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DE RUSTICO ET COLUBRO

 

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

 

Introduction: You can consider this fable to be an example of the English saying, "No good deed goes unpunished." The peasant does a good deed for a snake that he finds frozen in the snow, but things do not go very well once that snake thaws out! The fable ends with some words of rebuke that the farmer speaks to the snake, and it doesn't look like the farmer has really learned his lesson. In an ancient Greek version of the fable, however, the man admits his mistake: "Well, I got what I deserve," he said, "for having shown kindness to a scoundrel!" For another fable of misguided generosity, see the story of the farmer and the trees. For a fable about the rewards of generosity, see the story of the lion who spared the life of a mouse.

 

Latin Text:

 

Rusticus repertum in altiori nive Colubrum, frigore prope enectum, domum tulit et ad focum adiecit. Coluber ab igni vires virusque recipiens et non amplius flammam ferens, totum tugurium sibilando infecit. Accurrit Rusticus et, correpta sude, verbis verberibusque cum eo iniuriam expostulat: "Num haec est quam retulit gratia, eripiendo vitam illi cui vitam debuit?"

 

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

 

Rusticus

repertum in altiori nive Colubrum,

frigore prope enectum,

domum tulit

et ad focum adiecit.

Coluber

ab igni

vires virusque recipiens

et non amplius flammam ferens,

totum tugurium sibilando infecit.

Accurrit Rusticus

et,

correpta sude,

verbis verberibusque

cum eo iniuriam expostulat:

"Num haec est quam retulit gratia,

eripiendo vitam illi

cui vitam debuit?"

 

Translation: A farmer found a snake in the deep snow, almost dead with cold, and brought it home, and tossed it beside the fire. The snake, recuperating his strength and poison from the fire's warmth, and no longer able to endure the flame, poisoned all the hut with his hissing. The farmer ran up and grabbed a pointed stick, with words and blows he complained to the snake about the wrong the snake had done him: "Is the favor which my favor has won, that you should be snatching away the life of the one to whom you owe your life?"

 

[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 176.

 

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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