Exempla antiqua

Classical and Medieval Latin examples for learners

Canes famelici

Drawing of seven dogs, standing in a body of shallow water into which all but one is looking or reaching.

Illustration from: Aesop’s Fables, by George Fyler Townsend, with illustrations by Harrison Weir, 1867

Stultum consilium non modo effectu caret,
sed ad perniciem quoque mortalis devocat.
Corium depressum in fluvio viderunt canes,
id ut comesse extractum possent facilius,
aquam coepere ebibere: sed rupti prius
periere quam quod petierant contingerent.

Phaedrus 1.20


See Shelmerdine, ch. 26, 122.2 (p. 239) for the subjunctive with antequam (as prius … quam, here)