Appendix ad Fabulas Phoedri ex Bibliotheca Leidensi.
SOL & RANAE.
Servare potui, Perdere an possim, rogas?
Sen. Med.
RAnae Paludis Incolae, ambiguum Genus,
Limo (que) cretum, Res in immensum suas
Favore Solis auxerant: Etiam Boves
Vicina circum qui tondebant Gramina,
Ipsas (que) Ripis pepulerunt Metu Feras.
Quinse profundo credere ausae Gurgiti
Facto, Siluros at (que) Thynnos, Agmine
Et provocarant saepe, & saepe Vicerant.
Hinc Fastus illas cepit & Superbia,
Majusque Crimen Gratiarum Oblivio.
Patroni Solis invidere Gloriae,
Ingrata Gens occepit; & liventibus
Oculis tueri Mundo adoratum Jubar;
Nec se protervis abstinent Convitiis.
Nam sive ad Indi Littora obvertit Rotas;
Equos Ibero sive lavit Flumine;
Sive arduam Leonis ascendit Domum;
Lunaeve Radiis Cornua aspersit suis;
Ranae coaxant, & Clamore incondito
Queruntur omnia perdere: Ultrices simul
Minantur Iras, ni stet immotus Polo.
Pergenti Curru flammeo non segnius
Lustrare Terras, perfidae tentant Viam
Obstruere: Fundo ab imo Caenosos Lacus,
Ʋlvasque putres, & Solo resides Aquas
Consurgit ater; & Diem Caligine
Extinguit almum: Risit Astrorum Parens;
Et ista Vestrum Tela recident in Caput,
Procaces, inquit, Bestiae! Ergo colligit
Radios, Viresque totas; inque Fulmina
Vapores nubilos densam (que) Grandinem
Momento vertit, & miseras tristi opprimit
RANAS Procella. Frustra Juncis Corpora
Certant opacis tegere: frustra sub Luto
Defossae sperant publica Strage eripi.
SOL Radiis haurit Cuncta; & ipsas Ignibus
Absumit Ʋndas. RANAE semiustae crepant;
Milvisque & Corvis dulce praebent Pabulum.
Quarum una fertur caeteris Consultior
Dixisse Moriens: Jam Poenas exsolvimus,
Quae bene de nobis meritis reddidimus, Mala.
At vos, Nepotes, discite Vereri DEOS.
Juxta Exemplar Editum Amstelodami ad Insigne Josua.
The first Translation.
An Appendix to Phoedrus his Fables, as it was lately taken out of the Library at Leyden.
The SUN and FROGS.
I could preserve ye; do ye doubt
Whether I now can root ye out?
Sen. Med.
THe Frogs, those Fennish People, as from Earth
And Water mixt in Mud, deriving Birth,
So in both Elements Commerce maintain,
From this to that, from that to this again.
Persia's old God, and France's new Device
The Sun, with friendly Beam these multiplies;
Nor their Estate augments less than themselves,
Till high and mighty grow th' amphibion Elves,
Dreadful at Sea and Land: Here, round their Lakes,
Fear tame Beasts wild, and wild Beasts wilder makes:
There Tunnies they and Whales oft set upon;
Tunnies and Whales as oft they overcome.
Hence swell'd with Pride, and a vain self-conceit,
Their noblest Benefactors they forget:
Yea, from-blew. Eyes dart envious looks upon
The glitt'ring Grandeur of their Patron SƲN:
And like base Mud, in terms of vile Disgrace,
Throw vile Aspersions in his glorious Face.
For whether he to the Rich Indies drive
His flaming Chariot, or his Horses dive
In the Iberian Floud; or else resort
Unto the Princely Lion's Royal Court;
Or last of all, his native Shine display
Upon the growing Moon her borrow'd Ray:
These croaking Creatures, in their uncouth strain,
That all before him he destroys complain.
Bidding his Sunship threaten'd Vengeance fear,
Unless with speed he stop his swift Career.
Such threats no checks are to his Steeds, but spurs,
To hurry on his fiery Chariots course.
This seen; these treach'rous Vermin strive in vain,
Themselves to give stop to his whirling Wain.
With busie Feet their muddy Ponds they trouble,
And make foul Water every where to bubble
Among the putrid Reeds: streight to the Skies,
From pudly Marshes doth a dark Fog rise
Effacing Day. Sol, laughing at their Toil,
These weapons, saith, shall on your selves recoil,
Poor peevish Animals! Then Arms he all
His strongest Beams, which in full Bodies fall
Among those Fogs; so in a trice transforms
(Such power have Gods) all to impet'ous Storms
Of sulph'ry Thunderbolts, and ratling Hail;
Then doth with these the wretched Frogs assail.
In vain they shade and shelter, at this need,
From broken Bulrush seek, and batter'd Reed;
In vain in Water dive, delve into Mud,
Which nor such suppliants, nor themselves, long could
Preserve from Ruine, by such raging heat
Wherewith the incensed King of Stars then beat
In upon both. Their own, or other Mens.
The Dutch ne're dreyn'd, as Phaebus these Frogs Fens.
Storm'd [...] to ground.
A Feast of Boyl'd, Rost, Bakt, now smell't, invites
(Lips for such Lettied) Ravenous Crows and Kites.
When a grave Frog, much wiser than the Rout,
Midst her expiring Kindred all about,
Was heard to fay, This, this, just Heaven, we feel
For so much good repaid with so much ill.
You of our Tribe, who in remote Abodes
Survive this Day, learn to revere the GOD'S.
According to the Copy Printed at Amsterdam, at the Sign of the Josua.
The second Translation.
The SUN and FROGS.
High and Mighty I who made ye,
From that Height can now degrade ye.
Sen. Med.
THe speckled Tribe, sprung from the womb of slime,
Their Parent SƲN proclaim in croaking rhime;
Their Birth and store own from his gentle Ray,
And to his dance about the World they play.
They play, and sing with golden Throats an Ode
To the proud Persians, and their common God;
Whose kindly influence rais'd their daring Heads,
From no less mean and low, than loathsome Beds:
Rais'd 'em so high, that when Alarms they sound,
Tame and wild Beasts are scar'd from neighb'ring Ground:
And the Goliahs of the watry Field,
To their puissant sholes oft forc'd to yield.
Hence swelling less with Venom than with Pride,
Their mean Original they fain would hide:
Creatures of Sun and Slime, proudly forget
The one, ungratefully the other treat.
Croak in harsh numbers from their noisome Seat,
Till hoarse with wrangling at indulgent heat;
If unconfin'd to their impoyson'd Streams,
They vye not circuit with those heavenly Beams.
Let but the SƲN wheel to the Indian Brine,
The large Iberus, or the parched Line;
The Prince of Stars visit that Lion's Den,
That's King of the best Beasts, and bravest Men;
[Page 7] Or let him proudly drown the Turkish Moon,
With vaster Torrents of his Lustier Noon;
Loudly they clamor, that he doth none good,
(Because not shining only on their Mud.)
Nay, Tyrant like, merely to make him sport,
That with insulting Beams he doth all hurt.
With spiteful Taunts, revengeful Threats they mix,
Unless in unmov'd Poise his Chariot fix:
But finding Threats provoke him, and his Speed,
To stratagem and force they streight proceed:
Attempt to trash his Wheels, and plunge his Steeds
With unexpected Bogs, and heap'd up Weeds.
Mud too their Dam (unnatural Brats) provoke
To rise 'gainst their bright Siré in slimy smoke;
In smoke so thick and dark, they nothing doubt,
The Day and the Day-maker 'twould blot out.
The angry God, to punish this proud Shoal,
Burns, where he warm'd, with his Celestial Coal.
Sulphureous Thunderbolts their Vapors prove,
And on themselves in stony Tempests move.
In vain they lurk in hopes the Storm would cease;
Or in course Croaking Language sue for Peace.
Sol deaf to all round in bright Triumphs hurld,
Consumes their Flouds, and conquers their low World.
Frogs now and Toads like hiew'd, alike both fare;
Both Boil'd, Roast, Bakt in their own Mud-paste are;
Both carbonabed, and both you might see,
For Crows and Kites, cook'd into Frigacie.
One grac'd in Front with Wisdom's Jewel too,
At last bespake thus her expiring Crew.
We now ungrateful find our Doom and Curse;
A Plague to Princes, to our Selves a worse.
Punisht for Crimes great as our Patrons grown;
Let's dread the Height and Vengeance of their Throne.
The third Translation.
The SUN and FROGS.
Rise and Support to Me ye ow;
And so shall do your Ovorthrow.
Sen. Med.
THe Fenny Folk from noisome Slime and Dung,
Mixt Excrements of Earth and Water, sprung,
Through the rich Bounty of his kindly Ray,
Who rules the spacious Empire of the Day,
Enlarge, like hi [...], the Bounds of their Command,
Than he more dreadful grow at Sea and Land.
At Land ev'n Beasts, Strangers till then to fear,
Tremble, when they their horrid croakings hear.
Their Hunger, which they dare not satissie,
Forget, and from best neighb'ring Pastures flie;
Wild to their Dens, seeking Protection there,
And finding it from Danger, not from Fear.
Tame to their Thickets, and there trembling lay 'em,
Fearing their trembling too, least it betray 'em.
At Sea their numinous Shoals more dreadful grow,
There oft they fight, as oft there conquer too.
Nor common Enemies alone engage;
Tunnies and Whales too feel their Martial Rage;
Whales that of long unquestion'd Right make Claim,
As the sole Soveraigns of the liquid Main.
Here Erogs now Lording it, ingrate become
To their first Parent, and best Patron Sun;
Behold his Glory with invidious Eyes,
And his fair Beams smut with foul Calumnies.
If Indian Brine his Rising Forehead Laves;
If he dive setting in Iberian Waves;
If to the Royal Lyon's Den he bring
The choicest Tribute of his flowerie Spring;
Or if he last from his exalted Noon
Dimme the pale Visage of the Horned Moon;
Which way so e're he move, the Frogs complain;
Croaking they fret, and fretting croak again:
As if his fierie Beams about he hurl'd,
To burn and waste, not warm and cheer the World.
Then in full Period charge him stop his Race;
Threat'ning Revenge if he but change his Place.
Hearing, not heeding Threats beneath his fear,
On still he drives, drives on in full Carreer.
Doth then the Sun our Threats thus slight, say they,
Too high to stoope, and too proud to obey?
In this blind Rage with restless Feet they stir
Water and Slime, and putrid Reeds, and Mire;
Till a thick sullen Vapour doth arise,
And with substantial Darkness blacks the skies.
What, ye ill Natur'd Vermine, what, quoth he,
Can such poor pievish Spleen, think ye, reach me?
Can your dark Fogs me of my Lustre spoil?
(This speaks with half a Frown and half a Smile)
Your selves below ye cloud [...] ▪ I still enjoy
Above my Native and Essential Day.
But so with Envie hath it us'd to fare,
To drink of its own Poison the best share:
And so shall yours: The Weapons you now form
Their fatal Points on your own Heads shall turn.
With that, he calls home all his fierie Rays:
And violent Cold the Ai'r's mid Region sways:
Which o're that new made Cloud doth straight prevail;
Condenses first, then moulds it into Hail:
[Page 10] And in a Trice a smart swift stonie show▪
Doth on those base ungrateful Vermine pour;
Who now their Wounded Bodies hide in vain;
In vain seek shelter from the pelting Rain,
Whether they dive in Mud, or sculk in Weeds,
Or crawl from Danger under batterr'd Reeds:
The SƲN now glowing with revengeful Ire.
Their nastie Ponds dreigns with his fiercest Fire;
Till boild and roast the Vermine each where lay
To Crows and Kites a sweet and easie Prey.
When a grave Matron, that might well have been
For her sage Wisdome their illustrious Queen,
Had they not been Free States; 'midst all the Frogs,
That now lay gasping round the parched Bogs,
Her last breath forming in fit dying Tone,
Was heard their so sad Fate thus to bemoan.
How Just the Gods are! how ungrateful We!
How well deserving such our Destinie!
Who War would wage 'gainst such both Friends and Ods:
Oh henceforth learn to fear, not dare, the GODS.
FINIS.