Phaedrus: The Fabulist Legend

By: The Senex (Drew, Jack, Dave, and John)

Early Life

Born in 15 B.C. near Pydna, Macedonia Became a slave of the emperor as a young boy and

eventually became a freedman under Augustus Lived during the Empire, specifically under Augustus,

Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius.

Poetic Works/Style

Wrote mostly fables– 5 books composed of revised tales by Aesop,

who was probably his biggest influence.

Wrote in iambic trimeter and all in Latin, despite the Greek origins of Aesop’s works.

Verses scattered with anecdotes of daily life, history, and mythology.

Morals

Each of Phaedrus’ fables contained a moral message at the end of the story that the reader could interpret in any way.

– Could also be interpreted the way he wanted For example, the story of the Wolf and the Sheep is

characteristic of his style because it is a fable with a meaning to take away at the end.

Connections with Martial

Phaedrus was often mentioned by Martial, who imitated some of his verses– In one poem Martial states, “an aemulator improbi

iocos Phaedri?” In this instance Martial is questioning if this person

emulates the naughty jokes of Phaedrus, showing that Martial had him in mind when writing.

The Fox Gets the Raven’s Cheese

Qui se laudari gaudet verbis subdolis,

Fere dat poenas turpi paenitentia.

Cum de fenestra corvus raptum caseum

Comesse vellet, celsa residens arbore,

hunc vidit vulpes deinde sic coepit loqui:

“O qui tuarum, corve, pennarum est nitor!

Quantum decoris corpore et vultu geris!

Si vocem haberes, nulla prior ales foret.”

At ille stultus, dum vult vocem ostendere,

Emisit ore caseum, quem celeriter

Dolosa vulpes avidis rapuit dentibus.

The Fox gets the Raven’s Cheese

He who rejoices to be praised by deceitful words themselves,

generally give punishment by ugly repentance.

When the raven wished to eat up the cheese having

snatched up from the windows, sitting in the high tree,

the fox saw this one; then he began to say this:

“Oh how great is the beauty of your feathers, crow!”

How much grace do you carry in your body and face!

If you had a voice, there would be no better bird.”

But that foolish one, while he wished to show his voice,

drops the cheese from his mouth, which the

crafty fox seized quickly with greedy teeth.

Parts of Speech

Laudari: present passive infinitive– part of indirect statement

Raptum: perfect passive particable– modifies “caseum”

Parts of Speech (cont.)

Vellet: imperfect subjunctive– indirect command

Residens: present active practicable– subject is the crow

Si vocem haberes: imperfect subjunctive– conditional sentence

Themes

Do not be gullible Do not be too affected

by flattery Do no trust strangers

Artistic Interpretation of the Fox and the Cheese

The Sperm Whale and the Giant Squid

There once was a sperm whaleWho thought he would never fail.

He fought a giant squid,And inked he did.

All the little fishes in the town,Got caught in the ink and fell down,

But the sperm whale and the squid did not care.What their fighting did, they could not repair.

The Other Person’s Faults and our Own

Peras imposuit Iuppiter nobis duas:

propriis repletam vitiis post tergum dedit,

alienis ante pectus suspendit gravem.

Hac re videre nostra mala non possumus;

alii simul delinquunt, censores sumus.

The Other Person’s Faults and our Own

Jupiter put on us two wallets

One wallet having been filled with our faults he placed behind our back,

He hung another heavy with our faults belonging to another in front of our chest.

We are not able to see our faults in this thing.

As soon as we commit a crime, we are the judges.

Parts of Speech

Alliteration – alienis ante– The a’s are longer and sound a bit lower and

darker when read, showing the seriousness and importance of the situation.

Anaphora – peras…peram– Peras is only written once, but it is implied

throughout the rest of the story. This is done to emphasize the symbol of the wallet, which holds all of our faults (according to Phaedrus)

Parts of Speech (continued)

Synchesis – propriis repletam vitiis tergum (A) (B) (A) (B)

– This synchesis shows the connectedness between the wallet behind the back and all the faults of humans. Used once again to emphasize the symbol of the wallet.

Themes

Don’t be hypocritical Don’t judge others