Desbillons: Cancer et eius Filius

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).

Cancer et eius Filius

Ut prorsus iret, filium retrogradum

Cancer monebat; at filius, "I prae! Sequar."

Cuiquam ne objicias, quod tibi objici potest.

Crabs usually walk sideways, which is not exactly "retrograde" as the poem says, although some crabs do move backwards. The English word "crabwise" means "sideways."

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

Cancer monebat

retrogradum filium

ut iret prorsus; 

at filius [dixit], 

"I prae! 

Sequar."

Ne objicias cuiquam, 

quod potest objici tibi.

And here's the meter marked:

Ut pror · sus i · ret, fi · lium · retro · gradum

cancer · mone · bat; at · filius: · I prae, · sequar.

Cuiquam · n~ objici · as, quod · tib~ ob · jici · potest.

You can find illustrations for the fable here. Here is Heighway's illustration:

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