Phryx Aesopus (Osius, 1574)
272. DE SIMIA ET VULPE. (Perry
0)
FOrte videns nautas conscendere Simia malum,
Hos imitaturae stulta parabat opus.
Dissuadente, movent quem forte pericula, Coruo,
Non ea cui morem caeca furore gerit.
At simul antennas contingeret illa, cerebro
Vertigo miserae vexat oborta caput.
Qua delapsa graves transtrisque afflicta dolores
Sustinet, his equidem pene coacta mori.
Iam solio modo Rex discesserat unde propinquat,
Occupat hoc demens, iamque superba sedet.
Decidens Vulpes accedit, et ecquid agendum
Imperet, hoc veluti prompta subire rogat?
Hanc astare iubent, se reginamque tueri
Simia, ceu dominae verba potentis habet.
Quin ego te moneo Vulpes hinc ocius, inquit,
Abripias, tardet nunc mora nulla fugam.
At quia despiciens haec stulte dicta superbit,
Hanc praedam nacti pene fuere canes.
Ante revertentem dominum procurrerat horum
Turba, fugam frustra qua veniente parat.
Mordicus arripiunt, rabidoque hanc ore fatigant,
Et laceram linquunt, seminecemque canes.
Est sua cui sero iam deplorata cupido,
Et quae stultitiae damna pudenda tulit.
Sponte geras facito morem mox recta monenti,
Ne referas, sero qui sapuere [(perhaps: sapivere?)] , Phrygas.
*** The drawing does not fit the fable. ***
The same image appears at Fable 119, where it fits; compare also Fable 256.
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. |
