E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Androcles and the Lion.
Androcles was a runaway slave who took refuge in a cavern. A lion entered, and instead of tearing him to pieces, lifted up his fore paw that Androcles might extract from it a thorn. The slave being subsequently captured, was doomed to fight with a lion in the Roman arena. It so happened that the same lion was let out against him, and, recognising his benefactor, showed towards him every demonstration of love and gratitude.
1
In the Gesta Romanorum (Tale civ.) the same story is told, and there is a similar one in Æsop’s Fables. The original tale, however, is from Aulus Gellius, on the authority of Plistonices, who asserts that he was himself an eyewitness of the encounter.
