Perry's Index to the Aesopica
Fables exist in many versions; here is one version in English:
THE GNAT AND THE BULL
When a gnat had challenged a bull to see who was the stronger of the two, all
the people came to watch the show. Then the little gnat said to the bull, 'It's
enough for me that you have accepted my challenge. This makes me your equal:
you yourself have admitted as much!' The gnat then rose into the air on his
light wings and sported for the crowd, ignoring the threats of the bull. If
the bull had been mindful of his own mighty bulk, he would have dismissed this
opponent as beneath contempt and the impertinent creature would not have had
anything to boast about.
People who enter into contests with unworthy opponents lower their own reputation. |
 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 564: Gibbs (Oxford) 242 [English]
Perry 564: Ademar 36 [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.
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