Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CCXXIX

by Roger L'Estrange

Fab. CCXXIX.

Two Pots.

THere were Two Pots that stood near One Another by the Side of a River, the One of Brass, and the other of Clay. The Water overflow'd the Banks, and Carry’d them Both away: The Earthen Vessel kept Aloof from T’other as much as Possible. Fear Nothing, fays the Brass Pot, I'll do you No Hurt: No, No, says T’other, not willingly; but if we should happen to Knock by Chance, 'twould be the same Thing to Me: So that You and I shall never do well together.

The Moral.

Unequal Fellowships and Alliances are Dangerous. Not but that Great and Small, Hard, and Brittle, Rich and Poor, may sort Well enough together so long as the Good Humour Lasts; but wherever there are Men there will be Clashing some time or other, and a Knock, or a Contest Spoils All.

REFLEXION.

THERE an be no True Friendship, properly so Call’d but betwixt Equals. The Rich and the Poor, the Strong and the Weak will never agree together: For there's Danger on the One side, and None on the Other, and 'tis the Common Interest of All Leagues and Societies, to have the Respective Parties Necessary to One Another. And there needs no Ill Will, or Malice neither, to do the Mischief, but the Disparity, or Disproportion Alone is enough to do the Work. The same Quantity of Wine that makes One Man Drunk, will not Quench Another Man's Thirst. The same Expence that breaks One Man's Back is not a Flea-biting to Another: Wherefore, Men should sort themselves with their Equals; for a Rich Man that Converses upon the Square with a Poor Man, shall as certainly Undoe him, as a Brass Pot shall break an Earthen One, if they Meet and Knock together.