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Avianus The Fox And The Dog
Avianus (or possibly Avienus;Alan Cameron, "Avienus or Avienius?", ''ZPE'' 108 (1995), p. 260 c. AD 400) a Latin writer of fables,"Avianus" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes Ltd, George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 5. identified as a pagan. The 42 fables which bear his name are dedicated to a certain Theodosius, whose learning is spoken of in most flattering terms. He may possibly be Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, the author of ''Saturnalia''; some think he may be the emperor of that name. Nearly all the fables are to be found in Babrius, who was probably Avianus's source of inspiration, but as Babrius wrote in Greek language, Greek, and Avianus speaks of having made an elegiac version from a rough Latin copy, probably a prose paraphrase, he was not indebted to the original. The language and metre are on the whole correct, in spite of deviations from classical usage, chiefly in the management of the pentameter. The fables soon became popular as a school-book. ''P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avianus The Fox And The Dog
Avianus (or possibly Avienus;Alan Cameron, "Avienus or Avienius?", ''ZPE'' 108 (1995), p. 260 c. AD 400) a Latin writer of fables,"Avianus" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes Ltd, George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 5. identified as a pagan. The 42 fables which bear his name are dedicated to a certain Theodosius, whose learning is spoken of in most flattering terms. He may possibly be Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, the author of ''Saturnalia''; some think he may be the emperor of that name. Nearly all the fables are to be found in Babrius, who was probably Avianus's source of inspiration, but as Babrius wrote in Greek language, Greek, and Avianus speaks of having made an elegiac version from a rough Latin copy, probably a prose paraphrase, he was not indebted to the original. The language and metre are on the whole correct, in spite of deviations from classical usage, chiefly in the management of the pentameter. The fables soon became popular as a school-book. ''P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mischievous Dog
The Mischievous Dog is one of Aesop's Fables, of which there is a Greek version by Babrius and a Latin version by Avianus. It is numbered 332 in the Perry Index. The story concerns a dog that bites the legs of others. Its master therefore ties a bell around its neck to warn people. The dog, thinking the bell is a reward, shows it off in the streets until an older dog reminds him that the bell is not a reward but a sign of disgrace. Victorian editors of the fables supplied the moral that 'notoriety is often mistaken for fame'. The Russian fabulist Ivan Krylov Ivan Andreyevich Krylov (russian: Ива́н Андре́евич Крыло́в; 13 February 1769 – 21 November 1844) is Russia's best-known fabulist and probably the most epigrammatic of all Russian authors. Formerly a dramatist and journalis ...'s story of "The Ass" is said to take its beginning from this fable.W.R.S.Ralston, ''Krilof and his fables'', London 1883pages 89-90/ref> In his version, an ass is given a bell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Trumpeter Taken Captive
The Trumpeter Taken Captive is one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 370 in the Perry Index. One of the rare tales in which only human beings figure, it teaches that association with wrongdoers makes one equally culpable. Sharing the guilt The fable concerns a trumpeter who is taken by the enemy in battle and pleads to be spared on the grounds that he bears no weapons. His captors tell him that encouraging others to fight by means of his trumpet is even worse. In the Latin version by Avianus, an old soldier is disposing of his weapons in a fire and the trumpet asks to be spared but is disposed of in the same way. In the Renaissance, Andrea Alciato included the story among his ''Emblemata'' under the heading ''Parem delinquentis et suasoris culpam esse'' (The fault belongs alike to the wrongdoer and the persuader) and was followed by the English emblematist Geoffrey Whitney in asserting that those who encourage a crime are equally guilty. The Neo-Latin poets Hieronymus Osius and P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ant And The Grasshopper
The Ant and the Grasshopper, alternatively titled The Grasshopper and the Ant (or Ants), is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 373 in the Perry Index. The fable describes how a hungry grasshopper begs for food from an ant when winter comes and is refused. The situation sums up moral lessons about the virtues of hard work and planning for the future. Even in Classical times, however, the advice was mistrusted by some and an alternative story represented the ant's industry as mean and self-serving. Jean de la Fontaine's delicately ironic retelling in French later widened the debate to cover the themes of compassion and charity. Since the 18th century the grasshopper has been seen as the type of the artist and the question of the place of culture in society has also been included. Argument over the fable's ambivalent meaning has generally been conducted through adaptation or reinterpretation of the fable in literature, arts, and music. Fable and counter-fable The fable concerns a gra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
God Helps Those Who Help Themselves
The phrase "God helps those who help themselves" is a motto that emphasizes the importance of self-initiative and Agency (philosophy), agency. The expression is known around the world and is used to inspire people for self-help. The phrase originated in ancient Greece as "the gods help those who help themselves" and may originally have been proverbial. It is illustrated by two of Aesop's Fables and a similar sentiment is found in Theatre of ancient Greece, ancient Greek drama. Although it has been commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin, the modern English language, English wording appears earlier in Algernon Sidney's work. A humorous addition to the saying has, "God helps those who help themselves, but God help those who get caught helping themselves". The phrase is often mistaken as a scriptural quote, though it is not stated verbatim in the Bible. Some Christianity, Christians consider the expression contrary to the biblical message of God's Grace (Christianity), grace and he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Satyr And The Traveller
The Satyr and the Traveller (or Peasant) is one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 35 in the Perry Index. The popular idiom 'to blow hot and cold' is associated with it and the fable is read as a warning against duplicity. The Fable There are Greek versions and a late Latin version of the fable by Avianus. In its usual form, a satyr or faun comes across a traveller wandering in the forest in deep winter. Taking pity on him, the satyr invites him home. When the man blows on his fingers, the satyr asks him what he is doing and is impressed when told that he can warm them that way. But when the man blows on his soup and tells the satyr that this is to cool it, the honest woodland creature is appalled at such double dealing and drives the traveller from his cave. There is an alternative version in which a friendship between the two is ended by this behaviour. The idiom 'to blow hot and cold (with the same breath)' to which the fable alludes was recorded as ''Ex eodem ore calidum et fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Crow And The Pitcher
''The Crow and the Pitcher'' is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 390 in the Perry Index. It relates ancient observation of corvid behaviour that recent scientific studies have confirmed is goal-directed and indicative of causal knowledge rather than simply being due to instrumental conditioning. The fable and its moral The fable is made the subject of a poem by the first century CE Greek Poet Bianor, was included in the 2nd century fable collection of pseudo-Dositheus and later appears in the 4th–5th-century Latin verse collection by Avianus. The history of this fable in antiquity and the Middle Ages is tracked in A.E. Wright's ''Hie lert uns der meister: Latin Commentary and the Germany Fable''. The story concerns a thirsty crow that comes upon a pitcher with water at the bottom, beyond the reach of its beak. After failing to push it over, the bird drops in pebbles one by one until the water rises to the top of the pitcher, allowing it to drink. In his telling, Avianus fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Statue Of Hermes
There are five fables of ancient Greek origin that deal with the statue of Hermes. All have been classed as burlesques that show disrespect to the god involved and some scepticism concerning the efficacy of religious statues as objects of worship. Statues of Hermes differed according to function and several are referenced in these stories. Only one fable became generally retold in later times, although two others also achieved some currency. 1 Hermes and the sculptor The fable appears as number 88 in the Perry Index and was to become a favourite in Europe from the Renaissance on. It is directed against self-conceit in general and concerns a visit to a statue maker made in human disguise by the god Hermes. Finding that Jove, the king of the gods, was set at a low price and his queen at only a little more, he felt sure that, since he was their messenger, his own statue must command much more. When he asked about it, however, the sculptor told him that if he would buy the other two st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fisherman And The Little Fish
The Fisherman and the Little Fish is one of Aesop's fables. It is numbered 18 in the Perry Index. Babrius records it in Greek and Avianus in Latin. The story concerns a small fry caught by a fisherman (or "angler") that begs for its life on account of its size and suggests that waiting until it is larger would make it a more filling meal. The fisherman refuses, giving as his reason that every little amount helps and that it is stupid to give up a present advantage for an uncertain future gain. The fable was given further currency in La Fontaine's Fables(V.3). The popularity of the fable in England was eventually overtaken by the similar story "The Hawk and the Nightingale", which had the advantage of being reinforced by the proverb "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush". La Fontaine had no such proverb in French to which to appeal and ends on the reflection that one possession is better than two promises (''Un 'tiens' vaut mieux que deux 'tu l'auras). However, his Engli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fir And The Bramble
The Fir and the Bramble is one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 304 in the Perry Index. It is one of a group in which trees and plants debate together, which also includes The Trees and the Bramble and The Oak and the Reed. The contenders in this fable first appear in a Sumerian debate poem of some 250 lines dating from about 2100 BCE, in a genre that was ultimately to spread through the Near East. The fable There are several versions of the fable in Greek sources and a late Latin version recorded by Avianus. It concerns a fir tree that boasted to a bramble, 'You are useful for nothing at all; while I am everywhere used for roofs and houses.' Then the Bramble answered: 'You poor creature, if you would only call to mind the axes and saws which are about to hew you down, you would have reason to wish that you had grown up a Bramble, not a Fir-Tree.' The moral of the story is that renown is accompanied by risks of which the humble are free. William Caxton (1484) was the first to pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Bulls And The Lion
The bulls and the lion is counted as one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 372 in the Perry Index. Originally it illustrated the theme of friendship, which was later extended to cover political relations as well. The fable A lion keeps watch on a field in which two, three or four bulls are grazing. Knowing that they will group together to defend each other, the lion sows enmity between them so that they separate and he is able to kill them one by one. Early versions of the fable are in Greek, beginning with Babrius, and there is a later latinised version by Avianus. In the 4th century CE the rhetorician Themistius introduced a variant in which it is a fox that brings discord so that the lion can profit from it. The moral given the story was generally to distrust a foe and hold fast to friends, but in the Syntipas version it was later given a political turn: “This fable shows that the same is true of cities and people: when they are in agreement with one another, they do not allo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
