Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CXLVI
Fab. CXLVI.
A Miller Burying his Gold.
A Certain Covetous, Rich Churle Sold his Whole Estate, and put it into Mony, and then Melted down That Mony again into One Mass, which he Bury'd in the ground, with his very Heart and Soul in the Pot for Company. He gave it a Visit Every Morning, which it seems was taken Notice of, and Somebody that Obsery'd him, found out his Hoard one Night, and Carry'd it away. The Next day he missed it, and ran allmost out of his Wits for the Loss of his Gold. Well, (says a Neighbour to him) And what's All This Rage for? Why you had no Gold at all, and so you Lost None. You did but Fancy all this while that you Had it, and you may e'en as well Fancy again that you have it still,'°Tis but laying a Stone where you layd your Mony, and Fancying That Stone to be your Treasure, and there's your Gold again. You did not Use it when you Had it; and you do not Want it so long as you Resolve not to Use it.
The Moral.
REFLEXION.
We are never the better for the Possession of any thing. Barely for the Propriety sake, but ‘tis the Use and Application of it towards the Conveniences of Life, and the Comforts of Humane Society, that gives Every thing its Value. The Divine Goodness we see is perpetually at Work; Nature keeps-on her Course, and the Heavens shed their Influences without Intermission; and what's the Doctrine now of This Great Example, but that the Blessings of Providence, which are Common and Diffusive, ought not to lye Idle; and that Whoever Buryes his Talent, either of Understanding, or of Fortune, breaks a Sacred Trust, and Couzens Those that stand in Need on't. But we have a sort of sordid Wretches among us that had rather Cast their Silver and Gold into the very Mine again from whence it was Taken, or leave it at the Mercy of Thieves, and Common Hazzards, then that any Man Living should be the Better for't.