The independence acquired by industry is preferable to the most splendid state of vassalage.
An ant and a fly once had a ridiculous contest about which of them was more honorable. The fly was indignant that such a poor, crawling insect would presume to lie basking in the same sunshine with her superior. “You surely don’t have the insolence to think you’re my equal,” said the fly. “I don’t have to work for my food; I enjoy every delicious thing without labor. I sit on the heads of kings, kiss the lips of beauties, and feast on the choicest sacrifices offered to the gods.”
“To eat with the gods and enjoy the favors of the fair and the powerful would be an honor,” replied the ant, “to one who was invited or welcome. But an impertinent intruder, who is driven out with aversion and contempt, has little cause to boast. As for not laboring for your subsistence, it’s nothing to be proud of. That’s why you go without the common necessities of life for half the year, while I, with my honest industry, enjoy every satisfaction, independent of the favor of beauties or kings.”
