2: De lupo et agno

The Wolf and the Lamb 

A wolf accuses a lamb of polluting his drinking water, even though the lamb is drinking downstream; the resulting moral is clear: the villainous will find a way to injure the innocent.

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Other versions: Perry 155.

This seems to have been a popular medieval fable; it is occasionally illustrated in manuscripts, and is contained in a number of later translations of the fables. Interestingly, the end of this moral notes that "these wolves reign in any city," making this one of only a few fables in the elegiac Romulus to have an overt political message. These political messages are picked up by fable authors later in the Middle Ages, and particularly in the Renaissance, when fables were more often used for political ends.

1  sitit hic, sitit ille: “this one is thirsty, that one is thirsty.”

2  līmite nōn ūnō: ablative of place, “not on the one path,” i.e. not in the same place.  

2  sitī: ablative of cause with quaerit, “sought because of thirst.” The direct object of quaerit is fluentum.  

3  in summō ... amne ... in imō: ablative of place where. When specifying a location in a larger place Latin uses adjectives like summus, medius, and imus in agreement with their nouns, where English uses nouns + gen. Hence in summō amne =  "in the highest part of the river," literally "in the highest river." 

4  hunc: the lamb.

4  verba movente lupō: "when the wolf moved (these) words," i.e., spoke as follows. 

5  -que ... -que: “both ... and ... ” the two accusatives, pōtum and decōrem are the direct objects of rūpistī.

5  mihi: dative of disadvantage with rūpistī.

5  rivōque: ablative of separation. A genitive works better in English, “the beauty of the river.” 

6  utrumque negat: “denies each (accusation).”

6  sē ratiōne tuēns: “defending itself with (this) rationale,” see LS tueor II.

7  tibi ... rīvō: datives with nocuī, > noceō -ēre, which normally takes a dative.  

7  prona: nom., agreeing with unda, “water inclined downward,” i.e. water flowing downstream. 

7-8  supinum / nescit iter: “does not know a backward journey,” i.e., cannot flow backwards, LS supinus I.B.1. 

8  nitōre: "clarity," ablative of separation after caret, the normal construction with this verb. nitor is normally used of gleaming or reflective surfaces, but rarely of water. 

9  ōre: ablative of means with tonat, “roars from his mouth.” 

9  mihi damna mināris: “do you threaten damage(s) to me,” i.e. do you threaten to injure me. Mihi is a dative of disadvantage. 

10  minor: > minor minārī minātus sum, "threaten."

10  cui lupus: supply dixit or respondit, a common ellipse in dialogue.

11  idem: "the same thing," neut. acc. direct object of fēcit.  

11  sex mensibus actis: ablative of time when, “six months having passed,” “six months ago.”

12  cum patrissēs: pres. subj. in a causal cum-clause, “since you are taking after your father.” 

12  crimine: ablative of cause.

12  obī: imperative, “die!” 

13  ad haec: supply dixit or respondit.

13  tantō tempore: ablative of time where we would expect the accusative of duration, “for so much time.” 

14  tonat: lupus is the subject. 

14  an loqueris: “are you (still) speaking?” The wolf is angry and indignant that the lamb is denying his claims. 

14  hunc: the lamb.

 15  innocuō: dative with the verb nocet which regularly takes a dative. 

15  nocendī: gen. gerund after causam, “for harming.”

16  quālibet urbe: ablative of place where with rēgnant, “in any city you want,” i.e., in most cities.  See LS libet.