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

 

DE ACCIPITRE COLUMBAM INSEQUENTE

 

  Visit the Fable Discussion Page to leave your comments and get answers to your questions.

 

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

 

Introduction: You might consider this fable to be an example of what is sometimes called "the golden rule" in English: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This saying goes back to the Bible; here is the Latin version in the Gospel of Matthew, 7.12: Omnia quaecumque vultis ut faciant vobis homines, et vos facite illis, "Everything whatsoever you want that people do for you, do you also for them." Can you see how the "golden rule" can be applied to the fable of the hawk and the dove? For another fable about the predatory hawk, see the story of the hawk and the nightingale. For a fable about another bird caught by a man, see the story of the partridge in the snare.

 

 

Latin Text:

 

Cum Accipiter Columbam praecipiti insequeretur volatu, villam quandam ingressus, a Rustico captus est, quem blande, ut se dimitteret, obsecrabat. "Non etenim te laesi," dixit. Cui Rusticus: "Nec haec te laeserat."

 

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

 

Cum Accipiter

Columbam

praecipiti insequeretur volatu,

villam quandam ingressus,

a Rustico captus est,

quem

blande, ut se dimitteret, obsecrabat.

"Non etenim te laesi,"

dixit.

Cui Rusticus:

"Nec haec te laeserat."

 

Translation: A hawk was chasing a dove in headlong flight and fly into a certain farmhouse. He was captured by a country-man. With flattering words, the hawk begged the man to let him go. The hawk said, "For in fact, I did you no harm." The man said to the hawk, "And the dove had done you no harm." 

 

[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 one of the fables of Abstemius, not found (to my knowledge) in the Greco-Roman Aesopic corpus. You can read an English translation of Abstemius by Sir Roger L'Estrange at aesopica.net. For a classical parallel, see the story of the man and the weasel.

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 Create your own educational wiki!Support CommunityPublic, not yet premium Privacy Policy RSS