363. Canes et Imperator Eorum. Canibus quondam simultates cum lupis intercesserunt. Electus autem fuit canis Achaeus qui caninae genti imperitaret. Atque ille, pugnae sciens, cunctabatur, tricabatur. Ceteri autem minis increpabant ni castris tandem progrederetur. “Sedendo bellum quapropter prorogem, audite,” inquit, “quidque praecaveam. Oportet vero semper praemeditari. Hostium gens cunctorum quos video una est. E nostris vero hi ex Creta, ex Molossis illi, sunt et Acarnanes hice, alii Dolopes, alii Cyprum iactant suam vel Thraciam, alii adsunt aliunde. Quid edisseram verbosius? Et color nobis non est unus perinde atque istis. Nostrum nigri sunt quidam, quidam cineracei, nonnulli rufi ac pectus bicolores, candidi alii. Quo possim igitur modo ad bella ducere non concordes,” inquit, “adversus hostes quibus sunt inter se cuncta communia?”
M0363 = Perry343. Source: Babrius 85 (translated into Latin prose). This is Perry 343. Of the different dogs mentioned here, the “Molossi” are the most famous, and some people contend that the Molossian dogs were the ancestors of the modern mastiffs, who are sometimes called “Molossers.” The name is regional: the Molossian people lived in the mountains of northwestern Greece. Compare the fable of the dogs who were the same color as the wolves, #364.
