Phaedrus 1,8: be careful whom you help.

A wolf has a bone in his throat and a credulous crane helps him with her long neck and beak to remove it. But he doesn’t give her the promised reward: the crane must be glad not having her head bitten off.  A lesson in international diplomacy.

Phaedrus 1.8

Meter : iambicus senarius (six feet iambic)

Lupus et Gruis

Qui pretium meriti ab improbis desiderat,

bis peccat: primum quoniam indignos adiuvat,

impune abire deinde quia iam non potest.

Os devoratum fauce cum haereret lupi,

magno dolore victus coepit singulos

inlicere pretio ut illud extraherent malum.

Tandem persuasa est iureiurando gruis,

gulae quae credens colli longitudinem

periculosam fecit medicinam lupo.

Pro quo cum pactum flagitaret praemium,

'Ingrata es' inquit 'ore quae nostro caput

incolume abstuleris et mercedem postules'.

gruis (f.): crane (bird) (normally grus, gruis)

pretium: reward

improbus: wicked

meritum: service, favor

adiuvo (-are): to help

impune abire deinde quia iam non potest =  deinde (peccat) quia iam non potest impune abire

impune: unpunished

os ossis (n.): bone

faux faucis (f.): throat (The plural fauces is normally used and only the abl. is used in the singular.)

haereo haesi: to stick

victus: overpowered

singulos:  one after the other

inlicio inlexi inlectum: to allure, entice

ut pretio

iureiurando: by (the wolf) making an oath

gulae credens colli longitudinem: trusting the length of her neck to the throat of (the wolf).  (credens also means `to lend, make a loan’ and this meaning is also possible with regard to the reward offered.)

mediciam facio alicui: to practice medicine for someone, cure someone

pactum praemium: the agreed (paciscor) reward

flagito: to demand urgently

quae ore

os oris (n.): mouth

incolumis is: safe, uninjured

aufero abstuli ablatum (+ abl.): to withdraw

merces mercedis (f.): reward

 

Translation by Christopher Smart (1913)

The Wolf and Crane

Who for his merit seeks a price

From men of violence and vice,

Is twice a fool-first so declared,

As for the worthless he has cared;

Then after all, his honest aim

Must end in punishment and shame.

A bone the Wolf devoured in haste,

Stuck in his greedy throat so fast,

That, tortured with the pain, he roar'd,

And ev'ry beast around implored,

That who a remedy could find

Should have a premium to his mind.

A Crane was wrought upon to trust

His oath at length-and down she thrust

Her neck into his throat impure,

And so perform'd a desp'rate cure.

At which, when she desired her fee,

"You base, ungrateful minx," says he,

"Whom I so kind forbore to kill,

And now, forsooth, you'd bring your bill!"