Phaedrus: Mons Parturiens

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 the Roman poet Phaedrus.

Mons Parturiens

Mons parturibat, gemitus immanes ciens,

Eratque in terris maxima expectatio.

At ille murem peperit. Hoc scriptum est tibi,

Qui, magna cum minaris, extricas nihil.

This fable is most famous through its use by the Roman poet Horace in his poetic treatise, Ars Poetica: parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus; "the mountains will labor, a ridiculous mouse will be born."

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

Mons parturibat, 

ciens immanes gemitus,

et 

in terris

erat maxima expectatio.

At ille (mons)

peperit murem. 

Hoc scriptum est tibi,

qui,

cum minaris magna,

extricas nihil.

And here's the meter marked:

Mons par·turi·bat, gemi·tus im·manes · ciens,

erat·qu~ in ter·ris max·im~ ex·pecta·tio.

At il·le mu·rem pepe·rit. Hoc · script~ est · tibi,

qui, mag·na cum · mina·ris, ex·tricas · nihil.

You can find illustrations for the fable here. This one is by Tenniel:

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