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Aesop's Fables: Steinhowel

6.12. De ape et Iove
(Perry 163)

[See an illustration from a 1501 edition.]

Inimicis quandoque mala precamur, que sepius in nos vertuntur. De hoc audi fabulam. Apes, que cere mater existit, quondam accedens, ut diis sacra faceret, Iovi donum obtulit mellis, qua oblatione Iupiter letus iussit sibi concedi quicquit ipsa precaretur. Apes igitur rogans ait: Illustrissime deus deorum, ancille tue concedere velis, ut quicumque alveare pro rapiendo melle accesserit, is simul ac pupugero eum, continuo moriatur, qua rogatione Iupiter diu ambiguus, qui genus mortalium longe amabat, demum api ait: Satis sit tibi, quicunque alveare pro rapiendo melle accesserit, si eum pupugeris et in punctura stimulum dimiseris, continuo ipsa moriaris, tibique vita sit ipse stimulus. Sic in apem versa sunt, que ipsa precabatur inimicis accidere.


Steinhowels Asop, ed. Hermann Osterley (1873). Some of these fables have digitized text; others have only page images. The digital page images are from Google Books. You can also consult the illustrated 1501 edition of Steinhowel's Aesop. Note that Book 7 contains poems from Avianus, so there is no text or page image for the fables in Book 7.