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Phryx Aesopus (Osius, 1574)

40. SECURIS ET LIGNATOR. (Perry 302)

SYLVA novae capulum dabat exorante securi
Lignatore sui causa dolenda mali.
Nam simul huic datus est oleastri stipes ad usum,
Hoc instructa suum est orsa securis opus.
Qua silvam populans caedendo strennuus [Reg: strenuus] instat,
Arbor eum truncans gnaviter omne nemus.
Fraxinus a quercu tum sic vicina monetur,
Fortibus haec animis damna ferenda soror:
Cogimur auctores quoniam nos esse fateri,
Nolle sit haec ergo non tolerare pudor.
In sese quicumque suos armaverit hostes,
Exitii causam moverit ipse sui.

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.