The Fables of Phaedrus

The fable is a small narrative, in prose or verse, which has as its main characteristic the aim of conveying a moral lesson (the "moral"), implicitly or, more normally, explicitly expressed. Even though the modern concept of fable is that it should have animals or inanimated objects as characters - an idea supported by the works of famous fabulists such as Aesop and La Fontaine - Phaedrus, the most important Latin fabulist, is innovative in his writing. Although many of his fables do depict animals or objects assuming speech, he also has many short stories about men, writing narratives that seem to the modern eye more like short tales than fables.

Despite many other fables being attributed to Phaedrus, only five books are considered by scholarship to have been written by him. Phaedrus' five books of fables are here presented in a translation to English prose by Henry Thomas Ridley.

By : Phaedrus (15 BC - 50 AD), translated by Christopher Smart and Henry Thomas Riley

Phaedrus, Roman fabulist, was probably a Thracian slave, born in Pydna of Macedonia (Roman province) and lived in the reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius. He is recognized as the first writer to Latinize entire books of fables, retelling in iambic metre the Greek prose Aesopic tales. According to his own statement (prologue to book III), he was born on the Pierian Mountain in Macedonia, but he seems to have been brought to Italy at an early age, since he mentions reading a verse of Ennius as a boy in school. According to the heading of the chief manuscript he was a slave and was freed by Augustus. He incurred the wrath of Sejanus, the powerful minister of Tiberius, by some supposed allusions in his fables, and was brought to trial and punished. We learn this from the prologue to the third book, which is dedicated to Eutychus, who has been identified with the famous charioteer and favorite of Gaius.

01 - Book 1



02 - Book 2



03 - Book 3



04 - Book 4



05 - Book 5

Comments

Random Post

  • The Men Who Found America
    17.12.2020 - 0 Comments
    This Book is about the Men Who Found America and how it started.By : Frederick Winthrop Hutchinson …
  • The Laughing Bear and Other Stories
    26.07.2020 - 0 Comments
    A collection of unique stories for listeners with the wisdom to see a bit beyond the printed words. The…
  • Stories of Symphonic Music
    25.01.2021 - 0 Comments
    'A guide to the meaning of important symphonies, overtures and tone-poems from Beethoven to the present day'.…
  • The Bee People
    15.10.2020 - 0 Comments
    "The Honey-bees are buzzy-fuzzy little pepper pots" Thus this wonderful nature writer begins to tell us about…
  • Master of Life and Death
    06.12.2020 - 0 Comments
    When Roy Walton becomes the new director of the UN division of population control, after the director is…
  • Bulbs and Blossoms
    06.01.2021 - 0 Comments
    Two young children, recently arrived back in England from India, discover their aunt's old gardener, and…
  • Bù nhìn tuyết - truyện cổ tích andersen
    21.10.2023 - 0 Comments
    Anh chàng bù nhìn tuyết nói : - Hôm nay sao mà rét ra rét! Thích ơi là thích. Toàn thân cứ kêu…
  • Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles
    20.04.2020 - 0 Comments
    This short treatise was accounted by some of the Fathers as next to Holy Scripture. It was rediscovered in…
  • Asphodel
    03.01.2021 - 0 Comments
    Like the Asphodel, a plant which grows far away from England, Daphne grows far away from home. In her first…
  • Supreme Personality
    25.12.2019 - 0 Comments
    This book is gratefully dedicated to the kindly memory of two eminent physicians, long since gone from this…
  • The Scarlet Letter
    03.08.2019 - 0 Comments
    This book tells the story of Hester Prynne, a young woman who conceives a child while her husband is…
  • Roughing It
    08.06.2018 - 0 Comments
    Roughing It is semi-autobiographical travel literature written by American humorist Mark Twain. It was…
  • Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
    11.05.2019 - 0 Comments
    Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, written by herself is an autobiography by a young mother and…
  • Amends for Ladies
    05.12.2020 - 0 Comments
    Amends for Ladies falls within the genre of Jacobean city comedy. Three women debate which has the better…
  • The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of H.M.S. Bounty
    06.12.2019 - 0 Comments
    The mutiny on the Royal Navy vessel HMS Bounty occurred in the south Pacific on 28 April 1789. Disaffected…
  • Chiến binh rơi rụng |Chương 05| Harry Potter và Bảo bối Tử thần | Tập 7
    20.10.2023 - 0 Comments
    Các Tử thần Thực tử phát hiện ra Harry thật sau khi cậu cố gắng giải giới đũa phép của Stan Shunpike. Một lúc…