28: De Leporibus et Ranis

Here the animals and action in the fable are secondary to the moral lesson that is being taught. A group of hares is frightened by a noise in the forest, but their only means of escape is to dive into a pond which lies ahead of them. The hares see that there are also frogs in the water, and they decide to embrace hope, and dive into the water. The fable ends here, and the remaining eight lines are devoted to discussing the virtue of hope, and how it can serve as a remedy for fear. 

Perry 138

haerent: has a middle sense, “they are stuck.” 

fit mora: “there is a delay.”

ante retroque: both adverbs go with respiciunt; order matters: “they look forward, then back”, showing rising fear.

librant … metus: “they weigh fears in their mind.”

mergere: “having decided to submerge themselves”; pres. inf. in an indirect statement after pacti. Pacti is a perfect deponent participle.

stagna: abl. of place where with subire.

subire: “they see themselves to undergo fear and they see the frogs to go under the water”; zeugma, construed with both metui and stagnā.

turba: “we are not the only crowd”; nom. pred.

vano timore: “hides with empty fear,” i.e., empty of fear with transferred epithet; ablative of manner with latet. 

amplecti: “it is fitting to embrace”; pres. inf. dep. after decet.

via prima: “hope is the first path; pred. nom.

metui: “causes to be feared”; pres. pass. inf. after facit.

metuenda: “causes things that ought not be feared to be feared”; gerundive, neut. pl. acc., object of facit and subject of the infinitive metui.

metus: subject of facit.

ista ... illa: “the latter (inertia) ... the former (levitas.)”

timeat: “let him fear!”  pres. jussive subj.

quicumque timet: “let whoever fears fear!”; relative clause subject of timeat. Note the mannered variations on the words for fear and hope.

mole: “because of the size of (his) fear”; ablative of cause with timoris. 

spe: ablative of separation with ne caret. 

ne careat: “lest he lack hope”; pres subj. in a negative purpose clause.

spe fugiente:, “with hope fleeing”; ablative absolute. Note the anaphora.

speret: “let him hope!”; pres jussive subj.

morituros: “I have seen those about to die to live”; fut. part. dep. acc., subject of vivere in an indirect statement after vidi.

spe duce: “with hope being the leader”; ablative absolute.

victuros: “I have seen those about to win to die”; fut. part. acc., subject of mori in indirect statement after vidi.

spe moriente: “with hope dying”; ablative absolute.