Legenda: Mus et Rana

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Mus et Rana

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

The story of The Mouse and The Frog is a poem from a medieval Romulus (rhymed). It is written in the Goliardic meter.

You can find this poem, Romulus 1.3, along with other fables from the Romulus collections, at the aesopica.net website. The Perry number for this fable is Perry 384.

This fable is found in the ancient Greek novel, The Life of Aesop. Although there is not an extant version of this fable in an ancient Latin text, there are many medieval Latin versions (suggesting that there was, in fact, an ancient Latin version - probably from Phaedrus - still known in the Middle Ages, but which has since been lost). 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).

Use this Study Guide to organize your learning activities.

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

Mus transire flumen    quondam proponebat.
A Rana simpliciter     iuvamen petebat.
Rana dolo callida     Muri respondebat.
Aestimo, quod mersum Murem prandare volebat.

Affer, inquit, ocius    filum. Mus ferebat;
Muris collum proprio     pedi connectebat.
Flumen petunt protinus,    et Rana volebat
Inmergi fundo; sed Mus sua damna canebat.

Ut Mus Ranae fraudibus     resistens natavit,
Milvus, praedam cupiens,    ambos visitavit,
Utrumque pecusculum     ferens asportavit,
Et fraus unius sic, sic utrumque necavit.

Moralitas.
Ista probat fabula    miserum mendosum,
Qui ponit insidias    contra virtuosum,
Quod ruit in laqueum     mox perniciosum.
Lex est aequa dolum referire dolore dolosum.

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

Mus quondam proponebat transire flumen.	transire: complementary infinitive with proponebat
A Rana simpliciter iuvamen petebat.
Rana callida dolo respondebat Muri. Aestimo, quod volebat mersum Murem prandare.	prandare: complementary infinitive with volebat
Inquit: Filum affer, ocius! Mus ferebat;
Rana connectebat Muris collum proprio pedi.
Flumen petunt protinus, et Rana volebat inmergi fundo; sed Mus sua damna canebat.	inmergi: complementary infinitive with volebat
Ut Mus natavit, resistens Ranae fraudibus, Milvus, praedam cupiens, ambos visitavit,	cupiens...visitavit: participle plus verb (the kite wanted... he saw...)
utrumque pecusculum ferens asportavit,	pecusculum: diminutive of pecus (i.e. animal)
et fraus unius sic, sic utrumque necavit.
Moralitas. Ista fabula probat miserum mendosum, qui ponit insidias contra virtuosum, quod ruit mox in laqueum perniciosum.	ista...fabula: split phrase miserum mendosum: miserum (esse) mendosum qui: relative pronoun, antecedent is mendosum in laqueum...perniciosum: split phrase
Lex aequa est dolum referire dolosum dolore.	lex...aequa: split phrase referire: infinitive in indirect statement ("it is law ... for a trick to strike back at...")