Faernus: Vulpes et Uva

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

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This is one of the 100 Aesop's fables in verse by the Renaissance scholar and poet Faernus (Gabriello Faerno). You can read more about Faernus at Wikipedia, and here are all the Faernus poems I have posted at this blog.

19. Vulpes et Uva

Vulpes esuriens   alta de vite   racemos

Pendentes   nulla cum prensare arte valeret,

Nec pedibus tantum   aut agili se tollere saltu,

Re infecta      abscedens,   haec secum,   "Age desine!" dixit,

"Immatura uva est    gustuque insuavis acerbo."

Consuevere homines,   eventu si qua sinistro

Vota cadunt,   iis sese alienos   velle videri.

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

Esuriens vulpes,

cum non valeret 

ulla arte

prensare racemos

pendentes de alta vite,

et non [valeret] tollere se

pedibus tantum

aut agili saltu,

re infecta,

abscedens, 

dixit haec secum,

"Age desine!

Uva est 

immatura

et insuavis,

gustu acerbo."

Homines consuevere, 

si qua vota cadunt

sinistro eventu, 

velle 

sese videri 

alienos iis.

This is a famous Aesop's fable (Perry 15), and it's where we get the phrase "sour grapes," meaning the way a person disparages something that they actually want but cannot get.

The meter is dactylic hexameter (Faernus used a variety of meters).

Vulpes · esuri·ens al·ta de · vite ra·cemos

Penden·tes nul·la cum·prensar~ · arte va·leret,

Nec pedi·bus tant~ · aut agi·li se · tollere · saltu,

R~ infec·t~ absce·dens, haec · sec~ "Age · desine!" · dixit,

"Imma·tur~ uv~ · est gus·tuqu~ in·suavis a·cerbo."

Consue·ver~ homi·nes, e·ventu · si qua si·nistro

Vota ca·dunt, iis·ses~ ali·enos·velle vi·deri.

There are several illustrated editions of Faernus, and here is one of the illustrations for this poem (online at the Internet Archive):