Fable of the Day: De Muliere et eius Amatore

[Laura Gibbs]

[Note: You can find more of these fables at the old blog address for Latin Via Fables.]

Title: De Muliere amatoris discessum flente: The Woman weeping over her lover's departure, by Abstemius


Latin Text:



Mulier impudica amatorem suum abeuntem, quem omnibus fere rebus spoliaverat, multis lacrimis prosequebatur. Interrogante autem eam vicina, cur ita inconsolabiliter fleret: "Non discessum eius (inquit), sed pallium, quod ei reliqui, fleo." Fabula indicat non amatores, sed eorum bona, a meretricibus amari.


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


Mulier impudica
amatorem suum abeuntem,
quem
omnibus fere rebus
spoliaverat,
multis lacrimis prosequebatur.
Interrogante autem eam vicina,
cur ita inconsolabiliter fleret:
"Non discessum eius (inquit),
sed pallium,
quod ei reliqui,
fleo."
Fabula indicat
non amatores,
sed eorum bona,
a meretricibus amari.

Crossword Puzzle: While I am in the process of moving to North Carolina, I may be slow to add the crossword puzzled, but I'll get caught up eventually. If you subscribe to the Bestiaria Latina round-up, you can find out when new materials are added.



Translation:



A shameless woman, pursued her departing lover with many tears, a lover whom she had stripped of practically all his goods. When, however, a neighbor woman asked her why she was weeping so inconsolably, the woman said: "It is not his departure that I am bewailing, but his cloak. which I had left him with." This fable shows that it is not the lovers, but their possessions, which are loved by the prostitutes.



[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.]



Source: Abstemius 15. You can see a 1499 edition of Abstemius online, but I am doing my transcription from the 1568 edition of Aesopi fabulae in the EEBO catalog.)



Another English translation. Sir Roger L'Estrange included the fables of Abstemius in his amazing 17th-century edition of Aesop's fables. So, here is L'Estrange's translation:



A Common Wench was wringing her Hands, and crying herself to Death almost; and what was the Business forsooth, but she had newly parted with her Sweet-Heart. Away, ye Fool you (says one of her Neighbours) to torment yourself out of your Life for such a Fellow as this! Nay, says the Lass, I am not so much troubled at parting with the Man; but he has carry'd away his Coat too; and truly, when he had given me all he had in the World beside, methinks I have e'en might had that too as well as all the rest.
Here's a Mercenary Prostitute drawn to the very quick, that lays her Profit more to Heart than her Love.

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