Aesopi Carmina: Desbillons Book 12

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

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This post goes back to my series of posts about the Latin verse fables of Desbillons; 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 12, and the poem I've picked out from this book is about a seriously feisty bull and a farmer:

XII.11 Taurus et Villicus

Taurus ferire cornibus ausus est Herum;

Secantur illa. Tunc novum meditans scelus:

"Haud vereor," inquit, "ne mihi secentur pedes,"

Simulque calce Villicum impacto ferit.

Ratio nocendi suppetit semper malis.

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

Taurus ausus est ferire Herum 

cornibus;

[Herus] secantur illa [cornua].

Tunc Taurus,

meditans novum scelus,

inquit,

"Haud vereor

ne mihi pedes secentur,"

simulque ferit Villicum impacto calce.

Ratio nocendi semper suppetit malis. 

Desbillons cites as his source the French fables of Benserade, which I found online at BNF Gallica. It has an illustration too!

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

Taurus · feri · re cor · nibus au · sus est · Herum;

Secan · tur il · la. Tunc · novum · meditans · scelus:

"Haud vere · or," in · quit, "ne · mihi se · centur · pedes,"

Simul · que cal · ce Vil · lic~ im · pacto · ferit.

Ratio · nocen · di sup · petit · semper · malis.

And here are all the poems in Desbillons, Book 12, linked to an edition at the Internet Archive:

1. lyra et homo imperitus musicae (lines: 16)
2. corvo et cycnus (lines: 8)
3. rosa et homo naribus et oculis captus (lines: 20+)
4. simius trossuli ornatu instructus (lines: 12)
5. cuniculus et hirudo (lines: 19)
6. lupi duo (lines: 20+)
7. bos philosophus (lines: 20+)
8. asella et eius pullus (lines: 17)
9. noctua, cornicula, et aves aliae (lines: 15)
10. sturnus et cuculus (lines: 17)
11. simius ad tabellam elegantem (lines: 13)
12. statua (lines: 8)
13. mulier et speculum (lines: 16)
14. rivuli duo (lines: 16)
15. aquila et gruis (lines: 20+)
16. ovis et ranae (lines: 18)
17. canis et herus (lines: 18)
18. ficedulae duae (lines: 20+)
19. taurus et canis (lines: 20+)
20. Tethys et halcyon (lines: 20+)
21. ignis et eius repertor (lines: 8)
22. taurus et villicus (lines: 5)
23. culex (lines: 20+)
24. templum bovis (lines: 15)
25. jactator facti incredibilis (lines: 13)
26. vomeres duo (lines: 9)
27. cuniculus et venator (lines: 18)
28. salix et agricola (lines: 20+)
29. Arion et delphin (lines: 20+)
30. porcus et felis (lines: 20+)
31. leo, filius eius, et venator (lines: 20+)
32. mus, mustela, vulpis et lupus (lines: 9)
33. chorda lyrae argentea (lines: 18)
34. nux et Jupiter (lines: 18)
35. sol et nebula (lines: 15)