Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
180. THE JAR GOES TO COURT
Perry 438 (Aristophanes,
Wasps 1435 ff.)
There was a woman of Sybaris who broke a jar. The jar then got someone
to testify as a witness, but the woman of Sybaris said, 'I swear by the
Maiden, you would have been far wiser if you'd gone right away to get
a bandage, instead of making a court-case out of it.'
Note: Sybaris was a Greek city in southern Italy which was associated
with a particular type of joking story, called a 'Sybaritic' fable (see
Fable 344 for another example). 'The Maiden' (in
Greek, Kore) was a cult name of Persephone,
who was celebrated at the Eleusinian Mysteries, together with her mother
Demeter.
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.
|