Bite-sized animal poems with biting social commentary

Who doesn’t love a witty animal fable? But these are not just about animals – did you know that Phaedrus was an ex-slave of Augustus and fables were a way of writing subversive social commentary without getting in trouble for calling out corrupt individuals by name? I hope you will enjoy reading Phaedrus with me through this tiered reader of his first book of fables!

About the Phaedrus project

The Beasts of Rome: A Tiered Reader of Phaedrus Fables I presents several versions of each poem in the first book of Phaedrus Fables, rewritten in Latin of gradually increasing difficulty so that Phaedrus’s (already quite accessible) poetry can be read with even greater ease. The full text is 10,000 words, and features 32 fables, with over 100 illustrations to help explain vocabulary while maximising time spent in Latin. It is now easier than ever to dip into these short narrative poems for a delightful extensive reading experience.

Sample Poems

Have some free samples of what is coming up in the book! Click the link below to read these sneak previews!

When and where can I get the finished book?

The project has now been edited by Lupus Alatus. I am currently going through the text to implement the copious suggestions on phrasing. The next steps after that will be constructing the glossary, layouting, and proofing. I am balancing life as a first time parent with this book project, so it may take some time to get through each step, but I am looking forward to producing a high quality book just like my first tiered reader, The Lover’s Curse: A Tiered Reader of Aeneid 4. It will ultimately be available for purchase on Amazon and other online book retailers.

To get updates on the Phaedrus project, sign up to my email newsletter and you will receive a free digital copy of The Lover’s Curse, my first tiered reader. Yes, the complete book, not selections, not previews, not teaser content! All of it! Free!

Sign up now to get your present and keep in the loop for Phaedrus!

Why Phaedrus?

Phaedrus is an underappreciated gem – a fabulous author in more than one sense! His pithy parables offer many advantages for both high school and self-study.

• The context! He was an ex-slave of Augustus. How refreshing it is to read an ancient Roman text written not by the highest elite, but by one who had suffered enslavement. Through these fables, Phaedrus provides tantalising hints of his experience of corrupt characters in the imperial Roman court.
• The subject-matter! Fables are short narratives that feature animal protagonists. They get to their point quickly and even state it explicitly as a moral-of-the-story. This makes them highly comprehensible to learners.
• The style! Phaedrus ‘is master of the art of terse expression; his language is pure, simple and direct.’ (G. H. Nall, The Fables of Phaedrus, 1895)
• The language! It’s convenient for most Latin curricula which focus primarily on golden age Latin: ‘…the Latin of the fables is the pure undebased Latin of the best period of the golden, not the silver age…’ (Robinson Ellis, quoted in Nall, 1895) Putting aside the value-judgements about golden and silver Latin, it is easier for learners when they don’t have to learn a new Latin dialect when first approaching authentic texts.