Latro et Vicini - Sol et Uxor (Nequam)

This project has evolved to a new blog - ICTIBUS FELICIBUS - so please check there for more poems. Here I will finish up publishing the longer poems, but all the shorter poems, with macrons and meter marks, will be found at Ictibus instead. :-)

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Source: The fables of the medieval scholar and poet Alexander Nequam are available in several different editions at GoogleBooks.

Other Versions: See Perry 314.

Nequam 17: DE LATRONE ET VICINIS

Uxorem quidam · latro ducebat, et eius
vicini laetis || intererant epulis.
Vicinos sapiens · laetos cum cerneret omnes,
talia stultorum || plausibus opposuit:
Solem fama fuit · uxorem ducere velle,
omnis turbatus || inde fuit populus;
Nec timuere Iovi · convicia dicere multi.
Iupiter inquirit || cur doleat populus.
Respondent homines: · Cum solus cuncta calore
sol angat, natos || si creet hic, quid erit?
Ista docent fugienda · bonis agmenta malorum:
nam quid agent plures, || si nimis unus obest?

Prose paraphrase:

Latro quidam
uxorem ducebat,
et vicini eius
epulis laetis intererant.
Cum sapiens
vicinos omnes laetos cerneret,
talia
stultorum plausibus opposuit:
fama fuit
solem
uxorem ducere velle,
inde
populus omnis
turbatus fuit;
et multi
Iovi convicia dicere
non timuere.
Iupiter inquirit
cur populus doleat.
Homines respondent:
Cum sol solus
cuncta calore angat,
quid erit
si hic
natos creet?
Ista docent
bonis fugienda
malorum augmenta:
nam plures
quid agent,
si unus
nimis obest?

Image. Here's an illustration for the fable (image source) from a Renaissance edition of Aesop:



Word list thanks to NoDictionaries.com:

Coming soon.

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Aesop's Fables in Latin now available at Amazon.com.