Fable of the Day: De leone et mure (Barlow)

[Laura Gibbs]

Title: De leone et mure: Lion and Mouse, from Barlow's Aesop (his source in turn was our friend Abstemius)

Leo laqueo captus, cum ita se irretitum videret, ut nullis viribus sese explicare potuit. Murem rogavit, ut abroso laqueo eum liberaret, promittens tanti beneficii se non futurum immemorem, quod cum Mus prompte fecisset, Leonem rogavit ut filiam eius sibi traderet in Uxorem. Nec abnuit Leo, ut benefactori suo rem gratam faceret. Nova autem nupta ad virum veniens, cum eum non videret, casu illum pede pressit et contrivit.

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

Leo
laqueo captus,
cum ita
se irretitum videret,
ut nullis viribus
sese explicare potuit,
Murem rogavit,
ut abroso laqueo
eum liberaret,
promittens
tanti beneficii
se non futurum immemorem,
quod
cum Mus prompte fecisset,
Leonem rogavit
ut filiam eius
sibi traderet in Uxorem.
Nec abnuit Leo,
ut benefactori suo
rem gratam faceret.
Nova autem nupta
ad virum veniens,
cum eum non videret,
casu
illum pede pressit
et contrivit.

Translation:

A lion had been caught in a net. When he saw that he was thus entrapped, such that he could not free himself with all his strength, he asked a mouse to gnaw through the net and set him free, promising that he would not be unmindful of such a great favor. When the mouse readily did this thing, he asked the lion to let him marry the lion's daughter. The lion did not refuse to do this welcome deed for his benefactor. But when the new bride came to her husband, she did not see him and accidentally stepped on him with her paw and squashed him.

[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.]

English poem

This edition of Aesop's fables was published in French, Latin, and English, so here it the English poem that accompanies this fable (I've modernized some of the 17th-century spelling):

The Mouse for his late service filled with pride
Demands the royal virgin for his bride.
The match agreed while he in flames admired,
He unawares crushed by her paw expired.

Illustration:

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