883. Socrates et Meretrix. Socrates cum meretrice, muliere formosissima, sermonem habuit. Quae cum diceret, “Ego quidem, O Socrates, multum tibi praesto. Nam tu neminem ex meis a me possis abalienare, ego cum libitum est, tuos omnes a te avoco.” Respondit Socrates, “Quid mirum hoc est? Siquidem tu ad declivem tramitem omnes rapis; ego vero ad virtutem cogo, ad quam arduus et plerisque insolitus est ascensus.”
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Image Source: This shows Socrates and his wife, but I thought it might work for this fable, too!)
M0883 (not in Perry). Source: Aelian, Historia 13.32 This fable is not in Perry’s catalog; Perry did not use Aelian as a source. For a story about a woman’s virtue corrupted, see the famous “Matron of Ephesus” fable, #945.
