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From Fables of Babrius, in Two Parts, translated into English Verse from the text of Sir G. C. Lewis, by the Rev. John Davies, M.A., London: Lockwood & Co.,1860; pp. 223 to 232.
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THE FABLES OF BABRIUS,
IN TWO PARTS.
Translated into English verse from the text of Sir G. C. Lewis.
BY THE
REV. JOHN DAVIES, M.A.
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Proem. II. 5. — Cybisas, or Cybissus. Theon and Apthonius, later teachers of rhetoric, mention Cybissus the Libyan, and Connis the Cilician, as fabulists. Cf. Muller and Donaldson, Gr. Lit. i. 193. Fables of the Phrygians, Cilicians, and Cyprians, are mentioned by Greek writers. See Bernhardy, Vol. I. p. 58.
Fab. XII. — This fable is based on the mythical story of Procne, Philomela, and Itys. The former of the sisters was transformed into a swallow, the latter into a nightingale. And the fable expresses the habits of each bird, the one building its nest near men’s homes, and under their roofs, the other apart in far retreats. See Ov. Met. vi. 668. For a full account of the legend, the English reader may consult Grote’s History of Greece, Vol. I. p. 269-271. Compare also Babrius, Part II, Fab. XXXVII. and Part II. Fab. XC, on the same subject.
Ibid, v. 22. — Philomela’s woes began after she had left Athens, on a visit to her sister Procne, whose husband Tereus conceived for her a fatal passion, which caused all the tragic tale, on which the Greek poets so much delight to dwell.
Fab. XXXI. — See preface with reference to the confusion 224 between αἴλουρος and γαλῆ, observable in Babrius and elsewhere. And see Notes and Queries. Vol. VIII. p. 261-3. “The ancient names of the cat.”
Fab. XXXIII. — The Pleiads were the daughters (seven in number) of Atlas and Pleione. They were transformed into a cluster of stars at the back of Taurus, whose rising was in April or May, and their setting in November. Theocr. Id. xiii. 25. Virg. Georg. iv. 231. Hesiod (Works and Days, 384) places the time for ploughing at the season of their setting.
Fab. XLVI. v. 9, 10. — The stag was anciently supposed to be an exceedingly long lived animal; but the opinion is confuted by Aristotle, H. A. vi. 29, and by later experience. Its life is at most from thirty-five to forty years in duration, according to Buffon and Cuvier.
Fab. LVIII. — In this fable Babrius follows the later version of the story of Pandora’s Box, i.e. that it was full of goods not of ills. The old version is mentioned in Hesiod, Works and Days, 94-105. There, however, we read of Hope being left behind after the rest. As also, in Theognis, 1131-1146, we read of Hope remaining alone on earth, after Faith, and Modesty and the Graces had removed to Heaven.
Fab. LXIII . — Ancient writers, such as Xenocrates, Empedocles, and to a certain extent Plato, treat the remnants of the half wicked silver age as dæmons; not good, as Hesiod held and represented them, but malignant and wicked. See Grote H. G. i. pp. 95-7. Ibid. 570-1, note. Here the heroes are confounded with these dæmons. Compare Plut. Quæst. Græc. c. vi. p. 292, where it appears that with the Locrians at Opus δαίμων was equivalent to Ἥρως.
For the custom of wreathing the altars with fillets, alluded to in v. 3 of this fable, compare Theocr. Id. xxvi. 3-9, Horat. Od. iv. xi. 6, i. xix. 13. Virg. Ecl. viii. 64.
225Fab. LXVI. — Babrius here adheres to the later fable, about Prometheus creating men, traces of which occur in Callimachus, and elsewhere. He places him among the Gods, but the Gods of the earliest period. For other fables in Babrius on the subject of Prometheus making men, see Part II, Fab. 64, which gives a similar version of the creation of man by him, to that of Horace, Od. i. xvi. 13, Fertur Prometheus addere principi, &c.
Fab. LXVIII. 4. — For the custom of placing the lots in a helmet, compare Hom. Il. vii. 176, where the lots are placed in Agamemnon’s helmet, which is then shaken by Nestor.
Ibid. 7. — The garden of Hesperus, or of the Hesperides, was in the more early writers placed at the remotest bound of the earth, afterwards at the extreme west, on the coast of Libya. Hesiod, Theog. 215, Plin. H. N. vi. 36, Virg. Æn. iv. 484, Ov. Met. iv. 632-8.
Fab. LXXI. — Compare Cicero Pro Cluentio, c. 49, Herodot. vii. 16.
Fab. LXXII. v. 6. — Grote, in his History of Greece, Vol. II. p. 289, remarks upon the inadequacy and irregularity of the supply of water in the low grounds of Greece. “Most of the rivers are torrents in the early spring, and dry before the end of the summer. Rain runs of as rapidly as it falls, and springs are rare.” Horace refers to this fable of the daw in his Epistles, i. iii. 18-20.
Fab. LXXXV. — Bergk, in a paper in the Classical Museum, Vol. iii. pp. 130-134, thinks that this fable, with its enumeration of Acarnanian, Dolopian, Molossian, Cretan dogs, &c. refers to the Achæan league, and to Aratus, as the Achæan dog chosen as the leader. He considers the wolves to be no other than the Ætolian league, and from this fable he gathers his chief argument for supposing King Alexander to be Alexander of Corinth and Nicæa.
226Fab. XCV. 22. — Of the hatred of stags for all the serpent tribe, see Plin. Nat. His. viii. 50, xxii. 37, Ælian,. N. A. II. 9.
Dioscorides De Mat. Med. III. 73, and Pliny l. c. state that serpents do not take hurt from the bites of serpents, if they feed on the plane “elaphoboscos”; and that the seed of this plant mixed with wine is a cure for the bites of serpents.
Fab. XCVIII. — Dubner and Lachmann agree in thinking the epimyth spurious here, and so does Sir G. C. Lewis. It is therefore not translated in this version. Eumenes exposed to the Macedonians the perfidy of his adversary’s offers by quoting this fable. Cf. Thirlwall, Hist. Gr. vii. p. 273, 4.
Fab. CVII. — The epimyth of this fable has not been translated, because in addition to being judged to be spurious, it lacks point.
Fab. CVIII. — Compare Hor. Sat. II. vi. 79. See also Fab. XCIX above. As to the Camiræan [or Camirœan] fig mentioned in v. 25, see Smith’s Dict. Gr. Rom. Geogr. Vol. I. pp. 713, 5. Camirus was a town of Rhodes, one of the three most ancient in the island, which was famous for its wine, raisins, and figs.
Fab. CXI. 7. — Respecting the riches and vast commerce of the Red Sea, or Mare Erythræum, see Smith’s Dict. Gr. Rom. Geogr. Vol. II. 857, 8. See also the fabulist Avianus, Fab. II.
Fab. CXXV. — This fable should be carefully compared with the 54th fable in the second part of the original. The object of the translator has been to include in the 125th fable of this part, the result of a careful comparison of the two slightly differing texts. This fable is one which has been reduced to choliambic metres, from the prose MSS. of the Vatican, see F. De Furia, p. 150. Aristotle H. A. x. 6. mentions the Maltese dog, κυνίδιον Μελιταῖον.
Fab. CXXVIII. — This fable, like the 125th, had been restored to its metrical choliambic form before the discovery of the MS. 227 of Babrius. See the edition of F. De Furia, Fab. 365. The translation is based on a comparison of this fable and of Fab. 51, in the second part.
Fragm. I. — The same may be said here, as with reference to fables 125 and 128. The fragment is of easy completion if we compare with it Fab. 53, in Part II.
Proem. Fab. I. — For the murder of Æsop by the Delphians, who did not agree with him respecting the distribution of money among the citizens, with which he had been charged by Crœsus, see Plutarch de ser. Num. vind. p. 556. The Delphians repented, and granted compensation to his grandson. See Smith, D. G. R. B. vol. i. p. 47.a
Fab. II. — Cf. Aristoph. Av. 474.
Fab. V. — Compare Ovid. Fast. I. 357. See, too, Virg. Georg. II. 374-9.
Fab. XI. — Compare the slightly varied fable of Babrius, Part I Fab. 52.
Fab. XIII. — The Galli, or priests of Cybele, seem to have had their origin in Phrygia, and to have been chosen always from a poor and despised race of people; for while no other priests were allowed to beg, the Galli were permitted to do so on certain days. Compare Cicero de Leg. II. c. 9 and 16. Smith’s Dict. G. R. A. 447.a
Ibid. v. 6, 7. — Atys or Attis was a beautiful shepherd of Phrygia, beloved by Cybele, whence arose all his misfortunes. See Ovid. Fast. iv. 221-44. His death was annually bewailed by the Galli. Compare the poem on the subject of Atys in 228 Catullus, LXIII. — These references will explain the allusions in the text of this fable.
Fab. XVI. 2. — A slight emendation of the Greek text suggests itself to the translator, viz. to read ἅσπερ for ὥσπερ, and to omit the comma after εἰώθει. This gives an intelligible sense to the passage, and facilitates translation. In the next fable verses 13-17 are evidently imperfect, and it is hopeless to attempt a literal translation. An approximatory guess is the translator’s only resource.
Fab. XXII. — Compare with this fable that which occurs as Fable 71 of the first part. Sir G. C. Lewis illustrates the reply of the sea in v. 9-14, by a distich of Solon, from which it appears to have originated (p. 21, ed. Schneidewin), and by the speech of Artabanus to Xerxes, Herodot. vii. 16. In the last verse of the fable we would read,
τοῖς δρῶσιν οὐχὶ, τοῖσιν αἰτίοις μέμφου.
Fab. XXIV. — Compare Part I. Fab. LIX. The epimyths present the chief difference between the two.
Fab. XXVIII. — Compare the epimyth of this fable, which has a political end in view, with Fable 39, Part I. v. 3, 4.
Fab. XXXII. — There is no prose version extant of this singular fable. But it may be compared with Babr. Part I. Fab. 57. and Part II. 52, with which it, in parts, corresponds. The three concluding verses seem hopelessly corrupt, and defy translation.
Fab. XXXVII. — Cf. Fab. XII. Part I., and Fab. XC. Part II. and see Note on the former.
Fab. XXXIX. — Horace, Epist. I. x. 34. Aristot. Rhet. II. 20.
Fab. XLI. 6. — Pliny, in his Natural History, x. 24, says of the cock, “that it is an object of terror even to lions, the noblest of the brute kind.” The elephant seems to be very 229 sensitive of the attacks of insects, frequently rolling itself in mud, contracting his skin, and so crushing them between its wrinkles, or gathering boughs with his trunk to brush them away, or, if these artifices fail, collecting dust with his trunk, and strewing it over the most sensible parts of his body. See Encycl. Britann. Art. Mammalia, vol. 12, pp. 469, 70.
Fab. XLII. — Compare Fab. LXV. in Part I. and LXXXV. Part II. Avianus, Fab. 15, says, “Threiciam volucrem fertur Junonius ales,” &c., and Ælian notes that the crane migrates in the autumn to Libya and Ægypt, N. A. II. 1, III. 13. Compare Aristoph. Aves. 710. The epimyth here and at Fable LXV. in the first part are very similar.
Fab. LI. — Compare CXXVIII. in Part I.
Fab. LII. — Compare above, Fab. XXXI. Part II.
Fab. LIII. LIV. — Compare with these respectively, Fragm. I. in Part I. and Fable CXXV. in Part I. The translation is made up of a comparison of both. The Maltese dog is mentioned by Aristot. H. A. X. 6; Probl. X. 12.
Fab. LIX. — In the application of the fable of the Belly and its Members, as related by Shakespeare, (Coriolanus, Act. I. Scene 1,) Menenius calls one of the citizens, “the great toe of the assembly,”
“For that being one of the lowest, basest, poorest,
Of his most wise rebellion, thou goest forward.”
The fables are wholly dissimilar in purpose, but these words of Shakespeare are a parallel to the description of the tail in this fable of Babrius.
Fab. LXIV. — Simonides of Amorgos, in his poem περὶ γυναὶκῶν, represents Jove as having formed women out of brutes, availing himself of the nature of each, e.g. the craft of the fox, or the cleverness of the ape, in moulding the nature and 230 character of each woman. For Prometheus, and his part in the fable, Cf. Horace, Od. I. xvi. 13 “Fertur Prometheus,” &c. Fulgent. Mythol. III. De Peleo, and see Ovid Met. I. 82-8. See also above, Part I. Fab. LXVI. note.
Fab. LXVII. — The reading ξηρὴν instead of θήρην in v. 14 has been adopted for translation.
Fab. LXXI. — See note in Kitto’s Bible on Psalm lii. 8, respecting the greenness and long life of the olive tree.
Fab. LXXII. — Avianus (Fab. 40) has a version of this fable, the concluding lines of which are, —
Vade, ait, et pictæ nimium confie figuræ,
Dum mihi consilium pulchrius esse queat,
Miremurque magis quos munera mentis adornant,
Quam qui corporeis enituere bonis.
Fab. LXXIII. — Compare Aristotle, Rhet. II. 20, where, however, a demagogue, not a rich man, is represented as on his trial. Tiberius used this fable, a little altered, as a reason for not often changing governors of provinces, or appointing successors, unless in case of a governor’s death. See Whiston’s Josephus, Antiq. Jews, Book XVIII. c. vi. note 5.
Fab. LXXVIII. — Compare with this fable, illustrative of the force of nature, Part I. Fab. XXXII. It is given also by Lucian; Piscator, c. 36, who likewise tells it of a king of Egypt. See also Lucian’s Apology, c.v. where the monkeys are said to have been the property of Cleopatra.
Fab. LXXX. — See Aristot. H. A. IX. 40. Pliny, H. A. XI. c. 17. Nicander Theriaca, v. 809. Virg. Georg. IV. 236, and Servius’s note there.
Fab. LXXXI. — Compare the story of Atys and Adrastus, Herodot. I. 34-45.
Fab. LXXXIV. — Sir G. C. Lewis suggests the omission of 231 v. 2 in the text of this fable, and, for ὠκύπους, reading ἴππευεν in the end of v. 1.
Fab. LXXXVI. — This fable is narrated nearly word for word by Sylla, in a speech recorded in Appian’s Civil Wars, Book I. p. 413, Steph. q. v.
Fab. XC. — Compare with this fable, Fab. XII. Part I. According to Homer, Od. XIX. 517-23, Zethus, king of Thebes, married Aedon, daughter of Pandareus, and Itylus was the offspring of this union. She slew her son in mistake for the eldest child of Niobe, her husband’s brother’s wife. Sir G. C. Lewis suggests reading μητρὸς or Πρόκνης at the end of v. 42, for Ζήθου, and referring the whole, as is most natural, to the tragical tale of Tereus and Procne. Itylus was slain by the sword of Aedon, not of Zethus.
Fab. XCV. — For the proverb περὶ ὄνου σκιᾶς, see Lucian. Hermotim. 71; Aristoph. Vesp. 191, and the Scholiast there, who says that the fable was used by Menander, in one of his plays; and by Demosthenes, see Orat. De Pace, p. 63, notes, and Plat. Phædr. p. 203, and the notes of Ast and others. It seems, in all these passages, that the proverb refers to contentions about matters of the very slightest moment.