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Barlow 83. DE AVARO ET INVIDO

 

*Not included in the Bolchazy-Carducci book.*

 

Parallels: For parallel versions, see Perry 580.

 

Latin Text:

 

Avarus et Invidus orabant Iovem; Apollo mittitur ut eorum votis satisfiat, qui utrique dat liberam optandi facultatem, hac conditione ut quodcumque alter petiisset, alter idipsum acciperat duplicatum. Haeret diu Avarus petitque non pauca, et duplum accepit Socius. Invidus tanem hoc petivit ut ipse uno privetur oculo, laetus Socium mulctandum esse utroque.

 

Here is a segmented version to help you see the grammatical patterns:

 

Avarus et Invidus

orabant Iovem;

Apollo mittitur

ut eorum votis satisfiat,

qui

utrique dat

liberam optandi facultatem,

hac conditione

ut quodcumque

alter petiisset,

alter idipsum acciperat

duplicatum.

Haeret diu Avarus

petitque non pauca,

et duplum

accepit Socius.

Invidus tanem

hoc petivit

ut ipse

uno privetur oculo,

laetus

Socium

mulctandum esse

utroque.

 

Translation: The greedy man and the jealous man begged Iupiter to grant their wishes. Apollo was sent to satisfy their prayers. Apollo gave to each one of them the free opportunity to choose under the condition that whatever the other one asked for, the other one would receive the same thing two-fold. The greedy man hesitated for a long time, and asked things that were not small, and the other man received double. The jealous man, however, asked that he himself be deprived of an eye, happy that the other man would be penalized in both eyes.

 

[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.]

 

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