Fable of the Day: De Anguilla

[Laura Gibbs]

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

Title: De Anguilla conquerente quod magis quam serpens infestaretur: The Eel, complaining that she is more harassed than the Snake, by Abstemius


Latin Text:



Anguilla interrogabat serpentem, quare, cum similes essent atque cognati, homines tamen se potius quam illum insequerentur. Cui serpens: "Quia raro (inquit) me quis laedit impune." Fabula indicat minus laedi solere qui sese ulciscuntur.


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


Anguilla
interrogabat serpentem,
quare,
cum similes essent atque cognati,
homines tamen
se
potius quam illum
insequerentur.
Cui serpens:
"Quia raro (inquit)
me quis laedit impune."
Fabula indicat
minus laedi solere
qui sese ulciscuntur.

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Translation:



An eel asked a snake why, since they were similar to one another and kindred, people nevertheless persecuted the eel more than they did the snake. The snake said to her: "It's because rarely does anyone wound me unscathed." The fable shows that those who avenge themselves are less likely to be wounded.



[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 17 (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:



You and I are so alike, says the Eele to the Snake, that methinks we should be somewhat a-kin; and yet they that persecute me, are afraid of you. What should be the reason of this? Oh (says the Snake) because no body does me an Injury but I make him smart for't.
In all Controversies they come off best that keep their Adversaries in fear of a Revenge.

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