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A proverb: for the hare [is] a cowardly animal. Hence a man from Rhegium was called Hare; for they used to satirize the people of Rhegium for cowardice. There is a proverb: the hare races [to save] his hide. Applied to those taking risks with their lives and stoutly contesting something.[1]
Also a[another] proverb: The Carpathian [and his] hare. Applied to those who are harming themselves; for the Carpathians, who lived on an island and had no hares, introduced them; when they [sc. the hares] proliferated, they ravaged the crops.[2]

Λαγὼς περὶ τῶν κρεῶν: παροιμία. δειλὸν γὰρ τὸ ζῷον ὁ λαγώς. ὅθεν καὶ ὁ Ῥηγῖνος λαγὼς ἐλέχθη: καὶ γὰρ τοὺς Ῥηγίνους ἐπὶ δειλίᾳ ἐκωμῴδουν. παροιμία δέ τις ἐστίν, ὁ λαγὼς τὴν περὶ τῶν κρεῶν τρέχει. ἐπὶ τῶν διακινδυνευόντων ταῖς ψυχαῖς καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο καρτερῶς ἀγωνιζομένων ταττομένη. καὶ παροιμία: ὁ Καρπάθιος τὸν λαγών. ἐπὶ τῶν ἑαυτοὺς βλαπτόντων: οἱ γὰρ Καρπάθιοι νῆσον οἰκοῦντες καὶ λαγωοὺς οὐκ ἔχοντες ἐπηγάγοντο: οἳ πολλοὶ γενόμενοι ἐλυμαίνοντο τοὺς καρπούς.

[1] Zenobius 4.85. Compare Aristophanes, Frogs 191: δοῦλον οὐκ ἄγω, εἰ μὴ νεναυμάχηκε τὴν περὶ τῶν κρεῶν . See also rho 121.
[2] From Aristotle, Rhetoric 1413a (and numerous subsequent authors): καὶ αἱ παροιμίαι δὲ μεταφοραὶ ἀπ' εἴδους ἐπ' εἶδος εἰσίν: οἷον ἄν τις ὡς ἀγαθὸν πεισόμενος αὐτὸς ἐπαγάγηται, εἶτα βλαβῇ, "ὡς ὁ Καρπάθιός", φασιν, "τὸν λαγώ": ἄμφω γὰρ τὸ εἰρημένον πεπόνθασιν. See also omicron 105 and omicroniota 121.

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