Gabriele Faerno
Encyclopedia
Gabriele Faerno, also known by his Latin name of Faernus Cremonensis, was born in Cremona
about 1510 and died in Rome
on November 17, 1561. He was a scrupulous scholar and an elegant Latin poet who is best known now for his collection of Aesop's Fables
in Latin verse.
in Spain. At some time in the next decade he was recommended by his sponsors to Rome. The first evidence of his presence in the city is in a letter from Carlo Gualteruzzi to Giovanni Della Casa in October, 1548. At the start of 1549 he began working in the Vatican Library and was brought into contact with many of the scholars and philologists who gravitated around the activities there.
Faerno's literary accomplishments over the next decade gained him the esteem and friendship of the cardinal Giovanni Angelo de Medici, afterwards Pope Pius IV
, and of his nephew the cardinal Charles Borromeo
. Having acquired a critical knowledge of the Latin language, he was enabled to display much judgment in the correction of the Roman classics, and in the collation of ancient manuscripts on which he was frequently employed. Once Pius IV was elected to the papal throne, Faerno was urged to publish some of the results of his diligent work. He was also offered a bishopric, which he modestly refused. Illness intervened before he could see the works he was preparing through the press and he died at the home of Cardinal Giovanni Morone
towards the end of 1561.
A rare bust of Faerno by Michelangelo
is in the Philosophers Room of the Capitoline Museum.
Other Latin authors to whom Faerno dedicated his efforts include Horace
, Plautus
, Suetonius
, and Tacitus
.
, who published a translation of Faerno’s work into French verse (Paris 1699), has defended the author from this imputation.
Perrault's preface gives the following account of the work:
Besides fables collected 'from ancient authors', Mediaeval folk tales such as The miller, his son and the donkey
and The Mice in Council were included in the work as well. It was to go through some forty European editions, including translations into Italian, English, German, Dutch and French. In England the 1741 edition, which included Perrault's French translations and an English translation, was to serve as a school textbook. But the work was successful and influential for other reasons than the fineness of the language. Its illustrations were also esteemed and have been attributed to Titian
, or to Pirro Ligorio
by others. Published at the time of a taste for Emblem books, the morals with which Faerno furnished the fables by way of conclusion were seen as contributing to that fashion and widening the subject matter to include the Aesopic fable too.
Poems attributed to Faerno were also printed in some later editions. They include his attack on Protestantism as a 'Germanic sect', In Lutheranos, sectam Germanicam, verses accompanying illustrations of artistic works, complimentary addresses and other occasional verse. He was also the author of sonnets in Italian.
Cremona
Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...
about 1510 and died in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
on November 17, 1561. He was a scrupulous scholar and an elegant Latin poet who is best known now for his collection of Aesop's Fables
Aesop's Fables
Aesop's Fables or the Aesopica are a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and story-teller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE. The fables remain a popular choice for moral education of children today...
in Latin verse.
Life
Gabriele Faerno was born in Cremona to Francis Faerno, a local lawyer and scholar. In 1528 he was enrolled at the Collegium Notariorum in his hometown and then entered the service of the Bishop of Cremona. Biographical details for this period are sparse, except that in 1538 he followed his master on a mission to BarcelonaBarcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
in Spain. At some time in the next decade he was recommended by his sponsors to Rome. The first evidence of his presence in the city is in a letter from Carlo Gualteruzzi to Giovanni Della Casa in October, 1548. At the start of 1549 he began working in the Vatican Library and was brought into contact with many of the scholars and philologists who gravitated around the activities there.
Faerno's literary accomplishments over the next decade gained him the esteem and friendship of the cardinal Giovanni Angelo de Medici, afterwards Pope Pius IV
Pope Pius IV
Pope Pius IV , born Giovanni Angelo Medici, was Pope from 1559 to 1565. He is notable for presiding over the culmination of the Council of Trent.-Biography:...
, and of his nephew the cardinal Charles Borromeo
Charles Borromeo
Charles Borromeo was the cardinal archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Milan from 1564 to 1584. He was a leading figure during the Counter-Reformation and was responsible for significant reforms in the Catholic Church, including the founding of seminaries for the education of priests...
. Having acquired a critical knowledge of the Latin language, he was enabled to display much judgment in the correction of the Roman classics, and in the collation of ancient manuscripts on which he was frequently employed. Once Pius IV was elected to the papal throne, Faerno was urged to publish some of the results of his diligent work. He was also offered a bishopric, which he modestly refused. Illness intervened before he could see the works he was preparing through the press and he died at the home of Cardinal Giovanni Morone
Giovanni Morone
Giovanni Morone was an Italian cardinal. He was named Bishop of Modena in 1529 and was created Cardinal in 1542 by Pope Paul III...
towards the end of 1561.
A rare bust of Faerno by Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
is in the Philosophers Room of the Capitoline Museum.
Scholarship
Faerno died in the prime of life. How much might have been expected from his talents and habits of study, had he lived longer, may appear from the works he left.- 1. Terentii Comoediae, Florence 1565, 2 vols. 8vo, a valuable and rare edition, completed after his death by his friend Piero VettoriPiero VettoriPiero Vettori was an Italian writer, philologist and humanist.-Biography:Vettori was born in Florence and in his life dealt with numerous matters, from agriculture to sciences, from rhetorics to moral philosophy, and also catalogued codexes in Florence and Italy...
. There is no ancient editor to whom TerenceTerencePublius Terentius Afer , better known in English as Terence, was a playwright of the Roman Republic, of North African descent. His comedies were performed for the first time around 170–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought Terence to Rome as a slave, educated him and later on,...
is more indebted than to Faerno; who, by a judicious collation of ancient manuscripts and editions, has restored the true reading of his author in many important passages. Faerno’s edition became the basis of almost every subsequent one, and Dr. Richard BentleyRichard BentleyRichard Bentley was an English classical scholar, critic, and theologian. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge....
had such an opinion of his notes that he reprinted them entire in his edition. - 2. Ciceronis Orationes Philippicae, Rome 1563, 8vo, very highly praised by GraeviusJohann Georg GraeviusJohann Georg Graevius was a German classical scholar and critic. He was born at Naumburg....
. - 3. He also worked on the conflicting manuscripts of the historian LivyLivyTitus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
and Faerno's contemporary, Latino LatiniLatino LatiniLatino Latini was born in Viterbo ca. 1513 and died on 21 January 1593. He was an Italian scholar and humanist of the renaissance, a member of the commission for the revision of the Corpus Juris canonici. He is known for his lifelong research into the texts of the fathers of the church and his...
, has left a note on the scrupulous care with which he approached the subject. 'As for Livy, I would not want you to believe that [Faerno] is so bold and presumptuous as to add or change anything without the evidence of the ancient codices, unless obviously corrupt. If he cannot avoid mistakes at times, he does everything scrupulously, giving exact reasons for any opinion or conjecture of his, so as to leave anyone free to judge for himself.'
Other Latin authors to whom Faerno dedicated his efforts include Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
, Plautus
Plautus
Titus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as "Plautus", was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus...
, Suetonius
Suetonius
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius , was a Roman historian belonging to the equestrian order in the early Imperial era....
, and Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
.
Poetry
Faerno is counted one of the foremost of the Renaissance Latin poets, largely on account of his "100 Fables" (Centum Fabulae ex antiquis autoribus delectae, et carminibus explicatae). Though not published until 1563, there is evidence that he was compiling the work as early as 1558. So excellent were his versions that one scholar went so far as to accuse him of concealing an undiscovered manuscript of Phaedrus for fear of lessening the value of his own versions. But Charles PerraultCharles Perrault
Charles Perrault was a French author who laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from pre-existing folk tales. The best known include Le Petit Chaperon rouge , Cendrillon , Le Chat Botté and La Barbe bleue...
, who published a translation of Faerno’s work into French verse (Paris 1699), has defended the author from this imputation.
Perrault's preface gives the following account of the work:
- Pope Pius IV, convinced that reading the fables of Aesop was of great use in forming the morals of young children, commissioned Gabriel Faerno, whom he knew as an excellent poet as well as a man with a taste for elegant and beautiful Latinity, to versify these fables so that children might learn, at the same time and from the same book, both moral and linguistic purity....Faerno has been called a second Phaedrus, by reason of the excellent style of his Fables, though he never saw Phaedrus, who did not come to our knowledge till above thirty years after his death; for PithoeusPierre PithouPierre Pithou was a French lawyer and scholar. He is also known as Petrus Pithoeus.He was born at Troyes. From childhood he loved literature, and his father Pierre encouraged this interest. Young Pithou was called to the Paris bar in 1560...
, having found that manuscript in the dust of an old library, published it in the beginning of this century. ThuanusJacques Auguste de ThouJacques Auguste de Thou was a French historian, book collector and president of the Parlement de Paris.-Life:...
, who makes very honourable mention of our author in his history, pretends that Phaedrus was not unknown to him; and even blames him for having suppressed that author, to conceal what he had stolen from him. But there is no ground for what he says; and it is only the effect of the strong persuasion of all those who are so great admirers of antiquity as to think that a modern author can do nothing that is excellent, unless he has an ancient author for his model. Out of the hundred fables which Faerno published in Latin verse, there are but five that had been treated by Phaedrus, and out of those five there are but one or two that have been managed nearly in the same manner: which happened only because it is impossible that two men, who treat on the same subject, should not agree sometimes in the same thoughts, or in the same expressions."
Besides fables collected 'from ancient authors', Mediaeval folk tales such as The miller, his son and the donkey
The miller, his son and the donkey
The miller, his son and the donkey is a widely dispersed fable, number 721 in the Perry Index. Though it may have ancient analogues, the earliest extant version is in the work of the 13th century Arab writer Ibn Said. There are many eastern versions of the tale and in Europe it was included in a...
and The Mice in Council were included in the work as well. It was to go through some forty European editions, including translations into Italian, English, German, Dutch and French. In England the 1741 edition, which included Perrault's French translations and an English translation, was to serve as a school textbook. But the work was successful and influential for other reasons than the fineness of the language. Its illustrations were also esteemed and have been attributed to Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
, or to Pirro Ligorio
Pirro Ligorio
Pirro Ligorio was an Italian architect, painter, antiquarian and garden designer.-Biography:Ligorio was born in Naples. In 1534 he moved to Rome, where he developed his interest in antiquities, and was named superintendent to the ancient monuments by the Popes Pius IV and Paul IV...
by others. Published at the time of a taste for Emblem books, the morals with which Faerno furnished the fables by way of conclusion were seen as contributing to that fashion and widening the subject matter to include the Aesopic fable too.
Poems attributed to Faerno were also printed in some later editions. They include his attack on Protestantism as a 'Germanic sect', In Lutheranos, sectam Germanicam, verses accompanying illustrations of artistic works, complimentary addresses and other occasional verse. He was also the author of sonnets in Italian.
Titles
The title of Faerno's celebrated work translates as 'One hundred delightful fables, poetically interpreted from ancient authors'. The following is a list of the fables occurring there, with links to those that have a separate article devoted to them.- 1. Ollae duae - The Two PotsThe Two PotsThe Two Pots is one of Aesop's Fables and numbered 378 in the Perry Index. The fable may stem from proverbial sources.-The Fable:There is a short Greek version of the fable and a longer, more circumstantial late Latin poem by Avianus. It concerns two pots, one of earthenware and the other of metal,...
- 2. Iupiter et Minerva.
- 3. Leo, asinus et vulpes - The Lion's ShareLion's ShareThe lion's share is an idiomatic expression which develops from a number of fables ascribed to Aesop and is now used as their generic title, although they exist in several different versions...
- 4. asinus et lupus.
- 5. leo mente captus et caprea.
- 6. asini duo.
- 7. Formica et cicada - The Ant and the GrasshopperThe Ant and the GrasshopperThe Ant and the Grasshopper, also known as The Grasshopper and the Ant , is one of Aesop's Fables, providing an ambivalent moral lesson about hard work and foresight. In the Perry Index it is number 373...
- 8. turdi.
- 9. sus et canis.
- 10. senex et mors.
- 11. mergus, rubus et vespertilio.
- 12. cornix et canis.
- 13. corvus et mater.
- 14. musca.
- 15. rusticus et eques.
- 16. equus et asinus.
- 17. vulpes et erinaceus.
- 18. Leo et vulpes - The Lion and the FoxThe Lion and the FoxThe Lion and the Fox is one of Aesop's Fables and represents a comedy of manners. It is number 10 in the Perry Index.-The fable:The fable is only found in Classical Greek sources and was briefly told. 'A fox had never seen a lion before, so when she happened to met the lion for the first time she...
- 19. Vulpes et uva - The Fox and the GrapesThe Fox and the Grapes"The Fox and the Grapes" is one of the traditional Aesop's fables and can be held to illustrate the concept of cognitive dissonance. In this view, the premise of the fox that covets inaccessible grapes is taken to stand for a person who attempts to hold incompatible ideas simultaneously...
- 20. Corvus et vulpes - The Fox and the Crow (Aesop)The Fox and the Crow (Aesop)"The Fox and the Crow" is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 124 in the Perry Index. There are early Latin and Greek versions and the fable may even have been portrayed on an ancient Greek vase. The story is used as a warning against listening to flattery....
- 21. dies festus et profestus.
- 22. pavo et monedula.
- 23. cervus et hinnulus.
- 24. cervus et serpens.
- 25. cygnus et anser.
- 26. puer et scorpius.
- 27. anguilla et serpens.
- 28. canis et lupus.
- 29. Canis, gallus et vulpes - The Cock, the Dog and the FoxThe Cock, the Dog and the FoxThe Cock, the Dog and the Fox is one of Aesop's Fables and appears as number 252 in the Perry Index. Although it has similarities with other fables where a predator flatters a bird, such as The Fox and the Crow and Chanticleer and the Fox, in this one the cock is the victor rather than victim...
- 30. mulus.
- 31. iuvenes duo et coquus.
- 32. cochleae.
- 33. cornix et hirundo.
- 34. Mercurius et statuarius.
- 35. pater et filii.
- 36. simius et delphus.
- 37. ranae duae sitientes.
- 38. ranae duae vicinae.
- 39. auceps et cassita.
- 40. deceptor et Apollo.
- 41. Uxor submersa et vir - The drowned woman and her husbandThe drowned woman and her husbandThe drowned woman and her husband is an anti-feminist story found in Mediaeval jest-books that entered the fable tradition in the 16th century. It was occasionally included in collections of Aesop's Fables but never became established as such and has no number in the Perry Index.-The story:One of...
- 42. Feles et gallus - noticed under The Wolf and the LambThe Wolf and the LambThe Wolf and the Lamb is a well known fable of Aesop and is numbered 155 in the Perry Index. There are several variant stories of tyrannical injustice in which a victim is falsely accused and killed despite a reasonable defence.-The fable and its variants:...
- 43. asinus simius et talpa.
- 44. vulpes vota mutans.
- 45. musca et quadrigae.
- 46. pica et aves.
- 47. Mures - The Mice in Council
- 48. avarus.
- 49. vulpes et lupus.
- 50. Canna et oliva - The Oak and the ReedThe Oak and the ReedThe Oak and the Reed is one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 70 in the Perry Index. It appears in many versions: in some it is with many reeds that the oak converses and in a late rewritten version it disputes with a willow.-The story and its interpretation:...
- 51. asini et Iupiter.
- 52. herus et canis.
- 53. Canis et caro - The Dog and its Reflection
- 54. asinus et aper.
- 55. pullus asini et lupus.
- 56. Lupus et grus - The Wolf and the CraneThe Wolf and the CraneThe Wolf and the Crane is a fable attributed to Aesop that has several eastern analogues. Similar stories have a lion instead of a wolf, and a stork, heron or partridge takes the place of the crane.-The fable and its alternative versions:...
- 57. Iupiter et cochlea.
- 58. Satyrus et homo - The Satyr and the TravellerThe Satyr and the TravellerThe Satyr and the Traveller is one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 35 in the Perry Index. The popular idiom 'to blow hot and cold' is associated with it.-The Fable:...
- 59. Mures et feles - The Cat and the MiceThe Cat and the MiceThe Cat and the Mice is a fable attributed to Aesop of which there are several variants. Sometimes a weasel is the predator; the prey can also be rats and chickens.-The Fables:...
- 60. vulpes et aquila.
- 61. vulpes.
- 62. Lignator et Mercurius - The Honest Woodcutter
- 63. fullo et carbonarius.
- 64. iactator.
- 65. vulpes et rubus.
- 66. vulpes et larva.
- 67. canes duo.
- 68. mulier et medicus.
- 69. asinus dominos mutans.
- 70. cerva et vitis.
- 71. latro et mater.
- 72. vates.
- 73. astrologus.
- 74. Leo et vulpes - The Fox and the Sick LionThe Fox and the Sick LionThe fable of The Fox and the Sick Lion, attributed to Aesop, has been well known from Classical times.-The Fable and its Moral:A lion that had grown too old and weak to hunt pretended to be sick as a ruse to make the other animals come and pay their respects. When they did so, he ate them one by...
- 75. armentarius.
- 76. lupus et mulier.
- 77. vespertilio et mustela.
- 78. aper et vulpes.
- 79. gallinus et hirundo.
- 80. canes duo et coquus.
- 81. Simius et vulpes - noticed under The Boy and the FilbertsThe Boy and the FilbertsThe Boy and the Filberts is a fable related to greed and appears as Aarne-Thompson type 68A. The story is credited to Aesop but there is no evidence to support this...
- 82. Vulpes, asinus et leo
- 83. Formica - noticed under The Ant and the GrasshopperThe Ant and the GrasshopperThe Ant and the Grasshopper, also known as The Grasshopper and the Ant , is one of Aesop's Fables, providing an ambivalent moral lesson about hard work and foresight. In the Perry Index it is number 373...
- 84. asinus et equus.
- 85. monedula.
- 86. herus et canes.
- 87. agnus et lupus
- 88. Asinus et vulpes - The Ass in the Lion's SkinThe Ass in the Lion's SkinThe Ass in the Lion's Skin is one of Aesop's Fables . There are also several Eastern variants and the story's interpretation varies accordingly.-The Fable:...
- 89. asinus corvus et lupus.
- 90. Mercurius.
- 91. bubulcus et Hercules.
- 92. Momus.
- 93. arbores et rhamnus.
- 94. spes.
- 95. asinus simulacrum gestans.
- 96. cassita.
- 97. vulpes et simius.
- 98. rusticus et Iuppiter.
- 99. leo lupus et vulpes.
- 100. Pater, filius et asinus - The miller, his son and the donkeyThe miller, his son and the donkeyThe miller, his son and the donkey is a widely dispersed fable, number 721 in the Perry Index. Though it may have ancient analogues, the earliest extant version is in the work of the 13th century Arab writer Ibn Said. There are many eastern versions of the tale and in Europe it was included in a...