Phaedrus 3.8: children quarelling.

When we think of fables, we naturally assume that animals are involved, but not every fable has animals as actors.  In the following fable a little brother and sister have a dispute – how familiar! It is to the father to settle the dispute and give them both advice. Though this fable has its own charm, it also reveals something about pedagogy in first century Rome. Nothing much has changed in the way disputes are settled -or rather ought to be settled - by parents.

Phaedrus 3.8: Soror ad Fratrem  (iambic meter)

Praecepto monitus saepe te considera.
Habebat quidam filiam turpissimam,
idemque insignem pulchra facie filium.
Hi speculum, in cathedra matris ut positum fuit,
pueriliter ludentes forte inspexerunt.
Hic se formosum iactat; illa irascitur
nec gloriantis sustinet fratris iocos,
accipiens (quid enim?) cuncta in contumeliam.
Ergo ad patrem decurrit laesura inuicem,
magnaque inuidia criminatur filium,
uir natus quod rem feminarum tetigerit.
Amplexus ille utrumque et carpens oscula
dulcemque in ambos caritatem partiens,
"Cotidie" inquit "speculo uos uti uolo,
tu formam ne corrumpas nequitiae malis,
tu faciem ut istam moribus uincas bonis."

praeceptum: rule, lesson

saepe: often

turpis: ugly

idemque: and also

insignis (+ abl,): distinguished, noted

facies –es (f.): often not `face’, but outward appearance

hi: the brother and sister

speculum: mirror

cathedra: seat with a cushion, especially used by women

ludi lusi lusum: to play

forte: by chance, accidently

inspexerunt: with the e of –erunt short, as is sometimes done by poets

formosum (esse)

iacto (-are): to boast

irascor iratus: to be angry

glorior gloriatus: to boast

sustineo sustinui sustentum: to bear, sustain

quid enim? How else? (another reading is quippe (of course) for quid enim?.)

in contumeliam: as an insult

laedo (laesi laesum) invicem: to revenge (laesura `about to’ etc.)

magna invidia (abl!) with great hate, grudge

criminor criminatus: to accuse

uir natus quod = quod vir natus (vir natus means `born as male’ i.e. her brother)

tango tetigi tactum: to touch

amplector amplexus: to embrace

carpo (carpsi carptum) oscula: to kiss

partior paritus: to share, divide

utor usus (+ abl.): to use

nequitiae malis: by the evil of wickedness

vincas: that you overcome

Translation by HENRY THOMAS RILEY, B.A. (1893)

Warn’d by our council, oft beware,

And look into yourself with care.

There was a certain father had

A homely girl and comely lad.

These being at their childish play

Within their mother’s room one day,

A looking-glass was in the chair,

And they beheld their faces there.

The boy grows prouder as he looks;

The girl is in a rage, nor brooks

Her boasting brother’s jests and sneers,

Affronted at each word she hears:

Then to her father down she flies,

And urges all she can devise

Against the boy, who could presume

To meddle in a lady’s room.

At which, embracing each in turn,

With most affectionate concern,

“My dears,” he says, “ye may not pass

A day without this useful glass;

You, lest you spoil a pretty face,

By doing things to your disgrace;

You, by good conduct to correct

Your form, and beautify defect.”