Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CCCCLV
Fab. CCCCLV.
Hercules and Pluto.
WHen Hercules was taken up to Heaven for his Glorious Actions, he made his Reverence in Course to all the Gods, 'till he came to Pluto, upon whom he turn'd his Back with Indignation and Contempt. Jupiter ask’d him what he meant by that Disrespect? Why,says Hercules, that Son of Fortune Corrupts the whole World with Mony, Encourages all manner of Wickedness, and is a common Enemy to all Good Men.
The Moral.
REFLEXION.
Mony has its Use ‘tis true; but generally speaking, the Benefit does not Countervail the Cares that go along with it, and the Hazzards of the Temptation to Abuse it. It is the Patron, and the Price of all Wickedness: It Blinds all Eyes, and stops all Ears, from the Prince to the very Begger. It Corrupts Faith and Justice; and in one Word, ’tis the very Pick-Lock, that opens the way into all Cabinets and Councils. It Debauches Children against their Parents; it makes Subjects Rebel against their Governors; it turns Lawyers and Divines into Advocates for Sacrilege and Sedition; and it Transports the very Professors of the Gospel into a Spirit of Contradiction and Defiance, to the Practices and Precepts of our Lord and Master. It is no wonder now that Hercules should so Contemptuously turn his Back upon Pluto, or the God of Mony; when the One’s bus'ness is to Propagate and Encourage those Monsters, which the other came into the World to Quell and to Subdue.