Legenda: Castor

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Castor

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

The story of The Beaver is a poem written by Phaedrus. It is written in iambic trimeter.

You can find this poem, Phaedrus App. 30, along with other poems by Phaedrus, at the aesopica.net website. The Perry number for this fable is Perry 118.

This story is also found in the Latin bestiaries. For more information about the beaver, visit the Castor in the Zoo.

You can find a translation of this story in Aesop's Fables, by Laura Gibbs (Oxford University Press, 2003).

Use this Study Guide to organize your learning activities.

Here is the poem (click "play" icon for brief audio sample):

Canes effugere cum iam non possit fiber
(Graeci loquaces quem dixerunt castorem
et indiderunt bestiae nomen dei,
illi qui iactant se uerborum copia),
abripere morsu fertur testiculos sibi,
quia propter illos sentiat sese peti.
Diuina quod ratione fieri non negem;
uenator namque simul inuenit remedium,
omittit ipsum persequi et reuocat canes.
Hoc si praestare possent homines, ut suo
uellent carere, tuti posthac uiuerent;
haud quisquam insidias nudo faceret corpori.

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

Cum iam non possit canes effugere fiber	possit: subjunctive introduced by cum effugere: complementary infinitive with possit
(quem Graeci loquaces dixerunt "castorem" et nomen dei indiderunt bestiae, illi qui iactant se verborum copia),	quem: relative pronoun, antecedent is fiber fiber is the Roman word for beaver, castor is Greek castorem: the o is long, so penultimate stress nomen dei: the god Castor is the twin brother of Pollux qui: relative pronoun, antecedent is illi
fertur testiculos sibi abripere morsu,	sibi: dative used in reference to body parts abripere: complementary infinitive with fertur
quia sentiat sese peti propter illos.	sentiat: subjunctive of attributed thought peti: infinitive in indirect statement (introduced by sentiat, subject of the infinitive is se)
Non negem quod fieri divina ratione;	negem: potential subjunctive ("I would not deny...") quod = hoc fieri: infinitive in indirect statement (introduced by negem) divina: the i is long, so penultimate stress
nam et venator simul invenit remedium:	invenit: short e, because present tense (long e in perfect)
omittit persequi ipsum et canes revocat.	persequi: complementary infinitive with omittit
Si homines possent hoc praestare, ut suo vellent carere, tuti posthac viverent;	praestare: complementary infinitive with possent possent...viverent: subjunctives in conditional statement vellent: subjunctive introduced by ut tuti: adjective used as adverb ("they would live safely...")
haud quisquam insidias faceret nudo corpori.	faceret: following subjunctives possent and viverent above