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DE AGRICOLA ET FILIIS

 

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

 

Introduction: This fable can be considered an example of the English saying, "United we stand; divided we fall." The version of the story you will read hear is about a farmer and his sons. In the ancient Greek world, the same story was told about a legendary king of Scythia named Scilurus who, when on his deathbed, used this example to teach his surviving sons - all eighty of them! - about the need to make peace amongst themselves and set aside their quarrels. For fables about the failure of solidarity, see the story of the bear and the two friends or the story of the lion and the four bulls.

 

Latin Text:

 

Agricola, Filios suos videns quotidie litigantes, iussit fasciculum virgarum sibi afferri. Quae cum allatae essent, colligavit omnes in unum fasciculum, iussitque singulos Filiorum fasciculum capere et confringere. Illis vero confringere non valentibus, solvens postea fasciculum, tradidit singulas singulis eis frangendas, atque, illis statim facileque frangentibus, dixit, "Ita et vos, Filii mei, si unanimes perstiteritis, invictos vos hostibus praebebitis. Sin minus, ipsa vestra aemulatio opportunam vos praedam inimicis praestabit."

 

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

 

Agricola,

Filios suos

videns

quotidie litigantes,

iussit

fasciculum virgarum

sibi afferri.

Quae cum allatae essent,

colligavit omnes

in unum fasciculum,

iussitque singulos Filiorum

fasciculum capere et confringere.

Illis vero confringere non valentibus,

solvens postea fasciculum,

tradidit singulas singulis eis frangendas,

atque,

illis statim facileque frangentibus,

dixit,

"Ita et vos, Filii mei,

si unanimes perstiteritis,

invictos

vos hostibus praebebitis.

Sin minus,

ipsa vestra aemulatio

opportunam vos praedam

inimicis praestabit."

 

Translation: A farmer, seeing his sons fighting every day, ordered that a bundle of sticks be brought to him. After the sticks had been brought to him, he tied them all into one bundle and ordered his sons, one by one, to take the bundle and to break it. When they in fact were not able to break it, the father then unbound the bundle and handed the sticks to each son one by one to break them. When they were able to quickly and easily break them, he said, "So you also, my sons, if you will be united in mind, you will present yourselves to your enemies invincible. Otherwise, your own rivalry will make you into ready spoils for your enemies." The affairs of mankind yield the best progress with concord, but with discord, they yield disastrous loss.

 

[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 53.

 

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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