The Lion Grown Old

Used of the natural instinct of self defence, the Latin Dente lupus, cornu taurus petit (the wolf attacks with his teeth, the bull with his horns, Satires II.1.55) had become proverbial.

[4] The Neo-Latin poem "Leo Senex" by Hieronymus Osius shifted the emphasis to the pain that a formerly powerful human feels now that he cannot protect himself,[5] leaving the cautionary story as no more than a metaphor.

William Caxton urged the necessity of humility in his retelling,[6] while tempering tyranny is counselled by other English authors, including Francis Barlow (1667),[7] Roger L'Estrange (1692)[8] and Samuel Croxall (1722).

[10] Charles Denis (Select Fables, 1754) translates the title as "The Old Lion", adds an ape and a fox to the attackers and ends on a new moral, summed up in the line "be good as you are great".

[11] The moral stanza added by John Matthews (London 1820) is given a topical twist by being applied to the conduct of politicians and pamphleteers during the madness of King George III.

More modern reinterpretations of La Fontaine's fable have included Ladislas Starevich's film using animated puppets (1932)[13] and several musical settings: by Louis Lacombe as part of his 15 melodies (op.

His version is prefaced by the Latin equivalent, mortuo leone et lepores insultant, and tells how a selection of animals take their revenge on the dead beast, including wolves, bears, foxes and apes.