The Fables of La Fontaine
Samians were greatly frightened. An eagle carried off the public ring
(some seal apparently which was affixed to the proceedings of the Town
Council), and let it drop into the bosom of a slave. The philosopher
was consulted on the matter, both in his capacity as a philosopher
and as being one of the Republic. He asked for time, and had recourse
to his usual oracle, Æsop. The latter advised him to produce him in
public, since, if he succeeded well, the philosopher would have the
honour, and if he failed, he, Æsop, would alone bear the blame. Xantus
approved of this course, and presented him before the chief assembly of
the citizens. As soon as the Phrygian appeared, every one burst into a
fit of laughter; no one supposed that anything sensible could come from
the mouth of one so grotesquely formed. Æsop told them, however, that
they should not consider the fashion of the vase, but the liquor which
it contained; whereupon the Samians cried out to him to say without
fear what he thought of the prodigy. But Æsop excused himself on the
ground that he dare not. "Fortune," he said, "had raised a strife for
glory between the master and the slave. If the slave spoke badly, he
would be beaten; and if he spoke better than his master, he would still
be beaten." Upon this every one pressed Xantus to set the Phrygian
free. The philosopher obstinately resisted for some time; but at length
the provost of the town threatened to do so himself, in virtue of his
magisterial power. This had the desired effect, and Æsop was set free,
upon which he declared the Samians were threatened by this prodigy
with being reduced to a state of servitude, and that the carrying off
of their ring by the eagle was symbolic of a powerful monarch who was
desirous of subjugating them.
Shortly afterwards Crœsus, King of the Lydians, announced to the
Samians that if they did not become his tributaries, he would compel
them to do so by force of arms. The greater number were for obeying his
commands. Æsop told them that Fortune offered to men the choice of two
roads: the one, that of liberty, rough and thorny at the commencement,
but afterwards very pleasant; and the other that of slavery, which at
first was easy, but was afterwards very laborious. This was, in effect,
plain advice to the Phrygians to defend their liberties; so they
dismissed the monarch's envoy, unsatisfied as to his demands.
Crœsus at once made preparations to attack them, but was informed by
his ambassador that, as long as they had Æsop amongst them, he would
find it difficult to reduce them, such well-grounded confidence had
they in that person's wisdom. Crœsus accordingly sent to the Samians
to demand the Phrygian of them; declaring that, if they would give
him up to him, he would respect their liberty. The rulers of the
state regarded these conditions as advantageous, and thought that
the sacrifice of Æsop would be a cheap means of obtaining peace. The
Phrygian, however, made them change this opinion by telling them how
the wolves and the sheep, having made a treaty of peace, the latter
gave up their dogs as hostages. When they no longer had protectors,
the wolves were able to devour them with less trouble than formerly.
This fable had its effect, and the Samians then came to a resolution
precisely contrary to the one they had just adopted. Æsop, however, was
desirous of his own accord of going to Crœsus, and said that he could
serve them better if he were with the king than if he remained at Samos.
When Crœsus saw him, he was astonished that so mean-looking a person
had been such an obstruction to his plans. "What!" he cried, "see
what sort of a creature it is that has dared to oppose my will!" Æsop
prostrated himself, and said, "A man in pursuit of locusts happened to
catch hold of a grasshopper, and was about to kill it, when the insect
exclaimed to the man, 'What have I done that you should kill me? I
have not devoured your corn; I have done you no sort of harm. My only
peculiarity is a loud voice, of which I make a very innocent use.' Ah!
mighty monarch! I resemble that grasshopper. I only possess powers of
speech, and I have not used them to injure you." Crœsus, moved with
admiration and pity, not only pardoned Æsop, but left the Samians alone
on his account.
It was at this time that the Phrygian composed his fables, which he
left with the King of Lydia, when he was sent by the latter to the
Samians, who accorded him great honours. He then took it into his head
to travel about the world, and to hold high converse with those who
were generally regarded as philosophers; and at length it happened
that he obtained an exalted place in the esteem of Lycerus, King of
Babylon.[3] At this period kings were in the habit of sending to each
other problems to solve, on condition that certain tributes should be
paid, according as the questions were answered well or ill, on the one
side or the other; and in this sort of game Lycerus, by the assistance
of Æsop, rendered himself especially illustrious, whether as proposer
or answerer.
In the course of time Æsop married, and as no children came to him
he adopted a young man of noble extraction, named Ennus. The latter
rewarded this kindness by ingratitude, and was, indeed, so base as to
sully his master's bed. This having come to the knowledge of Æsop,
he drove the rascal from his house, and the latter, in order to be
revenged upon him, forged letters by which it was made to appear
that Æsop was in the pay of kings who were at enmity with Lycerus.
Lycerus, deceived by the apparent genuineness of the seals and
signatures appended to those letters, ordered one of his officers,
named Hermippus, without seeking any further proofs of the Phrygian's
treachery, to put Æsop to death. This Hermippus, however, being a
friend of Æsop's, saved his life, and secretly fed him for some time in
a sepulchre, until Necténabo, King of Egypt, believing in the report
of Æsop's death, thought that he should now be able to compel Lycerus
to become his tributary. He commenced provoking him by defying him to
send him a man who could build a tower in the air, and who could answer
all sorts of questions. Lycerus, having read these letters, and having
submitted them to the most able men of his kingdom, found that none of
them were prepared to give satisfactory answers, and deeply regretted
Æsop. Upon this Hermippus confessed his disobedience of orders, and
produced Æsop, who was very well received, and, having proved his
innocence of the charge against him, was most graciously pardoned.
As for the letter from the King of Egypt, he only laughed at it, and
directed Lycerus to reply that he would send the required architects
in the spring, and also one who could answer all sorts of questions.
Lycerus replaced Æsop in possession of all his property, and at the
same time delivered up Ennus to him, to deal with him as he pleased.
Æsop received the latter as though he had been his own son, and only
punished him by recommending him to honour the gods and his king; to
make himself feared by his enemies; to render himself useful to others;
to treat his wife well, but at the same time never to trust her with
his secrets; to speak little, and to avoid the company of babblers;
never to give way to misfortune; to have a care for the morrow,
since it is better to enrich one's enemies by one's death than to be
troublesome to one's friends whilst living; and, above all, never to be
envious of the happiness or the good qualities of others, since that is
but to inflict an injury on ourselves. Ennus, touched by this advice,
and by Æsop's goodness towards him, died soon afterwards, as though he
had been stabbed to the heart.
To return to Necténabo's challenge. Æsop procured some eagles, and
taught them (a difficult thing to do, but he did it) to carry each of
them a basket in which was a child, and when the spring-time had come,
he set off with them, to the great wonder of all the people whom he met
who had heard of his design. Necténabo, who had only sent his puzzle
because he had heard of Æsop's death, was greatly surprised as well as
greatly disgusted at seeing him. He asked Æsop, however, whether he
had brought the architects and the man who could answer all sorts of
questions. To which Æsop replied, that the latter was himself, and that
the architects should be produced at the proper place. They proceeded
to the open country, where the eagles soared up aloft with the
children, who cried out to those below to hand them up stones, mortar,
&c. "You see," said Æsop to Necténabo, "that I have brought you the
workmen; it is for you to supply them with the materials." Necténabo
acknowledged that in this Lycerus was the conqueror. He proposed,
however, this question to Æsop: "I have mares in Egypt which reply to
the neighings of the horses about Babylon. What may that mean?" The
Phrygian deferred his answer, and returning to his lodging, bade some
children take a cat and whip it along the streets. The Egyptians,
who worship this animal, regarded this as an extremely scandalous
proceeding, and snatching the creature from the children's hands,
went to complain to the king. The Phrygian was at once ordered to the
presence, and the king said to him, "Do you not know that this animal
is one of our gods? Why, then, have you had it treated in this way?"
"For an offence which he has committed against Lycerus," replied Æsop;
"for the other night it strangled an extremely courageous cock which
crowed at every hour." "You are a liar," replied the monarch; "how
could the cat have made so long a journey in so short a time?" "Just as
possible," rejoined Æsop, "as that your mares should hear our stallions
neigh at so great a distance."
After this the king had certain ingenious persons brought from
Heliopolis, and gave them a great banquet, to which the Phrygian was
invited. During the repast they proposed to Æsop various enigmas, and
this amongst others: "There is a vast temple supported on a column,
which is surrounded by twelve cities, each of which has thirty
buttresses, and around these buttresses walk, one after the other, two
women, the one white, the other black." "Such a question as that," said
Æsop, "is only fit for little children. The temple is the world; the
column is the year; the cities are the months; the buttresses are the
days; around which move, after each other, the day and night."
On the following day Necténabo assembled all his friends, and said to
them, "Is it to be borne that such a pigmy of a man, such an abortion,
should enable Lycerus to gain the prize and vanquish me?" One of them
then advised him to request Æsop to ask them questions about things
of which they had never heard. On this Æsop wrote out a memorandum,
according to which Necténabo acknowledged that he owed Lycerus two
thousand talents. The memorandum was placed sealed in Necténabo's
hands; and before it was opened Necténabo's friends declared that the
thing which he held in his hands was well known to them. When it was
opened, Necténabo exclaimed, "Behold the greatest falsehood that was
ever concocted! I take you all to witness!" "Certainly," they replied;
"we have never heard of such a thing." "Therefore," said Æsop, "I have
satisfied your demand." Upon this Necténabo dismissed Æsop, burdened
with presents both for himself and his master.
This residence of Æsop in Egypt may, perhaps, have been the origin of
the story that he was a slave there with Rhodope, who, by the aid of
the presents made her by her lovers, erected one of the three Pyramids
which still exist, and are regarded with such admiration. The legend
refers to the smallest of the three, but the one built with the most
skill.
Æsop, on his return to Babylon, was received by Lycerus with great