Germanicus and Gaius examine President-elect Trump’s political associates, antagonists, and rivals through the lens of an ancient Greek fable.
Recently, I was looking through Aesop's Fables to entertain myself.
And the Greeks do have a sense of humor. We Romans do slapstick now, and often vulgar slapstick. Very well. That's what Romans think is funny.
But the Greeks had this idea that you could tell a story and everybody would immediately attach meaning to it, whether you were a child or an adult.
I have one and will ask Germanicus to interpret it. It's called “The Lion’s Share” from a new translation of Aesop’s Fables in the 21st century by Robin Waterfield.
The story involves a cow, a she-goat, a long-suffering sheep, and a partnership with a lion in the forest.
When the four of them catch a huge stag, the lion divides up the carcass and says,
As king, I'm entitled to the first portion. The second portion is mine as the tribute you owe me for letting you be my partners. Then the third portion will fall to me, because I'm stronger than you. And any of you who touches the fourth portion does so at their peril.
And so, by sheer presumption, the lion carries off all the booty for himself. The moral, according to the translation, is that associating with a powerful man is never safe. This assertion of mine is borne out by the following little fable.
The cow I assign to the American media; the goat I assign to the Democratic Party; and the long-suffering sheep I assign to the Republican Party.
All three enterprises are looking to make accommodation with the lion who is Gracchus, who is Mr. Trump.
Germanicus, I come to you because you are much more sympathetic to the Greek sense of humor than I am. How do you interpret “The Lion’s Share” from Aesop's Fables, which is at least 2500 years old?
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