SPACEDK · DAILY CLASSICS · 07:00 CST
The Daily Classics Library
At 7:00 every morning in Beijing, 500 complete sayings, verses, reflections, or stories are selected from edition- and rights-verified books, then read again in historical and contemporary context.
Verification rule: Unsourced internet quotations are excluded. Every item records its work, authorship or traditional attribution, translator, locator, source revision, and rights status. “Complete” means a self-contained saying, verse, reflection, or story—not copying an entire protected modern book.
Meditations
Meditations · Book 8, passage 14
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 181, “Meditations · Meditations · …… 8, passage 14 · book-8-p-14,” can mean this: Life and time are precious. Care for yourself and the people around you.
Try this: After a task, check whether it truly helped someone.
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Marcus Aurelius governed in the second century CE amid frontier wars, imperial administration, and the Antonine plague. The Meditations are private Greek exercises; the exact date and place of individual notes are often uncertain. This edition uses George Long’s 1862 translation.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 2nd century CE; 1862 English translation
- Region
- Roman Empire / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Original notes c. 170s CE; translation first published 1862
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of George Long’s translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
Whatever man thou meetest with, immediately say to thyself: What opinions has this man about good and bad? For if with respect to pleasure and pain and the causes of each, and with respect to fame and ignominy, death and life, he has such and such opinions, it will seem nothing wonderful or strange to me, if he does such and such things; and I shall bear in mind that he is compelled to do so.
Pensées
Pensées · Section X · 671
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 182, “Pensées · Pensées · Section ……1 · Section X · fragment 671,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: Tell a trusted adult one thing you learned today.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section X
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
Les Juifs, qui ont été appelés à dompter les nations et les rois, ont été esclaves du péché ; et les Chrétiens, dont la vocation a été à servir et à être sujets, sont les enfants libres.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · LIX. §9
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 183, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……LIX. §9 · Liber VI · LIX. §9,” can mean this: Everyone meets hard choices. We can pause before acting.
Try this: If something is hard today, say, “Please help me.”
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber VI
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[9] Nos multa alligant, multa debilitant. Diu in istis vitiis iacuimus, elui difficile est; non enim inquinati sumus sed infecti.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · CVIII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §26
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 184, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §26,” can mean this: Everyone meets hard choices. We can pause before acting.
Try this: After a task, check whether it truly helped someone.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XVII – XVIII
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[26] Quemadmodum ex amphora primum quod est sincerissimum effluit, gravissimum quodque turbidumque subsidit, sic in aetate nostra quod est optimum in primo est. Id exhauriri [in] aliis potius patimur, ut nobis faecem reservemus? Inhaereat istud animo et tamquam missum oraculo placeat:
Meditations
Meditations · Book 11, passage 45
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 185, “Meditations · Meditations · ……1, passage 45 · book-11-p-45,” can mean this: After learning something, practise it and ask for help when needed.
Try this: Today, listen until another person finishes, then answer.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Marcus Aurelius governed in the second century CE amid frontier wars, imperial administration, and the Antonine plague. The Meditations are private Greek exercises; the exact date and place of individual notes are often uncertain. This edition uses George Long’s 1862 translation.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 2nd century CE; 1862 English translation
- Region
- Roman Empire / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Original notes c. 170s CE; translation first published 1862
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of George Long’s translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
No man can rob us of our free will. Epictetus also said, A man must discover an art [or rules] with respect to giving his assent; and in respect to his movements he must be careful that they be made with regard to circumstances, that they be consistent with social interests, that they have regard to the value of the object; and as to sensual desire, he should altogether keep away from it; and as to avoidance [aversion] he should not show it with respect to any of the things which are not in our power.
Aesop’s Fables
The Lamp
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 186, “Aesop’s Fables · The Lamp · the-lamp,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: If something is hard today, say, “Please help me.”
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
The Aesopic corpus is a long, changing fable tradition, not a set of individually verifiable utterances by one sixth-century BCE author. Each complete item here is fixed to V. S. Vernon Jones’s 1912 English edition.
- Period
- Ancient Greek tradition; 1912 English edition
- Region
- Ancient Mediterranean / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Traditional material associated with the 6th century BCE; translation published 1912
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of the 1912 V. S. Vernon Jones translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
A Lamp, well filled with oil, burned with a clear and steady light, and began to swell with pride and boast that it shone more brightly than the sun himself. Just then a puff of wind came and blew it out. Someone struck a match and lit it again, and said, “You just keep alight, and never mind the sun. Why, even the stars never need to be relit as you had to be just now.”
Meditations
Meditations · Book 10, passage 41
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 187, “Meditations · Meditations · ……0, passage 41 · book-10-p-41,” can mean this: Everyone meets hard choices. We can pause before acting.
Try this: After a task, check whether it truly helped someone.
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
Marcus Aurelius governed in the second century CE amid frontier wars, imperial administration, and the Antonine plague. The Meditations are private Greek exercises; the exact date and place of individual notes are often uncertain. This edition uses George Long’s 1862 translation.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 2nd century CE; 1862 English translation
- Region
- Roman Empire / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Original notes c. 170s CE; translation first published 1862
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of George Long’s translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
Accustom thyself as much as possible on the occasion of anything being done by any person to inquire with thyself, For what object is this man doing this? But begin with thyself, and examine thyself first.
論語
泰伯第八 · 八之二
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 188, “論語 · 泰伯第八 · 八之二 · 八之二,” can mean this: People with power should explain their reasons and allow questions.
Try this: If you disagree, use calm words to explain why.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Confucius lived amid political fragmentation and changing ritual order in the late Spring and Autumn period. The Analects was compiled over time by disciples and later circles, not recorded as a verbatim transcript. This item is fixed to a specific Wikisource revision.
- Period
- 春秋末至战国编集 / late Spring and Autumn to Warring States compilation
- Region
- 中国 / China
- Work date
- 约公元前5—3世纪逐步编集
- Edition
- 中文维基文库《論語》泰伯第八
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
子曰：「恭而無禮則勞，愼而無禮則葸，勇而無禮則亂，直而無禮則絞。君子篤於親，則民興於仁。故舊不遺，則民不偷。」
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XCV. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §27
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 189, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §27,” can mean this: Real effort makes something better. It is not only looking busy.
Try this: If something is hard today, say, “Please help me.”
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XIV – XV
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[27] Piget esse iam singula: coguntur in unum sapores. In cena fit quod fieri debebat in ventre: expecto iam ut manducata ponantur. Quantulo autem hoc minus est, testas excerpere atque ossa et dentium opera cocum fungi? 'Gravest luxuriari per singula: omnia semel et in eundem saporem versa ponantur. Quare ego ad unam rem manum porrigam? plura veniant simul, multorum ferculorum ornamenta coeant et cohaereant.
Pensées
Pensées · Section X · 686
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 190, “Pensées · Pensées · Section ……6 · Section X · fragment 686,” can mean this: The first thought in your mind may be wrong. Look for clues and think again.
Try this: If you disagree, use calm words to explain why.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Pascal left these unfinished fragments amid seventeenth-century French scientific development, religious controversy, and illness, probably for a projected Christian apology. Modern grouping and numbering reflect Brunschvicg’s editorial decisions rather than a finished authorial order. Analysis distinguishes religious argument, mathematics, historical evidence, and personal experience.
- Period
- 17th-century France; early modern science and religious controversy
- Region
- France
- Work date
- Fragments written mainly c. 1657–1662; Brunschvicg edition published 1897–1925
- Edition
- Léon Brunschvicg edition, Section X
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
Contrariétés. — Le sceptre jusqu’au Messie, — sans roi ni prince. Loi éternelle — changée. Alliance éternelle, — alliance nouvelle. Lois bonnes, — préceptes mauvais. Ézéch..
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · LXXXII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §22
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 191, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §22,” can mean this: Life and time are precious. Care for yourself and the people around you.
Try this: After a task, check whether it truly helped someone.
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber X
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[22] Quid? dux ille Romanus, qui ad occupandum locum milites missos, cum per ingentem hostium exercitum ituri essent, sic adlocutus est: 'ire, conmilitones, illo necesse est unde redire non est necesse'. Vides quam simplex et imperiosa virtus sit: quem mortalium circumscriptiones vestrae fortiorem facere, quem erectiorem possunt? frangunt animum, qui numquam minus contrahendus est et in minuta ac spinosa cogendus quam cum <ad> aliquid grande conponitur.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · LXV. §3
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 192, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……XV. §3 · Liber VII · LXV. §3,” can mean this: Nature is not a toy. Observe it, care for it, and do not harm living things.
Try this: If something is hard today, say, “Please help me.”
Important reminder: This is one reading, not a rule that is always right. Tell a trusted adult about danger, bullying, or pain.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber VII
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[3] Omnis ars naturae imitatio est; itaque quod de universo dicebam ad haec transfer quae ab homine facienda sunt. Statua et materiam habuit quae pateretur artificem, et artificem qui materiae daret faciem; ergo in statua materia aes fuit, causa opifex. Eadem condicio rerum omnium est: ex eo constant quod fit, et ex eo quod facit.
Meditations
Meditations · Book 4, passage 15
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 193, “Meditations · Meditations · …… 4, passage 15 · book-4-p-15,” can mean this: Everyone meets hard choices. We can pause before acting.
Try this: Today, listen until another person finishes, then answer.
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Marcus Aurelius governed in the second century CE amid frontier wars, imperial administration, and the Antonine plague. The Meditations are private Greek exercises; the exact date and place of individual notes are often uncertain. This edition uses George Long’s 1862 translation.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 2nd century CE; 1862 English translation
- Region
- Roman Empire / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Original notes c. 170s CE; translation first published 1862
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of George Long’s translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
Thou hast existed as a part. Thou shalt disappear in that which produced thee; but rather thou shalt be received back into its seminal principle by transmutation.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XL. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §7
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 194, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……ENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §7,” can mean this: Words can help or hurt. Think before you speak.
Try this: If you disagree, use calm words to explain why.
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber IV
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[7] Quemadmodum per proclive currentium non ubi visum est gradus sistitur, sed incitato corporis ponderi servit ac longius quam voluit effertur, sic ista dicendi celeritas nec in sua potestate est nec satis decora philosophiae, quae ponere debet verba, non proicere, et pedetemptim procedere.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XXX. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §15
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 195, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §15,” can mean this: Life and time are precious. Care for yourself and the people around you.
Try this: If something is hard today, say, “Please help me.”
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber IV
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[15] Libenter haec, mi Lucili, audio non tamquam nova, sed tamquam in rem praesentem perductus. Quid ergo? non multos spectavi abrumpentes vitam? Ego vero vidi, sed plus momenti apud me habent qui ad mortem veniunt sine odio vitae et admittunt illam, non attrahunt.
論語
雍也第六 · 六之十八
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 196, “論語 · 雍也第六 · 六之十八 · 六之十八,” can mean this: New learning becomes stronger when we practise it again.
Try this: Give gentle care to a person, animal, or plant today.
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Confucius lived amid political fragmentation and changing ritual order in the late Spring and Autumn period. The Analects was compiled over time by disciples and later circles, not recorded as a verbatim transcript. This item is fixed to a specific Wikisource revision.
- Period
- 春秋末至战国编集 / late Spring and Autumn to Warring States compilation
- Region
- 中国 / China
- Work date
- 约公元前5—3世纪逐步编集
- Edition
- 中文维基文库《論語》雍也第六
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
子曰：「知之者，不如好之者，好之者，不如樂之者。」
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · CV. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §5
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 197, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……ENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §5,” can mean this: After learning something, practise it and ask for help when needed.
Try this: Before choosing, count to three and ask, “Is there another way?”
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XVII – XVIII
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[5] Contemptus superest, cuius modum in sua potestate habetqui illum sibi adiunxit, qui contemnitur quia voluit, non quia debuit.Huius incommodum et artes bonae discutiunt et amicitiae eorum qui apudaliquem potentem potentes sunt, quibus adplicari expediet, non inplicari,ne pluris remedium quam periculum constet.
Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Seneca · XCIV. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §23
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 198, “Epistulae morales ad Luciliu……NECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM §23,” can mean this: After learning something, practise it and ask for help when needed.
Try this: If you disagree, use calm words to explain why.
Important reminder: Old books can reflect old limits. A child does not need to follow every old rule; ask a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Seneca’s letters to Lucilius are usually dated to about 62–65 CE, late in Nero’s reign. They combine counsel with deliberate literary composition. Claims about freedom, wealth, and death must be read alongside Roman political danger, hierarchy, and slavery. This item preserves the original Latin at a fixed Wikisource revision.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 1st century CE
- Region
- Roman Empire
- Work date
- Commonly dated to Seneca’s final years, c. 62–65 CE
- Edition
- Latin Wikisource, Liber XIV – XV
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
[23] 'Sana' inquit 'avaritiam, et nihil habebis quod admoneas aut pauperem aut divitem, si cupiditas utriusque consedit.' Quid quod aliud est non concupiscere pecuniam, aliud uti pecunia scire? cuius avari modum ignorant, etiam non avari usum. 'Tolle' inquit 'errores: supervacua praecepta sunt.' Falsum est. Puta enim avaritiam relaxatam, puta adstrictam esse luxuriam, temeritati frenos iniectos, ignaviae subditum calcar: etiam remotis vitiis, quid et quemadmodum debeamus facere discendum est.
Meditations
Meditations · Book 11, passage 40
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 199, “Meditations · Meditations · ……1, passage 40 · book-11-p-40,” can mean this: Be honest with friends. If someone does not understand you, do not rush to anger.
Try this: If something is hard today, say, “Please help me.”
Important reminder: Do not judge a person from one sentence. Check what happened and think with a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
Marcus Aurelius governed in the second century CE amid frontier wars, imperial administration, and the Antonine plague. The Meditations are private Greek exercises; the exact date and place of individual notes are often uncertain. This edition uses George Long’s 1862 translation.
- Period
- Roman Empire, 2nd century CE; 1862 English translation
- Region
- Roman Empire / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Original notes c. 170s CE; translation first published 1862
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of George Long’s translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
Consider what a man Socrates was when he dressed himself in a skin, after Xanthippe had taken his cloak and gone out, and what Socrates said to his friends who were ashamed of him and drew back from him when they saw him dressed thus.
Aesop’s Fables
The Ass, the Fox, and the Lion
Simple guide for children under seven
What it means: Today’s item 200, “Aesop’s Fables · The Ass, th……the-ass-the-fox-and-the-lion,” can mean this: Be honest with friends. If someone does not understand you, do not rush to anger.
Try this: Tell a trusted adult one thing you learned today.
Important reminder: Being brave does not mean taking unsafe risks. Leave danger and find a trusted adult.
For adults: historical and edition context
The Aesopic corpus is a long, changing fable tradition, not a set of individually verifiable utterances by one sixth-century BCE author. Each complete item here is fixed to V. S. Vernon Jones’s 1912 English edition.
- Period
- Ancient Greek tradition; 1912 English edition
- Region
- Ancient Mediterranean / United Kingdom edition
- Work date
- Traditional material associated with the 6th century BCE; translation published 1912
- Edition
- Standard Ebooks edition of the 1912 V. S. Vernon Jones translation
Check the complete text with an adult
Open the edition-verified text
An Ass and a Fox went into partnership and sallied out to forage for food together. They hadn’t gone far before they saw a Lion coming their way, at which they were both dreadfully frightened. But the Fox thought he saw a way of saving his own skin, and went boldly up to the Lion and whispered in his ear, “I’ll manage that you shall get hold of the Ass without the trouble of stalking him, if you’ll promise to let me go free.” The Lion agreed to this, and the Fox then rejoined his companion and contrived before long to lead him by a hidden pit, which some hunter had dug as a trap for wild animals, and into which he fell. When the Lion saw that the Ass was safely caught and couldn’t get away, it was to the Fox that he first turned his attention, and he soon finished him off, and then at his leisure proceeded to feast upon the Ass. Betray a friend, and you’ll often find you have ruined yourself.