Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CLXX
Fab. CLXX.
Mercury and a Statuary.
MErcury had a Great Mind once to Learn what Credit he had in the World, and he knew no Better VVay, then to Put on the Shape of a Man, and take Occasion to Discourse the Matter, as by the By, with a Statuary: So away he went to the House of a Great Master, where, among Other Curious Figures, he saw several Excellent Pieces of the Gods. The first he Cheapen’d was a Jupiter, which would have come at a very Easy Rate. Well (says Mercury) and what’s the Price of that Juno There? The Carver set That a Little Higher. The next Figure was a Mercury, with his Rod and his Wings, and All the Ensigns of his Commission. Why, This is as it should be, says he, to Himself: For here am I in the Quality of Jupiter's Messenger, and the Patron of Artizans, with all my Trade about me: And now will This Fellow ask me Fifteen Times as much for This as he did for T’other: And so he put it to him, what he Valu'd that Piece at: VVhy truly, says the Statuary, you seem to be a Civil Gentleman, give me but my Price for the Other Two, and you shall e’en have That into the Bargain.
The MORAL.
REFLEXION.
'TIS an Old Saying, That Listners never hear Well of Themselves; and Mercury's Curiosity Sped accordingly in This Fable. All Vain Men that Affect Popularity, are apt to Fancy, that Other People have the same Opinion of Them,that they have of Themselves; but Nothing goes Nearer the Heart of ’em, then to Meet with Contempt, instead of Applause, Esteem, and Reputation. They Muster up All their Commissions and Charters; as Mercury Values himself here, upon the Relation he had to Jupiter; Whose Pimp he is, and What's his Bus'ness. He gives to Understand also what a Friend the Artizans had at Court, and All too Little, to Gain him the Respect, but so much as of a Common Messenger.