Desbillons: Anguilla et Anguis + Arbores

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

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I am learning so much from these reading sessions with Hector Tapia! At yesterday's session, we decided that it would help to indicate pauses in the Latin based on syntax. Some pauses are indicated with commas or periods, but there are other important pauses too defining phrases and clauses, so now I'll be adding in a little space "   " or a lot of space "      " to indicate where it helps to pause in reading the Latin based on the meaning, totally aside from the meter. (Meanwhile, see this post for more info about Desbillons and his Latin verse fables), Here are the poems we worked on yesterday:

The first poem is about the eel and the snake, although it is more elegant in Latin because the words are related: anguilla and anguis. Just out of curiosity, I looked up anguilla in the dictionary (it's always good to be curious about words, even ones whose meanings you know), and I found this amazing factoid: "The hard skin of an eel, used as a whip in schools." So while the eel in Desbillons' poem protests that she is harmless, I guess Roman schoolchildren might have thought otherwise!

IX.1 Anguilla et Anguis

Anguilla dixit Angui,       "Cur nostrum genus

Quotidie   homines prendunt,   deglubunt,   edunt,

Dum vos refugiunt,       ac timent attingere?"

Respondit Anguis,       "Hi sciunt videlicet

Prodesse nos nihil      et      nocere plurimum."

Improbitas ipsa      saepe tuetur improbos.

As you can see, I put shorter breaks in the second line because the adverb quotidie really does go with all those verbs at the end, so the idea is to take a little pause, but not a very long one, between the adverb and homines, the subject of the three verbs to come.

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

Anguilla dixit Angui, 

"Cur homines quotidie 

prendunt, deglubunt, edunt

nostrum genus,

dum refugiunt vos

ac timent attingere?"

Anguis respondit,

"Videlicet 

hi sciunt 

nos 

prodesse nihil 

et nocere plurimum."

Improbitas ipsa 

saepe tuetur improbos.

I really like the elegant epimythium for this one! When I Googled it out of curiosity (as you can tell, I am in a curious mood today), I found this German Latin textbook published in 1808 which presents Desbillons' fables as if they were written in prose!

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

Anguil · la dix · it An · gui, "Cur · nostrum · genus

Quoti · di~ homi · nes pren · dunt, de · glubunt · edunt,

Dum vos · refugi · unt, ac · timent · attin · gere?"

Respon · dit An · guis, "Hi · sciunt · vide · licet

Prodes · se nos · nihil et · noce · re plu · rimum."

Improbi · tas ip · sa sae · pe tue · tur im · probos. 

And here's the other poem we worked on yesterday:

V.25 Arbores

Rectae et procerae contemnebant Arbores

Unam inter ipsas,       torta quod.  et humilis foret;

Lignarius autem       cum venisset huc faber,

Caeduntur omnes illae,       at haec relinquitur.

Minimum fuisse pretii.     multis profuit.

Remember the poem about the myrtle and the oak tree? This has a very similar theme.

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

Rectae et procerae Arbores

contemnebant 

unam inter ipsas

quod torta et humilis foret;

autem,

cum lignarius faber venisset huc,

caeduntur omnes illae [arbores]

at haec [arbor] relinquitur.

Profuit multis

fuisse minimum pretii.

I really like the elegant epimythium for this one too: Minimum fuisse pretii multis profuit. Such great soundplay! But when I Googled that one, no results. Desbillons definitely deserves more love than he's getting from the digital Latin world IMO.

The meter is again iambic (see note above):

Rect~ et · proce · rae con · temne · bant Ar · bores

Un~ in · ter ip · sas, tor · ta quod et · humilis · foret;

Ligna · rius au · tem cum · venis · set huc · faber,

Caedun · tur om · nes il · l~ at haec · relin · quitur.

Minimum · fuis · se preti · i, mul · tis pro · fuit.

Meanwhile, for more Desbillons, here are the other poems I've posted so far here at the blog. :-)