19: De Milvo Aegrotante

The Sick Kite

A kite, stricken with a mortal illness, asks his mother to pray to the gods for his recovery. But she reminds him of his lifetime spent despoiling the altars of the gods. Sometimes it can be too late to repent. 

Other Versions: Perry 324. 

1  Morbī mōle: "with a massive weight of sickness."

1  iacet: “lies,” i.e., is bed-ridden.

2  ut ... det: pres. subj. noun clause after precatur. 

2  prō sē: “on his behalf.”  

4  laesistī: "you have harmed," by swooping down and stealing sacrificial offerings meant for the gods from holy altars. Babrius's version makes this clearer: τίνος γὰρ ὑπὸ σοῦ βωμὸς οὐκ ἐσυλήθη;

5  prō crīmine: “in return for the crime."

6  cum ... turbares: probably causal (AG 549), "since you used to disturb," i.e., you should have expected punishment, given your conduct; the clause might be taken as circumstantial (AG 546), "when you were disturbing," i.e., you should have thought about potential punishment at the time.

7  fidēlem: supply cogit esse.

8  cum nece: “with (your) death,”  ablative of attendant circumstance.

9  incolit: "cultivate," "worship at." The compound verb incolo used for the simple colo is late Latin.

10  Quem sua facta premunt: "(the person) whom his own deeds weigh down," "one crushed by his own (bad) deeds" (Pepin).

10  cur aliēna levat: "why does he lighten [diminish? mitigate?] another's?" A curious conclusion, since in the narrative neither the kite nor his mother is concerned with the deeds of others. There is a forced antithesis between premunt and levat.