Avianus

So it's been a while since I've posted. And I feel like posting something, so you're all going to get what I've been translating. This is the first story of the Fabulae Aviani, the Fables of Avianus. It's written in elegiac couplets with internal rhyme in a number of places.

I.
DE NUTRICE ET INFANTE

Rustica deflentum parvum iuraverat olim,

Ni taceat, rabido quod foret esca lupo.

Credulus hanc vocem lupus audiit et manet ipsas

Pervigil ante fores irrita vota gerens.

Nam lassata puer nimiae dat membra quieti.

Spem quoque raptori sustulit inde fames.

Hunc ubi sivarum repentem lustra suarum

Ieiunum coniunx sensit adesse lupa,

'Cur,' inquit, 'nullam referens de more rapinam,

Languida consumptis sic trahis ora genis?'

'Ne mireris,' ait, 'deceptum fraude maligna

Vix miserum vacua delituisse fuga.

Nam quae praeda, rogas, quae spes contingere posset,

Iurgia nutricis cum mihi verba darent?'

Haec sibi dicta putet, seque hac sciat arte notari,

Femineam quisquis credidit esse fidem.

And here translated:

I.
ON THE NURSE AND THE INFANT

Once upon a time a countrywoman swore an oath at a small child crying,

That unless it be silent, it would be a meal for a rabid wolf.

A credulous wolf heard this voice and, watchful, remained,

Bearing the vain vows before those doors.

For the boy gave his weary limbs to excessive quiet.

Also, thence, hunger bore away hope for the plunderer.

When a she-wolf, his wife, sensed this creeping, starving one

To be near by the den in their woods,

She said, 'Why do you drag no plunder according to custom

O weak food-bringer, thus drag jaws with wasted cheeks?'

'Lest you wonder,' he said, 'that deceived by malignant fraud,

This wretch was hardly hidden in empty flight.

For what spoil do you ask, what hope was able to seize,

When the words of the nurse gave me lies?'

Let him suppose this said to him, and know this to be written

In this work, whosoever has believed a woman to be true.

Huh... so, to be honest, I hadn't quite finished translating this before I began typing it up here. Honestly. For finishing it up I got a little help from a finished translation to make sense of some portions that were just not making sense to me. If you have any suggestions, do let me know!

I think I may post something on scansion soon, as many people have trouble with it, and it's one thing that I know I am decent at in Latin.

[Edit: Thanks to my DLF for some corrections on the translation!]