[20.] Having been guilty)—Ver. 5. Chambry, one of the French Editors, omits this, as unworthy of Phædrus, and Adry pronounces it unintelligible. The meaning of this, which is Jannelli’s version, seems to be: “When you ought not to please yourself, you do please yourself, in committing the crime; but the consequence is that, afterwards, when you ought to feel pleased, in that you have gratified your desires, you cannot, in consequence of your guilty conscience.” It is so mutilated, however, that Cassitti, Jannelli, and other Editors give entirely different versions.
[21.] Injury to this field)—Ver. 4. The Hare is more an enemy to the flowers in gardens than to the fields. It was probably for this reason that the Romans sacrificed this animal to the Goddess Flora.
[22.] Name of a God)—Ver. 3. This pun upon the resemblance of “Castor,” the name of the demigod, to “Castor,” “a beaver,” seems to be a puerile pun; and the remark upon the limited “copia verborum” of the Greeks, seems more likely to proceed from the Archbishop of Sipontum than from Phædrus, who was evidently proud of his Grecian origin.
[23.] A Butterfly)—Ver. 1. This Fable is in a sadly mutilated state, and critics are at a loss to say, with any certainty, what is meant by it. Whether the supposed word in l. 2, “barathris,” (if really the correct reading), means the depths of hell, or the inner folds of the leaves in which the Butterfly is enveloped in the chrysalis state, or whether it means something else, will probably always remain a matter of doubt. However, the Fable seems to allude to the prevalent idea, that the soul, when disengaged from the body, took the form of a butterfly. Indeed the Greeks called both the soul and a butterfly by the name of ψυχή. There are six or seven different versions of the first five lines.
[24.] Ashes do I fly)—Ver. 6. It is just possible that this may allude to the soul being disengaged from the corruption of the body.
[25.] Who were a Mule)—Ver. 7. She would seem here to allude to the doctrine of the transmigration of souls. It may possibly have been a notion, that as the human soul took the form of a Butterfly, the souls of animals appeared in the shapes of Wasps and Flies.
[26.] The Epilogue)—This appears in reality to be only the Fragment of an Epilogue.