Legenda: Panther (Theobaldus)

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Panther (Theobaldus)

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The story of The Spider is a poem written by Theobaldus. It is written in rhyming dactylic trimeter with one hypermetrical syllable. (If you understand the dactylic hexameter, you will not have any trouble!)

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

In addition to this poem, you can read a prose account of the Panthera (drawing on the Physiologus tradition) here in the Legenda.

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

Here is the poem in verse form:

Est quadrupes panter, quo non est pulchrior alter,
Qui niger ex albo conspargitur orbiculato.
Diversis pastus venatibus et satiatus
Se recipit dormitque cavo prostratus in antro;
Post triduum surgit, tum vero denique rugit.
Exit odor talis de gutture tamque suavis,
Qui virtute sua superat vel aromata cuncta;
Ad quem mox tendit, quae vocem belua sentit,
Ac sectatur eum nimia dulcedine plenum.
Sic faciunt omnes; soli pantera dracones,
Cum sonat, aut fugiunt aut segnes corpore fiunt
In caveisque latent nec in ipso tempore parent.
Est autem Christus panter per mystica dictus,
Qui super est homines forma collatus ad omnes.
Et satur ille fuit, quia quot vult, tot sibi sumit,
Et somnum cepit, cum nos moriendo redemit.
Rugitum misit, postquam de morte revixit
Caelos ascendens, ubi regnat cum Patre praesens,
Quem gentes cunctae sunt sic credendo secutae.
Aufugit atque latet nec ab ipso tempore paret
Serpens antiquus, qui nobis est inimicus;
Namque palam nullos licet, audet fallere multos,
Quos hinc defendat, qui saecla per omnia regnat.

The Study Guide and Segmented Text are not yet ready.