Desbillons: Mors et Rusticus / Myrtus et Quercus

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

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As part of this work on the Latin fables of Desbillons (see this post for more info), I'm reading some poems with Hector Tapia, and in this post I'll report on two poems we worked on this week: Mors et Rusticus and Myrtus et Quercus.

The first poem is one found in the classical Aesopic tradition; sometimes the emphasis is on the fact that he is an old man, and sometimes on the fact that he is miserable. In Desbillons, he is both: senex miser.

II.11 Mors et Rusticus

Fascem lignorum Rusticus, senex miser,

Portabat aegre; longiore sed via

Fractus, victusque, abjecit infelix onus.

Mortem invocavit. Mors advenit. Tum senex:

Fascem, ait, in humeros hunc mihi reponas precor.

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

Rusticus,

senex miser,

aegre portabat

fascem lignorum,

sed fractus et victus

longiore via,

abjecit infelix onus;

invocavit Mortem.

Mors advenit.

Tum senex ait,

"Precor:

reponas hunc fascem

mihi in humeros."

Reading through the poem with Hector helped me see that the adjective infelix is ambiguous: it could refer to the subject of the verb (giving the adjective an adverbial quality), or it could refer to the onus, as a kind of transferred epithet: because the man is unhappy, his burden becomes unhappy. I think I like that meaning best! 

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

Fascem · ligno · rum Rus · ticus · senex · miser

Porta · bat ae · gre lon · gio · re sed · via

Fractus · victus · qu~ abje · cit in · felix · onus;

Mort~ in · voca · vit. Mors · adve · nit. Tum · senex,

Fasc~ ait · in hume · ros hunc · mihi re · ponas · precor.

You can find illustrations for the fable here; as you can imagine, this is one that artists enjoy, as it offers a chance to depict Death personified. Here's one by Francis Barlow, and I used imgflip to make it a graphic:

The second poem is a familiar Aesopic theme, and for a specific source, Desbillons cites the French fabulist Le Noble.

XIII.11 Myrtus et Quercus

Pusilla Myrtus invidebat Quercui,

Sed agricolarum repetitis mox ictibus

Hanc sauciari, denique everti videns,

Humilior etiam optavit esse, quam fuit.

Dejicere summos grandibus sors invida

Gaudet ruinis, dum infimi tuto latent.

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

Pusilla Myrtus 

invidebat Quercui,

sed mox videns

hanc [Quercum]

sauciari

repetitis ictibus agricolarum   

denique everti,

optavit

esse etiam humilior quam fuit.

sors invida

gaudet dejicere summos

ruinis grandibus, 

dum infimi

latent tuto.

The whole "story" part of the poem is told in just a single sentence! There's an imperfect verb to set the scene, a participle that shifts into the actual events of the story, and then a perfect verb for the finale. In the epimythium, the word sors is the key, and it really comes out of nowhere: it's like sors was the invisible actor driving the events of the story, and, like the myrtle, sors is invida, but in this case that envy has real consequences! You can read about sors in the Latin dictionary; it's a word really impossible to translate into English. In this case, I'd be tempted to translate it as Fortune.

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

Pusil · la Myr · tus in · vide · bat Quer · cui,

Sed ag · ricola · rum repe · titis · mox ic · tibus

Hanc sau · cia · ri, de · niqu~ e · verti · videns,

Humili · or eti · ~ opta · vit es · se, quam · fuit.

Dejice · re sum · mos gran · dibus · sors in · vida

Gaudet · rui · nis, d~ in · fimi · tuto · latent.

And while the myrtle may be scrawny compared to an oak, she can be pretty too! Here's a picture from Italy that I found at Wikimedia:

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