whelp at a time since 't is a Lyon Said the brave Lioness a royal Babe It is thou hast but Cubs thou foul-mouth'd drab Mor. This as a certain rule be understood It matters not how many but how good What holds in wives may it not hold in any Thing else one good 's enough one bad 's too many FAB 42. Of the Wolf and the Lamb. A Wolf with harmless Lamb would please his gust He would doe that and yet he would seem just Erected a high Court did him indite That he of old had done him great despight Then said the Lamb that surely is not true For then before I was I hurt did doe My grass you eat Lamb wasn't so much an Ass But he could say I 've no teeth to eat grass You drink my water with words soft as silk He said may 't please you I drink naught but milk Though by your words you innocent appear Said th' wolf I am resolv'd to have good chear Mor. Who Innocents are minded to abuse Them in the first place study to accuse Of no small crimes to justifie the same Are much concern'd to ruine their good name Though all be false they spread reproaches thick Throw dirt enough think they something will stick FAB 43. Of the two Cocks that fought one with another IT is a common thing for Cocks to fight One with another Hens have not less spight But want their courage time was two Cocks fought One with the others Hen would needs be naught Cock the Whore-master Chanc'd for to prevail Which made the honest cock himself bewail For to appear abroad he thought unmeet Cause he a Cuckold was and also beat The conquering Cock scorn'd to abide below From the House-top did 'ore the conquer'd crow Clapping his wings great insolency when He did both tread the cock and tread his hen Then a great Eagle with a mighty force Came down upon him bid him take his course Help himself as he could out of his claw How he abus'd the conquer'd cock he saw He 'd give him to his young ones for to eat A lusty Cock with Bacon is good meat The Cuckold cock all these things saw and heard His Rival gone himself was not affraid For to appear and own his ravish'd hen Over his conquer'd foe he triumph'd then Mor. When thou dost prosper be not Cock on hoop O're others time may come when thou mayst droop The upper spokes come down the lower rise No man's at once both insolent and wise An Eagle may have thee at a bad lock And punish wrongs done to a shiftless cock FAB 44. Of the Calf and the Hind WAs not the Hind a Calf whom calves did jear That he the little dogs would dread and fear The dogs are less and have no horns to fight Withall said they why should the dogs thee fright Thou art more swift hast better feet than they And come the worst to th' worst canst run away Though this be true Nature has me so made Said he that when dogs bark I am affraid Mor. Though they in bulk and strength exceed yet scarce Cowardly natures will make sons of Mars FAB 45. Of the Bee and Jupiter THe waxie Bees with honey Jove presented He them a good reward if but contented With reason meant to give ask what you will Said he that 's just I 'le your request fulfil It seems they thought revenge as honey sweet And did ask more revenge than Jove thought meet Jove is a God that hates revenge and strife They said who steals our honey take his life But Jove has love for men and for their lives Won't have them die meerly for emptying hives Showing his great dislike of what they said Rather than so this good law shall be made Said he if ye sting men and loose your sting Thereby I 'le with your death avenge the thing Mor. Some to themselves procure an evil fate Whilst spightfully they others imprecate FAB 46. Of the Flie. A Flie into a mess of pottage fell How to get out again he could not tell To put a good face on 't he thought was best And so he pass'd it over with a jeast Having so eat so drunk so bath'd to die I 'm well content said he worms take the fly Now he 's good meat and fat as e're he 'l be You 'l wish him now if when you 're well you see Mor. Ne're seem hard things too much to heart to take Always the best of a bad Market make FAB 47. Of the young man and the Swallow A Wastful Heir had brought himself to lack All necessaries but cloaths to his back Seeing one Swallow fly the time of year He guess'd from thence and said Summer was near I 'le sell my cloaths said he his cloaths he sold 'T was not mid-winter yet prov'd very cold Swallow soon after came that way again He had undone him th' young man did complain And himself too the cold had almost kill'd him Thenceforth to serve him so no more he will'd him Mor. Who would conclude a war seeing one Drummer One Swallow as they say don 't make a Summer Such a poor inference Reason would have thwarted But a fool and his money are soon parted FAB 48. Of a Woodman A Woodman fell'd a tree which did grow nigh A River dedicate to Mercury His axe did chance to fall into the River He pray'd to Meercury it to deliver Then Mercury brought an Axe of pure gold made This yours said he 't was none of his he said A silver axe he brought in the next place To say that that was his h' had not the face Then take them both for yours said Mercury I love thee well because thou wouldst not lye Another Woodman confident did waxe By this into the River threw his axe Of his lost Axe he sadly did complain Pray'd Mercury to help him to 't again Mercury was like Mall-cut-purse in my mind It seems he could not only hide but find Then Mercury brought him an axe of gold To say that that was his he did make bold Thou a gold Axe said he thou shalt have none Who what was none of thine didst call thine own Mor. As Poets feign ' mongst Numens there are ods Mercury was none of the most honest Gods Yet he rewarded vertue and a Lye Was here discountenanc'd by Mercury Few men so wicked are such Gods are none Who wickedness in others won't disown FAB 49. Of the Hares and the Frogs THe Hares were melancholy as a Cat Men Eagles dogs pursu'd them it was that That every body was their enemy So troubled them they 'd drown themselves and die As they came by some Frogs did leap in first 'T was Cowardice not courage that they durst Scar'd with the noise one wiser than the rest Said to the Hares follow 'em we had not best For what we thought we find not true to be That of all creatures most distress'd are we We do fear men and eagles and mad
AESOP Improved OR Above three hundred and fifty FABLES MOSTLY AESOP'S With their MORALS Paraphrased in English VERSE Amounting to about one hundred and fifty more than do appear to have been so rendered by any other Hand LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheapside near to Mercers-Chappel and at the Bible on London-Bridge under the Gate 1673. THE PREFACE TO THE READER T Is commonly acknowledged by learned men that Aesops Fables or the Book so called is one of the wisest as well as pleasantest moral books of its bigness in the world It was so generally read in old time as that it became a Proverb when they would say such a one was a very Idiot or Ignoramus to say to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is thou hast not yet read Aesop That it is commonly read in Grammar Schools ought to be taken for no disparagement to it seeing the like may be said of Tullie's Offices a book of so profound wisdome that a famous Privy Counsel-Ior to Qu. Elizabeth is said to have always carried it about him Men and children may read the same books but for different ends and purposes Men may read those books for their Profundity which Children read for their pleasantness Or men may read the same books for their Solidity wisdome and Judgment which is in them which children are taught meerly for their fancy stile and language Doubtless the famous Oglesby had never provided so elaborate a Translation for but one hundred and twenty Fables or thereabouts or found encouragement to print but such a number in two volumes with excellent Sculptures at a very great charge and price if notwithstandlng the seeming prostitution of that book to the use of children it had not had a very great esteem amongst the wiser sort of mankind I am bold to say it is not beneath the wisest and best man in the world to read Aesops Fables Else why are they frequently quoted by one of the greatest Oracles for Learning and wisdome that ever England if not the world had viz. the Lord Verulam in his Essayes and other of his excellent writings Moreover I could give instance of several Fables which as their own Morals do construe them Ex Gr. Fab. 194. and Fab. 218. are of a very pious and religious import as almost all the rest are very grave prudent and sober and thence it was that I have presumed to say it would not misbecome or dishonour the best as well as the wisest man in the world to read what Aesop has written It has been said that though a person by the name of Aesop was doubtless the Author of some of those Fables which go by his name yet that the book which we call Aesop's Fable though they were not all his is a kind of System or Pandect of the choicest Observations of several Ages delivered to the world by way of Fables Certainly Aesop's Fables is a book not only to be read and contemplated but to be followed and practis'd and may serve to guide and govern our civil domestical and political affairs in many cases as the Marriners compass doth direct his Steerage and conduct his voyage Give me leave to say that a due observation of some few Fables in this little book I mean a due compliance with the wise directions therein given had preserved divers individual persons and not only persons but Families not only Families but kingdomes and nations from those courses which have proved to be their ruine Socrates that great Morall Philosopher who in the judgment of Apollo was the wisest man on earth but a little before his death translated one or more of Aesops Fables into Greek verse All which things consider'd no mans Profession can be too grave solemn or sacred to permit him the reading translating or improving of Aesops Fables Yet I my self I think should hardly have done it had I not been constrained to concern my self for some time with the education of youth and thereby invited to it both for their advantage and my own diversion True it is that Mr. Oglesby hath helpt the world to a Translation of some part of Aesops Fables which is incomparably good for such as can reach the sense and price of it but certainly to understand so lofty a Poem as that is requires a better capacity and more skill in Poetical phrases and Fictions than the generality of those who are willing to read Aesop's Fables are endowed with And doubtless the price of his two excellent Folio's upon Aesop doth as much exceed most mens purses as the Style and language thereof doth their capacities Moreover there are not above one hundred and thirty two Fables of that excellent Translation whereas the book which is now in thy hand containeth about three hundred and fifty I have turned the same number of Fables into Latine Hexameter and Pentameter If that version by a tollerable acceptance of this shall receive encouragement to come forth into the world I purpose that the numbers of both of them shall exactly answer each to other that with so much more ease and expedition they may be read together by such as shall desire it The Advantages which I have aim'd at in turning Aesops Fables into verse are first to fix the contents thereof more indelibly upon the minds and memories of such as shall read them common experience shewing us that it is easier for men to be sure for children to remember Metre than Prose For that reason I suppose it was that Lilly and several other Grammarians have put divers of their Rules into Verse Secondly To insinuate the excellent sense and grave counsels therein contain'd into the minds of old and young with more delight and pleasure As for the Morals of each Fable I have generally kept to those which are annex'd to the Fables in Latine as seeming to be most authentick but where I found any moral as I thought short and defective I have taken the liberty to add to it where dark and obscure I have laboured to explain it and where I found the same Morals repeated over and over I have presented thee with some variety which I hope may render the work more profitable than it would otherwise have been as the putting of it into metre with some little admixture of humour and fancy at leastwise attempted was designed to render it more pleasant This is generally printed as correctly as other English books are but here and there a fault has escap'd the press which hath perverted the sense and is such as I am heartily asham'd of for which the best amends I could make thee was to put such mistakes into a Table of Errata where thou mayst see them corrected I hope a small Apology may serve for having brought in Aesop at several turns speaking like one of us or according to the English mode and dialect or using Expressions and Allusions much more novel and modern than was the
not imp her wings Whereby for to escape those fatal things Which did hang over her unhappy head The next news was by th' halter she was dead As she went to 't you frustrate Gods decrees Said one you can't avert man's purposes Mor. There 's mighty odds this Fable serves to shew 'Twixt what some say and what those folks can do FAB 89. Of the Travellers AS two were travelling upon the road Fortune an Axe on one of them bestow'd I 've found an Axe said he say we have found An axe his fellow said that did redound Unto his disadvantage as he thought His fellow Traveller should go halves for nought Soon after there did come a hue and cry Charg'd him that found the axe with felony Then the Axe finder said we are undone Do not say we said t' other thou alone Didst find and take the Axe it will not do For to cry we better one smart than two Mor. This for a certain rule is always ta'ne They won't go half in loss that don 't in gain FAB 90. Of the two Frogs Two Frogs were feeding one in a deep pond Who of the other Frog seem'd very fond Which in a small plash fed on the high way Come over to my pond said she I say That is more safe there comes no cart nor coach Which may endanger you by its approach At her advice she would not change her plash Then came a waggon crusht her all to mash Mor. Some have an eager love to their own home There they 'l encounter mischief if it come Homes home though homely as the proverb sayes Frogs will keep there if bred in the high ways Who gives us good advice makes us his debtour But some will never change though for the better FAB 91. Of the Bee-master ONe that kept Bees to be out of the way Occasion had whilst he from home did stay There came some liquorish thieves and rob'd the Hives The master mourn'd like men that loose their wives At his return into the hives did look Whose empty cells him with great sorrow struck Stung him almost to death made him cry out You Bees you Wasps pray how came this about You let him go who honey came to steal On me your friend yo 've rais'd a woful wheal Or blister like an Epispastick plaister Although you know full well I am your master Mor. Great mischief comes of too much jealousie Never suspect when you can't show cause why FAB 92. Of the Kings Fisher A Melancholy sort of Birds there be Kings-Fishers call'd which do dwell in the Sea No wonder if those birds be male-content That never are in their own element For fear of being caught they build their nest In Rocks and fly to Sea lest they be prest Upon a high Rock one of them brought forth Her young but found that refuge nothing worth For though so near the firmament they lay A swelling Sea did sweep them all away When she saw that how did she rage and curse Saying I fear'd the land but th' Sea is worse Mor. Who trust and fear transpose come to such ends There are who trust their foes and fear their friends FAB 93. Of the Fisherman A Fisherman encompass'd had a stream With his Spread-Net on every side 't should seem Then plung'd the waters with a hugy stone To scare the Fish he might catch every one Whilst they fly from this danger they will fall Into my net thought he I shall have all He made one down right angry who liv'd near That he should mud the waters which were clear He could have no clear waters with his meat I must or mud the waters or not eat The Fisherman repli'd the fish to slaughter There 's no such fishing as in troubled water Mor. In peace some cannot live they long for war Such Fishermen Souldiers of fortune are Some promote factions you must understand They must divide or they cannot command Some long for broils whom interest doth instave As boys for winds that they may wind falls have FAB 94. Of the Ape and the Dolphin SAilers had wont to carry Apes to Sea That merry in their voyage they might be One sailing with an Ape was sadly wrackt His tackling and his Vessel hugely crackt The Passengers to save their lives did swim As for the Ape what shall become of him His master thought but he at the same rate With others swam can all things imitate A loving Dolphin see how he mistook Upon him as a little man did look Be pleas'd said he to get upon my back Since other ways for to escape you lack Since of mankind you may my help command I doubt not but to bring you safe to land Said he to Athens do you appertain Then th' Ape himself did an Athenian feign Nobly descended when that he said so Good Sir said he Pyraeeum do you know Pyraeeum was a road for ships but he Pyraeeum thought some Nobleman to be Then said the Ape my good acquaintance is Pyraeeum and my noble friend I wiss 'T was a loud lye the Dolphin knew 't was so A lye won't choak thee what the Sea can do I 'le try the Dolphin said duckt him i th' Sea Forthwith as dead as a drown'd mouse was he Mor. Some shallow men think others to deceive More knowing than themselves whom make beleive Their lies they never can when found to ape What they are not they hardly do escape Their utmost fury who hate to be cheated An Ape when known will like an ape be treated Fain would an Ape seem an Athenian One while another while a noble man But ten to one some great absurdity Will bring to light his gross hypocrisie FAB 95. Of Mercury and the Statuary HOw men esteem'd him Mercury would know Desir'd a Statuary him to show Jove's Statue and how he could it afford 'T would cost a groat he told him at a word How rate you Juno's Statue next said he He said that that would something dearer be But all this while Mercury was not known Because in humane shape not in his own Then he did ask how sell you Mercury His Statue thereunto he did reply Only the price I ask'd before shall do 't Pay me for t'other two take that to boot Mor. Thus it doth oft vain glorious men befall They get no credit whilst they fly at all Who vie with Jove and Juno and so forth Find others think them persons of no worth FAB 96. Of Mercury and Tiresias FOr a great Prophet old Tiresias went And therefore Mercury to try him meant In order thereunto he stole his Cow When that was gone he 'd see if he knew how Came to his house after that he had stole His Cow and seem'd his loss for to condole Tiresias meant to conjure for his Cows When Mercury it was his lot to house He made it his request to Mercury For to afford him his good company Then out they went together to espy What they could learn by