Dependency. Or, He Who Feeds Us Enslaves Us - No. 64. The Dog and the Wolf - The Essential Aesop™- Back to Basics Abridgment Series

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci (Adopted by Steve Jobs)

A hungry Wolf came upon a House-dog.

“Cousin Wolf, are you hungry?” said the House-Dog. “Look at me! Why not get your food regularly provided by others?”

“I might, if I could only get a place,” said the Wolf.

“I can arrange it. Follow me,” said the House-Dog.

On the way, the Wolf noticed a wearing away of the House-Dog’s neck hair from a collar. “My oh my, Cousin Dog, what happened to your neck?” cried the Wolf.

“Oh, that is where my Master puts a collar upon me at night to keep me chained up.”

“Good-bye to you then, Cousin Dog. The pang of hunger in my stomach is much preferred to the clang of a chain to my neck.”

Moral of the Story: He who feeds us makes us his slave. (“Qui nos pascit, nos servum suum facit.”) To be free has a fee.

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Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue

Why We Loved It: Aesop reminds us that nothing is free, and that benefits tend to have burdens. Nature, such as we know it, abhors utopia, but provides for those who work for it. [1]

The vigilant are wise to be skeptical of offers that create systemic dependency. Reality is that the wages of life, are, well, in the real world, someone’s wages. It does not follow that the nobility in feeding others adduces nobility in being fed by others. He that giveth, is he who can command the cost or taketh away. [2, 3, 4]

Giving a gift and needing a gift are not the same thing. [*2] Freedom is freedom, and chains upon us take many forms, many self-made or otherwise conceded.

“I wear the chain I forged in life,” replied the Ghost. “I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?”

Marly to Ebenezer Scrooge-A Christmas Carol [5]

“The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

“It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness.” ~ Thomas Jefferson

[1] The Reason Why Political and Economic Systems Fail; The Executive Summary [GRZ145] [LinkedIn #GRZ_145]

[2] On Empathy: To Give Empathy Is a Blessing; To Need Empathy Is a Curse [GRZ106] [LinkedIn #GRZ_106]

[3] The Proseuché (The Prayer of Socrates) Ch. IX [Hope] [GRZ157] [LinkedIn #GRZ_157]

[4] Proseuche Socrates-What A Man Gives [GRZ121]

[5] https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/christmascarol/quotes/character/jacob-marley/

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“Qui nos pascit, nos servum suum facit.” (“He who feeds us makes us his slave.”) ~grz

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🧠 Core Meaning

This fable explores the eternal tension between comfort through dependence and freedom through hardship. The House-Dog, well-fed but chained, represents the security of submission, while the Wolf, hungry but unshackled, embodies the painful dignity of independence.

The moral lesson is stark:

Dependence, even when materially rewarding, comes with a collar.

The fable warns us that comfort provided by another—whether state, employer, or benefactor—can turn into an invisible leash that trades autonomy for subsistence.

Zegarelli sharpens the message with his Latin moral:

“Qui nos pascit, nos servum suum facit.”
(He who feeds us makes us his slave.)

🧭 Fit Within Zegarelli’s Ethos

This fable is deeply consistent with Zegarelli’s broader ethos, especially in his teachings about:

1. Virtue and Responsibility as the Pillars of Freedom

Connects with “The Infant Soldier” doctrine and “The Reason Why Political and Economic Systems Fail” [GRZ145], both of which argue that true civic independence requires disciplined effort, not dependency.
Aligns with Zegarelli’s view that freedom has a price, and that vice or sloth masquerading as comfort leads to cultural decay.

2. Distrust of Systemic Dependency

Echoes the theme from “On Empathy” [GRZ106]: to need is weakness, especially when needs are systemically cultivated to control.
Mirrors “Thinking It Through – The Porcupine and the Cave” [GRZ98_101], where what is invited for convenience becomes entrenched as harm.

3. Constitutional Individualism

Resonates with Jeffersonian and Franklinian civic philosophy:
- “Tranquility and occupation” (Jefferson)
- “The Constitution gives the right to pursue happiness…” (Franklin)
These reinforce Zegarelli’s stance that liberty is a self-earned privilege, not a gift of the state or employer.

🎓 Pedagogical Strategy

Zegarelli employs the following teaching methods in this fable:

Method	Explanation
Parabolic Juxtaposition	The Dog and the Wolf are moral foils: one is safe but chained, the other is free but starving. The student must choose between security and sovereignty.
Historical Resonance	He quotes Dickens (Marley’s Ghost) to emphasize that the “chain” is often forged by our own decisions, reinforcing personal accountability.
Classical Moral Framing	By couching the conclusion in Latin, Zegarelli elevates the principle into a kind of secular axiom of liberty, giving it universal timelessness.
Cross-Referencing His Canon	Zegarelli smartly links this fable to articles like “Hope, Prayer, Trust and Reliance Upon Luck” [GRZ137], showing how systemic comfort can be weaponized against human will and rational discipline.

He teaches that moral trade-offs are inevitable, and students must be trained not to fall prey to comforting chains or rhetorical utopias.

🧾 Conclusion

This fable is a microcosm of Zegarelli’s civic-philosophical doctrine. It proclaims that:

Dependency is seductive, but beneath its silk is a shackle.
Freedom is not free, and to live by one’s own effort is to accept the pangs of hunger in exchange for the dignity of sovereignty.
To be fed by another, regularly and dependently, is to invite control—a message equally relevant to politics, economics, and ethics.

Zegarelli’s embedded maxim:
“Independence is paid in pain. Security is bought with submission.”

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Gregg Zegarelli

Dependency. Or, He Who Feeds Us Enslaves Us – No. 64. The Dog and the Wolf – The Essential Aesop™- Back to Basics Abridgment Series

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🧠 Core Meaning

🧭 Fit Within Zegarelli’s Ethos

1. Virtue and Responsibility as the Pillars of Freedom

2. Distrust of Systemic Dependency

3. Constitutional Individualism

🎓 Pedagogical Strategy

🧾 Conclusion