THE LIFE OF AESOP
Translated by Sir Roger L'Estrange
CHAPTER XVIII
AEsop's Letters of Morality to his Son ENNUS
UPON AEsop's coming agin into Favour, he had the King of
AEgypt's Letter given him to consider of, and advised Labynetus
to send him for Answer: That early the next Spring he should
have the Satisfaction he desired. Things being in this State, AEsop
took Ennus home to him again, and so order'd the Matter, that
he wanted neither Counsels nor Instruction, nor any other Helps
or Lights that might dispose him to the leading of a virtuous
Life, as will appear by the following Precepts.My Son (says he) worship God with Care and Reverence, and
with a Sincerity of Heart void of all Hypocrisy or Ostentation: Not
as if that divine Name and Power were only an Invention to fright
Women and Children, but know that God is omnipresent, true, and
almighty.
Have a care even of your most private Actions and Thoughts;
for God sees through you, and your Conscience will bear witness
against you.
It is according to Prudence as well as Nature, to pay that
Honour to your Parents, that you expect your Children should pay
to you.
Do all the Good you can to all Men, but in the first place to your
nearest Relations; and do no Hurt however where you can do no
Good.
Keep a Guard upon your Words as well as upon your Actions,
that there be no Impurity in either.
Follow the Dictates of your Reason, and you are safe; and have a
Care of impotent Affections.
Apply yourself to learn more, so long as there's any thing left
that you do not know, and value good Counsel before Money.
Our Minds must be cultivated as well as our Plants; the Improve-
ment of our Reason makes us like Angels, whereas the Neglect of it
turns us into Beasts.
There's no permanent and inviolable Good, but Wisdom and Virtue,
tho' the study of it signifies little without the Practice.
Do not think it impossible to be a wise Man, without looking sour
upon it. Wisdom makes Men severe, but not inhumane.
It is Virtue not to be vitious.
Keep Faith with all Men. Have a Care of a Lye, as you would
of Sacrilege. Great Babblers have no regard either to Honesty or
Truth.
Take delight in, and frequent the Company of good Men, for it
will give you a Tincture of their Manners too.
Take heed of that vulgar Error, of thinking that there is any
Good in Evil. It is a Mistake when Men talk of profitable Knavery,
or of starving Honesty; for Virtue and Justice carry all that is good
and profitable along with them.
Let every Man mind his own Business, for Curiosity is restless.
Speak Ill of no Body, and you are no more to hear Calumnies than
to report them: Beside that, they that Practise the one commonly
love the other.
Propose honest Things, follow wholesome Councels, and leave the
Event to God.
Let no Man despair in Adversity, nor presume in Prosperity, for
all Things are changeable.
Rise early to your Business, learn good Things, and oblige good
Men; these are three Things you shall never repent of.
Have a care of Luxury and Gluttony; but of Drunkenness
especially; for Wine as well as Age makes a Man a Child.
Watch for the Opportunities of doing things, for there's nothing
well done but what's done in Season.
Love and Honour Kings, Princes, and Magistrates, for they are
the Bands of Society, in punishing of the Guilty, and protecting the
Innocent.These, or such as these were the Lessons that AEsop read daily
to his Son; but so far was he from mending upon them, that he
grew every Day worse and worse, shewing that it is not in the
Power of Art or Discipline to rectify a perverse Nature, or (as
Euripides says) to make a Man wise that has no Soul. But how-
ever, according to Neveletus, he came soon after to be touch'd
in Conscience for his barbarous Ingratitude, and died in a raging
Remorse for what he had done.
The Spring was now at Hand, and AEsop was preparing for the
Task he had undertaken about the Building of a Tower in the
Air, and resolving all manner of Questions: But I shall say no
more of that romantick Part of the History, than that he went
into AEgypt, and acquitted himself of his Commission to Amasis
with great Reputation. From thence back again to Labynetus,
Laden with Honours and Rewards; from whom he got Leave to
return into Greece; but upon Condition of returning to Babylon
by the first Opportunity.