Desbillons: Vulpis et Canis & Gallina et Ova Crocodili

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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), did another session with Hector Tapia; you can see our poems from last time here. We worked on two more poems yesterday!

The first poem is Vulpis et Canis.

I.16 Vulpis et Canis

Vulpis rapuerat gallum gallinaceum,

Voraveratque, at hanc recenti sanguine

Adhuc madentem fortis occupat Canis,

Crebroque dente membra discerpens vorat.

Ab alio exspectes, alteri quod feceris.

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

Vulpis rapuerat 

gallinaceum gallum,

et voraverat.

At fortis Canis

occupat hanc [Vulpem],

adhuc madentem

recenti sanguine,

et vorat,

discerpens membra

crebro dente.

Exspectes ab alio [hoc] 

quod feceris alteri.

Desbillons does not cite a classical source for the fable, but he does have a classical source for the epimythium at the end; "Ab alio exspectes, alteri quod feceris" is from Publilius Syrus. The plot of the fable resembles many other fables with a similar moral, such as the bird-catcher and the snake.

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

Vulpis · rapue · rat gal · lum gal · lina · ceum,

Vora · verat · qu~ At hanc · recen · ti san · guine

Adhuc · maden · tem for · tis oc · cupat · Canis,

Crebro · que den · te mem · bra dis · cerpens · vorat.

Ab ali~ · exspec · tes, al · teri · quod fe · ceris.

The second poem is Gallina et Ova Crocodili.

V.10 Title

Ova Crocodili Gallina olim repperit,

Et incubavit, dum fetus excluderet,

At illi vita vix incoeperunt frui,

Altricem diris enecarunt morsibus.

Malum sibi fovet, quisquis educat malos.

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

Olim

Gallina reperit

ova Crocodili

et incubavit

dum excluderet fetus.

At illi [fetus]

vix incoeperunt frui vita,

enecarunt [enecaverunt] altricem

diris morsibus.

Quisquis

educat malos

fovet malum sibi.

Desbillons cites as his sources Le Noble and Faernus; in the version by Faernus, a swallow comes and warns the chicken that she is being foolish, but we don't know if she heeded the swallow's advice or not. Desbillons showed us just what the poor chicken can expect if she does hatch those eggs!

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

Ova Cro · codi · li Gal · lin~ o · lim re · perit,

Et in · cuba · vit, dum · fetus · exclu · deret.

At il · li vi · ta vix · incoe · perunt · frui,

Altri · cem di · ris e · neca · runt mor · sibus.

Malum · sibi fo · vet quis · quis e · ducat · malos.

I found an image of a freshly hatched alligator (not crocodile) at Flickr and used imgflip to make it a graphic:

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