Wednesday, July 21, 2010

The Fly and the Chariot

The Fly and the Chariot. There was a chariot racing around the stadium, and on that chariot sat a fly. As a great dust arose, both from the pounding of the horses' hooves, and also from the turning of the wheels, the fly exclaimed, "Oh what a mighty dust I have stirred up!"

Musca et Quadrigae. Quadrigae in stadio currebant, quibus musca insidebat. Maximo autem pulvere, tum equorum pedum pulsu, tum rotarum volutatione, exorto, dicebat Musca, "Quam magnam vim pulveris excitavi!"

Notes. This is Abstemius 16. This is one of the very few fables by Abstemius which Perry did include in his inventory; it is fable 724 in Perry. Even though this is a very short fable, it has just the right details to really come to life, with the dust rising up from both the horses' hooves and the wheels.

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