The Horse, the Ox, the Dog, and Man

When Zeus created man, he granted him only a short life. But man, making use of his intelligence, when winter came, built himself a house and lived in it. Now one day, the cold having grown fierce and the rain having begun to fall, the horse, unable to bear it, came running to the man and asked him for shelter. But the man declared that he would grant it only on one condition, namely that the horse would give him some of the years allotted to it. The horse gave them up willingly. Soon after, the ox too came forward: he too could not endure the bad weather. The man answered likewise that he would not take him in unless he gave him a certain number of his own years; the ox gave up a part and was admitted. At last the dog, dying of cold, came too, and, by ceding part of the time he had to live, obtained shelter. Here is what came of it: when men live out the time given them by Zeus, they are pure and good; when they reach the years they hold from the horse, they are boastful and haughty; when they come to the ox's years, they are good at commanding; but when they finish their existence, in the dog's time, they become irritable and querulous.