; click on the image for a larger view.