SOURCE: Ben Edward Perry, in an introduction to Babrius and Phaedrus, edited by Ben Edward Perry, Harvard University Press, 1965, pp. xi-cii.

In the following excerpt, Perry discusses the development of fable writing in Classical Greek and Roman literature, the transmission of the text of the fables, what constitutes a fable, and the influence of the ancient Near East on Greek fable lore.

1. Gi; 1. the Aesopic Fable in Antiquity =~ Sthe Aesopic Fable in Antiquity

In the long history of Aesopic fable, generically so called, the publication of a series of fables in verse meant to be read consecutively, each for its own interest and literary value, without a context or a specific application, is relatively late to appear. Phaedrus, in the time of Tiberius, is the first writer whom we know to have produced such a book, and his example was followed soon afterwards by Babrius, writing in Greek...