Chapter 9

THE PROLOGUE.

TO EUTYCHUS.[1]

If you have a desire, Eutychus, to read the little books of Phædrus, you must keep yourself disengaged from business, that your mind, at liberty, may relish the meaning of the lines. “But,” you say, “my genius is not of such great value, that a moment of time should be lost {for it} to my own pursuits.” There is no reason then why that should be touched by your hands which is not suited for ears so engaged. Perhaps you will say, “some holidays will come,[2] which will invite me to study with mind unbent.” Will you {rather}, I ask you, read worthless ditties,[3] than bestow attention upon your domestic concerns, give moments to your friends, your leisure to your wife, relax your mind, and refresh your body, in order that you may return more efficiently to your wonted duties? You must change your purpose and your mode of life, if you have thoughts of crossing the threshold of the Muses. I, whom my mother brought forth on the Pierian hill,[4] upon which hallowed Mnemosyne, nine times fruitful, bore the choir of Muses to thundering Jove: although I was born almost in the very school itself, and have entirely erased {all} care for acquiring wealth from my breast, and with the approval of many have applied myself to these pursuits, am still with difficulty received into the choir {of the Poets}. What do you imagine must be the lot of him who seeks, with ceaseless vigilance, to amass great wealth, preferring the sweets of gain to the labours of learning?

But now, come of it what may (as Sinon said[5] when he was brought before the King of Dardania), I will trace a third book with the pen of Æsop, and dedicate it to you, in acknowledgment of your honor and your goodness.[6] If you read it, I shall rejoice; but if otherwise, at least posterity will have something with which to amuse themselves.

Now will I explain in a few words why Fabulous narrative was invented. Slavery,[7] subject to the will of another, because it did not dare to say what it wished, couched its sentiments in Fables, and by pleasing fictions eluded censure. In place of its foot-path I have made a road, and have invented more than it left, selecting some points to my own misfortune.[8] But if any other than Sejanus[9] had been the informer, if any other the witness, if any other the judge, in fine, I should confess myself deserving of such severe woes; nor should I soothe my sorrow with these expedients. If any one shall make erroneous surmises, and apply to himself what is applicable to all in common, he will absurdly expose the secret convictions of his mind. And still, to him I would hold myself excused; for it is no intention of mine to point at individuals, but to describe life itself and the manners of mankind. Perhaps some one will say, that I undertake a weighty task. If Æsop of Phrygia, if Anacharsis of Scythia[10] could, by their genius, found a lasting fame, why should I who am more nearly related to learned Greece, forsake in sluggish indolence the glories of my country? especially as the Thracian race numbers its own authors, and Apollo was the parent of Linus, a Muse of Orpheus, who with his song moved rocks and tamed wild beasts, and held the current of Hebrus in sweet suspense. Away then, envy! nor lament in vain, because to me the customary fame is due.

I have urged you to read {these lines}; I beg that you will give me your sincere opinion[11] of them with {your} well-known candour.

[Footnote III.1: _Eutychus_)--Ver. 2. It is not known with certainty who this Eutychus was to whom he addresses himself. It has been suggested that he is the same person who is mentioned by Josephus, Antiq. B. xix., c. 4, as flourishing at the Court of Caligula, and who had previously been a charioteer and inspector of buildings at the stables of Claudius. He is also supposed, from the words of the Epilogue of this Book, line 20-26, to have held more than one public office. It has been suggested that he was the freedman of the Emperor Claudius or Augustus, an inscription having been found in the tomb of the freedmen of the latter to C. Julius Eutychus. But it is hardly probable that he is the person meant; as there is little doubt that Phædrus wrote the present Book of Fables long after the time of Augustus. Indeed it has been suggested by some that he wrote it as late as the reign of Caligula.]

[Footnote III.2: _Some holidays_)--Ver. 8. The Romans had three kinds of public “feriæ,” or holidays, which all belonged to the “dies nefasti,” or days on which no public business could be done. These were the “feriæ stativæ,” “conceptivæ,” and “imperativæ.” The first were held regularly, and on stated days set forth in the Calendar. To these belonged the Lupercalia, Carmentalia, and Agonalia. The “conceptivæ,” or “conceptæ,” were moveable feasts held at certain seasons in every year, but not on fixed days; the times for holding them being annually appointed by the magistrates or priests. Among these were the “feriæ Latinæ,” Sementivæ, Paganalia, and Compitalia. The “feriæ imperativæ” were appointed to be held on certain emergencies by order of the Consuls, Prætors, and Dictators; and were in general held to avert national calamities or to celebrate great victories.]

[Footnote III.3: _Worthless ditties_)--Ver. 10. “Nænia” were, properly, the improvised songs that were sung at funerals by the hired mourners, who were generally females. From their trivial nature, the word came to be generally applied to all worthless ditties, and under this name Phædrus, with all humility, alludes to his Fables.]

[Footnote III.4: _On the Pierian Hill_)--Ver. 17. Judging from this passage it would appear that Phædrus was a Macedonian by birth, and not, as more generally stated, a Thracian. Pieria was a country on the south-east coast of Macedonia, through which ran a ridge of mountains, a part of which were called Pieria, or the Pierian mountain. The inhabitants are celebrated in the early history of the music and poesy of Greece, as their country was one of the earliest seats of the worship of the Muses, and Orpheus was said to have been buried there. It is most probable that Phædrus was carried away in slavery to Rome in his early years, and that he remembered but little of his native country.]

[Footnote III.5: _As Sinon said_)--Ver. 27. He here alludes to the words of Sinon, the Grecian spy, when brought before Priam, in the Second Book of Virgil, 77-78:--

“Cuncta equidem tibi, rex, fuerit quodcumque fatebor Vera, inquit----”

Others, again, suppose that this was a proverbial expression in general use at Rome. It is not improbable that it may have become so on being adopted from the work of Virgil: “Come what may of it, as Sinon said.”]

[Footnote III.6: _And your goodness_)--Ver. 30. “Honori et meritis dedicam illum tuis.” We learn from ancient inscriptions that this was a customary formula in dedications.]

[Footnote III.7: _Slavery_)--Ver. 34. He probably alludes to Æsop’s state of slavery, in the service of the philosopher Xanthus.]

[Footnote III.8: _To my own misfortune_)--Ver. 40. He evidently alludes to some misfortune which has befallen him in consequence of having alluded in his work to the events of his own times. It has been suggested that he fell under the displeasure of Tiberius and his minister Sejanus, in consequence of the covert allusions made to them in Fables II and VI in the First Book. This question is, however, involved in impenetrable obscurity.]

[Footnote III.9: _Than Sejanus_)--Ver. 41. He means that Ælius Sejanus had acted against him as both informer, witness, and judge; but that had an honest man condemned him to the sufferings he then experienced, he should not have complained. The nature of the punishment here alluded to is not known.]

[Footnote III.10: _Anacharsis of Scythia_)--Ver. 52. A Scythian philosopher, and supposed contemporary of Æsop. He came to Athens in pursuit of knowledge while Solon was the lawgiver of that city. He is said to have written works on legislation and the art of war.]

FABLE I.

THE OLD WOMAN AND THE CASK.

An Old Woman espied a Cask,[12] which had been drained to the dregs, lying on the ground, {and} which still spread forth from its ennobled shell a delightful smell of the Falernian lees.[13] After she had greedily snuffed it up her nostrils with all her might; “O delicious fragrance,[14]” said she, “how good I should say were your former contents, when the remains of them are such!”

What this refers to let him say who knows me.[15]

[Footnote III.11: _Nearer to learned Greece_)--Ver. 54. Alluding to Pieria, the place of his birth. The people of Pieria were supposed to have been of Thracian origin.]

[Footnote III.12: _A cask_)--Ver. 1. “Amphoram.” Properly, the “amphora,” or earthen vessel with two handles, in which wine was usually kept.]

[Footnote III.13: _Falernian Lees_)--Ver. 2. The Falernian wine held the second rank in estimation among the Romans. The territory where it was grown commenced at the “Pons Campanus,” and extended from the Massic Hills to the river Vulturnus. Pliny mentions three kinds, the rough, the sweet, and the thin. It is supposed to have been of an amber colour, and of considerable strength. It was the custom to write the age of the wine and the vintage on the “amphora,” or cask.]

[Footnote III.14: _O, delicious fragrance_)--Ver. 5. “Anima,” most probably applies to the savour or smell of the wine; though some Commentators have thought that she addresses the cask as “anima,” meaning “O dear soul;” others, that she speaks of the wine as being the soul of life; while Walchius seems to think that she is addressing her own soul, which is quite cheered by the fumes.]

[Footnote III.15: _Who knows me_)--Ver. 7. Burmann thinks that the author covertly hints here at the habits of the Emperor Tiberius in his old age, who still hankered after those vicious indulgences which had been his main pursuits in his former days; or else that the Poet simply refers to human life, in the same spirit in which Seneca, Ep. lvii., calls old age, “fæx vitæ,” “the lees of life.” Others again suppose that Phædrus alludes to his own old age, and means that those who knew him when this Fable was written, may judge from their present acquaintance with him what he must have been in his younger days. Heinsius thinks that it refers to the present state of servitude of Phædrus, compared with his former liberty; but, if he was manumitted, as generally supposed, by Augustus, and this Fable was not written till after the death of Sejanus, that cannot be the case.]

FABLE II.

THE PANTHER AND THE SHEPHERD.

Repayment in kind is generally made by those who are despised.

A Panther[16] had once inadvertently fallen into a pit. The rustics saw her; some belaboured her with sticks, others pelted her with stones; while some, on the other hand, moved with compassion, seeing that she must die even though no one should hurt her, threw her some bread to sustain existence. Night comes on apace; homeward they go without concern, making sure of finding her dead on the following day. She, however, after having recruited her failing strength, with a swift bound effected her escape from the pit, and with hurried pace hastened to her den. A few days intervening, she sallies forth, slaughters the flocks, kills the shepherds themselves, and laying waste every side, rages with unbridled fury. Upon this those who had shown mercy to the beast, alarmed for their safety, made no demur to the loss {of their flocks, and} begged only for their lives. But she {thus answered them}: “I remember him who attacked me with stones, {and} him who gave me bread; lay aside your fears; I return as an enemy to those {only} who injured me.”

[Footnote III.16: _A Panther_)--Ver. 2. Some have suggested, Burmann and Guyetus in the number, that by the Panther is meant Tiberius, who, during his banishment to the isle of Rhodes, occupied himself in studying how to wreak his vengeance upon his enemies at Rome, and, with the fury of the Panther, as soon as he had the opportunity, glutted his vengeance. This notion, however, seems more ingenious than well founded.]

FABLE III.

ÆSOP AND THE FARMER.

One taught by experience is proverbially said to be more quick-{witted} than a wizard, but the reason is not told; which, now for the first time, shall be made known by my Fable.

The ewes of a certain Man who reared flocks, brought forth lambs with human heads. Dreadfully alarmed at the prodigy, he runs full of concern to the soothsayers. One answers that it bears reference to the life of the owner, and that the danger must be averted with a victim. Another, no wiser, affirms that it is meant that his wife is an adultress, and his children are spurious; but that it can be atoned for by a victim of greater age.[17] Why enlarge? They all differ in opinions, and greatly aggravate the anxiety of the Man. Æsop being at hand, a sage of nice discernment, whom nature could never deceive {by appearances}, remarked:-- “If you wish, Farmer, to take due precautions against {this} portent, find wives for your shepherds.”[18]

[Footnote III.17: _Of greater age_)--Ver. 11. “Majori hostiâ;” probably, a sheep of two years old instead of a lamb.]

[Footnote III.18: _For your shepherds_)--Ver. 17. Plutarch introduces Thales in his “Convivium Sapientium,” as telling a somewhat similar story. Phædrus might, with better grace, have omitted this so-called Fable.]

FABLE IV.

THE BUTCHER AND THE APE.

A man seeing an Ape hanging up at a Butcher’s among the rest of his commodities and provisions, enquired how it might taste;[19] on which the Butcher, joking, replied: “Just as the head is, such, I warrant, is the taste.”

[Footnote III.19: _How it might taste_)--Ver. 3. The Butcher puns upon the twofold meaning of “sapio,” “to taste of,” or “have a flavour,” and “to be wise.” The customer uses the word in the former sense, while the Butcher answers it in the latter, and perhaps in the former as well; “Such as the head is,” pointing to it, “I’ll warrant the wisdom of the animal to be;” the words at the same time bearing the meaning of, “It has an ape’s head, and therefore it can only taste like the head of an ape.” “Sapor” ordinarily means “flavour,” or “taste;” but Cicero uses it in the signification of wisdom or genius. Many other significations of this passage have been suggested by the various Editors.]

This I deem to be said more facetiously than correctly; for on the one hand I have often found the good-looking to be very knaves, and on the other I have known many with ugly features to be most worthy men.

FABLE V.

ÆSOP AND THE INSOLENT MAN.

Success leads many astray to their ruin.

An Insolent Fellow threw a stone at Æsop. “Well done,” said he, and then gave him a penny, thus continuing: “Upon my faith I have got no more, but I will show you where you can get some; see, yonder comes a rich and influential man; throw a stone at him in the same way, and you will receive a due reward.” The other, being persuaded, did as he was advised. His daring impudence, however, was disappointed of its hope, for, being seized, he paid the penalty on the cross.[20]

[Footnote III.20: _On the cross_)--Ver. 10. The cross was especially used as an instrument of punishment for malefactors of low station, and, as we see here, sometimes on very trivial occasions.]

FABLE VI.

THE FLY AND THE MULE.

A Fly sat on the pole of a chariot, and rebuking the Mule: “How slow you are,” said she; “will you not go faster? Take care that I don’t prick your neck with my sting.” The Mule made answer: “I am not moved by your words, but I fear him who, sitting on the next seat, guides my yoke[21] with his pliant whip, and governs my mouth with the foam-covered reins. Therefore, cease your frivolous impertinence, for I well know when to go at a gentle pace, and when to run.”

In this Fable, he may be deservedly ridiculed, who, without {any} strength, gives utterance to vain threats.

[Footnote III.21: _Guides my yoke_)--Ver. 6. “Jugum meum;” meaning, “me who bear the yoke.”]

FABLE VII.

THE DOG AND THE WOLF.

I will shew in a few words how sweet is Liberty.

A Wolf, quite starved with hunger, chanced to meet a well-fed Dog, and as they stopped to salute each other, “Pray,” {said the Wolf}, “how is it that you are so sleek? or on what food have you made so much flesh? I, who am far stronger, am perishing with hunger.” The Dog frankly {replied}: “You may enjoy the same condition, if you can render the like service to your master.” “What {is it}?” said the other. “To be the guardian of his threshold, {and} to protect the house from thieves at night.” “I am quite ready for that,” {said the Wolf}; “at present I have to endure snow and showers, dragging on a wretched existence in the woods. How much more pleasant for me to be living under a roof, and, at my ease, to be stuffed with plenty of victuals.” “Come along, then, with me,” {said the Dog}. As they were going along, the Wolf observed the neck of the Dog, where it was worn with the chain. “Whence comes this, my friend?” “Oh, it is nothing.[22]” “Do tell me, though.” “Because I appear to be fierce, they fasten me up in the day-time, that I may be quiet when it is light, and watch when night comes; unchained at midnight, I wander wherever I please. Bread is brought me without my asking; from his own table my master gives me bones; the servants throw me bits, and whatever dainties each person leaves; thus, without trouble {on my part}, is my belly filled.” “Well, if you have a mind to go anywhere, are you at liberty?” “Certainly not,” replied {the Dog}. “{Then}, Dog, enjoy what you boast of; I would not be a king, to lose my liberty.”

[Footnote III.22: _It is nothing_)--Ver. 17. “Nihil est.” This was a form of expression used when they wished to cut short any disagreable question, to which they did not think fit to give a direct answer.]

FABLE VIII.

THE BROTHER AND SISTER.

Warned by this lesson, often examine yourself.

A certain Man had a very ugly Daughter, and also a Son, remarkable for his handsome features. These, diverting themselves, as children do, chanced to look into a mirror, as it lay upon their mother’s chair.[23] He praises his own good looks; she is vexed, and cannot endure the raillery of her boasting brother, construing everything (and how could she do otherwise?) as a reproach {against herself}. Accordingly, off she runs to her Father, to be avenged {on him} in her turn, and with great rancour, makes a charge against the Son, how that he, though a male, has been meddling with a thing that belongs to the women. Embracing them both, kissing them, and dividing his tender affection between the two, he said: “I wish you both to use the mirror every day: you, that you may not spoil your beauty by vicious conduct; you, that you may make amends by your virtues for your looks.”

[Footnote III.23: _Their mother’s chair_)--Ver. 4. The “cathedra” was properly a soft or easy chair used in the “gynæcæa,” or women’s apartments. These were of various forms and sizes, and had backs to them; it was considered effeminate for the male sex to use them. “Sellæ” was the name of seats common to both sexes. The use of the “speculum,” or mirror, was also confined to the female sex; indeed, even Pallas or Minerva was represented as shunning its use, as only befitting her more voluptuous fellow-goddess, Venus.]

FABLE IX.

SOCRATES TO HIS FRIENDS.

The name of a friend is common; but fidelity is rarely found.

Socrates having laid for himself the foundation of a small house (a man, whose death I would not decline, if I could acquire {similar} fame, and {like him} I could yield to envy, if I might be but acquitted[24] when ashes); one of the people, no matter who, {amongst such passing remarks} as are usual in these cases, asked: “Why do you, so famed as you are, build so small a house?”

“I {only} wish,” he replied, “I could fill it with real friends.”

[Footnote III.24: _I might be acquitted_)--Ver. 4. He alludes to the fate of Socrates, who, after he was put to death by his countrymen, was publicly pronounced to be innocent, and a statue was erected in his honour.]

FABLE X.

THE POET, ON BELIEVING, AND NOT BELIEVING.

It is dangerous alike to believe or to disbelieve. Of either fact, I will briefly lay before you an instance.

Hippolytus met his death,[25] because his step-mother was believed: because Cassandra was not believed, Troy fell. Therefore, we ought to examine strictly into the truth of a matter, rather than {suffer} an erroneous impression to pervert our judgment. But, that I may not weaken {this truth} by referring to fabulous antiquity, I will relate to you a thing that happened within my own memory.

A certain married Man, who was very fond of his Wife, having now provided the white toga[26] for his Son, was privately taken aside by his Freedman, who hoped that he should be substituted as his next heir, {and} who, after telling many lies about the youth, and still more about the misconduct of the chaste Wife, added, what he knew would especially grieve one so fond, that a gallant was in the habit of paying her visits, and that the honor of his house was stained with base adultery. Enraged at the supposed guilt of his Wife, the husband pretended a journey to his country-house, and privately stayed behind in town; then at night he suddenly entered at the door, making straight to his Wife’s apartment, in which the mother had ordered her son to sleep, keeping a strict eye over his ripening years. While they are seeking for a light, while the servants are hurrying to and fro, unable to restrain the violence of his raging passion, he approaches the bed, and feels a head in the dark. When he finds the hair cut close,[27] he plunges his sword into {the sleeper’s} breast, caring for nothing, so he but avenge his injury. A light being brought, at the same instant he beholds his son, and his chaste wife sleeping in her apartment; who, fast locked in her first sleep, had heard nothing: on the spot he inflicted punishment on himself for his guilt, and fell upon the sword which a too easy belief had unsheathed. The accusers indicted the woman, and dragged her to Rome, before the Centumviri.[28] Innocent as she was, dark suspicion weighed heavily against her, because she had become possessor of his property: her patrons stand[29] and boldly plead the cause of the guiltless woman. The judges then besought the Emperor Augustus that he would aid them in the discharge of their oath, as the intricacy of the case had embarrassed them. After he had dispelled the clouds raised by calumny, and had discovered a sure source of truth[30]: “Let the Freedman,” said he, “the cause of the mischief, suffer punishment; but as for her, at the same instant bereft of a son, and deprived of a husband, I deem her to be pitied rather than condemned. If the father of the family had thoroughly enquired into the charge preferred, and had shrewdly sifted the lying accusations, he would not, by a dismal crime, have ruined his house from the very foundation.”

Let the ear despise nothing, nor yet let it accord implicit belief at once: since not only do those err whom you would be far from suspecting, but those who do not err are {sometimes} falsely and maliciously accused.

This also may be a warning to the simple, not to form a judgment on anything according to the opinion of another; for the different aims of mortals either follow the bias of their goodwill or their prejudice. He {alone} will be correctly estimated {by you}, whom you judge of by personal experience.

These points I have enlarged upon, as by too great brevity I have offended some.

[Footnote III.25: _Met his death_)--Ver. 3. The story of Hippolytus, who met his death in consequence of the treachery of his step-mother Phædra, is related at length in the Play of Euripides of that name, and in the Fifteenth Book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The fate of Cassandra, the daughter of Priam, who in vain prophesied the fall of Troy, is related in the Second Book of the Æneid, l. 246, _et seq._]

[Footnote III.26: _The white toga_)--Ver. 10. The “toga prætexta,” or Consular robe, was worn by the male children of the Romans till their sixteenth year; when they assumed the ordinary “toga,” which was called “pura,” because it had no purple border, and was entirely white.]

[Footnote III.27: _The hair cut close_)--Ver. 27. This is appropriately introduced, as the hair of youths was allowed to grow long until they had reached the age of manhood, on which it was cut close, and consecrated to the Gods.]

[Footnote III.28: _The Centumviri_)--Ver. 35. The “Centumviri” were a body of 105 officers, whose duty it was to assist the prætor in litigated questions. They were sometimes called “judices selecti,” or “commissioned judges.”]

[Footnote III.29: _The patrons stand_)--Ver. 37. The patrons stood while pleading the causes of their clients, while the judges sat, as with us.]

[Footnote III.30: _Sure source of truth_)--Ver. 43. It is suggested that the source of information here alluded to was the evidence of the slaves, who had heard their master mention in his last moments the treachery of his freedman. It is not probable that the freedman voluntarily came forward, and declared the truth to Augustus. In l. 39, Augustus is called “Divus,” as having been deified after his death. Domitian was the first who was so called during his lifetime.]

FABLE XI.

THE EUNUCH TO THE ABUSIVE MAN.

A Eunuch had a dispute with a scurrilous fellow, who, in addition to obscene remarks and insolent abuse, reproached him with the misfortune of his mutilated person. “Look you,” said {the Eunuch}, “this is the only point as to which I am effectually staggered, forasmuch as I want the evidences of integrity. But why, simpleton, do you charge me with the faults of fortune? That {alone} is really disgraceful to a man, which he has deserved to suffer.”[31]

[Footnote III.31: _Deserved to suffer_)--Ver. 7. Though this moral may apply to all misfortunes in general, it is supposed by some of the Commentators that by the insulter some individual notorious for his adulteries was intended to be represented; who consequently merited by law to be reduced to the same situation as the innocent Eunuch.]

FABLE XII.

THE COCK AND THE PEARL.

A young Cock, while seeking for food on a dunghill, found a Pearl, and exclaimed: “What a fine thing are you to be lying in {so} unseemly a place. If any one sensible of your value had espied you here, you would long ago have returned to your former brilliancy. And it is I who have found you, I to whom food is far preferable! I can be of no use to you or you to me.”

This I relate for those who have no relish for me.[32]

[Footnote III.32: _Have no relish for me_)--Ver. 8. From this passage we may infer either that Phædrus himself had many censurers at Rome, or that the people in general were not admirers of Fables.]

FABLE XIII.

THE BEES AND THE DRONES, THE WASP SITTING AS JUDGE.

Some Bees had made their combs in a lofty oak. Some lazy Drones asserted that these belonged to them. The cause was brought into court, the Wasp {sitting as} judge; who, being perfectly acquainted with either race, proposed to the two parties these terms: “Your shape is not unlike, and your colour is similar; so that the affair clearly and fairly becomes a matter of doubt. But that my sacred duty may not be at fault through insufficiency of knowledge, {each of you} take hives, and pour your productions into the waxen cells; that from the flavour of the honey and the shape of the comb, the maker of them, about which the present dispute exists, may be evident.” The Drones decline; the proposal pleases the Bees. Upon this, the Wasp pronounces sentence to the following effect: “It is evident who cannot, and who did, make {them}; wherefore, to the Bees I restore the fruits of their labours.”

This Fable I should have passed by in silence, if the Drones had not refused the proposed stipulation.[33]

FABLE XIV.

ÆSOP AT PLAY.

An Athenian seeing Æsop in a crowd of boys at play with nuts,[34] stopped and laughed at him for a madman. As soon as the Sage,--a laugher at others rather than one to be laughed at,--perceived this, he placed an unstrung bow in the middle of the road: “Hark you, wise man,” said he, “unriddle what I have done.” The people gather round. The man torments his invention a long time, but cannot make out the reason of the proposed question. At last he gives up. Upon this, the victorious Philosopher says: “You will soon break the bow, if you always keep it bent; but if you loosen it, it will be fit for use when you want it.”

Thus ought recreation sometimes to be given to the mind, that it may return to you better fitted for thought.

[Footnote III.33: _The proposed stipulation_)--Ver. 17. It has been suggested that Phædrus here alludes to some who had laid claim to the authorship of his Fables, and had refused a challenge given by him, such as that here given to the Drones, to test the correctness of their assertions.]

[Footnote III.34: _At play with nuts_)--Ver. 2. It is thought by Schwabe that Phædrus wrote this Fable in defence of his early patron Augustus, against those who censured him for the levity of his conduct in his old age, as we learn from Suetonius that he amused himself with fishing, playing with dice, pebbles, or nuts with boys. --For some account of Roman games with nuts, see “The Walnut-tree,” a fragment of Ovid, in vol. iii. p. 491, of Bohn’s Translation of that author.]

FABLE XV.

THE DOG TO THE LAMB.

A Dog said to a Lamb[35] bleating among some She-Goats: “Simpleton, you are mistaken; your mother is not here;” and pointed out some Sheep at a distance, in a flock by themselves. “I am not looking for her,” {said the Lamb}, “who, when she thinks fit, conceives, then carries her unknown burden for a certain number of months, and at last empties out the fallen bundle; but for her who, presenting her udder, nourishes me, and deprives her young ones of milk that I may not go without.” “Still,” said the Dog, “she ought to be preferred who brought you forth.” “Not at all: how was she to know whether I should be born black or white?[36] However, suppose she did know; seeing I was born a male, truly she conferred a great obligation on me in giving me birth, that I might expect the butcher every hour. Why should she, who had no power in engendering me, be preferred to her who took pity on me as I lay, and of her own accord shewed me a welcome affection? It is kindliness makes parents, not the ordinary course {of Nature}.”

By these lines the author meant to show that men are averse to fixed rules, but are won by kind services.

[Footnote III.35: _To a Lamb_)--Ver. 1. Burmann suggests that this Fable is levelled against the cruelty of parents, who were much in the habit of exposing their children, who were consequently far from indebted to them. Schwabe conjectures that the system of employing wet-nurses is intended here to be censured.]

[Footnote III.36: _Black or white_)--Ver. 10. This, though disregarded by the mother, would be of importance to him, as the black lambs were first selected for sacrifice.]

FABLE XVI.

THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE OWL.

He who does not conform to courtesy, mostly pays the penalty of his superciliousness.

A Grasshopper was making a chirping that was disagreeable to an Owl, who was wont to seek her living in the dark, and in the day-time to take her rest in a hollow tree. She was asked to cease her noise, but she began much more loudly to send forth her note; entreaties urged again only set her on still more. The Owl, when she saw she had no remedy, and that her words were slighted, attacked the chatterer with this stratagem: “As your song, which one might take for the tones of Apollo’s lyre, will not allow me to go to sleep, I have a mind to drink some nectar which Pallas lately gave me;[37] if you do not object, come, let us drink together.” The other, who was parched with thirst, as soon as she found her voice complimented, eagerly flew up. The Owl, coming forth from her hollow, seized the trembling thing, and put her to death.

Thus what she had refused when alive, she gave when dead.

[Footnote III.37: _Pallas lately gave me_)--Ver. 13. The Owl was sacred to Pallas.]

FABLE XVII.

THE TREES UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THE GODS.

The Gods in days of yore made choice of such Trees as they wished to be under their protection. The Oak pleased Jupiter, the Myrtle Venus, the Laurel Phœbus, the Pine Cybele, the lofty Poplar Hercules. Minerva, wondering why they had chosen the barren ones, enquired the reason. Jupiter answered: “That we may not seem to sell the honor for the fruit.” “Now, so heaven help me,”[38] said she, “let any one say what he likes, but the Olive is more pleasing to me on account of its fruit.” Then said the Father of the Gods and the Creator of men: “O daughter, it is with justice that you are called wise by all; unless what we do is useful, vain is our glory.”[39]

This little Fable admonishes us to do nothing that is not profitable.

[Footnote III.38: _So heaven help me_)--Ver. 8. “Mehercule,” literally “By Hercules.” This was a form of oath used generally by men, and Phædrus has been censured for here putting it in the mouth of Minerva. Some Commentators also think that he is guilty of a slight anachronism in using the name of Hercules here to give emphasis to an asseveration; but there does not appear to be any ground for so thinking, as the choice must, of course, be supposed to have been made after his death and deification. In the Amphitryon of Plautus, Mercury is represented as swearing by Hercules before that God was born.]

[Footnote III.39: _Vain is our glory_)--Ver. 12. “Nisi utile est quod facimus, stulta est gloria.” This line is said to have been found copied on a marble stone, as part of a sepulchral inscription, at Alba Julia or Weissenburg, in Transylvania.]

FABLE XVIII.

THE PEACOCK TO JUNO.

A Peacock came to Juno, complaining sadly that she had not given to him the song of the Nightingale; that it was the admiration of every ear, while he himself was laughed at the very instant he raised his voice. The Goddess, to console him, replied: “But you surpass the {nightingale} in beauty, you surpass {him} in size; the brilliancy of the emerald shines upon your neck; and you unfold a tail begemmed with painted plumage.” “Wherefore {give} me,” he retorted, “a beauty that is dumb, if I am surpassed in voice?” “By the will of the Fates,” {said she}, “have your respective qualities been assigned; beauty to you, strength to the Eagle, melody to the Nightingale, to the Raven presages, unpropitious omens to the Crow; all of {these} are contented with their own endowments.”

Covet not that which has not been granted you, lest your baffled hopes sink down to {useless} repinings.

FABLE XIX.

ÆSOP’S ANSWER TO THE INQUISITIVE MAN.

When Æsop was the only servant of his master, he was ordered to prepare dinner earlier than usual. Accordingly, he went round to several houses, seeking for fire,[40] and at last found a place at which to light his lantern. Then as he had made a rather long circuit, he shortened the way back, for he went home straight through the Forum. There a certain Busybody in the crowd {said to him}: “Æsop, why with a light at mid-day?” “I’m in search of a man,”[41] said he; and went hastily homewards.

If the inquisitive fellow reflected on this {answer}, he must have perceived that the sage did not deem him a man, who could so unseasonably rally him when busy.

[Footnote III.40: _Seeking for fire_)--Ver. 3. Fire was kindled in general by being kept smouldering in a log under the ashes, from day to day, for culinary purposes; or else it was begged from a neighbour, as we learn from the Aulularia of Plautus, A. I., Sc. ii., l. 12 _et seq._; and so generally was this done that we find it stated in the Trinummus, A. II., sc. ii., l. 53, that it was the custom not to refuse fire when asked for even to an enemy.]

[Footnote III.41: _In search of a man_)--Ver 9. Meaning that he did not deem the enquirer to be a man. The same story is told in Diogenes Laertius, of Diogenes the Cynic.]

EPILOGUE.[42]

There are yet remaining {Fables} for me to write, but I purposely abstain; first, that I may not seem troublesome to you, whom a multiplicity of matters distract; and next, that, if perchance any other person is desirous to make a like attempt, he may still have something left to do; although there is so abundant a stock of matter that an artist will be wanting to the work, not work to the artist. I request that you will give the reward to my brevity which you promised; make good your word. For life each day is nearer unto death; and the greater the time that is wasted in delays, the less the advantage that will accrue to me. If you dispatch the matter quickly, the more lasting will be {my} enjoyment; the sooner I receive {your favours}, the longer shall I have the benefit {thereof}. While there are yet some remnants of a wearied life,[43] there is room for {your} goodness; in aftertimes your kindness will in vain endeavour to aid me, infirm with old age; for then I shall have ceased to be able to enjoy your kindness, and death, close at hand, will be claiming its due. I deem it foolish to address my entreaties to you, when your compassion is so ready, spontaneously, to render assistance. A criminal has often gained pardon by confessing; how much more reasonably ought it to be granted to the innocent? It is your province[44] {now to judge of my cause}; it will fall to others by-and-by; and again by a like revolution, the turn of others will come. Pronounce the sentence, as religion--as your oath permits; and give me reason to rejoice in your decision. My feelings have passed the limits they had proposed; but the mind is with difficulty restrained, which, conscious of unsullied integrity, is exposed to the insults of spiteful men. “Who are they?” you will ask: they will be seen in time. For my part, so long as I shall continue in my senses, I shall take care to recollect that “it is a dangerous thing for a man of humble birth to murmur in public.[45]”

[Footnote III.42: This and the following Prologue seem better suited to their present places than to the close of the Fourth Book, where in most of the editions they appear.]

[Footnote III.43: _Of a wearied life_)--Ver. 15. It is impossible to say with any certainty to what he refers; but the most probable conjecture is that he has again got into trouble through his compositions, and is begging Eutychus, in some public capacity, immediately to give a favourable decision in his behalf. That “Languens ævum” means a life worn out with misfortune, and does not refer to himself as sinking, in want, under old age, is evident from the next line. It has been conjectured by some that Phædrus wrote these lines in prison, where he had been thrown through the malice of his enemies.]

[Footnote III.44: _It is your province_)--Ver. 24. He is supposed to allude to some judicial position held by Eutychus, which he would have to vacate at the end of a year, and be succeeded by others, probably not so favourably disposed to himself.]

[Footnote III.45: _To murmur in public_)--Ver. 33. “Palam mutire plebeio piaculum est.” These words are quoted from the Telephus of Ennius.]