Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable LXXIII

by Roger L'Estrange

Fab. LXXIII.

A Husbandman and a Stork.

A Poor Innocent Stork had the Ill Hap to be taken in a Net that was layd for Geese and Cranes. The Storks Plea for her self was Simplicity, and Piety: The Love she bore to Mankind, and the Service she did in Picking up of Venomous Creatures. This is all True, says the Husbandman; But They that Keep Ill Company, if they be Catch’d with Ill Company, must Expect to suffer with Ill Company.

The Moral.

'Tis as much as a man's Life, Fortune, and Reputation, are Worth, to keep Good Company (over and above the Contagion of Lewd Examples) for as Birds of a Feather will Flock together, so if the Good and the Bad be taken together, they must Expect to go the Way of All Flesh together.

REFLEXION.

This is to bid men have a care What Company they keep; for when the Good and Bad are Taken together, they must Go together. Not but that a man may lye under some Obligation of Duty and Respect, to Visit, Eat and Correspond with Many People that he does not Like. And This may be well enough Done too; provided it be out of Decency, Discretion, or Good Manners, rather then upon Choice and Inclination. We cannot Honestly let a Civil Enemy into a Town that’s Besieg'd, or hold any sort of Intelligence with him (though but in a Bare Curiosity) about the Affairs of the Garrison. Let a man Consider now, how much more, Dangerous, and Unwarrantable it is to take an Enemy into Our Souls, then into our Forts. With all Honour yet to a Brave Adversary, apart from his Cause.

'Tis the Fortune of many a Good Man to fall into Bad Company, and to be Undone by’t, and yet no way Guilty all this while, of the Iniquity of his Companions. The Letter of the Law Sweeps All in such a Case, without Distinction of Persons: To fay Nothing of the Shame and Dishonour of being taken up with Rogues and Felons; over and above the Lash of Publique Justice, and the Contagion of a Lewd Conversation, Shew me the Company (says the Adage) and I'll tell ye the Man. What would a body think now of a Prime Minister that should Conjobble Matters of State with Tumblers and Buffoons; Conferr Politiques with Tinkers and Carr-men? would not any man Judge their Souls to be of the same Standard and Allay? And that there were no mere betwixt them then Cross or Pile, which should be the Lord, and which the Scoundrel? Or, according to the Fable, which the Stork and which the Goose? For ’tis not the Purple, but the Virtue that makes a man of Honour; truly so call'd.