The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · c. 600 BCE
The four oxen quarrelled garth — and the lion ate them one by one
Four oxen grazed together and turned their horns on the lion from every side. Then they fell out, each went alone, and the lion finished them off one by one.
the four oxen · the lion
From historyHistory and classical literature, legend included. An analogy to think with, not a modern precedent.
What it means today
A business alliance is only as strong as the resolve to keep it whole — the moment partners let an internal quarrel split them, each faces alone the competitor the group together outmatched.
What happened
A lion used to prowl round a field in which four oxen lived. Every time he came near, the oxen turned their tails to one another, so that whichever way he approached he was met by one pair of horns. Against the four together the lion was powerless, and he went hungry.
The alliance held only while the oxen stayed joined. Eventually they fell to quarrelling among themselves, and each went off to pasture alone in a separate corner of the field. The lion then attacked them one at a time and soon made an end of all four.
The strength that had kept the predator at bay belonged to no single ox; it was a property of the ring they formed when they stood together. The moment they split, each ox faced the lion alone, and the joint defence that had been free collapsed into four separate defeats.
Why it happened
- They mistook the safety the ring provided for individual strength, and let a quarrel break the one arrangement that made them unbeatable
- Each ox judged that leaving to graze alone was to its own advantage, without seeing that the defence was the product of the group, not of any member of it
- They let an internal dispute cost them the external protection it had bought, spending their solidarity on a grudge instead of keeping it against the real enemy
The lesson
United we stand, divided we fall. Strength that only exists while you hold together is owned by none of you — break the alliance over an internal quarrel and each faces the enemy alone.
Aftermath
The fable is recorded as Aesop's (Perry index 372), in versions featuring two bulls, three bulls or the four oxen of this telling, and is echoed across the Eastern fable tradition that carried Aesop southwest and east. It endures worldwide as the origin of the proverb 'united we stand, divided we fall.'
Sources
- The Lion and the Three Bulls — Three Hundred Aesop's Fables (Townsend), Project Gutenberg
- The Bulls and the Lion — Wikipedia
spotted an error? The club wants to know.
More like this
He accepted the pot the cauldron 'bore' — and lost the cauldron when it 'died'
The lion and the bull were friends — the jackals made sure they were not
Arcadia Group owned Topshop and Burton — administration in 2020 closed all stores
Somewhere, someone solved the problem this company failed at. 2nd Opinion →
Comments · 0
Sign in to join the comments.