15: De Vulpe et Corvo

The Fox and the Crow

A fox appeals to a crow’s pride by complimenting him and asking him to sing a song, so that the fox can snatch the cheese that is in his beak. Listening to flatterers leads to humiliation. 

Other versions: Perry 124

1-2  gerente ... gerit ... gerēns: in a strained wordplay typical of the author, the verb gero is used in three different senses.

1  gerente famem: “bearing hunger,” i.e., being hungry; ablative absolute. 

1  gerit: "contains," "supports."

1  ēscam: "food," a piece of cheese, as becomes clear in line 6. The word can also mean "bait."

2  gerēns: portāns. 

2  vulpe loquente: “while the fox is speaking,” ablative absolute.

3  decōre decēns: more wordplay, as the fox sweet-talks the crow. Decōre is abl. of specification with decēns.

3  candōre: ablative of respect. You can translate candore traditionally as “whiteness” to really drive home the ridiculousness of the fox’s flattery, or you can translate it as “brilliance” or “radiance,” if you want to make the statement a bit less extreme.   

4  placeās ... placēs: "please," "find favor" with the general public like a stage performer (LS placeo I.B.1), appealing to the crow's vanity. Others supply mihi, "please me." Pres. indic. placēs for placeās or placēbis makes the expression more vivid, and fits the meter. 

4  plūs ave quāque: literally, “more than each bird,” but you could generalize it to, “more than any other bird.” 

5  Crēdit: “believes" what the fox says.

5  pictaeque placent preludia linguae: “and the prologues of (his) painted/ deceptive tongue please (him).” Pictus generally means, “painted,” or “colorful,” but it can also mean “deceptive” (LS pingo II.B.3). So, the tongue in question could be the fox’s “deceptive tongue,” but a crow’s’ tongue is actually black (once they are mature), so the pictae could also be referring to the crow’s “painted tongue.” 

6  canit ... cāseus ... cadit: note the alliteration.

7  fruitur: "enjoys," i.e., eats + abl. as usual with this verb.

7  taedia: "annoyance" or, given dolōre below, "torment" (DMLBS taedium d). Plural for singular. See line 10 below, vēra taedia.

8  asperat: "makes worse," "exacerbates." The subject is pudor.

8  in mediō … dolōre: “in the midst of his sorrow.” 

9  Fellītum patitur rīsum quem mellit inānis / glōria: order (is) quem inānis glōria mellit ("sweetens," i.e., flatters) patitur fellītum rīsum. Fellitus means "steeped in bile" (fel), i.e., "intensely bitter," in strong antithesis with mellit. 

10 parit: "yields," "begets" > pario -ere.