Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CCXXXVI
Fab. CCXXXVI.
A Lyon and Bulls.
THere were a Party of Bulls that Struck up a League to Keep and Feed together, and to be One and All in case of a Common Enemy. If the Lyon could have Met with any of them Single, he would have done His Work, but so long as they Stuck to This Confederacy, there was No Dealing with them. They fell to Variance at last among Themselves: The Lyon made his Advantage of it, and then with Great Ease he Gain'd his End.
The Moral.
REFLEXION.
THERE's No Resisting of a Common Enemy; No Maintaining of a Civil Community, without an Union for a Mutual Defence; and there may be also, on the Other Hand, a Conspiracy of Common Enmity and Aggression. There are Cases indeed of Great Nicety that fall under the Topique of the Right and Lawfulness of Joyning in such Leagues. He that is not Sui Juris, must not Enter into any Covenants or Contracts to the Wrong of his Master: But there are Certain Rules of Honesty, and Methods of Government, to Direct us in all Agreements of This Quality. A Thing simply Good in it self, may become Unjust and Unrighteous, under such and such Circumstances. In a Word, the Main Bond of All Bodies and Interests is Union, which is No Other in Effect then a Common Stock of Strength and Counsel Joyn'd in One. While the Bulls kept together, they were Safe; but so soon as ever they separated, they became a Prey to the Lyon.