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Homo et Coluber

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The story of The Man and The Snake is a poem written by Walter of England. It is written in elegiac couplets. You can find this poem, Walter 10, along with other poems by Walter, at the aesopica.net website. The Perry number for this fable is Perry 176. There are many Latin versions of this fable. In the version by Ademar, it is a woman instead of a man who picks up the snake (see Femina et Coluber). You can see a 1501 woodcut illustration for this fable at the University of Mannheim website. You can find a translation of a Greek version of this story in Aesop's Fables, by Laura Gibbs (Oxford University Press, 2003).

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

Dum nive canet humus, glacies dum sopit aquarum
Cursus, in colubrum turbida saevit hiems;
Hunc videt, hunc reficit hominis clementia: ventum
Temperat huic tecto, temperat igne gelu.
Ore serit virus coluber, sic toxicat aedem;
Hospes ait colubro: non rediturus abi.
Non exit coluber nec vult exire, sed haeret
Amplectensque virum sibila dira movet
Reddere gaudet homo nequam pro melle venenum,
Pro fructu poenam, pro pietate dolum.

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

Dum humus canet nive, dum glacies sopit aquarum cursus,	Additional grammar commentary to be added... meanwhile, if you have questions, use the Comments? Questions? Suggestions? link at the top or bottom of this page if you have a query. You might also want to look at these Tips on Using Segmented Texts.
hiems turbida saevit in colubrum.
Clementia hominis hunc videt, hunc reficit.	clementia hominis = homo clemens
Huic ventum temperat tecto, gelu temperat igne.	gelu: this word is sometimes neuter (as here), and sometimes the masculine gelus
Coluber virus serit ore, sic aedem toxicat.
Hospes ait colubro: Abi, non rediturus.
Coluber non exit nec vult exire, sed haeret, et sibila dira movet, amplectens virum.
Homo nequam gaudet reddere venenum pro melle, poenam pro fructu, dolum pro pietate.