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Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)

504. THE DELPHIANS AND THEIR ANCESTORS
Perry 382 (Life of Aesop 126)

The people of Delphi said to Aesop, 'Who were our ancestors?' Aesop replied, 'They were slaves. And if you are ignorant of this story, it is about time you learned it! Long ago it was the custom that whenever the Greeks captured a city, they would send one tenth of the spoils to Apollo. So they would send ten oxen out of every hundred, the same with goats, and the same with other things: money, women, men. Since you are the descendants of those men and women, you are deprived of your freedom, like slaves in bondage. That is your origin, and thus you have become the slaves of all the Greeks.'

Note: It was this kind of talk that provoked the Delphians to arrange for Aesop's execution (as detailed in the Life of Aesop).

Source: Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura Gibbs. Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.