Aesop's Fables: Caxton (1484)
2.17. Of the ante and of the flye
(Perry 521)
To make boost and auauntynge is but vayne glorye and folye / wherof Esope
recyteth suche a fable / Of the ante of formyce and of the flye / whiche
stryued to gyder / for to wete whiche was the most noble of them bothe
/ & the flye sayd to the formyce / Come hyder formyce / wylt thow compare
thy self to me that dwelle in the kynges places and palays / and ete and
drynke at theyr table / And also I kysse bothe kynge and qeune / and the
most fayre maydens / And thow poure and myschaunt beest thow arte euer
within the erthe / And thenne the formyce ansuerd to the flye / Now knowe
I wel thy vanyte and folye / For thow auauntest the of that wherof thow
sholdest disprayse the / For fro alle places where as thow goost or flyest
/ thow arte hated chaced and put oute / and lyuest in grete daunger /
for assone as the wynter shalle come thow shalt deye / And I shal abyde
on lyue alone within my chambre or hole / where as I drynke and ete at
my playsyr / For the wynter shalle not forgyue to the thy mysdede / but
he shalle slee the /
And thus he that wylle mocque or dispreyse somme other / he ought fyrst
to loke and behold on hym self wel / For men sayn comynly / who that beholdeth
in the glas / wel he seeth hym self / And who seeth hym self / wel he
knoweth hym self / And who that knoweth hym self wel / lytel he preyseth
hym self / And who that preyseth hym self lytyll / he is ful wyse and
sage
 Caxton
published his edition of Aesop's fables in 1484. There are modern reprints by
Joseph Jacobs (D. Nutt: London, 1889) and more recently by Robert Lenaghan (Harvard
University Press: Cambridge, 1967). Lenaghan's edition is available at amazon.com.
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