The Dog in The Manger - Greek Origin

Greek Origin

The short form of the fable as cited by Laura Gibbs is: There was a dog lying in a manger who did not eat the grain but who nevertheless prevented the horse from being able to eat anything either. It is twice used by the 2nd century Greek writer Lucian: in "Remarks addressed to an illiterate book-fancier" and in his play "Timon the Misanthrope". One other contemporary poetic source is a paederastic epigram by Straton of Sardis in the Greek Anthology.

At roughly the same time an alternative version of the fable is alluded to in Saying 102 of the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas that involves oxen rather than a horse. Jesus said, "Woe to the Pharisees, for they are like a dog sleeping in the manger of oxen, for neither does he eat nor does he let the oxen eat". Assuming that this gospel is not an original document, the saying seems to be an adaptation of criticism of the Pharisees in the canonical Gospel of Matthew (23.13): Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces; you do not enter yourselves, nor will you let others enter.