886. Aesopus et Lucerna. Cum Aesopus solus domino familia esset, cenam maturius parare iussus est. Ignem ergo quaerens, aliquot domus lustravit tandemque invenit ubi lucernam accenderet. Tum iter, quod circumeunti longius fuerat, brevius effecit, nam recta per forum redire coepit. E turba quidam garrulus “Aesope,” inquit, “quid tu lumine, medio sole?” “Hominem,” respondet, “quaero,” et festinans domum abiit.
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Image Source: The image shows Diogenes, about whom this same story is often told.))
M0886 = Perry510. Source: Phaedrus 3.19 (adapted into prose). This is Perry 510. This story about the wise man carrying a lighted lamp in broad daylight is most famously told about the philosopher Diogenes. For a note about Diogenes, see #877.