A Wolf saw Shepherds eating parts of a Sheep. The Wolf decried their actions saying they would have killed him doing the same thing.
Circumstances dictate how actions are seen.
JBR Collection
A Wolf peeping into a hut where a company of Shepherds were regaling themselves on a leg of mutton, exclaimed, “What a clamour these fellows would have raised if they had caught me at such a banquet!” Men, forsooth, are apt to condemn in others what they practice themselves without scruple.
Aesop For Children
A Wolf, lurking near the Shepherd’s hut, saw the Shepherd and his family feasting on a roasted lamb.
“Aha!” he muttered. “What a great shouting and running about there would have been, had they caught me at just the very thing they are doing with so much enjoyment!”
Moral
Men often condemn others for what they see no wrong in doing themselves.
Townsend version
A wolf, passing by, saw some Shepherds in a hut eating a haunch of mutton for their dinner. Approaching them, he said, “What a clamor you would raise if I were to do as you are doing!”
Lupus et Pastorum Convivium
Pastores, caesa ove, convivium celebrabant. Quod cum lupus cerneret, “Ego,” inquit, “si agnum rapuissem, quantus tumultus fieret, at isti impune ovem comedunt!” Tum unus illorum “Nos enim,” inquit, “nostra, non aliena, ove epulamur.”
Perry #453
