5 h 50 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What can an ancient Roman fable make you notice about the way people live?
The Fables of Phædrus brings together ancient Roman tales with morals and wit. Phaedrus invites you into the world of the fable, where a story offers more than its surface: something to consider, question, and carry into your own day.
Here, the pleasure of a tale sits beside the pull of a moral. Read for the wit, then pause over the idea it leaves behind. This collection offers a way to meet ancient Roman storytelling through tales that invite reflection.
What you’ll discover
- Ancient Roman tales Explore the fables of Phaedrus through their blend of storytelling, morals, and wit.
- Morals to consider Let each tale's moral become a starting point for your own questions.
- Wit with a purpose Read for the pleasure of wit as well as the ideas within the tales.
- Stories worth a pause Give yourself room to consider what a fable asks you to notice.
- A meeting with Phaedrus Discover an ancient Roman work that brings tales and moral reflection together.
Who will love it
Readers who like short tales with a sting, animal stories with a point, and sharp little scenes of Roman life, and who enjoy hearing a clever moral land in a few lines.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The strong prey on the weak
- Pride and envy lead to ruin
- Flattery and cunning win by tricks
- Just punishments and fair returns
- Poor and humble folk stay safe
- Learn to judge people for yourself
- Aesop and the voice of the poet
- How the tales are built
Who’s who
- The WolfA hungry bully who invents any excuse to devour the weak, like the lamb at the stream.
- The FoxA quick trickster who wins by flattery and wit, though sometimes his own tricks come back on him.
- AesopThe wise slave and fabulist who solves riddles, answers fools with a sharp reply, and is the poet's model.
- The LionA king of beasts who takes the lion's share, yet in some tales shows mercy to a small mouse.
- PhaedrusThe poet who speaks in prologues and epilogues, defends his short fables and asks his friends for the reward they promised.
- SimonidesA poet who loses everything at sea and keeps his learning, then is saved by the gods from a falling banquet hall.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
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- Audiobook
- 5 h 50 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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25 languages, side by side
Read and hear The Fables of Phædrus in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Fables of Phædrus
by Phaedrus · 40
A wolf accuses a lamb of muddying his drink, and a fox flatters a raven out of his cheese.
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In short
The Fables of Phaedrus is a collection of short animal tales and anecdotes in the manner of Aesop, put into Latin verse by Phaedrus, a Roman writer of the first century. He says he makes two gifts to the reader: laughter and guidance for life.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
The strong prey on the weak
The book opens with the wolf and the lamb. A hungry wolf stands upstream and blames the lamb downstream for fouling his water. The lamb answers with plain facts, so the wolf invents a charge about the lamb's father and tears him apart. Phaedrus says the fable aims at those who crush the innocent on false grounds.
The same theme returns in the tale of the cow, the goat, the sheep and the lion. The four hunt a stag together. The lion then claims every share by listing his own titles, one after another, and leaves his partners with nothing. The lesson is that an alliance with the powerful cannot be trusted.
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What is The Fables of Phaedrus about?
It is a collection of short animal tales and anecdotes in Aesop's style. Each one makes a point about greed, pride, flattery, power or trust, and many end with a one-line moral for the reader.
Who was Phaedrus?
Phaedrus was a Roman poet of the first century who put Aesop's kind of fable into Latin verse. He says he was born near the Muses' hill, gained his freedom, and met trouble from the minister Sejanus.
What is the difference between Phaedrus and Aesop?
Aesop is the Greek slave and storyteller to whom fables are credited. Phaedrus says he follows Aesop but adds many tales of his own, including scenes from Roman life, and he calls his work Aesopian.
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