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Barlow 68. DE ACCIPITRE COLUMBAM INSEQUENTE

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Cum Accipiter columbam praecipiti insequeretur volatu, villam quandam ingressus, a Rustico captus est, quem blande, ut se dimitteret, obsecrabat. “Non etenim te laesi,” dixit. Cui Rusticus: “Nec haec te laeserat.”

Cum Accipiter Columbam praecipitī insequerētur volātū, vīllam quandam ingressus, ā Rūsticō captus est, quem blandē, ut sē dīmitteret, obsecrābat. “ Nōn etenim tē laesī,” dixit. Cui Rūsticus: “Nec haec tē laeserat.”

Translation: A hawk was chasing a dove in headlong flight and fly into a certain farmhouse. He was captured by a country-man. With flattering words, the hawk begged the man to let him go. The hawk said, "For in fact, I did you no harm." The man said to the hawk, "And the dove had done you no harm." 

[This translation is meant as a help in understanding the story, not as a "crib" for the Latin. I have not hesitated to change the syntax to make it flow more smoothly in English, altering the verb tense consistently to narrative past tense, etc.]

The Moral of the Story:

Fabula innuit

merito puniri

qui Innocentes laedere conantur; debemus enim

esse Protectores Innocentiae,

cum Fortuna administrat

et auctoritatem et potentiam.

Illustration: Here is an illustration from this edition, by the renowned artist Francis Barlow; click on the image for a larger view.