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Perry's Index to the Aesopica

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

THE MAN AND THE SWORD

A wicked man comes to ruin himself while bringing ruin to many others as well; listen to the following fable, for example.
A traveller was walking along and found a sword lying in the road. He said to the sword, 'Who lost you?' The weapon replied, 'One man has lost me, but I have caused the loss of many a man!'
This fable tells us that a bad man can come to ruin, but he is able to harm many other people first.

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 579: Caxton 4.18 [English]
Perry 579: Gibbs (Oxford) 597 [English]
Perry 579: Steinhowel 4.18 [Latin, illustrated] Mannheim University Library
Perry 579: Rom. Anglicus 111 [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.