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Phryx Aesopus (Osius, 1574)

188. MULIER ET GALLINA. (Perry 58)

ORba viro Mulier Gallinam pauper habebat,
Singula quae quovis edidit ova die.
Bina die, aut etiam parituram terna putabat,
Cura saginandi sedula siqua foret.
Sed iam facta cibo cum largo pinguior esset,
Oua magis sterili corpore nulla parit.
Quos ditescendi nimis urget avara cupido,
Quae sunt bis, etiam perdere saepe solent.

The same image occurs at Fable 118, where it fits better than it does here.


Phryx Aesopus Habitu Poetico, by Hieronymus Osius, 1574 (artist not identified). Available online at the University of Mannheim. This book clearly recycles a set of images from another book of Aesop's fables. In some cases, the illustration does not match the fable shown, and in some cases I have not been able to identify what fable a given illustration is supposed to illustrate.