The Trodden Snake

 A First Easy Greek Reading Book by E. V. Fowle. Internet Archive link. This is reading 9 in the Fables section. There are notes for each story and also a specific vocabulary for each story. In addition to fables, the book contains tales and anecdotes, mythology, Alexander the Great, and the Gospel of John: table of contents.

Ὄφις, ὑπὸ πολλῶν ἀνθρώπων πατούμενος, τῷ Διὶ ἐνετύγχανεν περὶ τούτου. Ὁ δὲ Ζεὺς πρὸς αὐτὸν εἶπεν· "ἀλλ᾿ εἰ τὸν πρότερον πατήσαντα ἔπληξας, οὐκ ἂν ὁ δεύτερος ἐπεχείρησε τοῦτο ποιῆσαι."
Ὁ μῦθος δηλοῖ, ὅτι οἱ τοῖς πρώτοις ἐπιβαίνοντες τοῖς ἄλλοις φοβεροὶ γίγνονται.

Ὄφις,
πατούμενος
ὑπὸ πολλῶν ἀνθρώπων,
ἐνετύγχανεν τῷ Διὶ
περὶ τούτου.

Ὁ δὲ Ζεὺς
εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτὸν·
"ἀλλ᾿
εἰ ἔπληξας
τὸν πρότερον πατήσαντα,
ὁ δεύτερος
οὐκ ἂν ἐπεχείρησε
ποιῆσαι τοῦτο."

Ὁ μῦθος δηλοῖ ὅτι
οἱ ἐπιβαίνοντες
τοῖς πρώτοις
γίγνονται φοβεροὶ
τοῖς ἄλλοις.

A snake

Ὄφις,

stepped on by many people

ὑπὸ πολλῶν ἀνθρώπων
πατούμενος,

appealed to Zeus about it

τῷ Διὶ ἐνετύγχανεν
περὶ τούτου.

Zeus said to him

Ὁ δὲ Ζεὺς
πρὸς αὐτὸν εἶπεν·

"But if you had struck
the person
who first stepped on you

ἀλλ᾿ εἰ
τὸν πρότερον πατήσαντα
ἔπληξας,

a second person
would not dare to do that

οὐκ ἂν ὁ δεύτερος
ἐπεχείρησε
τοῦτο ποιῆσαι."

The fable shows that

Ὁ μῦθος δηλοῖ ὅτι

those who resist
their first (enemies)

οἱ τοῖς πρώτοις
ἐπιβαίνοντες

become terrifying
to their other (enemies)

τοῖς ἄλλοις
φοβεροὶ γίγνονται.

Medici Aesop