In causam canis urget ovem; sedet arbiter, audit.
Reddat ovis pānem vult canis, illa negat.
Prō cane stat mīlvus, stat vultur, stat lupus: īnstant
pānem, quem pepigit reddere, reddat ovis.
Reddere nōn dēbet, nec habet quid reddere possit; 5
et tamen ut reddat arbiter īnstat ovī.
Ergō suum, licet īnstet hiems, pervendit amictum,
et Boream patitur vellere nūda suō.
Saepe fidem falsō mendīcat inertia teste,
saepe dolet pietās crīminis arte cāpī. 10
notes
The Dog and the Sheep
A lamb is again falsely accused, this time by a dog, who says that she has stolen a loaf of bread.
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Even more so than the Wolf and the Lamb, this fable is explicitly political, and later used to critique legal systems. You will note that the court who judges the sheep is made up of rather questionable characters, a kite, a wolf, and a vulture. These animals find the sheep guilty, and she is forced to sell the fleece off her back to repay the debts. Here again, though, the moral does not critique the animal that the reader might think should be questioned—the dog—rather it is the false witnesses of the kite, wolf, and vulture who are condemned.
1 in causam: “into court.”
2 reddat ovis … vult: “wishes that the sheep give back.” The dog is hauling the sheep into court, so canis, not ovis, must be the subject of vult. volo with plain subjunctive is colloquial (LS volo I.D). vult ovem reddere would be more regular in literary Latin.
2 illa: the sheep.
2 negat: “refuses.”
3 prō cane: “on behalf of the dog.”
3-4 instant … reddat: “demand that she return.” Plain subj. in an indirect command (as with vult above). instant ut reddat would be more regular.
4 pepigit: "pledged." In Phaedrus' version the dog claims that he "loaned" the sheep the bread.
5 quid reddere possit: quid = aliquid and possit is potential subj., "anything she might be able to return," "anything to return."
6 ut reddat: noun clause after instat, this time with ut, as normal.
instat ovī: “pressures the sheep," "insists that the sheep ...." The construction with dative + ut + subj. is classical (Cicero, Pro Quinctio 34, tibi instat Hortensius, ut eas in consilium).
7 licet: "although," a common use of this impersonal verb as a conjunction, + subjunctive. Literally, "it is permitted."
7 īnstet: "is impending," subj. after licet = "although," as normal.
7 suum ... amictum: "her own clothing," i.e., her wool.
8 vellere ... suō: ablative of separation after nūda.
9 falsō teste: "thanks to false testimony." In Phaedrus's version this point is stressed. There the sheep is damnāta falsō testimoniō (Phaedrus 1.17.6).
9 fidem ... medīcat: "takes credibility from," a post-classical sense of mendīcō (DMLBS mendicare 3).
9 inertia: "laziness," subject of mendīcat. The Wolfenbuttel manuscript glosses this as falsitas et nequitia ("lying and wickedness"). It refers to the dog.
10 arte: "cunning," "cleverness."
10 capī: pres. pass. inf., complementing doleō, “grieves to be caught.” The construction is rare but classical. doleo quod or quia would be more regular.
vocabulary
causa -ae f.: legal case
urgeō –ēre –ursī –: to press, push
ovis –is f.: a sheep
arbiter –trī m.: a judge
panis –is m.: bread, loaf
milvus –ī m.: a kite, bird of prey
vultur –uris m.: a vulture
lupus –ī m.: a wolf
īnstō –āre –stitī –stātūrus: to insist, demand (+ subj.); to approach, draw near
pangō –ere pepigī pactus: to agree upon, pledge (+ inf.)
hiems hiemis f.: winter
pervendō -ere: to sell
amictus –ūs m.: a cloak, clothing
boreās –ae m.: the North Wind
vellus –eris n.: fleece
fidēs, fideī f.: credibility
mendicō –āre –āvī –ātus: to beg; borrow, take
inertia –ae f.: laziness