Aesop for Today, January 30

Aesop for Today, January 30 

Aesop and the Figs

Over the past 2,600 plus years, stories about Aesop as a historical figure remain contradictory. Most confusing are the descriptions of Aesop's appearance. Some claiming his heritage as African described him as mishappen, having a pot belly, small in stature, a hump on his back, with a major speech impediment, and so on. Other accounts, including the statue which stands in Rome, give him caucasian features and qualities, describe his nature in a much more positive light. These latter descriptions reflect the posthumous respect he received as his fables gained popularity and were
recognized as viable literature. [Perhaps racism was as much a problem then as it is now] Much of this confusion is due to the lack of official biographers and artists in respect to Aesop. For much of his life, he remained property, and not respected for his wisdom until he became the property of the philosopher Xanthus. It was this individual who finally recognized Aesop's worth.

The loss of ancient libraries and records is mostly to blame for the glaring innacuracies and contradictions. When interest in Aesop was regained by Augustin monks centuries later, much of what they compiled reflected their biases and world views. Imagination took flight and Aesop was literally invented over and over with contradictory results.

The advent of the printing press added insult to injury to Aesop's character when he was described by some biographies as scythe-legged, beetle-browed, goggle-eyed, blobber-lipped, a swarthy Phiz. In 1486 William Caxton took his translation of Aesop, based on the Byzantine monk, Maximus Planudes's so-called research and viewpoint, to England. Thus began the English love for the Greek philosopher, warts and all. John Ogilby's Life of Aesop (1651), Samuel Richardson's Aesop (1739) and L'Estrange's Eminent Mythologists continued the misshapen Aesop viewpoint into the 18th century.

On the other hand Samuel Croxall's Fables of Aesop and Others (1722) aided the transformation of Aesop from historic figure to symbolic figure more aligned with his ideals, wit, and wisdom.

In reading the stories that have been written about Aesop personally, please keep in mind that many of these stories cannot be confirmed in any positive manner and often reflect one of the two above mentioned viewpoints of the timeless fabelist.

 

In Caxton's account, Aesop was born with a speech impediment. He was portrayed as a trickster who loved playing practical jokes and tricks, and enjoyed puns. According to George Dalgarno's treatise Didascalocaphus; or, the Deaf and Dumb Man's Tutor (1680), Aesop was portrayed as nearly struck dumb, who made use of items in a manner we call "object lessons" today. This fictitional Aesop was adept in sign language, which Dalgarno felt was superior to spoken language in its sublties and nuances. 

In one account Aesop was accused of stealing the master's figs. They were actually stolen by his fellow slaves. To defend himself, he swallowed a large amount of warm water, which acted to disgorge the contents of his stomach, demonstrating that he was not the culprit. He then indicated by the motions of his hands that the accusers should use the same method to prove their supposed innocence. Their master condemned the slaves to drink the same draught which prompted the immediate volume of proof that they had indeed stolen and consumed the figs belonging to their master.

Linguistic specialists of the era believed that the object lesson was the predecessor to the fable and perhaps planted the seed of ideas in Aesop's mind for his fables thereafter. 

To further the accepted stories about Aesop's verbal handicap, the legend continues that at one time he befriended some itinerant priests. That evening he saw Fortune in a dream which informed him that he would be healed of his speech impediment. The following morning he was able to speak and thus began to tell stories to everyone he could, firmly grounded in his experiences and using the everyday objects to drive home his points. For Aesop, the Fable was born.

Source: The English Fable: Aesop and Literary Culture, 1651-1740 by Jayne Elizabeth Lewis Publisher: Cambridge University Press, pp. 72-81.