Desbillons: Asinus, Simia, et Talpa

As part of this work on the Latin fables of Desbillons (see this post for more info), I'm reading some poems with Hector Tapia, and just by chance this week we worked on a Desbillons version of a poem by Faernus that I had blogged about here last week. So, to get started, here is the Faernus poem (see that blog post for help with the syntax and meter):

Asinum querentem quod careret cornibus,

Et Simium quod cauda honore, hoc arguit

Sermone Talpa: Qui potestis, hanc meam

Miseram intuentes caecitatem, haec conqueri?

   Aliena si aestimaris infortunia,

   Tunc aequiore mente perferes tua.

Faernus's poem is in iambic meter as is the poem by Desbillons (Faernus used a wide variety of meters for his fables, unlike Desbillons), and it's fun to compare them:

2.30 Asinus, Simia, et Talpa

Dum conqueruntur — Simia quod desit sibi

Cauda, Asinus autem quod non habeat cornua —

Tacete, dixit Talpa; me miserrimum

Caecum videtis, et potestis conqueri?

   Luctu et querelis cur aevum consumimus?

   Quin intuemur, sors si quem gravior premit?

   Misero levamen miserioris est malum.

Here is the poem written out in English prose order to help in reading:

Dum conqueruntur — 

Simia quod desit sibi cauda, 

Asinus autem quod non habeat cornua —

"Tacete," dixit Talpa; 

videtis me, miserrimum, caecum, 

et potestis conqueri?"

Cur consumimus aevum

luctu et querelis?

Quin intuemur

si sors gravior

premit (ali)quem? 

Malum miserioris

est levamen misero.

I think I like the way Desbillons tells the story better than how Faernus tells it, but I like Faernus's moral better, especially since he puts it in second-person.

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

Dum con·querun·tur, Si·mia quod · desit · sibi

Caud~ Asi·nus au·tem quod · non habe·at cor·nua:

Tace·te, dix·it Tal·pa; me · miser·rimum

Caecum · vide·tis, et · potes·tis con·queri?

Luct~ et · quere·lis cur · aevum · consu·mimus?

Quin in·tue·mur, sors · si quem · gravior · premit?

Misero · leva·men mise·rio·ris est · malum.

I'll even have another iambic version of this poem coming up later by Caspar Barth! Meanwhile, since I like the moral in Faernus and the story in Desbillons, here's how I would combine them:

Dum conqueruntur, Simia quod desit sibi

Cauda, Asinus autem quod non habeat cornua:

Tacete, dixit Talpa; me miserrimum

Caecum videtis, et potestis conqueri?

Aliena si aestimaris infortunia,

Tunc aequiore mente perferes tua.

And here's an illustration from a 1564 edition of Faernus:

 

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