Later Prose and Verse Derivations
In the Middle Ages Phaedrus exercised a considerable influence through the prose and verse versions of his fables, which were current, even though his own works (and even his name) were apparently forgotten. Of the prose versions, the oldest existing one seems to be that known as the Anonymus Nilanti, so called because it was first edited by Nilant at Leiden in 1709 from a manuscript of the 13th century. It follows the text of Phaedrus so closely that it was probably made directly from it. Of the sixty-seven fables which it contains, thirty are derived from lost fables of Phaedrus.
Read more about this topic: Phaedrus (fabulist)
Famous quotes containing the words prose and/or verse:
“Good Heavens! For more than forty years I have been speaking prose without knowing it.”
—Molière [Jean Baptiste Poquelin] (1622–1673)
“But there’s another knowledge that my heart destroys
As the fox in the old fable destroyed the Spartan boy’s
Because it proves that things both can and cannot be;
That the swordsmen and the ladies can still keep company;
Can pay the poet for a verse and hear the fiddle sound,
That I am still their servant though all are underground.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)