Desbillons: Bos et Vitula

Hector and I did 3 new fables from the Latin poems of Desbillons (see this post for more info). I already blogged about 2 of them earlier: Asellus et Liber and Auceps, Palumbus, et Serpens, so today's post will be about the third one we did today, which happens to be one of my favorite fables!


III.15 Bos et Vitula

Arantem   Vitula pinguis   adspiciens Bovem,

Eum contempsit prae se,      quae nihil ageret.

Sed   sacrificii mox ut advenit dies,

Bovem reservat   rusticus,   Vitulam immolat.

Quod cum videret, "Heus amica," Bos ait,

"Laboravisse numquam      quid te nunc juvat?"

There are some breaks there to help with the pauses, and here is the poem written out in English prose order to help in reading:

Pinguis Vitula,

adspiciens arantem Bovem,

contempsit eum

prae se

quae ageret nihil.

Sed 

ut mox

dies sacrificii advenit,

rusticus reservat Bovem,

immolat Vitulam.

Cum Bos videret hoc,

ait,

"Heus amica,

quid 

numquam laboravisse 

nunc juvat te?"

This is a fable from the classical Aesop, indexed as Perry 300, and you can find English versions and illustrations here. I really like how in Desbillons' version, he has not intruded with a moral at the start or end of the fable and instead lets the  hard-working bull have the last word.


The meter is iambic, and here is some help with the meter (for more about iambic meter, see the post about Desbillons 1.1).

Aran · tem Vitu · la pin · guis ad · spiciens · Bovem,

Eum · contemp · sit prae · se, quae · nihil a · geret.

Sed sa · crifici · i mox · ut ad · venit · dies,

Bovem · reser · vat rus · ticus · Vitul~ im · molat.

Quod cum · vide · ret Heus · ami · ca Bos · ait,

Labo · ravis · se num · quam quid · te nunc · juvat?

I used imgflip and this illustration by Bewick to make a graphic:

Meanwhile, for more Desbillons, here are the other poems I've posted so far here at the blog. :-)