Asinus ad lyram
Asinus iacentem vidit in prato lyram;
accessit et temptavit chordas ungula.
Sonuere tactae. "Bella res mehercules
male cessit" inquit "artis quia sum nescius.
Si reperisset aliquis hanc prudentior,
divinis aures oblectasset cantibus."
Sic saepe ingenia calamitate intercidunt.
Der Esel vor der Leier
Ein Esel sah auf einer Wiese eine Lyra liegen. Er näherte sich und berührte die Saiten mit dem Huf – durch die Berührung ertönten sie. „Dies ist eine schöne Sache, doch, beim Herkules, es ist schlecht ausgegangen“, sagte er, „weil ich ja von Kunst nichts verstehe. Wenn ein Weiserer sie gefunden hätte, hätte dieser unser Ohr mit gar göttlichen Klängen erfreut.“So gehen häufig Talente durch ein Unglück unter.
The Donkey and the Lyre
A donkey saw a lyre lying in a field. He approached the instrument and as he tried to strum it with his hoof, the strings resounded at his touch. 'What a beautiful thing,' said the donkey, 'but completely inappropriate, since I don't know anything about music. If only someone better equipped than myself had found it, my ears would have been delighted by heavenly melodies!'So it is that talents often go to waste because of some misfortune.
Note: It seems likely that Phaedrus invented this fable based on the widely known Greek proverb: onos luras, 'the donkey, the lyre.' The abbreviated proverb has the donkey as the subject of the verb and the lyre as the object, and it is usually assumed that the donkey is 'listening' to the lyre (for example, Lucian, Against the Unlearned 4: 'you listen to the lyre like a donkey, moving your ears'). In this case, however, Phaedrus's donkey wants to play the lyre (compare Lucian, Dialogues of the Courtesans 14: onos autolurizon, 'a donkey playing the lyre').
Source: Google Books / mythfolklore.net
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