Flourished about 15 A.D.
Phaedrus, born in Thrace, came to Rome as a slave, and was set free by
Augustus. Under Tiberius he was the victim of political persecution on
account of some verses offensive to Sejanus. He published five books of
fables (with occasional anecdotes) largely imitated from Aesop.
His style is fluent, his tone lively and sometimes coarse, his diction
correct, his verse skilful.--Teuffel, Schwabe, and Warr, _History of
Roman Literature_, vol. 2, p. 30.
For Reference: Teuffel, Schwabe, and Warr, _History of Roman
Literature_, vol. 2, p. 29 ff.
Metre: Iambic Trimeter, B. 370, 1, 2; A. & G. 618, a, b.
_1._ Aesopus: a famous writer of fables, born in Phrygia about 600 B.C.
He is said to have been liberated from slavery, to have lived at Sardis
and to have been Croesus' ambassador to Delphi, where he was murdered by
the angry townspeople, who hurled him over a precipice. Babrius, a Greek
who lived about 100 B.C., made a comprehensive collection of Aesopian
fables which Phaedrus imitated with considerable closeness. 5-7. 'Let no
one censure me for representing trees as speaking; it is merely the play
of fancy and a fable.'
_2._ 4. latro: the robber wolf. 7. Qui: how? Qui is the old
ablative of the relative, interrogative, and indefinite pronouns.
_4._ 1. devocat: allures. 3. Tanto...melior: 'That is good!' See _Lex_.
under tantus, I, C, 3, a, b. 4. prosecutus: and went on to say. See
_Lex_. underprosequor, II, B. 5. unde: equivalent to a quo. 7. dignum
ff.: with a double meaning. 10. namque: for, a strengthened nam.
_5._ This story is also told by Cicero, _De Oratore_, 2. 352 ff., and by
others. 1, 2. Quantum...superius: an earlier fable (4. 23) relates how
Simonides, shipwrecked and destitute, was received most hospitably by
one of his admirers. 4. Simonides: the renowned Greek lyric poet of
Ceos. His ode upon those who fell at Thermopylae was especially famous.
Sterling translates:
Of those who at Thermopylae were slain,
Glorious the doom, and beautiful the lot;
Their tomb an altar: men from tears refrain
To honor them; and praise, but mourn them not.
Such sepulchre nor drear decay
Nor all-destroying time shall waste; this right have they.
Within their grave the home-bred glory
Of Greece was laid; this witness gives
Leonidas, the Spartan, in whose story
A wreath of famous virtue ever lives.
5. pyctae: a word borrowed directly from the Greek. 8. poetae more:
poets who wrote odes in honor of victories at the games usually inserted
some legend containing an account of a similar victory won by a god or a
hero. 9. gemma Ledae pignera: Castor and Pollux, the latter famous as a
boxer. pignera: see _Lex_. II, B, 1. 10. auctoritatem...gloriae: citing
the authority of a like glory. 11, 12. tertiam partem: only a third. 13.
duae: sc. partes, two-thirds. 24. humanam supra formani: the gods and
heroes were 'divinely tall.' The diminutive servulo is in strong
contrast. 31. Ut...rei: When the incident was told just as it occurred.
Another story of divine interposition on the part of Castor and Pollux
is vividly told by Macaulay in _The Battle of Lake Regillus_.
_6._ Compare with Vergil's account of the oracle given by the Sibyl to
Aeneas, _Aeneid_, 6. 9 ff. Some of the more obvious resemblances in
diction and thought are _Aeneid_, 6. 12, 29, 35, 44, 45, 46 ff., 50, 95,
98, 99, 100.
1. Utilius: equalling a superlative, of highest value. 2. qui ff.:
Delphi was a city in north central Greece and Parnassus a mountain near
it. 4. tripodes: this probably means the golden seat above the cleft in
the ground in the adytum of Apollo's temple at Delphi. On this the
priestess (vates, 1. 3; virgo, 1. 16) sat to breathe the rising vapors
which induced the prophetic ecstasy. The tripus is named from being
supported on three legs. adytis: from [Greek: aduton], 'not to be
entered.' The adyta, or innermost parts of temples, were accessible only
to priests. 5. lauri: the laurel was sacred to Apollo. 6. Pytho: the
former name for Delphi. Pytho is poetically said to speak when the
Pythian priestess speaks. 7. Delii: Delos, an island of the Aegean,
nearly at the centre of the Cyclades, was sacred to Apollo, and was his
birthplace. 12. ite obviam: oppose.
_7._ Plutarch, _Symposiacon Problematon_, V. 1 (Moralia, 674 B, C),
tells essentially this same story. Parmeno, he says, was famous for his
imitation of the grunting of a pig. Even when one came upon the stage
having a real pig concealed under his cloak, the audience cried, 'This
is nothing to compare with the sow of Parmeno.' Then he who had the pig
threw it in the midst of them, 'to show that they judged according to
opinion and not truth.'
1. Pravo favore: prejudice. labi: the metaphor is in evident contrast to
that in stant of 1. 2. 2. pro iudicio...erroris: in defence of their
mistaken judgment. 3. rebus manifestis: the disclosure of the truth. 4.
Facturus ludos: who was about to give an entertainment. 8. scurra: a
city wit. urbano sale: clever jesting, merry cleverness. The Romans
sharply contrasted city manners with those of the country to the
disadvantage of the latter. 12. loca: seats. 18. verum: sc. porcellum.
pallio: mantle or toga. 19. simul: equals simul ac. 21. prosequuntur:
honor. 27. degrunnit: grunts his best. 30. scilicet: to be sure. 32.
vero: sc. porcello. 35. imitatum: sc. esse.