Faernus: Asinus, Simius, et Talpa

This is one of the 100 Aesop's fables in verse by the Renaissance scholar and poet Faernus (Gabriello Faerno). You can read more about Faernus at Wikipedia, and here are all the Faernus poems I have posted at this blog.

43. Asinus, Simius, et Talpa 

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.

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

Talpa arguit

Asinum 

querentem quod careret cornibus (honore),

et Simium 

(querentem) quod (careret) cauda honore, 

hoc sermone:

"Intuentes hanc meam miseram caecitatem,

qui potestis conqueri haec?"

Si aestimaris aliena infortunia,

tunc perferes tua (infortunia)

aequiore mente.

The only tricky thing here is the form "qui" (an archaic ablative), which means "why? for what reason?"

In addition to Faernus's poem, there is also a prose version of the fable in the 1590 edition:

Me miserum, inquit, et infelicem, asinus, cui nihil natura tribuit, quod ulli animanti metuendum esse videatur, atque utinam cornua illa mihi esset largita. Haec audiens simia, Non tamen tanta, inquit, turpitudo tua, quanta mea est, quae nudis vivo natibus, et sine cauda. Cognoverat querelam amborum talpa, ut illo forte in loco solum egerere coeperat. Fertur autem haec bestiola sollertissimi esse auditus. Prolato igitur capitulo suo: Quid, inquit, querimini, cum sciatis me captum oculis, et sempiternas in tenebras a natura procreatum esse?

This is not a classical fable, but it is part of the later European Aesopic tradition; for an English version, see Bewick's fable: Ass, Ape, and Mole. Of course the mole is not exactly blind, but her eyes are indeed very tiny. I can relate to the mole with my poor eyesight, but of course the lesson is that even with my poor eyesight, I should not be complaining. Instead, I should just be glad for what I have... and also glad for the miracle of eyeglasses that do let me see!

The meter is iambic (Faernus used a variety of meters).

Asinum · queren·tem quod · care·ret cor·nibus,

Et Si·mium · quod caud~ · honor~ · hoc ar·guit

Sermo·ne Tal·pa: Qui · potes·tis, hanc · meam

Miser~ in·tuen·tes cae·citat~ · haec con·queri?

Alie·na s~ aes·tima·ris in·fortu·nia,

Tunc ae·quio·re men·te per·feres · tua.

There are several illustrated editions of Faernus, and here is one of the illustrations for this poem (online at the Internet Archive); this is from the 1590 edition which also has the prose version quoted above.

Here's an illustration from a 1564 edition: