Fabulae, virginibus puerisque aut narrandae aut recitandae

The magic words Fābulam vōbīs nārrābō never fail to arouse just that tingle of excitement and rapt attention in the class-room which their English equivalents have always occasioned in the nursery. This collection may be used as an occasional reading-book for lower forms, when it will be found, I trust, no less interesting than those generally in use. Many teachers have found that it is often very profitable to have an additional reading-book to be used intermittently for the sake of avoiding boredom. This is especially the case with young pupils who are apt to get tired of continually reading from one book. Those who so use this book will not, of course, follow the order of the stories. Many of the shortest and simplest are in the middle of the book. Those who teach Latin on the Direct Method will find here a large number of stories which I have myself found useful for telling to my classes. If so used, the stories should be told and not read. Some of the shorter ones are suitable for a quite elementary stage, and many of the longer ones can be told in two parts. A knowledge of the chief syntax constructions is assumed. Should the class not have this, it would be advisable to read first Pōns Tīrōnum, a fourth-term book, which Messrs. Bell have recently published for Mr. W. H. S. Jones and myself.

For material I have drawn extensively upon Hyginus for the commoner classical stories and upon Apuleius for the magical element. Fulgentius and the summary of the arguments of Ovid's Metamorphoses by the scholiast Placidus have also been of particular use, but the stories are really gathered from a variety of sources. Pliny the elder, Plutarch, Herodotus, Pausanias, Valerius Maximus, Diogenes Laertius, Zenobius, Erasmus, and the dictionaries of Suidas and Stephanus have all been laid under contribution.

I am indebted to Dr. W. H. D. Rouse and Mr. W. H. S. Jones for their great kindness in reading through the proofs; what accuracy of scholarship the book contains is very largely due to their vigilance. For the mistakes I alone am responsible.

R. B. A.

I

Ad Thessaliam ōlim negōtia aliquot āctūrus profectus eram, cum duōs viātōrēs, quī forte paululum prōcēsserant, invēnī. Mox itinere dēfessī omnēs ad dēversōrium vēnimus, cūius caupōna erat sāga quaedam nōmine Meroē. Ita fessī erāmus ut statim cubitum īrēmus. Ūnus ē comitibus meīs, cuī nōmen Sōcratēs, simul āc sē in lectum iēcit, stertere incēpit. Ego tamen, adductīs foribus, pessulīsque obditīs, grabātulum meum post cardinēs, nē quis posset intrāre, posuī. Tum dēmum somnō mē dabam. Prīmō tamen prae metū vigilō; deinde circā tertiam ferē vigiliam paululum obdormiō. Subitō autem impulsū māiōre quam ut latrōnēs adesse crēderēs iānua reserātur.

Ii

Grabātulus meus tantā impetūs violentiā prōsternitur. Mē quoque ēvolūtum ēiectumque tegit. Dum in fimum dēiectus quid acciderit mīror, duās prōvectae aetātis mulierēs videō. Lucernam ferēbat prīma, altera spongiam et gladium nūdum. Ad Sōcratem, quī altē dormiēbat, appropinquāvērunt, et ea quae gladium ferēbat, capite ēius ad dextram dīmōtō, per iugulum capulō tenus gladium tōtum dēmersit. Deinde sanguinem effluentem, ūtre admōtō, ita dīligenter excēpit ut nūlla stīlla appārēret ūsquam. Tum, dextrā per volnus ad vīscera penitus immīssā, cor miserī contubernālis meī extrāxit. Quibus factīs, ambae statim abiērunt.

Iii

Simul āc sāgae illae abiērunt, ego humī prōiectus, nūdus et frīgidus, īmmō vērō sēmimortuus, "Quid," inquam, "mē fīet, cum Sōcratēs iugulātus māne appāruerit?" Optimum igitur vīsum est fūrtim ēvādere, nē quis mē Sōcratem putāret interfēcisse. Itaque pessulōs redūcō, et, iānuā apertā, "Heus tū," inquam, "ubi es? Valvās stabulī absolve! ante lūcem abīre volō." Sed haec mihi clāmantī iānitor sēmisomnus, "Quid tū," inquit, "clāmās? Īgnōrāsne latrōnibus īnfēstārī viās, quī hōc nocturnum iter incipiās? Facinorisne alicūius cōnscius morī cupis? Quōmodo scīre possum utrum, comite tuō iugulātō, fugā praesidium quaerās necne?"

Iiii

Quibus audītīs, sāgās intellēxī nōn misericordiā commōtās mihi pepercisse, sed ob saevitiam crucī mē reservāsse. In cubiculum igitur reversus, diū mēcum dēlīberābam quō modō mortem mihi possem cōnscīscere. Sed cum nūllum aliud tēlum mortiferum Fortūna quam grabātulum sōlum mihi subministrāret, restim, quā intextus erat grabātulus, expedīre aggredior. Deinde, alterā parte suprā tīgnum, quod ē mūrō ēminēbat, iniectā, alterā in nōdum coāctā, grabātulum ascendō, et caput in laqueum īnserō. Sed dum grabātulum, quō sustinēbar, pede alterō repellō, repente vetus āc putris ille fūnis dīrumpitur, et Sōcratem, quī iūxtā iacēbat, ego dē altō recidēns tōtō corpore obruō, ambōque nōs in terram dēvolvimur. Ad haec, cāsū meō experrēctus, Sōcratēs exsurgit.

V

Posterō diē māne ē dēversōriō proficīscimur. At ego iugulum Sōcratis, quā parte gladium dīmersum vīderam, cūriōsē spectābam; nec dubitāre poteram quīn vēsānus fuissem. Namque integrum et incolumem Sōcratem vīdī. Sed somnium meum eī nārrāre incēpī. Ad haec ille arrīdēns respondit sē quoque per somnium sibi iugulārī vīsum esse. Mox aliquid cibī edere volēbat; cuī ego, pānem et cāseum ē saccō dēprōmēns, "Ecce," inquam, "parātum tibi adest ientāculum; iūxtā platanum istam cōnsīdāmus." Sed dum edimus, maciē et pallōre Sōcratem affectum esse vīdī. Nihil tamen dīxī; at Sōcratēs, cum māiōrem cāseī partem avidē dēvorāvisset, sitīre coeperat. Itaque eī imperāvī ut dē fluviō, quī haud ita longē fluēbat, biberet.

Vi

Sōcratēs igitur, ut sitim exstingueret, ad flūmen sē contulit. Sed vix satis extrēmīs labrīs summam attigit aquam, cum in iugulō ēius volnus in profundum dehīscit, et spongia, quam sāgae imposuerant, repente dēvolvitur! Ego, quamquam māgnō terrōre affectus eram, eī succurrī, nam corpus ēius exanimātum in flūmen paene cecidit. Alterō tamen pede retentō, vix et aegrē ad superiōrem rīpam eum adtrāxī. Quibus factīs, cadāver rīte dēflētum in arēnā sepelīvī. Ipse trepidus et terrōre affectus per remōtās et āviās sōlitūdinēs, quasi sceleris mihi cōnscius, aufūgī. Cum pauca mīlia passuum prōgrēssus essem, aliam intrāvī tabernam, ubi dē caupōnā quaesīvī num Milōnem quemdam nōvisset.

Vii

Quae cum rogāvissem, caupōna mihi respondit Milōnem locuplētem vērō, avāritiae tamen extrēmae esse, quī ūsūrae nōmine pecūniam aliīs perscrīberet. Dēmōnstrāvit praetereā ubi habitāret. Illīc statim mē contulī, et iānuam claustrīs pāctam pulsāre incēpī. Tandem mulier quaedam ēgrēssa, "Heus tū," inquit, "quī tam fortiter forēs verberāstī, num mūtuārī cupis?" Cum mē lītterās ab amīcō quōdam portāre respondissem, ut intrārem ōrāvit. Domum igitur ingrēssus Milōnem grabātulō exiguō accumbentem et cenāre incipientem invēnī; quī, vacuā mihi appositā mēnsā, "Ēn," inquit, "hospitium." Nihil cibī aderat; sed mē cēnāre simulāvī. Haud ita multō post hospitem meum, ut ita eum nōminem, ut mihi cubitum īre licēret ōrāvī.

Viii

Posterō diē iēiūnus, īmmō vērō iēiūnissimus, experrēctus, Milōnī mē ad balneās exitūrum dīxī. Rē vērā, ut aliquantulum cibī emerem, forum petiī; quō cum vēnissem, piscēs in pūblicō expositōs vīdī. Ē vēnditōre quantō essent quaesīvī; et illī vīginti poscentī dēnāriōs sēdecim dedī. Ē forō dīgrēssus amīcō cuīdam obviam īvī, quī mihi dīxit sē annōnam cūrāre et aedīlem sē gerere. Cum piscēs meōs vīdisset, quantī parāvissem rogāvit. "Vix," inquam, "piscātōrī persuāsī ut sēdecim acciperet dēnāriōs." Quibus audītīs, aedīlis ille ad piscātōrem reversus, "Quid, malum," inquit, "fēcistī, quī tantō pretiō inūtilēs vēndidistī piscēs? Sed nōn impūne fēceris." Quō dictō, piscēs in medium profūsōs servum iūssit tōtōs pedibus suīs obterere, et, "Hōc modō," inquit, "fūrēs pūnior." Sed, cum piscātor nummōs meōs accēpisset, mē quoque eum pūnīrī putāvī.

Viiii

Tribus post diēbus per forum prōgrēssus prōcērum quemdam senem animadvertī, quī clārā vōce num quis mortuum cūstōdīre vellet rogābat. Quae cum audīvissem, ad praetereuntem quemdam versus, "Quid hōc," inquam, "audiō? Solentne mortuī hīc aufugere?" "Tacē," respondit ille, "nam iuvenis et peregrīnus es. Num īgnōrās tē in Thessaliā esse, ubi ōra mortuōrum sāgae passim rōdunt, ut sanguinem hūmānum magicīs suīs artibus subministrent?" Quibus audītīs, eum rogāvī quid ut corpora cūstōdīrentur esset faciendum. "Tōtam noctem," respondit, "vigilandum est, oculīs semper in cadāver intentīs; nam sāgae, corpore in quodvīs animal conversō, cadāverī appropinquāre possunt. Quō modō omnēs dēcipiunt; namque et avēs et canēs et mūrēs, īmmō vērō etiam muscae, fīunt. Sed, nisi māne integrum inventum erit corpus, cūstōdī necesse erit partem āmīssam dē suā faciē renovāre."

X

Simul atque haec audīvī ad senem versus, "Clāmāre," inquam, "iam dēsine. Adest tibi cūstōs parātus. Cedo praemium." Senex igitur mē domum cūiusdam perdūxit, ubi mihi dēmōnstrāvit mātrōnam flēbilem, fūscā veste contēctam, quae mē ōrāvit ut quam dīligentissimē corpus marītī suī cūstōdīrem. Deinde in aliud cubiculum mē indūxit, ubi cadāver splendidīs linteīs coopertum vīdī. Septem deinde tēstibus intrōductīs, vidua corpus revēlāvit, et singula dēmōnstrāns, "Ecce," inquit, "nāsus integer, incolumēs oculī, salvae aurēs, labra illībāta, mentum solidum." Quō dictō, iam exīre incipiēbat; sed ego eam ōrāvī ut omnia quae mihi ūsuī essent adhibēret; cuī quae vellem rogantī, "Lucernam," inquam, "et māgnam oleī cōpiam velim dēs." Itaque ancillae cuīdam imperāvit ut haec mihi daret. Quibus adhibitīs, omnēs statim exiērunt.