JUPITER AND THE TWO SACKS

Perry's Index to the Aesopica

Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:

JUPITER AND THE TWO SACKS

Jupiter has given us two sacks to carry. One sack, which is filled with our own faults, is slung across our back, while the other sack, heavy with the faults of others, is tied around our necks. This is the reason why we are blind to our own bad habits but still quick to criticize others for their mistakes.

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 266: Gibbs (Oxford) 527 [English]
Perry 266: Townsend 256 [English]
Perry 266: Babrius 66 [Greek]
Perry 266: Chambry 303 [Greek]
Perry 266: Phaedrus 4.10 [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.