(2) His desire for fame and his self-consciousness; iii. prol. 60,
‘Ergo hinc abesto livor, ne frustra gemas,
quoniam sollemnis mihi debetur gloria.’
(3) His contempt for money; iii. prol. 21,
‘Curamque habendi penitus corde eraserim’;
v. 4, 7,
‘Huius respectu fabulae deterritus
periculosum semper vitavi lucrum.’
Phaedrus wrote five Books of fables. Many have certainly been lost. Cf. his reference to tree-fables, none of which we have; i. prol. 6,
‘quod arbores loquantur, non tantum ferae.’
There are, besides the five Books, thirty fables usually printed as an appendix, and probably composed by Phaedrus. The fables are all in ‘impure’ iambic senarii, like those of Terence and Publius Syrus. Phaedrus followed Aesop, but, as he affirms, not slavishly; i. prol. 1,
‘Aesopus auctor quam materiam repperit,
hanc ego polivi versibus senariis’;