Desbillons: Auceps, Palumbus, et Serpens

This is a poem intended for my anthology of Latin Aesopic poetry. I'm accumulating the materials for the anthology in a Google Docs folder, including a document for this poem where you will find vocabulary and notes. Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome! You can use the "comment" feature in the Google Doc, which I will be updating with revisions. Today's poem is by Desbillons (1711-1789).

Auceps, Palumbus, et Serpens

Dolum Palumbo incautus Auceps dum struit,

Premit Anguem, cujus dente violatus perit.

Malum jure feres, quod parabis alteri.

Compare the moral of this story with the saying in the Biblical Book of Proverbs: Qui fodit foveam incidet in eam, et qui volvit lapidem revertetur ad eum, "Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein, and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him."

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

Incautus Auceps,

dum struit dolum Palumbo,

premit anguem, 

cujus dente violatus

perit.

Jure

feres [hoc] malum

quod parabis alteri.

And here's the meter marked:

Auceps, Palumbus, et Serpens

Dolum · Palum · b~ incau · tus Au · ceps dum · struit,

Premit an · guem, cuj · us den · te vio · latus · perit.

Malum · jure fe · res, quod · para · bis al · teri.

You can find illustrations for the fable here. This one is from the Medici Aesop:

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