Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE MAN, THE FLEA AND HERACLES
A flea once jumped up onto a man's foot and sat there. The man called upon Heracles
to aid him in his struggle. When the flea finally jumped off, the man groaned
and said, 'O Heracles, if you refused to help me to defeat this flea, how will
you exert yourself on my behalf against more powerful enemies?'
The story shows that we should not call upon the gods in trivial affairs
but only in dire necessity. |
 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 231: Gibbs (Oxford) 482 [English]
Perry 231: L'Estrange 139 [English]
Perry 231: Townsend 138 [English]
Perry 231: Chambry 356 [Greek]
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.
|
