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I.7. Vulpis ad Personam

Parallels: For parallel versions, see Perry 27. For  help in translating the poem, use the page for this poem at NoDictionaries.com, with interlinear word lists! (Here are some tips on using the NoDictionaries tool.)

Personam tragicam forte vulpes viderat;

quam postquam huc illuc semel atque iterum verterat,

'O quanta species' inquit 'cerebrum non habet!'

Hoc illis dictum est quibus honorem et gloriam

Fortuna tribuit, sensum communem abstulit.

Here is the poem in a more prose-like word order for easy reading:

Forte vulpes viderat personam tragicam.

Postquam verterat personam huc illuc semel atque iterum

inquit: "O quanta species! Non habet cerebrum!"

Hoc dictum est illis,

quibus Fortuna tribuit honorem et gloriam,

abstulit sensum communem.

Here is the poem with meter marks:

Perso~nam tragj~cam for~te vul~pes vi~derat;

quam post~qu(am h)uc il~luc sem~'l atqu(e) it'~rum ver~terat,

'O quan~ta spec~jes' in~quit 'c're~brum non ~ habet!'

Hoc il~lis dic~t(um) est qui~b's hono~r(em) et glo~riam

Fortu~na trib~vit, sen~sum com~mun(em) ab~stulit. 

The Fox and the Tragic Mask (trans. C. Smart)

A Fox beheld a Mask- "0 rare

The headpiece, if but brains were there !"

This holds-whene'er the Fates dispense

Pomp, pow'r, and everything but sense.