Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable XLV
Fab. XLV
A League betwixt the Wolves and the Sheep.
THere was a Time when the Sheep were so Hardy as to Wage War with the Wolves; and so long as they had the Dogs for their Allies, they were, upon all Encounters, at least a Match for their Enemies. Upon This Consideration, the Wolves sent their Embassadors to the Sheep, to Treat about a Peace, and in the Mean Time there were Hostages given on Both Sides; the Dogs on the part of the Sheep, and the Wolves Whelps on the Other Part, 'till Matters might be brought to an Issue. While they were upon Treaty, the Whelps fell a Howling; The Wolves cryed out Treason; and pretending an Infraction in the Abuse of their Hostages, fell upon the Sheep immediately without their Dogs, and made them pay for the Improvidence of leaving themselves without a Guard.
The Moral.
REFLEXION.
To take This Fable in a Political Sense; a Peace that puts People out of Condition of Defence, in case of a War, must expect a War; and such a State as leaves them at the Mercy of an Enemy, is Worse then War it self. There's no Trusting to the Articles and Formalities of an Out-side Peace, upon the pretended Reconciliation of an Implacable Enemy. Christian Religion bids us Forgive: But Christian Prudence bids us have a Care too, whom we Trust. 'Tis just in the World as it is in the Apologue. Truces, and Cessations, are both Made, and Broken, for Present Convenience; and where the Allies find they may be the Better for't, we may lay down this for an undoubted Truth, that there can never want a Colour for a Rupture, where there's a Good Will to't. 'Tis No New Thing ing in the World for the Dogs that are to keep the Wolves from Worrying the Sheep, to bedeliver'd up to the Enemy for Hostages, for fear the Sheep should Worry the Wolves. This was our very Case within the Memory of Man, when Matters were brought to the same Issue in the Kingdom by't, that they are here in the Fable: Witness the several and several Treaties and Proposals that were let a foot under the Countenance of a Good Will to Peace: Where only such Conditions were insisted upon by the Designing Party, as would be almost Equally Destructive to all Honest Men, whether they were Granted or Refused. The One Way the Wolves were to have the Sheep left at Mercy; and the Other Way, the Scandal was turn'd upon the Refusers, as the Enemies of an Accommodation; Nay and the very Dogs were turn'd into Wolves too; while Lawyers, and Divines, made the Law and the Gospel Felons of themselves, and suborn'd the Scriptures against the very Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles,