{"id":132,"date":"2010-11-19T18:41:26","date_gmt":"2010-11-19T23:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/?p=132"},"modified":"2010-11-19T18:41:26","modified_gmt":"2010-11-19T23:41:26","slug":"five-fables-by-babrius","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/2010\/132\/poems\/five-fables-by-babrius\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Fables by Babrius"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pine<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some woodmen, bent a forest pine to split,
\nInto each fissure sundry wedges fit,
\nTo keep the void and render work more light.
\nOut groaned the pine, “Why should I vent my spite
\nAgainst the axe which never touched my root,
\nSo much as these cursed wedges, mine own fruit;
\nWhich rend me through, inserted here and there!”<\/p>\n

A fable this, intended to declare
\nThat not so dreadful is a stranger’s blow
\nAs wrongs which men receive from those they know.<\/p>\n

The Young Cocks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two Tanagraean cocks a fight began;
\nTheir spirit is, ’tis said, as that of man:
\nOf these the beaten bird, a mass of blows,
\nFor shame into a corner creeping goes;
\nThe other to the housetop quickly flew,
\nAnd there in triumph flapped his wings and crew.
\nBut him an eagle lifted from the roof,
\nAnd bore away. His fellow gained a proof
\nThat oft the wages of defeat are best,–
\nNone else remained the hens to interest.<\/p>\n

Wherefore, O man, beware of boastfulness:
\nShould fortune lift thee, others to depress,
\nMany are saved by lack of her caress.<\/p>\n

Jupiter and the Monkey<\/strong><\/p>\n

A baby-show with prizes Jove decreed
\nFor all the beasts, and gave the choice due heed.
\nA monkey-mother came among the rest;
\nA naked, snub-nosed pug upon her breast
\nShe bore, in mother’s fashion. At the sight
\nAssembled gods were moved to laugh outright.
\nSaid she, “Jove knoweth where his prize will fall!
\nI know my child’s the beauty of them all.”<\/p>\n

This fable will a general law attest,
\nThat each one deems that what’s his own, is best.<\/p>\n

The Mouse That Fell Into The Pot<\/strong><\/p>\n

A mouse into a lidless broth-pot fell;
\nChoked with the grease, and bidding life farewell,
\nHe said, “My fill of meat and drink have I
\nAnd all good things: ‘Tis time that I should die.”
\nThou art that dainty mouse among mankind,
\nIf hurtful sweets are not by thee declined.<\/p>\n

The Lamp<\/strong><\/p>\n

A lamp that swam with oil, began to boast
\nAt eve, that it outshone the starry host,
\nAnd gave more light to all. Her boast was heard:
\nSoon the wind whistled; soon the breezes stirred,
\nAnd quenched its light. A man rekindled it,
\nAnd said, “Brief is the faint lamp’s boasting fit,
\nBut the starlight ne’er needs to be re-lit.”<\/p>\n

Translations by James Davies in Library Of The World’s Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol 3 [Gutenberg edition].<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pine Some woodmen, bent a forest pine to split, Into each fissure sundry wedges fit, To keep the void and render work more light. Out groaned the pine, “Why should I vent my spite Against the axe which never touched my root, So much as these cursed wedges, mine own fruit; Which rend me […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-4-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133,"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions\/133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}