The Fables of Phaedrus Part 9

THE FOX AND THE GRAPES.

Urged by hunger, a Fox, leaping with all her might, tried to reach a cl.u.s.ter of Grapes upon a lofty vine. When {she found} she could not reach them, she left them, saying: "They are not ripe yet; I don't like to eat them while sour."

Those who disparage what they cannot perform, ought to apply this lesson to themselves.

FABLE IV.

THE HORSE AND THE WILD BOAR.

While a Wild Boar was wallowing, he muddied the shallow water, at which a Horse had been in the habit of quenching his thirst. Upon this, a disagreement arose. The Horse,[7] enraged with the beast, sought the aid of man, and, raising him on his back, returned against the foe.

After the Horseman, hurling his javelins, had slain {the Boar}, he is said to have spoken thus: "I am glad that I gave a.s.sistance at your entreaties, for I have captured a prey, and have learned how useful you are;" and so compelled him, unwilling as he was, to submit to the rein.

Then {said the Horse}, sorrowing: "Fool that I am! while seeking to revenge a trifling matter, I have met with slavery."

This Fable will admonish the pa.s.sionate, that it is better to be injured with impunity, than to put ourselves in the power of another.

[Footnote IV.7: _The horse_)--Ver. 3. "Sonipes," literally "sounding-hoof." This was a name commonly given to the horse by the Romans. Lucan repeatedly calls a war-horse by this epithet.]

FABLE V.

aeSOP INTERPRETING A WILL.

I will show to posterity, by a short story, that there is often more merit in one man than in a mult.i.tude.

A Person, at his death, left three Daughters; one handsome, and hunting for the men with her eyes; the second, an industrious spinner of wool,[8] frugal, and fond of a country life; the third, given to wine, and very ugly. Now the old man made their Mother his heir, on this condition, that she should distribute his whole fortune equally among the three, but in such a manner that they should not possess or enjoy what was given them; {and} further, that as soon as they should cease to have the property which they had received, they should pay over to their Mother a hundred thousand sesterces. The rumour spreads all over Athens.

The anxious Mother consults the learned in the law. No one can explain in what way they are not to possess what has been given, or have the enjoyment {of it}; and then again, in what way those who have received nothing, are to pay money. After a long time had been wasted, and still the meaning of the will could not be understood, the Parent, disregarding the strict letter of the law, consulted equity.[9] For the Wanton, she sets aside the garments, female trinkets, silver bathing-vessels, eunuchs, {and} beardless boys: for the Worker in wool, the fields, cattle, farm, labourers, oxen, beasts of burden, and implements of husbandry: for the Drinker, a store-room,[10] well stocked with casks of old wine, a finely finished house,[11] and delightful gardens. When she was intending to distribute what was thus set apart for each, and the public approved, who knew them well; aesop suddenly stood up in the midst of the mult.i.tude, {and exclaimed}: "O! if consciousness remained to their buried father, how would he grieve that the people of Athens are unable to interpret his will!"

On this, being questioned, he explained the error of them all: "The house and the furniture, with the fine gardens, and the old wines, give to the Worker in wool, so fond of a country life. The clothes, the pearls, the attendants, and other things, make over to her who spends her life in luxury. The fields, the vines, and the flocks, with the shepherds, present to the Wanton. Not one will be able to retain possession of what is alien to her taste. The Ungainly one will sell her wardrobe to procure wine; the Wanton will part with the lands to procure fine clothes; and she who delights in cattle, and attends to her spinning, will get rid of her luxurious abode at any price. Thus, no one will possess what was given, and they will pay to their Mother the sum named from the price of the things, which each of them has sold."

Thus did the sagacity of one man find out what had baffled the superficial enquiries of many.

[Footnote IV.8: _Spinner of wool_)--Ver. 5. "Lanificam."

Working in wool was the constant employment of the more industrious among the females of the higher cla.s.s. Ovid, in the Fasti, Book ii., l. 742, represents Lucretia as being found thus employed by her husband and Tarquinius. The Emperor Augustus refused to wear any clothes that were not woven by the females of his family.]

[Footnote IV.9: _Consulted equity_)--Ver. 20. This seems to be the meaning of "fidem advocare:" but the pa.s.sage has caused considerable difficulty to the Commentators.]

[Footnote IV.10: _A store-room_)--Ver. 25. The "apotheca" was a place in the upper part of the house, in which the Romans frequently placed the amphorae in which their wine was stored. It was situate above the "fumarium," as the smoke was thought to heighten the flavour of the wine.]

[Footnote IV.11: _A finely finished house_)--Ver. 26.

"Politam" probably refers to the care with which the houses of the opulent in cities were smoothed by the workman's art. According to some Commentators, however, "domus polita" here means "a house furnished with every luxury."]

FABLE VI.

THE BATTLE OF THE MICE AND THE WEASELS.

When the Mice, overcome by the army of the Weasels, (whose History is painted in {our} taverns[12]), took to flight, and crowded in trepidation about their narrow lurking-holes, with difficulty getting in, they managed, however, to escape death. Leaders, who had fastened horns to their heads, in order that they might have a conspicuous sign for {their} troops to follow in battle, stuck fast at the entrance, and were captured by the enemy. The victor, sacrificing them with greedy teeth, plunged them into the Tartarean recesses of his capacious paunch.

Whenever a people is reduced to the last extremity, the high position of its chiefs is in danger; the humble commonalty easily finds safety in obscurity.

[Footnote IV.12: _In our taverns_)--Ver. 2. We learn from Horace and other ancient writers, that it was the custom to paint comic subjects on the walls of the taverns; and similar subjects have been found painted on walls at Pompeii.]

FABLE VII.

THE POET'S DEFENCE AGAINST THE CENSURERS OF HIS FABLES.

You, fastidious {critic}, who carp at my writings, and disdain to read trifles of this kind, endure with some small patience this little book, while I smooth down the severity of your brow, and aesop comes forward in a new and more lofty style.[13]

Would that the pine had never fallen on the summits of Pelion[14] under the Thessalian axe! and that Argus had never, with the aid of Pallas, invented a way boldly to meet certain death, {in the} s.h.i.+p which, to the destruction of Greeks and Barbarians, first laid open the bays of the inhospitable Euxine. For both had the house of the proud aeetes to lament it, and the realms of Pelias[15] fell by the guilt of Medea, who, after concealing by various methods the cruelty of her disposition, there effected her escape, by means of the limbs[16] of her brother, {and} here embrued the hands of the daughters of Pelias in their father's blood.

What think you of this? "This, too, is mere folly," say you, "and is an untrue story; for long before this, Minos, of more ancient date, subjected the aegaean seas with his fleet, and by seasonable correction, punished {piratical} attacks." What then can I possibly do for you, my Cato of a Reader, if neither Fables[17] nor Tragic Stories suit your taste? Do not be too severe upon {all} literary men, lest they repay you the injury with interest.

This is said to those who are over-squeamish in their folly, and, to gain a reputation for wisdom, would censure heaven itself.

[Footnote IV.13: _More lofty style_)--Ver. 5. "Cothurnis,"

literally "the buskins of Tragedy."]

[Footnote IV.14: _Summits of Pelion_)--Ver 6. The s.h.i.+p Argo was said to have been built of wood grown on Mount Pelion. The author alludes to the expedition of Jason to Colchis to fetch thence the Golden Fleece.]

[Footnote IV.15: _The realms of Pelias_)--Ver. 13. He alludes to the death of Pelias, King of Thessaly, through the schemes of Medea, daughter of aeetes, King of Colchis, at the hands of his own daughters. See Ovid's Metamorphoses, B. vii. l. 297, _et seq._]

[Footnote IV.16: _Limbs of her brother_)--Ver. 15. When, on her flight with Jason, aeetes pursued his daughter Medea, she, having taken with her her brother Absyrtus, in order to r.e.t.a.r.d her father in the pursuit, cut her brother in pieces, and scattered his limbs in the way. Thus, while the father was employed in gathering the limbs of his son, Medea made her escape. The place where this happened was thence said to have had the name of Tomi; and to this place Ovid was banished by Augustus. See the Story related in the Tristia of Ovid, B. iii. El. ix.]

[Footnote IV.17: _If neither Fables_)--Ver. 22. By "fabellae,"

he probably means aesopian fables, while by "fabulae," the more lofty stories of tragedy are meant. By "Cato," he means a censorious or over-scrupulous reader.]

FABLE VIII.

THE VIPER AND THE FILE.

Let him who with greedy teeth attacks one who can bite harder, consider himself described in this Fable.

A Viper came[18] into a smith's workshop; {and} while on the search whether there was anything fit to eat, fastened her teeth upon a File.

That, however, disdainfully exclaimed "Why, fool, do you try to wound me with your teeth, who am in the habit of gnawing asunder every kind of iron?"

[Footnote IV.18: _A Viper entered_)--Ver. 3. Lokman, the Arabian Fabulist, has the same fable; but there a Cat plays the part of the Viper.]

FABLE IX.

THE FOX AND THE GOAT.

As soon as a crafty man has fallen into danger, he seeks to make his escape by the sacrifice of another.

A Fox, through inadvertence, having fallen into a well,[19] and being closed in by the sides which were too high for her, a Goat parched with thirst came to the same spot, and asked whether the water was good, and in plenty. The other, devising a stratagem, {replied}: "Come down, {my} friend: such is the goodness of the water, that my pleasure {in drinking} cannot be satisfied." Longbeard descended; then the Fox, mounting on his high horns, escaped from the well, and left the Goat to stick fast in the enclosed mud.