623. Vipera et Auceps. Venator quidam, sumpto visco et harundinibus, venatum exiit. Cum autem turdum procera in arbore considentem vidisset, calamis inter se in longitudinem iunctis, oculos ad eum levabat, ipsum capere exoptans. Interim vero contigit ut viperam, sub pedibus iacentem, nescius premeret. Quae cum exasperata ipsum mormordisset, iamiam ille deficiens, “Me miserum,” inquit, “qui cum alium venari vellem, ab alio ad mortem raptus sum.”
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SLIDESHOW of all the Osius images. The difference here is that this poor birdcatcher is using a snare instead of bird lime and reeds.
M0623 = Perry115. Source: De Furia 225. This is Perry 115. For another example of a birdcatcher’s use of a snare made of extensible reeds coated with viscous birdlime, see #576. Compare also the fable of the kite surprised by an archer, #427. Read a Fabula Facilis version of this fable.
