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Barlow 61. DE CUPIDINE ET MORTE

*Not included in the Bolchazy-Carducci book.*

Latin Text:

Mutabant pharetras Mors et Cupido. Mortis sagittae senile pectus penetrant et caeco amoris igni carpuntur venae. Cupidinis tela morbis solummodo et frigore armata gloriabantur illa corda quae iuvenili igni calefacere debebant. Cum hoc Cupidini innotescebat, Mortis telis Morti remissis, Cupido suam reposcebat pharetram, quam illi Mors remisit. Sed quamvis ambae suis iam potiuntur spiculis, delirus tamen Error remanet, saepius etenim fit, ut quaedam Cupidinis sagitta, nivibus et glacie, et aliae sagittae Mortis ignibus et flammis sunt armatae.

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

Mutabant pharetras

Mors et Cupido.

Mortis sagittae

senile pectus penetrant

et caeco amoris igni

carpuntur venae.

Cupidinis tela

morbis solummodo et frigore

armata

gloriabantur illa corda

quae

iuvenili igni calefacere

debebant.

Cum hoc Cupidini innotescebat,

Mortis telis Morti remissis,

Cupido

suam reposcebat pharetram,

quam

illi

Mors remisit.

Sed quamvis

ambae

suis iam potiuntur spiculis,

delirus tamen Error remanet,

saepius etenim fit,

ut quaedam Cupidinis sagitta,

nivibus et glacie,

et aliae sagittae Mortis

ignibus et flammis

sunt armatae.

Translation:

Death and Cupid swapped their quivers. The arrows of Death pierced the old man's heart and the veins are harrassed by the blind fire of love. The darts of Cupid, armed with only diseases and chill, boasted of those hearts which ought to be made warm with a young man's fire. When Death pointed this out to Cupid, Cupid remitted Death's darts to Death and Cupid claimed again his own quiver, which Death remitted to Cupid. But even though both quivers contain their own stings, doting Error still persists and it even happens rather often that some arrow of Cupid is armed with snow and ice, and other arrows of Death are armed with fires and flames.

[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: This is not a fable found in the classical Aesopic corpus.

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