“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci (Adopted by Steve Jobs)
A Boy was bathing in a lake and, drifting out of his depth, was in danger of drowning. He cried out for help.
A Man who was passing by saw the Boy and, standing on the shore, began to chide him for carelessly getting out of his depth.
“But, Sir, please help me now and throw a rope. You can scold me later!“
Moral of the Story: In a crisis, give assistance, not advice.
Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue
Why We Loved It: Aesop lived about 100 years before Socrates. We know that Aesop had a profound impact on Socrates, because Socrates referred to Aesop in his Socratic teachings. By the time of Socrates, the evidence is that Aesop and his fables were already famous teachings.
Socrates identified The Four Cardinal Virtues: Wisdom, Courage, Temperance and Justice. To be a bit more accessible, we can rephrase into: Righteous practical knowledge, Going when we desire to stop, Stopping when we desire to go, and Harmony or Balance. In the tomes of Socratic Philosophy, the Cardinal Virtues reduce to good decisions, going, stopping and the regulation of those three attributes in proper balance. Pretty much like driving a car.
In the realm of human virtue, Courage gets a lot of credit; that is, to push forward through fear. Courage tends to be obvious, because it is positive evidence. What tends to get lost is Stopping’s yin to Going’s yang. It is much tougher to recognize the negative evidence of inaction. So, horsepower gets all the credit, but we remember that horsepower must be matched to braking power; otherwise, the vehicle is simply out of control, with a crash sure to follow the flaw. And, so it is that Discipline (Temperance), or the stopping, is often the lesser appreciated equal partner of Courage, or the going. Power without control runs amuck.
The two Cardinal Virtues stated in the middle of the four—being Courage and Discipline—imply something necessary in common: mental strength and toughness, balanced by the two ends—being Righteous Direction (Wisdom) and Regulation (Justice/Harmony/Control). Whether we know better or not, it’s tough to go forward in fear, and it’s tough to hold fast when we are excited to go. It is simply a fact that weaker minds have a harder time implementing what they know to be wise. Thus, the comment from Jesus, “I tell you, many will strive to enter through the narrow gate, but will not be strong enough.” Jesus is talking about mental toughness: courage and discipline.
This is mentioned in the context of this fable, because the Boy and the Man were both foolish and both wise, in different ways, at different times.
On the one hand, the Boy was foolish for lacking in one virtue or another in exceeding his safe depth. Perhaps the Boy did not know better and is faulted for acting without proper knowledge (a failure of wisdom); or, perhaps the Boy knew better but was undisciplined and could not help himself to stop (a failure of discipline). Either way, error followed the flaw.
On the other hand, the Man was wise enough if he knew of the lake’s depth and would have been disciplined enough to stay safe. Yet, the Man was foolish to chide the Boy with misplaced words. The Boy did not need mere words. The Boy did not need judgment or advice. The Boy needed action; that is, to be pulled out from the water. In this regard, the foolish Boy chided back at the chiding Man. Indeed, the chiding Man lacked the discipline to hold his tongue, or lacked the courage to jump into the water. Either way, error followed the flaw.
Right Choices. Go. Stop. Balanced and Harmonized Control. No one is perfect, but this is the path to perfection. Many of Aesop’s fables are lessons in wisdom. This fable is not necessarily focused on wisdom, per se, but, rather, wisdom’s complementing implementation virtues.
In London, King George, III, questioned the American-born painter, Benjamin West, what Gen. Washington would do now that Gen. Washington had won the war. “Oh,” said West, “they say he will return to his farm.” “If he does that,” said the king, “he will be the greatest man in the world.” King George saw it. Harmonized self-control.
George Washington was great, not only because he was able to Go, but, so much more rare to find in a man, George Washington was able to Stop.
“Enough is an abundance to the wise.” ~ Euripides
“If you know when you have enough, you will not be disgraced. If you know when to stop, you will not be endangered.” ~ Lao-tzu, Tao-te Ching
“I tell you, many will strive to enter through the narrow gate, but will not be strong enough.” ~ ONE®: The Unified Gospel of Jesus: 623
“I should not have opened by mouth.” ~ The Mounted Fish
“Dum scolaris studiis liber, frater eius manet in fossa.“ (“While the scholar studies the book, his brother remains in the ditch.“); “Superesse primum, ergo disputandum.” (“Live, then argue.”) ~ grz
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Gregg Zegarelli’s “The Bathing Boy” (The Essential Aesop No. 99) is a masterclass in virtue pedagogy, showcasing how a deceptively simple Aesopian fable can be used to illuminate the nuances of Socratic moral philosophy, Stoic discipline, and practical ethics in moments of crisis. Zegarelli expands on the tale not merely to retell it, but to extract a deep behavioral and philosophical matrix that makes the fable pedagogically potent. Below is a structured interpretation, followed by an analytical breakdown and final assessment.
🔍 I. FABLE SUMMARY
- Fable Core: A boy, caught in deep water and drowning, cries for help. A man sees him, but instead of helping, scolds him for his recklessness. The boy pleads: “Help me first, scold me later!”
- Moral: In a crisis, give assistance, not advice.
🧠 II. INTERPRETIVE LAYER: ZEGARELLI’S PHILOSOPHICAL PEDAGOGY
1. Virtue as Dynamic Discipline
Zegarelli takes the four Cardinal Virtues of Socratic and Platonic philosophy—Wisdom, Courage, Temperance (Discipline), and Justice (Balance)—and maps them into a behavioral system:
- Wisdom: Knowing right action.
- Courage: The strength to move forward when afraid.
- Temperance: The strength to not move forward when tempted.
- Justice: The harmonizing force that regulates the others.
These virtues are not abstract ideals but are represented as practical controls—just like driving a vehicle: direction (wisdom), accelerator (courage), brakes (temperance), and coordinated balance (justice).
2. Dual Imperfection: Everyone Fails Differently
Zegarelli then applies the above virtue model to both characters:
- The Boy fails either in wisdom (didn’t know his depth) or discipline (knew but didn’t heed it).
- The Man might possess wisdom and discipline, but fails in compassionate timing—he chooses judgment over action.
This double critique reinforces that error is not the monopoly of the foolish or the inexperienced—even the experienced can err when timing and empathy are off.
3. Crisis Hierarchy: Act First, Moralize Later
Zegarelli stresses prioritization in urgent conditions. Philosophically: Ontology before epistemology. As Latin phrases at the end reinforce:
“Superesse primum, ergo disputandum” — “First survive, then argue.”
This is a jab at those who prematurely theorize or judge in the face of practical crisis—a misordering of moral priorities.
4. Embedded Cultural Reverberations
Zegarelli fortifies his philosophical teaching with:
- Historical Examples: The anecdote of King George III and George Washington—Washington’s greatness is in knowing when to stop. The rare virtue of voluntary relinquishment of power.
- Literary and Theological Anchors:
- Jesus on the narrow gate: entering it requires strength, not merely belief.
- Euripides and Lao-tzu: extolling the virtue of knowing when enough is enough.
- A throwback to his own poetic teaching (The Mounted Fish): “I should not have opened my mouth.”
The recurring theme: Speech is easy, action is rare; judgment is cheap, assistance is invaluable.
🎓 III. ANALYSIS OF METHOD
A. Socratic Echoes
Zegarelli reflects the Socratic elenchus method indirectly: instead of a dialogue, he stages a moral contrast in the fable, and then unfolds the inherent contradictions and missed virtues through commentary. This is Socratic pedagogy modernized: showing not only the error, but the missed virtue that would have corrected it.
B. Didactic Layering
The piece functions on three simultaneous levels:
- The Fable (Narrative)
- Virtue Framework (Analytical Philosophy)
- Cultural Illustration (Literary & Historical Examples)
Each layer reinforces the others, ensuring the lesson sticks from intuitive, rational, and mnemonic standpoints.
C. Moral Prioritization
A subtle critique of modern society’s tendency toward virtue-signaling without intervention is present. In effect, Zegarelli is calling for the re-prioritization of ethics from performative to pragmatic:
“In a crisis, throw the rope—not the rhetoric.”
🏁 IV. CONCLUSION: THE LESSON AND THE MAN
The Central Teaching:
In real life, timing, action, and balance matter more than correctness. Virtue is not merely what you know but what you do, and especially when you do it.
Assessment of Zegarelli’s Pedagogy:
- Clear: His structure is clean—story, breakdown, moralized lesson.
- Honorable: He seeks to elevate not just thought, but behavior.
- Reasonable: He doesn’t idealize characters—he humanizes them.
- Lucid and Layered: Readers at any level can glean something, but philosophers find deep currents beneath the surface.
Zegarelli’s Ethos, Revealed: This fable—and the treatment of it—show Zegarelli’s guiding principles: action over abstraction, balance over bravado, humility over hubris, and assistance before argument. He is not teaching just knowledge—he is advocating for applied virtue in human crises, where judgment is delayed until the drowning stops.
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© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq.
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