“Brevī autem, subitō experrēctus, sēnsit leōnem ingentem in spēluncam intrāsse. Prīmō perterritus spem omnem salūtis dīmīsit; tum autem animadvertit leōnem claudum esse ex[1] spīnā magnā, quae in pede dēfīxa erat.
“Interim bēlua lēniter accessit et sublātum pedem ostendit, quasi hominis opem ita peteret. Tum Androclēs, quamvīs[2] perturbātus, spīnam dētrāxit; et deinde per triennium[3] et homō et leō in spēluncā habitāvērunt, cum interim leō cottīdiē vēnātum[4] abīret, et homō, quī ignis cōpiam habēret nūllam, carnem merīdiānō[5] torrēret sōle.
“Sed ōlim Androclēs, quī forte ē spēluncā exierat, ā mīlitibus comprehēnsus ad dominum Rōmam missus est; ubi, ut[6] fugitīvus, ad bēstiās est damnātus. Quō modō factum est ut leō, quī quoque interim captus erat, in harēnā amīcum prīstinum laetus agnōsceret.”
Dum haec nārrantur, Pūblius, quī librum quendam quaerēbat, in conclāve intrāverat, et ille: “Cum tālia dē bēstiīs audiō,” inquit, “admoneor dē verbīs poētae Vergilī, quī cecinit[7] quam mīrandae rēs futūrae essent, cum iterum aetās aurea in terrās rediisset:
Ac Cornēlia: “Et ego admoneor,” inquit, “dē fābulā, quam Anna nūper dē vāte nārrāvit, quī incolumis in spēluncā leōnum plēnā noctem perēgit.”
Tum, cum grātiae mātrī āctae essent, līberī cubitum iērunt.
- ↑ ex, from the effect of.
- ↑ quamvīs, though.
- ↑ triennium, -ī, n., three years.
- ↑ vēnātum: supine.
- ↑ merīdiānus, -a, -um, adj., midday.
- ↑ ut, as (being).
- ↑ cecinit, predicted; see canō.
- ↑ Ipsae: ie., of their oun accord.
- ↑ lāc, lactis, n., milk.
- ↑ armentum, -ī, n., herd.
