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Phryx Aesopus (Osius, 1574)

19. SCROFA. (Perry 547)

ANXIA vicino partu dum Scrofa laborat,
Obstetricis opem ferre volente Lupo:
Hoc praesente suos non audens edere fetus,
Quin obstetricem tu mihi quaeris, ait?
Namque ministerio non enixura virili
Uti, sollicito mota pudore velim.
Sic abeunte Lupo loca cum iam tuta petisset,
Edita mox soboles huic numerosa fuit.
Iamque revertentem non deridere veretur
Deceptum stolida credulitate Lupum.
Convenit eludi fallacibus artibus artes,
Fallere conantem fraude repelle, licet.

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.