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Phryx Aesopus (Osius, 1574)

91. TESTUDO ET AQUILA. (Perry 230)

ORat iners Aquilam sese instruat arte volandi
Testudo, fieri sic cupiebat avis.
Cui, negat ipsa tamen tibi quod natura, requiris
Non bene cauta tui rem, Iovis ales ait.
Non urgere Iovem sed desinit illa precando,
Se volucrem faciat verba rogantis habet.
Unguibus arreptam mox ergo sustulit ales
In sublime, parans, quod velit illa, sequi.
Sed laxante suos hac, quos constrinxerat, ungues,
Acta per aerias fertur ut illa plagas:
Desuper in duram rupem delata resultat,
Corporeque in partes dissiliente perit.
Consiliis parere bonis quos caeca cupido
Non sinit, hos stultos poena ferenda probat.

Compare the image from Fable 164, where it does not fit:


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.