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Appendix 24. Pastor et Capella

 

Parallels: For parallel versions, see Perry 280.

 

Pastor capellae cornu baculo fregerat:

rogare coepit ne se domino proderet.

"Quamvis indigne laesa reticebo tamen;

sed res clamabit ipsa quid deliqueris."

 

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

 

Pastor fregerat cornu capellae baculo:

coepit rogare ne proderet se domino.

"Quamvis indigne laesa,

reticebo tamen;

sed res ipsa clamabit

quid deliqueris."

 

Here is the poem with meter marks:

 

Pastor ~ capel~lae cor~nu bac'~lo fre~gerat:

roga~re coe~pit ne ~ se dom'~no pro~deret.

"Quamvis ~ indig~ne lae~sa ret'~cebo ~ tamen;

sed res ~ clama~bit ip~sa quid ~ deli~queris."

 

Translation:

 

A shepherd had broken the horn of a goat with his staff: he began to ask the goat not to report him to the master. "Although I've been unjustly injured, nevertheless I will stay quiet - but the thing itself will proclaim what crime you have committed."

 

[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.]

 

Illustration:

 

Here is an image of a goat: