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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [E5v]

IN EUM QUI SIBI IPSI[1]
damnum apparat.

One who brings about his own downfall

A wolf cub being suckled by a goat.
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Capra lupum non sponte meo nunc ubere lacto,
Quod male pastoris provida cura iubet.[2]
Creverit ille simul, mea me post ubera pascet,
Improbitas nullo flectitur obsequio.[3]

I am a goat giving suck against my will - to a wolf. The improvident kindness of the shepherd makes me do this. Once the wolf has grown, after feeding at my teats, he will then eat me. Wickedness is never deterred by services rendered.

Notes:

1.  Textual variant: ‘ipsi’ omitted.

2.  This is a translation of Anthologia graeca 9.47. For the content cf. Aesop, Fables 313-5.

3.  ‘Wickedness is never deterred by services rendered’. See Erasmus, Adagia 1086, Ale luporum catulos.

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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [k1v p146]

Dulcia quandoque amara
fieri.

Sweetness turns at times to bitterness

LXXXIX.

Young child (Cupid?) being stung by bees, running to his mother.
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Matre procul licta paulùm secesserat infans
Lydius[1], hunc dirae sed rapuistis apes.
Venerat hic ad vos placidas ratus esse volucres,
Cùm nec ita immitis vipera saeva foret.
Quae datis ah dulci stimulos pro munere mellis,
Proh dolor, heu sine te gratia nulla datur.[2]

A Lydian babe had strayed some way off, leaving his mother at a distance, but you made away with him, you dreadful bees. He had come to you, thinking you harmless winged creatures, yet a merciless viper would not be as savage as you. Instead of the sweet gift of honey, ah me, you give stings. Ah pain, without you, alas, no delight is granted.

COMMENTARIA.

Lydius infans, id est, Amor Cupido in Ly-
dia natus (Lydos autem mortalium omnium
mollissimus & effoeminatissimos fuisse, refert
Leonicus, ex Clearcho lib. 3. cap. 95. de varia
historia) Cùm paulò longius à Venere Matre
eius secessisset, ad apes venit, quae, dum mella
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [k2r p147] colligere vult, illum gravissimis ictibus inva-
dunt, ipseque fugiens pro dulci melle amaros
stimulos ad matrem revertens attulit. Doce-
mur vix unquam iucundi aliquid, absque dolo-
re sive molestia aliqua contingere, hinc vul-
go adagio dicitur, Ne quaere mollia ne dura
feras. apud Erasmum.

Notes:

1.  This is based on Anthologia graeca 9.548 , where a baby, called Hermonax, is stung to death. See also Anthologia graeca 9.302 for another epigram treating the same incident.

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