Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
AESOP AND THE WRITER
A man had read to Aesop selections from a badly written work in which he stupidly
boasted at length about what a great writer he was. The man wanted to know what
Aesop thought, so the writer said to him, 'Surely you do not think I have too
high an opinion of myself? My confidence in my own genius is not misplaced,
is it?' 'Not at all,' said Aesop, who was utterly exhausted by the writer's
wretched book. 'I think it is a very good idea for you to praise yourself, given
that no one else is ever likely to do so!' |
 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.
Perry 537: Gibbs (Oxford) 556 [English]
Perry 537: Phaedrus 6.9 [Latin]
You can find a compilation of Perry's index to the Aesopica in the gigantic appendix to his
edition of Babrius and Phaedrus for the Loeb Classical Library
(Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 1965). This book is an absolute must for anyone interested
in the Aesopic fable tradition. Invaluable.
|
