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Phryx Aesopus (Osius, 1574)

89. TAURUS ET HIRCUS. (Perry 217)

TAurus ut urgentem parat evitare Leonem,
Ambigit arte mali qua petat huius opem.
Anxius hoc Hirci tandem discrimine caulam [(perhaps: caulas?)] ,
(Huc recipi supplex flagitat ore) petit.
In foribus sed mox obstante ferocius Hirco,
Cum minus esse sui nunc queat ultor, ait.
Esset utroque sequens me ni robustior hostis,
Viribus arguerer te prior esse meis.
Ipsa viri, cui robur abest, iniuria nobis
Robusti fuerit saepe ferenda metu.

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.