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Barlow 110. DE AQUILA ET TESTUDINE

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Certamen inire voluit Testudo reptilis cum Aquila velocissima. Locus designatus est et, qui spatio trium dierum ad propositum locum prius venerat, victor salutaretur. Aquila tardigradam contempsit Testudinem, autumans se alarum impetu posse brevissime ad locum avolare. Negligens igitur secessit, aliis intenta, sed Testudo indefatigabili labore et sollertia infra tempus et ante Aquilam arrepsit ad locum et omnium calculis victor evasit.

Translation: The creeping turtle wanted to enter into a contest with the incredibly fast eagle. A place was chosen and the one who first arrived at the proposed place during the three-day race would be saluted as the winner. The eagle scorned the slow-paced turtle, asserting that she would be able to fly to the place very quickly using the force of her wings. Taking this casual attitude, the eagle thus went away, engaged in other things, but the turtle by means of untiring effort and craftiness crept to the place within the time frame and before the eagle, and, according to everyone's reckoning, the turtle turned out to be the winner.

[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:

Docet quod

nil tam arduum

quod

non sollertia et sudore attingatur.

Illustration: The illustration in this edition does not match the story; instead, it matches the English poem. The illustration is by the renowned artist Francis Barlow; click on the image for a larger view.