Phaedrus: The Fabulist Legend
By: The Senex (Drew,
Jack, Dave, and John)
Early Life
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Born in 15 B.C. near Pydna, Macedonia
Became a slave of the emperor as a young boy and
eventually became a freedman under Augustus
Lived during the Empire, specifically under Augustus,
Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius.
Poetic Works/Style
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Wrote mostly fables
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5 books composed of revised tales by Aesop,
who was probably his biggest influence.
Wrote in iambic trimeter and all in Latin,
despite the Greek origins of Aesop’s works.
Verses scattered with anecdotes of daily life,
history, and mythology.
Morals
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Each of Phaedrus’ fables contained a moral
message at the end of the story that the reader
could interpret in any way.
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Could also be interpreted the way he wanted
 For example, the story of the Wolf and the Sheep is
characteristic of his style because it is a fable with a
meaning to take away at the end.
Connections with Martial
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Phaedrus was often mentioned by Martial,
who imitated some of his verses
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In one poem Martial states, “an aemulator improbi
iocos Phaedri?”
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In this instance Martial is questioning if this person
emulates the naughty jokes of Phaedrus, showing that
Martial had him in mind when writing.
The Fox Gets the Raven’s Cheese
Qui se laudari gaudet verbis subdolis,
Fere dat poenas turpi paenitentia.
Cum de fenestra corvus raptum caseum
Comesse vellet, celsa residens arbore,
hunc vidit vulpes deinde sic coepit loqui:
“O qui tuarum, corve, pennarum est nitor!
Quantum decoris corpore et vultu geris!
Si vocem haberes, nulla prior ales foret.”
At ille stultus, dum vult vocem ostendere,
Emisit ore caseum, quem celeriter
Dolosa vulpes avidis rapuit dentibus.
The Fox gets the Raven’s Cheese
He who rejoices to be praised by deceitful words themselves,
generally give punishment by ugly repentance.
When the raven wished to eat up the cheese having
snatched up from the windows, sitting in the high tree,
the fox saw this one; then he began to say this:
“Oh how great is the beauty of your feathers, crow!”
How much grace do you carry in your body and face!
If you had a voice, there would be no better bird.”
But that foolish one, while he wished to show his voice,
drops the cheese from his mouth, which the
crafty fox seized quickly with greedy teeth.
Parts of Speech
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Laudari: present passive infinitive
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part of indirect statement
Raptum: perfect passive particable
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modifies “caseum”
Parts of Speech (cont.)
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Vellet: imperfect subjunctive
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Residens: present active practicable
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indirect command
subject is the crow
Si vocem haberes: imperfect subjunctive
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conditional sentence
Themes
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Do not be gullible
Do not be too affected
by flattery
Do no trust strangers
Artistic Interpretation of the Fox
and the Cheese
The Sperm Whale and the Giant Squid
There once was a sperm whale
Who thought he would never fail.
He fought a giant squid,
And inked he did.
All the little fishes in the town,
Got caught in the ink and fell down,
But the sperm whale and the squid did not care.
What their fighting did, they could not repair.
The Other Person’s Faults and our Own
Peras imposuit Iuppiter nobis duas:
propriis repletam vitiis post tergum dedit,
alienis ante pectus suspendit gravem.
Hac re videre nostra mala non possumus;
alii simul delinquunt, censores sumus.
The Other Person’s Faults and our Own
Jupiter put on us two wallets
One wallet having been filled with our faults he placed behind our back,
He hung another heavy with our faults belonging to another in front of our chest.
We are not able to see our faults in this thing.
As soon as we commit a crime, we are the judges.
Parts of Speech
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Alliteration – alienis ante
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The a’s are longer and sound a bit lower and
darker when read, showing the seriousness and
importance of the situation.
Anaphora – peras…peram
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Peras is only written once, but it is implied
throughout the rest of the story. This is done to
emphasize the symbol of the wallet, which holds
all of our faults (according to Phaedrus)
Parts of Speech (continued)
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Synchesis – propriis repletam vitiis tergum
(A)
(B)
(A)
(B)
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This synchesis shows the connectedness
between the wallet behind the back and all the
faults of humans. Used once again to emphasize
the symbol of the wallet.
Themes
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Don’t be hypocritical
Don’t judge others