image of from the Bayeux tapestry

Week 11: Aesopus.

Background | Background Quiz | Starting Assumptions | Resources | Extras
Vocabulary | Etymology | Grammar | Perseus Dictionary | Perseus Tool

Reading Overview | Reading Quiz: English
| Reading Quiz: Latin
Discussion Questions | Latin Composition | Weekly Checklist


Reading #3a (Walter). Rana Rupta.

Go to the next fable ->

Also, you can find an illustration of this fable from a book of Aesop's fables, together with the Latin text, as printed in 1501. The fable is a poem written in elegaic couplets.

Equari vult rana bovi:
tumet ergo.

equari = aequari, s.v. aequo
bovi, s.v. bos
  what did the frog want to do?
Tumenti natus ait:
"Cessa;
pre bove tota nihil."
natus = filius
natus ait tumenti (matri, ranae)
pre = prae
tu tota es nihil prae bove
  what did the frog's child say to her?
Rana dolet
meliusque tumet;
premit ille tumentem:
ille = natus
ille (natus) premit (matrem) tumentem
  what did the frog do?
"Vincere non poteris,
victa crepare potes."
victa, s.v. vinco
  what did the frog's child say to her now?
Tertius
iratam vexat tumor;
illa tumoris copia findit eam:
viscera rupta patent.
tumor vexat iratam (ranam)
illa copia tumoris findit eam (ranam)
  what happened to the frog in the end?
Cum maiore
minor conferri desinat
et se consulat
et vires temperet ipse suas.

[the moral of the story]
desinat, temperet: jussive subjunctives
minor desinat conferri cum maiore, et consulat, et ipse temperet vires suas
vires, s.v. vis

  what is the moral of the story?

Here is the fable in verse form:

Equari vult rana bovi: tumet ergo. Tumenti
...Natus ait: "Cessa; pre bove tota nihil."
Rana dolet meliusque tumet; premit ille tumentem:
..."Vincere non poteris, victa crepare potes."
Tertius iratam vexat tumor; illa tumoris
...Copia findit eam: viscera rupta patent.
Cum maiore minor conferri desinat et se
...Consulat et vires temperet ipse suas.

Go to the next fable ->


Aesopus, 1505 (University of Mannheim; more information)


Modern Languages 4970 / MRS 4903: Medieval Latin. Spring 2003 Online Course at the University of Oklahoma. Visit http://www.ou.edu/online/ for more info.
Laura Gibbs, University of Oklahoma - Information Technology © 2003.  laura-gibbs@ou.edu. Last updated: December 29, 2002 7:12 PM