HOME | Phaedrus: Previous Page - Next Page

 

I.30. Ranae et Tauri

 

Parallels: For parallel versions, see Perry 485.

 

Humiles laborant ubi potentes dissident.

Rana e palude pugnam taurorum intuens,

"Heu, quanta nobis instat pernicies" ait.

interrogata ab alia cur hoc diceret,

de principatu cum illi certarent gregis

longeque ab ipsis degerent vitam boves,

"Sit statio separata ac diversum genus;

expulsus regno nemoris qui profugerit,

paludis in secreta veniet latibula,

et proculcatas obteret duro pede.

Ita caput ad nostrum furor illorum pertinet".

 

Here is the poem in a more prose-like word order for easy reading:

 

Humiles laborant ubi potentes dissident.

Rana intuens e palude pugnam taurorum,

ait: "Heu, quanta pernicies instat nobis."

Interrogata ab alia

cur diceret hoc,

cum illi boves certarent de principatu gregis

et degerent vitam longe ab ipsis,

"Statio separata ac genus diversum sit;

qui expulsus regno nemoris profugerit,

veniet in secreta latibula paludis,

et obteret proculcatas duro pede.

Ita furor illorum pertinet ad nostrum caput."

 

Here is the poem with meter marks:

 

Hum'les ~ labo~rant ub' ~ poten~tes dis~sident.

Ran(a) e ~ palu~de pug~nam tau~ror(um) in~tuens,

"Heu, quan~ta no~bis in~stat per~nicjes" ~ ait.

inter~roga~t(a) ab al~ja cur ~ hoc di~ceret,

de prin~cipa~tu c(um) il~li cer~tarent ~ gregis

longe~qu(e) ab ip~sis de~gerent ~ vitam ~ boves,

"Sit sta~tjo se~para~t(a) ac di~versum ~ genus;

expul~sus reg~no nem'~ris qui ~ profu~gerit,

palu~dis in ~ secre~ta ven~jet lat'~bula,

et pro~culca~tas ob~teret ~ duro ~ pede.

It' cap't ~ ad nos~trum f'ror ~ illo~rum per~tinet".

 

Translation:

 

The small folk suffer when the high and mighty quarrel. A frog gazing out from the swamp saw a fight among the bulls and said: "Yikes, some great disaster is headed our way!" When another frog asked her why she said this, since those oxen were fighting for leadership of their herd and lived their lives far away from the frogs, she replied: "Although their habitat is removed from us and they are not our kind, the bull who is expelled from the realm of the meadow will have to flee and come to find a secret hiding place here in the marsh, treading upon us and grinding us beneath his hard hoof. So it is that their quarrel is a matter of life and death for us."

 

[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.]

 

The Frogs and Bulls (trans. C. Smart)

Men of low life are in distress

When great ones enmity profess.

There was a Bull-fight in the fen,

A Frog cried out in trouble then,

"Oh, what perdition on our race!"

"How," says another, "can the case

Be quite so desp'rate as you've said?

For they're contending who is head,

And lead a life from us disjoin'd,

Of sep'rate station, diverse kind."-

" But he, who worsted shall retire,

Will come into this lowland mire,

And with his hoof dash out our brains

Wherefore their rage to us pertains."

 

Illustration:

 

Here is an illustration from an early printed edition (this shows a bull and a frog, but it is not an illustration of this particular fable); click on the image for a larger view.