June 2022, I was testing my understanding of dactylic hexameter by setting some of Aesop’s Fables into the meter, trying to preserve the original vocabulary as much as possible while allowing myself access to as many other tools in the “Homeric toolkit” as I could think of. I recently stumbled upon this one while sorting through old files, and thought I might share (without revisions!).
εἵλετο βληθείσην Ἁλιεύς περ νεωστὶ σαγήνην.
πλήρης ἠδ’ ἔτυχεν μέγεθος γ’ ἂρ’ ποικιλου ὄψου
φεύγον δ’ἐκ γὲ πολυτρήτου δῦσ’ εἰς βυθὸν λεπτόν,
μεῖζον τ’ ἡπλώθη τοι ἐνὶ πλοίῳ τ’ ἀγρευθέν.
καὶ σωτήριον εἶναι μικρὸν ἔξω τε κακῶν δή·
κίνδυνους σπανίως ἐκδύντ’ ἂν ἴδοις εὔδοξον.