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I.1. Lupus et Agnus

Parallels: For parallel versions, see Perry 155. For  help in translating the poem, use the page for this poem at NoDictionaries.com, with interlinear word lists! (Here are some tips on using the NoDictionaries tool.)

For MACRONS and METER, plus a PROSE version, see the Ictibus Felicibus blog.

The Wolf and the Lamb

(trans. C. Smart)

BY thirst incited; to the brook

The Wolf and Lamb themselves betook.

The Wolf high up the current drank,

The Lamb far lower down the bank.

Then, bent his ravenous maw to cram,

The Wolf took umbrage at the Lamb.

"How dare you trouble all the flood,

And mingle my good drink with mud?"

"Sir," says the Lambkin, sore afraid,

"How should I act, as you upbraid?

The thing you mention cannot be,

The stream descends from you to me."

Abash'd by facts, says he, " I know

'Tis now exact six months ago

You strove my honest fame to blot"-

"Six months ago, sir, I was not."

"Then 'twas th' old ram thy sire," he cried,

And so he tore him, till he died.

To those this fable I address

Who are determined to oppress,

And trump up any false pretence,

But they will injure innocence.