The Fables of Phaedrus Part 16

FABLE XXIII.

THE SHEPHERD AND THE SHE-GOAT.

_Nothing is secret which shall not be made manifest._[18]

A Shepherd had broken[19] the horn of a She-Goat with his staff, {and} began to entreat her not to betray him to his Master. "Although unjustly injured," {said she}, "still, I shall be silent; but the thing itself will proclaim your offence."

[Footnote NF.18: _Be made manifest_)--Ver. 1. This moral is couched in the same words as St. Luke, viii. 17: "For nothing is secret which shall not be made manifest."]

[Footnote NF.19: _A Shepherd had broken_)--Ver. 1. As Adry remarks, this Fable more closely resembles the brevity and elegance of Phaedrus.]

FABLE XXIV.

THE SERPENT AND THE LIZARD.

_When the Lion's skin fails, the Fox's must be employed; that is to say, when strength fails, we must employ craftiness._

A Serpent chanced to catch a Lizard by the tail; but when she tried to devour it with open throat, it s.n.a.t.c.hed up a little twig that lay close at hand, and, holding it transversely with pertinacious bite, checked the greedy jaws, agape to devour it, by this cleverly contrived impediment. So the Serpent dropped the prey from her mouth unenjoyed.

FABLE XXV.

THE CROW AND THE SHEEP.

_Many are in the habit of injuring the weak and cringing to the powerful._

An pestilent Crow had taken her seat upon a Sheep; which after carrying her a long time on her back and much against her inclination, remarked: "If you had done thus to a Dog with his sharp teeth, you would have suffered for it." To this the rascally {Crow replied}: "I despise the defenceless, and I yield to the powerful; I know whom to vex, and whom to flatter craftily; by these means I put off my old age for years."

FABLE XXVI.

THE SERVANT AND THE MASTER.

_There is no curse more severe than a bad conscience._

A Servant having been guilty[20] of a secret offence in debauching the wife of his master, on the latter coming to know of it, he said, in the presence of those standing by: "Are you quite pleased with yourself?

For, when you ought not, you do please yourself; but not with impunity, for when you ought to be pleased, you cannot be."

[Footnote NF.20: _Having been guilty_)--Ver. 5. Chambry, one of the French Editors, omits this, as unworthy of Phaedrus, and Adry p.r.o.nounces it unintelligible. The meaning of this, which is Jannelli's version, seems to be: "When you ought not to please yourself, you do please yourself, in committing the crime; but the consequence is that, afterwards, when you ought to feel pleased, in that you have gratified your desires, you cannot, in consequence of your guilty conscience." It is so mutilated, however, that Ca.s.sitti, Jannelli, and other Editors give entirely different versions.]

FABLE XXVII.

THE HARE AND THE HERDSMAN.

_Many are kind in words, faithless at heart._

A Hare was flying from the Huntsman with speedy foot, and being seen by a Herdsman, as she was creeping into a thicket: "By the G.o.ds of heaven, I beg of you," said she, "and by all your hopes, do not betray me, Herdsman; I have never done any injury to this field."[21] "Don't be afraid," the Countryman replied, "remain concealed without apprehension." And now the Huntsman coming up, {enquired}: "Pray, Herdsman, has a Hare come this way?" "She did come, but went off that way to the left;" {he answered}, winking and nodding to the right. The Huntsman in his haste did not understand him, and hurried out of sight.

Then {said} the Herdsman: "Are you not glad that I concealed you?"

"I don't deny," said she, "that to your tongue I owe most sincere thanks, and I return them, but I wish you may be deprived of your perfidious eyes."

[Footnote NF.21: _Injury to this field_)--Ver. 4. The Hare is more an enemy to the flowers in gardens than to the fields. It was probably for this reason that the Romans sacrificed this animal to the G.o.ddess Flora.]

FABLE XXVIII.

THE YOUNG MAN AND THE COURTESAN.

_Many things are pleasing which still are not to our advantage._

While a perfidious Courtesan was fawning upon a Youth, and he, though wronged {by her} many a time and oft, still showed himself indulgent to the Woman, the faithless {Creature thus addressed him}: "Though many contend {for me} with {their} gifts, still do I esteem you the most."

The Youth, recollecting how many times he had been deceived, replied: "Gladly, my love, do I hear these words; not because you are constant, but because you administer to my pleasures."

FABLE XXIX.

THE BEAVER.

_Many would escape, if for the sake of safety they would disregard their comforts._

The Beaver (to which the talkative Greeks have given the name of Castor, thus bestowing upon an animal the name of a G.o.d[22]--they who boast of the abundance of their epithets) when can no longer escape the dogs, is said to bite off his t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es, because he is aware that it is for them he is sought; a thing which I would not deny being done through an instinct granted by the G.o.ds; for as soon as the Huntsman has found the drug, he ceases his pursuit, and calls off the dogs.

If men could manage, so as to be ready to part with what they own, in order to live in safety for the future, there would be no one to devise stratagems to the detriment of the naked body.

[Footnote NF.22: _Name of a G.o.d_)--Ver. 3. This pun upon the resemblance of "Castor," the name of the demiG.o.d, to "Castor,"

"a beaver," seems to be a puerile pun; and the remark upon the limited "copia verborum" of the Greeks, seems more likely to proceed from the Archbishop of Sipontum than from Phaedrus, who was evidently proud of his Grecian origin.]

FABLE x.x.x.

THE b.u.t.tERFLY AND THE WASP.

_Not past but present Fortune must be regarded._

A b.u.t.terfly[23] seeing a Wasp flying by: "Oh, sad is our lot," said she, "derived from the depths of h.e.l.l, from the recesses of which we have received our existence. I, eloquent in peace, brave in battle, most skilled in every art, whatever I once was, behold, light and rotten, and mere ashes do I fly.[24] You, who were a Mule[25] with panniers, hurt whomsoever you choose, by fixing your sting in him." The Wasp, too, uttered these words, well suited to her disposition: "Consider not what we were, but what we now are."

[Footnote NF.23: _A b.u.t.terfly_)--Ver. 1. This Fable is in a sadly mutilated state, and critics are at a loss to say, with any certainty, what is meant by it. Whether the supposed word in l. 2, "barathris," (if really the correct reading), means the depths of h.e.l.l, or the inner folds of the leaves in which the b.u.t.terfly is enveloped in the chrysalis state, or whether it means something else, will probably always remain a matter of doubt. However, the Fable seems to allude to the prevalent idea, that the soul, when disengaged from the body, took the form of a b.u.t.terfly. Indeed the Greeks called both the soul and a b.u.t.terfly by the name of ????. There are six or seven different versions of the first five lines.]

[Footnote NF.24: _Ashes do I fly_)--Ver. 6. It is just possible that this may allude to the soul being disengaged from the corruption of the body.]

[Footnote NF.25: _Who were a Mule_)--Ver. 7. She would seem here to allude to the doctrine of the transmigration of souls. It may possibly have been a notion, that as the human soul took the form of a b.u.t.terfly, the souls of animals appeared in the shapes of Wasps and Flies.]

FABLE x.x.xI.

THE GROUND-SWALLOW AND THE FOX.