973. Iactator et Aesopus. Cum Aesopus sophus Phryx forte vidisset victorem gymnici certaminis iactantiorem, interrogavit an adversarius plus nervis valuisset. Ille ait, “Ne istud dixeris; multo maiores vires meae fuere. “Stulte,” inquit, “quod decus meruisti ergo, si tu fortior minus valentem vicisti? Ferendus esses, si diceres te arte eum superasse qui te melior viribus esset.”
M0973 = Perry541. Source: Phaedrus, Perotti’s Appendix 6.13 (adapted into prose). This is Perry 541. For a fable about skill and ingenuity being superior to brute force, see the story of the lion in the net, #28, or the crow and the jar, #447.
