14: De Aquila et Testudine

The Eagle and the Tortoise

An eagle has picked up a tortoise but seems unsure if any food is to be found in the hard shell. A raven advises the eagle to drop the tortoise to uncover its fleshy innards. The moral points to the wicked influence of malicious advisors.

Also known as The Eagle and the Crow or The Tortoise and the Birds. Other versions: Perry 490.

Phaedrus's version makes the situation somewhat clearer (Phaedrus 2.6)

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No one is sufficiently well armed against the high and the mighty, and if there is a malicious advisor involved as well, then whoever falls victim to their criminal forces will be destroyed.
An eagle carried a tortoise high up into the air but the tortoise's flesh was hidden inside a home of horn, tucked away safely inside so no harm could come to it. A crow then arrived on the scene and as she winged her way past the eagle she said, 'Well now, you have grasped an excellent prize in your talons, but unless I show you what to do with it, its weight will exhaust you to no avail.' When the eagle promised to share with the crow, the crow advised her to drop the hard shell from the starry heights down onto the rocks. After the shell had been shattered, the tortoise's meat would be easily consumed. The eagle was persuaded by the crow's clever counsel and carried out the plan, generously sharing the feast with her teacher. Thus even something protected by a gift of nature was no match for these two, and the tortoise died a pitiful death. (Phaedrus 2.6, trans. Laura Gibbs)

1  Pēs aquilae: "The foot of an eagle," i.e., an eagle.

1  praedō testūdinis: “the plunderer of a tortoise.” The eagle has snatched up a tortoise.

1  aëra findit: “cleaves the air,” i.e., flies.

2  hanc: the tortoise.

2  cornua longa latent: the sense must be that the tortoise's body is inaccessible (latent) to the eagle. See Phaedrus 2.6.5-6 and the prose paraphrase in the manuscript used by Wright (p. 52): testudo autem latebat in sua concha. But why the tortoise's flesh should be referred to as cornua longa is unclear. 

3  Hōc monitū: abl. of means, “with this advice.”

4  fers: “you are carrying,”  2nd sing. > fero.

4  fiet ūtile: “it will become useful."

5  quod geris: “(the thing) which you carry.”

5  surripit: = rapit, “steals from you,” + dative of disadvantage. The raven makes out that it is the eagle who is being wronged by the tortoise.

7  Ut ... laniēs: pres. subj. in a purpose clause, “(in order) to rip apart the shell.”

7  prō vīribus: “instead of your strength.” 

7  utere: “use!” pres. imperat. (+ abl.).

8  si ... cadat: “if it (i.e. the shell) should fall,” pres. subj. in a future less vivid protasis.

8  celsa: “(having been) raised high.”

8  franget: “would break,” pres. subj. in a future less vivid apodosis. Saxea humus is the subject and hanc is the direct object. 

9  decipientis ... turbine linguae: "by the whirlwind of a beguiling tongue," the irresistible force of a malicious advisor (DMLBS decipere b). Decipientis is emphatic by position.

10  corruit: "is ruined," in politics or business. The enjambment makes this very emphatic. See Phaedrus line 2,  Vis et nequitia quicquid oppugnant, ruit.

10  et fortēs: et = etiam, “even strong men,” with substantial defenses like the tortoise's shell.