Aesopi Carmina: Desbillons Book 11

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This project has moved to a blog of its own: Fabulae Aesopi.

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After yesterday's post, I'm back to the series about Desbillons, book by book; for more about Desbillons, see the starting post. I'm working through the poems book by book with indexes to each of the individual fables; this is the post for Book 11, and the poem for today is about an overconfident dog facing off against a bull.

XI.5 Canis et Taurus

Pugnam parabat inire cum Tauro Canis,

et "Facile vincam," dixit, "namque dentibus 

Sum longe melior." Capite sed prono irruens

Hunc fodit ille necopinantem cornibus.

Fabella te ullo cum hoste congredi vetat,

Nisi ante noris, qua minus, qua plus valet.

Here is the poem written out in English prose order to help in reading:

Canis parabat inire pugnam

cum Tauro,

et dixit,

"Facile vincam 

namque sum longe melior dentibus."

Sed ille [Taurus],

irruens prono capite,

fodit hunc [Canem],

necopinantem cornibus.

Fabella vetat te congredi

cum ullo hoste,

nisi noris ante

qua minus [valet], 

qua plus valet.

This is not a classical fable, although it is a typical Aesopic theme; Desbillons cites for his source the fables of Alberti. Here is Alberti's version; it is very short!

Canis cum tauro dimicaturus victoriam sperabat, quod adversario dentes superiores deessent. At

cornibus tauri saucius, "non istaec - inquit - putassem". 

The meter is iambic, and here is some help with the meter (for more about iambic meter, see the post about Desbillons 1.1).

Pugnam · para · bat ini · re cum · Tauro · Canis,

et "Faci · le vin · cam," dix · it, "nam · que den · tibus 

Sum lon · ge meli · or. Capi · te sed · pron~ ir · ruens

Hunc fo · dit il · le neco · pinan · tem cor · nibus.

Fabel · la t~ ul · lo c~ hos · te con · gredi · vetat,

Nis~ an · te no · ris, qua · minus · qua plus · valet.

There is actually an edition of Desbillons which has a few illustrations, and this is one of the fables that is illustrated, so you can see the fight here, when the dog first makes his attack, foolishing thinking he can defeat the bull:

More poems in Desbillons, Book 11:

1. amnes, pontus et natura (lines: 20+)
2. leo et villicus (lines: 17)
3. simiae et vulpecula (lines: 20+)
4. equi duo (lines: 20+)
5. canis et taurus (lines: 6)
6. naufragus et oceanus (lines: 10)
7. asellus fimum, deinde flores gerens (lines: 12)
8. pulex et homo (lines: 7)
9. canes duo et ovis (lines: 10)
10. gallina et formica (lines: 20+)
11. remi et clavus (lines: 11)
12. simius (lines: 12)
13. struthiocamelus et alauda (lines: 10)
14. fontes duo (lines: 20+)
15. tirunculus in pilae ludo et ludi magister (lines: 16)
16. ex servo dominus (lines: 11)
17. perdix et villica (lines: 20+)
18. viator et ignis fatuus (lines: 9)
19. homines duo, caecus alter, alter claudus (lines: 20+)
20. scarabaeus et aquila (lines: 15)
21. mus et taurus (lines: 17)
22. simii navigantes (lines: 20+)
23. sturnus, hirundo, et aves aliae (lines: 20+)
24. lynx et talpa (lines: 20+)
25. pictor et eius censores (lines: 20+)
26. exercitus duo proeliantes et muscae (lines: 20+)
27. felis, vulpis et lupus (lines: 20+)
28. formica et eruca (lines: 20+)
29. canis piger (lines: 20+)
30. rana, coluber, ciconia, et lacerta (lines: 20+)