Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CLXXXVIII
Fab. CLXXXVIII.
An Ant formerly a Man.
THE Ant, or Pismire, was formerly a Husband-man, that secretly Filch’d away his Neighbour’s Goods and Corn, and stor’d all up in his own Barn. He drew a General Curse upon his Head for’t, and Jupiter, as a Punishment, and for the Credit of Mankind, turn’d him into a Pismire; but this Change of Shape wrought no Alteration, either of Mind, or of Manners; for he keeps the same Humour and Nature to This very Day.
The MORAL.
That which Some call Good Husbandry, Industry and Providence, Others call Raking, Avarice, and Oppression: So that the Vertue and the Vice, in Many Cases, are hardly Distinguishable but by the Name.
REFLEXION.
WHEN Vicious Inclinations are brought once, by Custom, and Practice, to be Habitual, the Evil is Desperate, for Nature will be still True to her self, through all Forms and Difguifes. And Custom is a Second Nature. By the Poetical Fictions of Men turn’d into the Shape of Beasts, and Insects, we are given to Understand that they do effectually Make themselves so, when they Degenerate from the Dignity of their Kind: So that the Metamorphosis is in their Manners, not in their Figure. When a Reasonable Soul descends to keep Company in the Dirt with Ants, and Beetles, and to Abandon the Whole Man to the Sensuality of Brutal Satisfactions he forfeits his Peerage, and the very Privilege of his Character and Creation; for he's no longer a Man that gives himself wholly up to the Works of a Beast. Only one Word more now, upon the Judgment that Befell the Husband-man, which bids us have a Care of Avarice, Rapine and Oppression; for the Curse of Heaven Attends them.