Legenda: Araneus

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Araneus

Scroll down to find: Overview, Study Guide, Verse, Audio, Segmented Prose Text, and Grammar Comments

The story of The Spider is a poem written by Theobaldus. It is written in dactylic trimeter with one hypermetrical syllable.

You can find this poem, Theobaldus: De Araneo, along with other poems by Theobaldus, at the Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum website.

For more information about spiders, visit the Araneus in the Zoo. You can also visit the Spider page at the bestiary.ca website for a discussion in English, bibliography and other useful references.

Use this Study Guide to organize your learning activities.

Here is the poem in verse form:

Vermis araneus exiguus
Plurima fila net assiduus,
Texere que studet artificus.

Retia sunt ea, musca, tibi,
Ut volitans capiaris ibi,
Dulcis et utilis esca sibi.

Huic placet illud opus tenue,
Sed sibi nil valet ut fragile :
Quelibet aura trahit patulum;
Rumpitur et cadit in nihilum.

Hos sequitur homo vermiculos,
Decipiendo suos socios,
Quos comedit faciens miseros;
Et placet inde sibi nimium,
Quando nocere potest alium.

Ille tamen mala queque facit,
Cum moritur, quasi tela cadit,
Qua modo dictus araneus it.

The following version puts the words in a more prose-like order so that it will be easier for you to read:

DE ARANEO
Vermis araneus exiguus plurima fila net assiduus, texere quae studet artificus.	assiduus...artificus: both of these are technically adjectives modifying the subject of the verb, but they function much like English adverbs: "spins busily (assiduus)"... "weaves skillfully (artificus)" texere: complementary infinitive with studet quae: relative pronoun, antecedent is fila
Retia sunt ea, musca, tibi, ut volitans capiaris ibi, dulcis et utilis esca sibi.	retia...ea: split phrase musca: vocative volitans capiaris: participle plus verb ("so that you will fly and be caught") capiaris: subjunctive with ut
Huic placet illud opus tenue, sed sibi nil valet ut fragile:	ut fragile = ut fragile est
quaelibet aura trahit patulum; rumpitur et cadit in nihilum.
Hos sequitur homo vermiculos, decipiendo suos socios, quos comedit faciens miseros;	hos...vermiculos: split phrase vermiculos = araneos vermiculos quos: relative pronoun, antecedent is socios comedit...faciens: participle plus verb ("whom he eats... and makes miserable")
et placet inde sibi nimium, quando nocere potest alium.	nocere: complementary infinitive with potest
Ille tamen mala quaeque facit, cum moritur, quasi tela cadit, quo modo dictus araneus it.	tamen: postpositive quo modo = "in which way, in the same way, just as"