I’ve been skipping around the Loeb Baebrius & Phaedrus (ed. Perry) which is an ornament to the series: it contains an excellent introduction to the entire tradition of fable writing and a 100+ pg. appendix titled “An Analytical Survey of Greek & Latin Fables in the Aesopic Tradition” that gives a summary and references for nearly every fable that has come down to us in Greek or Latin. Anyways, as a fun exercise I thought that I would take advantage of the indexes and set side by side the Aesopic “original”, Baebrius’ poetic interpretation, and Phaedrus’ refashioning, where all three could be found for one story. It’s an interesting opportunity to see Greek prose turn into Greek poetry and then compare it with Latin versification; I’d love to hear your comments.
“Dog Crossing a River”
Aesop, #233
[size=125]κύων κρέας ἔχουσα ποταμὸν διέβαινε· θεασαμένη δὲ τὴν ἑαυτῆς σκιὰν κατὰ τοῦ ὕδατος ὑπέλαβεν ἑτέραν κύνα εἶναι μεῖζον κρέας ἔχουσαν. διόπερ ἀφεῖσα τὸ ἴδιον ὥρμησεν ὡς τὸ ἐκείνης ἀφαιρησαμένη. συνέβη δὲ αὐτῇ ἀμφοτέρων στερηθῆναι, τοῦ μὲν μὴ ἐφικομένῃ, διότι οὐδὲ ἦν, τοῦ δ’, ὅτι ὑπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ παρεσύρη.[/size]
Baebrius, 79
[size=125]κρέας κύων ἔκλεψεν ἐκ μαγειρείου
καὶ δὴ παῄει ποταμὸν· ἐν δὲ τῷ ῥείθρῳ
πόλυ τοῦ κρέως ἰδοῦσα τὴν σκιὴν μείζω,
τὸ κρέας ἀφῆκε, τῇ σκιῇ δ’ ἐφωρμήθη·
ἀλλ’ οὐτ ἐκείνην εὗρεν οὔθ’ ὃ βεβλήκει,
πεινῶσα δ’ ὀπίσω τὸν πόρον διεξῄει.
βίος ἀβέβαιος παντὸς ἀνδρὸς ἀπλήστου
ἐλπίσι ματαίαις πραγμάτων ἀναλοῦται.[/size]
(Perry athetizes the last two lines as a later interpolation)
Phaedrus, I.4
Amittit merito proprium qui alienum adpetit.
Canis per flumen carnem cum ferret, natans
lympharum in speculo vidit simulacrum suum,
aliamque praedam ab altero ferri putans
eripere voluit; verum decepta aviditas
et quem tenebat ore dimisit cibum,
nec quem petebat adeo potuit tangere.