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Phryx Aesopus (Osius, 1574)

29. DE CORNICE SUPERBIENTE aliarum avium plumis. (Perry 472)

DE grege collectas avium Cornicula pennas,
Quondam aptare suis futilis audet avis.
Ob varios est quae iam facta superba colores,
Et prae se volucrum sprevit inepta genus.
Sed quia forte suam pennam cognovit hirundo,
Advolat, et fastus alitis osa rapit.
Quo facto reliquae pariter non demere cessant
Quisque suam (faciant ira lacessit) aves.
Sic ubi furtivis nudata coloribus esset,
Turpia ridiculam damna sequuntur avem.
Commendicatam speciem cito damna sequuntur,
Non nativa brevi tempore forma perit.

*** The drawing does not fit the fable. ***
It also appears at Fable 129, where it fits.


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.