This fable proves that there is little risk in being poor, while being rich can get you into trouble.
Fable 412 (Phaedrus 4.23 = Perry 519)
Simonides and the Shipwreck
A learned man always has rich inner resources.
Simonides, that extraordinary author of lyric poems, found an excellent remedy for his straitened circumstances by travelling around the most famous cities of Asia, singing the praises of victorious athletes in exchange for a fee. When he had grown wealthy in this venture, he was ready to take a sea voyage and go back to his native land (he was born, so they say, on the island of Ceos). He boarded a ship, but a terrible storm (plus the sheer age of the ship) caused it to sink in the middle of the sea. Some of the passengers grabbed their money-belts, while others held on to their valuables and any possible means of subsistence. A passenger who was more curious than the rest asked the poet, ‘Simonides, why aren’t you taking along any of your own stuff?’ He replied, ‘All that is mine is right here with me.’ It turned out that only a few were able to swim ashore, while the majority drowned, weighed down by what they were carrying. Then bandits arrived and took from the survivors whatever they had brought ashore, stripping them naked. As it happened, the ancient city of Clazomenae was not far off, which is where the shipwrecked people then turned. In this city there lived a man inclined to literary pursuits who had often read Simonides’ compositions and who was his great admirer from afar. He recognized Simonides simply from his manner of speaking and eagerly invited him to his house, regaling him with clothes and money and servants. Meanwhile, the rest of the survivors carried around placards, begging for food. When Simonides happened to run into them, he took one look and exclaimed, ‘Just as I said: all that is mine is right here with me, but everything that you took with you has now vanished.’
NOTE: The shipwreck survivors of ancient Greece would carry around placards that described (or depicted) the cause of their misfortune. Clazomenae was an Ionian Greek city, located near Smyrna (modern Izmir, in Turkey). The Latin proverb omnia mea mecum porto (literally, ‘everything that is mine I carry with me’) is also associated with the philosopher Stilpo (see Seneca, Letters to Lucilius 9.13) and with Bias, one of the legendary seven sages of ancient Greece (Valerius Maximus, 7.2.3).
Fable 413 (Phaedrus 4.12 = Perry 111)
Hercules and Plutus
Riches are justly hated by courageous people: coffers of cash put a stop to honest traffic in praise.
Thanks to his excellent qualities, Hercules was received into heaven. He saluted the gods who came to congratulate him one after another, but when he was approached by Plutus, the god of wealth and the son of Fortune, Hercules turned his eyes aside. Father Jupiter asked him why he did this. Hercules answered, ‘I hate the god of riches: he is a friend to the wicked who corrupts the entire world by throwing his money around!’
NOTE: Hercules, the son of Jupiter and his lover Alcmena, was granted divine honours after his death and lived in heaven among the gods.
Fable 414 (Phaedrus 5.4 = Perry 526)
The Pig, the Donkey, and the Barley
There was a man who had vowed that he would sacrifice a pig in honour of Hercules if the god agreed to rescue him from danger. When the man fulfilled his vow and sacrificed the pig, he then ordered that the pig’s leftover barley be given to the donkey. The donkey, however, refused to touch it. ‘This is the kind of food that would normally arouse my appetite,’ said the donkey, ‘but not when it is the result of the previous diner having had his throat cut!’
This fable taught me caution and I have avoided risky business ventures ever since—but you say ‘those who grab wealth get to keep it’, Just remember how many of them are eventually caught and killed! Clearly, the ones who have been punished constitute the larger crowd. A few people may profit from reckless behaviour, but many more are ruined by it.
FABLES ABOUT LIFE’S UPS AND DOWNS
Fable 415 (Babrius 76 = Perry 320)
The Soldier and His Horse
War was raging, so the cavalryman was able to feed his horse with barley and give him good hay to eat, treating the horse as his noble companion in battle. Then the war came to an end and a time of peace ensued. The soldier was no longer given wages by the state so his horse now had to work all the time carrying heavy logs down out of the woods into the city. In addition, his owner hired the horse out to other people to carry their loads as well. All the while, the horse had as his food only the worst sort of chaff, and the harness he wore on his back was no longer that of a warhorse. Some time later, the clash of battle resounded once again around the city walls, and the trumpet summoned every man to dust off his shield, sharpen his sword, and ready his horse. The horse’s owner put the bridle back on his steed, but when he led the horse out to be mounted, the horse collapsed and fell to his knees, having lost all his former strength. ‘Go join the infantry!’ the horse told his owner. ‘You have transferred -me from the horse regiment to the donkeys; do you really think you can just change me back again?’
NOTE: The Greek proverb ‘from horses to donkeys’ (e.g. Apostolius 4.53) was commonly used to express a drastic reversal of fortune.
Fable 416 (Babrius 29 = Perry 318)
The Race-horse in the Mill
There was once a race-horse who had grown old and was sold to grind in the mill. Harnessed to the millstone, he ground grain all day long and into the evening. As he was working, the old horse groaned aloud and said, ‘Once I ran in the races, but now I must run in circles around this millers’ course!’
Do not boast too much at the height of your powers; people often spend their old age worn out with toil and trouble.
NOTE: ‘The horse’s old age’ was proverbial in Greek (see Erasmus, Adages 2.1.32), suggesting the contrast between a youthful age of strength and vigour which is diminished in old age.
Fable 417 (Aphthonius 13 = Perry 549)
The Horse and the Miller
A story about a horse, exhorting us to consider the human condition.
A horse was suffering from old age, so instead of serving in battle he was sent to the mill to turn the stones. Condemned to this daily grind and denied the glory of battle, the horse wept over his present way of life, remembering his past career. ‘Woe is me!’ the horse exclaimed. ‘Listen, miller: when I was destined for the battlefield, I was decorated all over with armour and I had a man to serve me as my groom. As things are now, I don’t know how it happened that I have only this mill to handle instead of a battle.’ The miller said to the horse, ‘Can’t you keep quiet? I’ve had quite enough of your raving about the past: Luck can change people’s lives for better or for worse!’
Fable 418 (Ademar 37 = Perry 565)
The Donkey and the Horse
A horse who was overly proud of his elegant trappings happened to run into a donkey. The donkey was worn out with work and slow to make way for the approaching horse. ‘I am tempted to smash you to pieces with my hooves’, said the horse. The donkey said nothing and only groaned, calling upon the gods to take note of his suffering. Not long afterwards, the horse, now a broken-down wreck from his life on the race-track, was sent to work on a farm. When the donkey saw the horse carrying a load of manure, he laughed and said, ‘What has happened to you, who were once so proud of your elegant trappings? Time has reduced you to the wretchedness you formerly scorned!’
When prosperous folk are inclined to look down on others, they should hesitate, mindful of the fact that nobody knows what the future may bring.
Fable 419 (Chambry 23* = Perry 13)
The Fishermen and the Stone
Some fishermen were hauling in their net. It was quite heavy, so the fishermen made merry and danced for joy, thinking that they had landed a very big catch. Yet when they finally dragged it in, they found that the net contained only a few fish, together with a very large stone. The fishermen now grew extremely despondent, not so much because of the lack of fish but because they had been expecting just the
opposite. Then one of the fishermen, an experienced old man, remarked, ‘Let’s not take it too hard, my friends! Given that grief seems to be the sister of joy, then we must expect to put up with some suffering precisely because we were so elated at first.’
The fable shows that we have to endure reversals of fortune, since we know that life is a matter of luck.
NOTE: For an Aesopic allegory about the joining of Pleasure and Pain, see Fable 532.
Fable 420 (Chambry 22* = Perry 21)
The Fishermen and the Tuna Fish
Some fishermen had gone out fishing, and when they had struggled for a long time but had not managed to catch anything, they became very downcast and prepared to turn back. All of a sudden a tuna fish who was being chased by some bigger fish leaped into their boat. The men seized the tuna fish and went home rejoicing.
The story shows that Luck often bestows the things that skill cannot obtain.
Fable 421 (Phaedrus 4.18 = Perry 78)
The Ship in a Storm
When a man was complaining about his bad luck, Aesop invented this story in order to console him: ‘As a ship was being tossed by the relentless waves and its passengers swayed between tears and the fear of death, the day suddenly took on a tranquil appearance and the ship surged ahead, borne by favourable winds. The sailors began to rejoice much too cheerfully, whereupon the ship’s pilot (a man made wise by the dangers he had faced) said to them, “It is better to restrain your good spirits while also not being too quick to despair: life is always a mixture of both grief and joy!”’,
FABLES ABOUT THE BITTER END
Fable 422 (Phaedrus 1.21 = Perry 481)
The Old Lion and the Donkey
When someone no longer commands the same respect he once did, his abject condition exposes him to the ridicule of even the most contemptible riffraff.
A lion, enfeebled by old age and having lost his former strength, was stretched out on the ground, about to take his last breath. A boar then approached him, foaming with rage. With his flashing tusks, the boar stabbed and wounded the lion, avenging a previous injury. Next came a bull, who likewise gored the lion’s hated body with his deadly horns. When a donkey saw that the savage beast could be attacked with impunity, he struck the lion in the head with his hooves. Gasping his last breath, the lion exclaimed, ‘I was loath to suffer the attacks of those brave creatures but when I am compelled to suffer you as well—you disgrace to the natural world!—I seem to die a second death.’
NOTE: Compare the proverb, ‘to tug at the dead lion’s beard’ (e.g. Martial, Epigrams 10.90) or ‘even a hare will bite a dead lion’ (Anthologia Planudea 4).
Fable 423 (Life of Aesop 140 = Perry 381)
The Old Man and His Donkeys
There was a farmer who had grown old living in the countryside and who had never seen the city so he asked his children to let him see the city at least once before he died. His children yoked the donkeys to the wagon for him and said, ‘Just drive, and they will take you to the city.’ When they were halfway there, a storm blew up and the sky grew dark. The donkeys went astray and wandered to the edge of a cliff. When the old man saw the danger he was in, he said, ‘O Zeus, what crime have I committed against you that I must die this way? My killers are not even horses, but only these abominable donkeys!’
Fable 424 (Ignatius Diaconus, Tetrasticha 1.8 = Perry 354)
The Blacksmiths and the Mouse
A mouse was carrying away the corpse of another mouse who had died of starvation. The blacksmiths stood there and laughed when they saw this. The mouse who was still among the living addressed the blacksmiths through his plentiful tears, ‘Shame on you: you cannot even manage to sustain a single mouse!’
Do not laugh at the calamity that befalls your neighbour.
Fable 425 (Babrius 60 = Perry 167)
The Mouse in the Pot
A mouse fell into a pot of broth which had no lid. As he was choking on the grease and gasping for breath he said, ‘Well, I have had my fill of eating and drinking and I have stuffed myself with all kinds of fine food: the time has now come for me to die!’
NOTE: An epimythium probably added by a later editor reads: ‘You members of the human race will become like that greedy mouse if you do not give up luxuries that are delicious but deadly.’ Compare also the advice in Horace, Epistles 2.2.214: ‘You’ve had your fill of gaming, likewise of eating and drinking: now it’s time for you to go.’
Fable 426 (Syntipas 58 = Perry 86)
The Sparrow and the Myrtle Berries
A sparrow was feeding on some myrtle berries. The berries were so sweet that the sparrow stayed right there in the tree and refused to leave. Meanwhile, a bird-catcher who had been watching the sparrow caught her and killed her. As the sparrow was about to take her last breath, she exclaimed, ‘What a miserable creature I am! I am going to die merely for the sake of some food and its momentary sweetness.’
This fable shows that some people, out of their desire for good food and luxury, put their lives at risk in the same way as wicked people do.
Fable 427 (Chambry 239* = Perry 80)
The Flies and the Honey
When the honey had been spilled in the pantry, some flies flew up and landed on it. Their feet got stuck and they could not fly away. As they were drowning in the honey, the flies remarked, ‘Oh, woe is us! For the sake of a brief banquet, we are going to die!’
The story shows that greediness often leads to serious trouble.
Fable 428 (Chambry 169* = Perry 251)
The Lark in the Snare
A lark fell into a snare and sang a lament, ‘Woe is me, wretched and unlucky bird that I am! I have brought about my own demise not for gold or silver or some object of value, but merely for a tiny bit of food.’
The story shows that people are willing to risk their lives for the sake of some petty profit.
Fable 429 (Greek Anthology 9.86 = Perry 454)
The Mouse and the Oyster
An omnivorous, gluttonous mouse was creeping through the house when he noticed an oyster with its mouth wide open, so he bit into the false flesh of the oyster’s wet beard. Suddenly the door to the oyster’s house slammed shut in a painful clasp. The mouse was enclosed in a prison with no hope of escape: he himself had closed the door to the tomb of his own suicide.
Fable 430 (Chambry 181 = Perry 253)
The Dog and the Shellfish
There was a certain dog who liked to swallow eggs. When he happened to come across a shellfish, he thought it was an egg. The dog opened his mouth, took a great big gulp, and swallowed the shellfish whole. When his stomach grew heavy and began to ache, the dog remarked, ‘Well, that’s what I get for thinking that anything round must be an egg!’
The story teaches us that there are unexpected consequences in store for people who attempt to do something that is beyond their comprehension.
Fable 431 (Syntipas 8 = Perry 201)
The Pigeon and the Painting
A pigeon had grown very thirsty, so she flew from place to place looking for some water to drink. She saw a water jar painted on a wall and thought that it was actually full of water, so she flew right into the wall in order to take a drink. As the pigeon collided with the wall, she brought her life abruptly to an end. As she drew her last breath, the pigeon said to herself, ‘What a wretched and unlucky creature I am! I didn’t even suspect that looking for something to drink could bring about my own demise.’
The fable shows that caution is far superior to reckless haste and hurry.
NOTE: L’Estrange uses an English proverb as his epimythium: ‘Rash Men do many Things in Haste that they repent of at Leisure.’
FABLES ABOUT FOOLISH PLANS
Fable 432 (Chambry 89* = Perry 55)
The Maids and the Rooster
A hard-working widow woman had some maidservants whom she would rouse up for work at the sound of the cockcrow when it was still dark outside. The maids were burdened with endless tasks, so they decided it would be a g
ood idea to kill the household rooster since it was the rooster who made their mistress get them up while it was still dark. Yet after they had killed the rooster, their desperate situation grew even worse: now that the mistress was no longer able to tell the hour by the rooster, she woke the maids up even earlier than before.
The fable shows that people often make plans that turn out to be to their own disadvantage.
Fable 433 (Syntipas 42 = Perry 58)
The Widow and Her Hen
There was a widow who had a hen that laid one egg each and every day. The woman then began to feed the hen more lavishly, thinking that if the hen ate more grain she would lay two eggs. The hen got so fat from eating all the food that she stopped laying eggs entirely.
The fable shows that people who grasp at more than they need lose the little that they held in their hands.
Fable 434 (Syntipas 27 = Perry 87)
The Man and the Golden Eggs
A man had a hen that laid a golden egg for him each and every day. The man was not satisfied with this daily profit, and instead he foolishly grasped for more. Expecting to find a treasure inside, the man slaughtered the hen. When he found that the hen did not have a treasure inside her after all, he remarked to himself, ‘While chasing after hopes of a treasure, I lost the profit I held in my hands!’
Aesop's Fables Page 26
