barlow013


 

HOME | Barlow's Aesop: Previous Page - Next Page

 

Barlow 13. DE LUPO ET SUE

 

ONLINE FORUM: At the Aesopus Ning Forum, you can ask questions about this fable. You will also  find links there to additional learning materials to help you in reading the Latin (vocabulary, grammar commentary, simplified version, quizzes, macrons, etc.).

 

Parturiebat Sus; pollicetur Lupus se custodem fore fetus. Respondet Puerpera Lupi obsequio se non egere, oratque, si velit pius haberi, longius abeat; Lupi enim benevolentia constabat non praesentia, sed absentia.

 

Translation: A sow was giving birth and a wolf promised that he would be a guardian to her offspring. The expectant mother answered that she had no need of the wolf's services and asked him to move farther away if he wanted to be considered a devoted fellow - this was because the good will of the wolf consisted not in his presence but in his absence. 

 

[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:

 

Non sunt cuncta cunctis credenda;

multi enim

suam operam pollicentur

non tui amore,

sed sui,

suum quaerentes commodum,

non tuum.

 

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