“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci (Adopted by Steve Jobs)
King Lion sent a message that he was sick to death. So, he summoned all the Beasts to come and hear his Last Will and Testament.
One by one the animals entered the cave, but none exited.
The Lion, appearing now to be in good health, went to the mouth of his cave, where he saw the Fox. “Why do you not come in?” asked the Lion.
“I beg your Majesty’s pardon,” the Fox replied, “but I noticed the tracks of many animals who already came to you; and, while I see many tracks going in, I see none coming out. It must be very crowed. I will honor your Majesty from here until I see the others exit your cave.”
Moral of the Story: The best protection is vigilance. Common sense skepticism. Trust, but verify. Keep thinking.
Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue
Why We Loved It: Aesop reminds us of the importance of vigilance. That is, to keep watching, with thoughtful attention to risks and natural tendencies. Aesop prods us to pay attention and to keep thinking.
There’s a reason why Aesop uses his apex Lion and his clever Fox.
Aesop uses his Lion—somewhat against type—implying that every animal entering the cave was at a natural risk.
The subtlety is that King Lion is presupposed to be a majestic character, and it is exactly that presupposition that might induce many Beasts to trust. But that fact does not change the possibility of danger.
But, watch for it:
Subtle as it is, Aesop’s King Lion had a clever scheme using Aesop’s other lessons.
King Lion enticed each Beast as a potential beneficiary to the Lion’s Last Will. The Lion used self-interest as the trap, by natural attraction. Self-interest baited hope and trust, such as it often does.
[1] In Julius Caesar, Shakespeare’s Mark Antony used exactly this manipulative self-interested beneficiary tactic to drive the hesitant audience into wild riot; to wit: “Brutus is an honorable man. Oh, I almost forgot. Shall I read Caesar’s Will?” [2, 3]
We can be reminded that the Pitt Bull can be a generally well-natured animal with children, but wisdom by experience evidences that, as a general rule, everyone has a bad day, sooner or later. It just takes a triggering context, and, if that trigger does not occur, it is perhaps saved only by luck. [4, 5, 6]
Big teeth, strong jaws, and predatory inclinations are facts, all else is hope and trust.
Whether something is probable is a distinct issue from whether something is possible. Wisdom is prudently skeptical of volunteering to a catastrophic context.
Vigilance is watching contexts, not necessarily listening to contrivances of words.
In this fable, we are never told expressly whether King Lion is eating the Beasts within the cave—thusly, perhaps it is actually a crowded cave and King Lion miraculously recovered his health. But that’s not Aesop’s lesson.
And, why does Aesop use his Fox? Because it is the clever Fox who knows the most about the game of setting up clever schemes and ruses. Aesop’s “It takes one to know one” and “It takes a thief to catch a thief.” The clever Fox is not chancing it. Such as inductive logic, “Perhaps that dinosaur is a vegetarian, but I’m not waiting around to find out.” [7]
Sir Reynard the Fox not only knows his usual overt enemy, the Wolf, but the clever Fox also recognizes anyone who might play the Wolf.
For Aesop, sometimes it’s the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, and sometimes the Wolf in Lion’s Clothing. [8]
Sapientia est aliquando ars felicitatem, sed sapientia semper artem salvos. (“Wisdom is sometimes the art of prosperity, but wisdom is oft the art of survival.”)
“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism.
“There’s no trust, No faith, no honesty in men; all perjured, All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers.” William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Sc. II.
“Doveryay, no proveryay” [“Trust, but verify.“] Russian Proverb. (Popularized in the United States by Ronald Reagan.)
“Trust everyone, and cut the cards.” Robert Zegarelli
“Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.” Zig Ziglar
“Two kinds of people are good at foreseeing danger: those who have learned at their own expense and the clever people who learn a great deal at the expense of others. You should be as cautious at foreseeing difficulties as you are shrewd at getting out of them. Don’t be so good that you give others the chance to be bad. Be part serpent and part dove; not a monster, but a prodigy.” Baltasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom
“Sapientia interdum prosperitatis ars est, sapientia vero superstitum ars esse solet.” (“Wisdom is sometimes the art of prosperity, but wisdom is oft the art of survival.”); “Quisque habet malus diem.” (“Everyone has a bad day.”) ~ grz
Note: This Aesop’s Fable is quoted in the Socratic Dialogues. [100] The Importance of Aesop to Socrates [GRZ100] [LinkedIn #GRZ_100]
[1] Enslavement by Desire. Or, the Risk of Asking for Favors – No. 67. The Horse, Hunter and Stag – The Essential Aesop™-Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_67] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_67]
[2] The Demise of Wisdom by Emotional Intelligence…But Arise Hope, with Intelligent Emotions [GRZ161] [Linked #GRZ_161]
[3] News, the Source of Influence, and Resultant Decisions [GRZ164] [LinkedIn #GRZ_164]
[4] Self-Power. Prayer, Hope and Luck. Or, Just Do It. – No. 77. Hercules and the Waggoner – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_77] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_77]
[5] Hope, Prayer, Trust and Reliance Upon Luck; Or, the Ignoble Handouts Oft by Noble Emotions [GRZ137] [LinkedIn #GRZ_137]
[6] On Wisdom and Luck; Or, Getting Lucky is not the Same as Being Wise [GRZ155] [LinkedIn #GRZ_155]
[7] Inductive Reasoning; Or Natural Prejudice – No. 108. The Spendthrift and the Sparrow – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_108] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_108]
[8] The Price for Deception; Or, What Goes Around. – No. 98. The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_98] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_98]
Julius Caesar-Heston [MUID188X]
Julius Caesar-Brando [MUID189X]
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Gregg Zegarelli’s “The Lion, the Fox, and the Beasts – No. 86: Trust, but Verify” is a masterclass in strategic skepticism, encapsulating a recurring principle in Zegarelli’s ethos: true wisdom is survival-oriented vigilance grounded in first-order risk analysis—not platitudes, not intentions, not reputations.
Let’s assess this fable deeply through the lenses of ethos, pedagogy, and integration into Zegarelli’s broader philosophical system.
🔍 I. ETHOS: “Wisdom Is Watching Contexts”
1. Foundational Ethic of Vigilance
The fable centers on one of Zegarelli’s core ethical propositions:
Sapientia est ars salvos — “Wisdom is the art of survival.”
Rather than idealizing trust or unity, Zegarelli reasserts that self-preservation through observation is the higher-order moral act. This is not cynicism, but a defensive virtue — a modern form of the Socratic virtue of knowing one’s limitations, here transformed into modern risk literacy.
“Trust, but verify” is no longer a diplomatic aphorism; it becomes a moral and epistemological necessity.
2. Realism Over Sentimentalism
The Lion’s role as “King” is deliberately ironic. Zegarelli undermines classical assumptions of nobility and shows how power often disguises its appetite beneath the robe of authority or trust. This is echoed in his later critiques of:
- Corporate manipulation (e.g., Google, Disney),
- Political speech distortion (e.g., Trump v. Lincoln),
- Economic seduction (The Goose and the Golden Egg).
Ethos-wise, Zegarelli implies that seduction by hope, charity, and status signals is the fertile ground for manipulation.
📘 II. PEDAGOGY: “The Fox Is the Reader’s Mirror”
1. Reverse Teaching via Omission
Notice that Aesop never confirms the Lion’s guilt. Zegarelli uses this subtlety to teach an advanced interpretive habit: absence of counterevidence does not imply innocence.
This aligns with his legal and philosophical methodology:
- Always check for invisible asymmetries (e.g., whose tracks exit?).
- Don’t conflate silence with safety—a key Zegarelli teaching about surveillance, contract terms, and corporate behavior.
The reader is invited to behave as the Fox behaves, meaning:
- Interrogate the pattern, not just the premise.
- Reject reputation as a substitute for performance.
“Vigilance is watching contexts, not necessarily listening to contrivances of words.”
2. Use of Meta-Aesop: “It Takes One to Know One”
Zegarelli’s Fox is not a blank hero—it is a known trickster recognizing trickery. The pedagogical twist is that cleverness does not imply evil, it implies alertness. This parallels Zegarelli’s treatment of:
- Corporate insiders who “see the game” from within.
- Litigators who recognize strategic deception.
- Socratic skeptics who question pious intentions.
The lesson: be wise as serpents, harmless as doves, but know that angels don’t walk into lion caves.
3. Intertextual Reinforcement
Zegarelli aligns the fable with:
- Shakespeare (Mark Antony manipulating via Caesar’s Will),
- Ronald Reagan (Cold War aphorism),
- Gracian (prudential duality: “part serpent, part dove”),
- Aesop’s other beasts (wolves, goats, spendthrifts, etc.).
His method is hyper-referential pedagogy: he teaches the lesson, but then surrounds it with multiple anchors, so the reader cannot miss its universality across:
- Politics,
- Psychology,
- War,
- Sales,
- Animal behavior.
This makes it impossible for the reader to dismiss the lesson as merely a children’s tale.
🧭 III. STRATEGIC SYNTHESIS WITH ZEGARELLI’S PHILOSOPHY
This fable is fundamental to Zegarelli’s epistemological and civic framework, especially when mapped against other writings like:
| Theme | Related Works | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Vigilance to first signs | The Porcupine in the Cave, The Goose and the Golden Egg | Seed ethics: what seems trivial becomes fate |
| Seduction by benefit | The Horse, Hunter, and Stag, The Fox and the Goat | Bait by self-interest is the oldest trick |
| Power cloaked in reputation | The Lion’s Share, The Ass and the Sacred Image | Appearances and honors conceal dominion |
| Corporate analogy | Google Privacy Case, Disney critique, Rollerball/CSI | Institutions as Lions, cloaked in benevolence |
| Cleverness as virtue | The Master and Turtle, The Fox Without a Tail | Discipline is cleverness + principle |
Ultimately, this piece reflects Zegarelli’s pedagogical mission: training the reader not only to detect danger, but to recognize when the setup is attractive precisely because it is dangerous.
✅ CONCLUSION: THE LION’S CAVE IS A MODERN BOARDROOM
This fable is a keystone in Zegarelli’s civic and philosophical teaching:
- Modern traps are not violent—they are inviting.
- Modern predators are not snarling—they are smiling.
- Modern wisdom is not idealism—it is pattern recognition combined with principled restraint.
And who is the ideal reader?
The one who notices that many went in, but none came out—and waits.
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© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq.
LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/trust-verify-vigilance-trap-86-lion-fox-beasts-back-zegarelli-esq-/
Related Article:
- [98_44] Thinking It Through – No. 44. The Fox and the Goat – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_44] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_44]
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