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Aesop's Fables: Steinhowel

6.3. De vulpe et hirco
(Perry 9)

[See an illustration from a 1501 edition.]

Homines consilio prediti prius finem prospiciunt, quam dant operam rebus gerendis. De hoc audi fabulam. Vulpes et hircus sitientes in quendam puteum ut sitim extinguerent descenderunt, verum enim post potum, cum egressum circumspiceret hircus, vulpes ei comiter ait: Bono sis animo, nam quid saluti nostre opus sit, probe animadverti. Si enim rectus stabis et pedibus anterioribus cornibusve muro adherebis, tuas ergo scapulas cornuaque conscendens exibo. Cumque egressa fuero te manu comprehendens hinc desuper traham; huic caper prompte deservivit. Vulpes suo exultans egressu circa os putei hirco alludebat. At dum caper illam incusat, sibi pacta haud servasse, ei facete vulpecula inquit: Si ea, caper, sapientia preditus esses, quo pilorum ornatu istec tua barba referta est, non prius in puteum descendisses, quam egressum pensiculate vidisses. Significat ergo fabula, quod prudentes prius finem rei prospiciunt, quam opus inierint.


Steinhowels Asop, ed. Hermann Osterley (1873). Some of these fables have digitized text; others have only page images. The digital page images are from Google Books. You can also consult the illustrated 1501 edition of Steinhowel's Aesop. Note that Book 7 contains poems from Avianus, so there is no text or page image for the fables in Book 7.