Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CXXXVIII

by Roger L'Estrange

Fab. CXXXVIII.

Jupiter and a Serpent.

JUpiter had Presents made him upon his Wedding-Day, Greater, or Less, from All Living Creatures. A Serpent brought him a Roe in his Mouth for an Offering. The Thing was Acceptable enough, but not the Presenter; for (says Jupiter) though Gifts are Wellcome to me, of Themselves, I must not yet receive any from a Serpent.

The Moral.

He that receives a Present, Contracts an Obligation; which a Body would be Asham'd of in the Case of an Ill Man: for it looks toward making a Friendship with him.

REFLEXION.

A Good Man would not Willingly lye under any Obligation to a Person of a Lewd Character and Conversation; fer beside the Danger he Incurrs, it would not be for his Credit neither, where Presents are Scandals, and rather Snares then Benefits. 'Tis a kind of Incumbrance upon the freedom of a Generous Mind, to be debt to an Ill Man, even upon any Score whatsoever, that does but carry the face of Good Will, or Respet; for ’tis a Debt that a Man's both Asham'd and Weary of ’till 'tis paid off. He lives uneasily under the Burden of it, and Consequently, it is the Debt of All Others that ought first to be Answer’d. And there's Somthing more in’t yet too, which is, that when All Common Scores are made even, the Morality of the Obligation still remains; for there’s no Cancelling the Bonds of Honor and Justice. Kindnesses are to be paid in specie, as well as Mony. That is to say, there must be Affection in the Return, as well as Justice. Now as there can be No True Friendship betwixt a Good Man and a Wicked Man, there should be no Intercourse betwixt them that looks like Friendship, and therefore the Less Commerce the Better. As Jupiter, we see, would have Nothing to do with the Serpent.