THE LIFE OF AESOP
Translated by Sir Roger L'Estrange
CHAPTER XIX
AESOP'S Voyage to DELPHOS; his barbarous
Usage there, and his Death
WHEN AESOP had almost taken the whole Tour of Greece, he went
to Delphos, either for the Oracle's sake, or for the sake of the
Wisemen that frequented that Place. But when he came thither,
he found Matters to be quite otherwise than he expected, and so
far from deserving the Reputation they had in the World for
Piety and Wisdom, that he found them proud and avaricious,
and hereupon deliver'd his Opinion of them under this Fable.
I find (says he) the curiosity that brought me hither, to be much
the Case of People at the Sea-side, that see something come hulling
toward them a great way off at Sea, and take it at first to be some
mighty Matter, but upon driving nearer and nearer the Shore, it
proves at last to be only a heap of Weeds and Rubbish. See Travellers
by the Sea Side, here.
The Magistrates of the Place took infinite Offence at this
Liberty, and presently enter'd into a Conspiracy against him to
take away his Life, for fear he should give them the same
Character elsewhere in his Travels, that he had done there upon
the Place. It was not so safe they thought, nor so effectual a
Revenge to make him away in private; but if they could so con-
trive it, as to bring him to a shameful End, under a Form of
Justice, it would better answer their Business and Design. To
which Purpose they caused a golden Cup to be secretly convey'd
into his Baggage, when he was packing up to depart. He was no
sooner out of the Town upon his Journey, but immediately pur-
su'd and taken upon the Way by th Officers, and charg'd with
Sacrilege. AEsop deny'd the Matter, and laugh'd at them all for
a Company of mad Men; but upon the searching of his Boxes,
they took the Cup and shew'd it to the People, hurrying him
away to Prison in the middle of his Defence. They brought him
the next Day into the Court, where notwithstanding the Proof
of his Innocence, as clear as the Day, he was condemned to die;
and his Sentence was to be thrown Headlong from a Rock, down
a deep Precipice. After his Doom was past, he prevailed upon
them, which much ado to be heard a few Words, and so told them
the Story of the Frog and the Mouse, as it stands in the Fable.
This wrought nothing upon the Hearts of the Delphians, but
as they were bawling at the Executioner to dispatch, and do his
Office, AEsop on a sudden gave them the slip, and fled to an Altar
hard by there, in hopes the Religion of the Place might have
protected him; but the Delphians told him, that the Altars of the
Gods were not to be any Sanctuary to those that robbed their
Temples; whereupon he took Occasion to tell them the Fable
of the Eagle and the Beetle to this following Effect:
A Hare that was hard put to't by an Eagle, took Sanctuary in a
Ditch with a Beetle. The Beetle Interceded for the Hare: The
Eagle flapt off the former, and devour'd the other. The Beetle took
this for an Affront to Hospitality, as well as to her Self, and so
meditated a Revenge, watch'd the Eagle up to her Nest, follow'd
her, and took her Time, when the Eagle was abroad, and so made a
shift to roll out the Eggs, and destroy the Brood. The Eagle upon
this Disappointment, Timber'd a great deal higher next Bout; the
Beetle watch'd her still, and shew'd her the same Trick once again.
Whereupon the Eagle made her Appeal to Jupiter, who gave her
leave to lay her next Course of Eggs in his own Lap. But the Beetle
found out a way to make Jupiter rise from his Throne; so that upon
the loosning of his Mantle, the Eggs fell from him at unawares,
and the Eagle was a Third time defeated. Jupiter stomach'd the
Indignity; but upon hearing the Cause, he found the Eagle to be
Aggressor, and so acquitted the Beetle.
Now says AEsop, (after the telling of this Fable) you are not
to flatter yourselves that the Prophaners of holy Altars, and the
Oppressors of the Innocent, shall ever escape divine Vengeance.
This enraged the Magistrates to such a Degree, that they com-
manded the Officers immediately to take AEsop form the Altar,
and dispatch him away to his Execution. When AEsop found that
neither the Holiness of the Place, nor the Clearness of his Inno-
cence was sufficient to protect him, and that he was to fall a
Sacrifice to Subornation and Power, he gave them yet one Fable
more as he was upon the Way to Execution.
There was an old Fellow (says he) that had spent his whole Life
in the Country without ever seeing the Town; he found himself weak
and decaying, and nothing would serve, but his Friends must needs
shew him the Town once before he died. Their Asses were very well
acquainted with the Way, and so they caused them to be made ready,
and turned the old Man and Asses loose, without a Guide, to try
their Fortune. They were overtaken upon the Road by a terrible
Tempest, so that what with the Darkness, and the Violence of the
Storm, the Asses were beaten out of the Way, and tumbled with the
old Man into a Pit, where he had only time to deliver his last Breath
with this Exclamation. Miserable Wretch that I am, to be destroy'd,
since die I must, by the basest of Beasts, by Asses. And that's my
Fate now in suffering by the Hands of Humanity or Honour; and act
that understand nothing, either of Humanity or Honour; and act
contrary to the Tyes of Hospitality and Justice. But the Gods will
not suffer my Blood to lie unrevenged, and I doubt not but that in
Time the Judgment of Heaven will give you to understand your
Wickedness by your Punishment. He was speaking on, but they
pushed him off headlong from the Rock, and he was dashed to
pieces with the Fall.
The Delphians soon after this, were visited with Famine and
Pestilence, to such a degree, that they went to consult the Oracle
of Apollo to know what Wickedness it was had brought these
Calamities upon them. The Oracle gave them this Answer, that
they were to expiate for the Death of AEsop. In the Conscience
of their Barbarity, they erected a Pyramid to his Honour, and it
is upon Tradition, that a great many of the most eminent Men
among the Greeks of the tragical End of AEsop, to learn the Truth
of the History; and found upon Enquiry, that the principal of
the Conspirators had laid violent Hands upon themselves.