Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/126

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quel, We are likewiſe to take Notice that Juſtice is Sacred, and that No Provocation, eithcr of Inſolent Language, or Behaviour, can Warrant the Violation of it.

And it is further Suggeſted to us, that when People are in a Train of Wickedneſs, One Sin Treads upon the Heel of Another. The Eagle begins with an Invaſion upon the Rights of Hoſpitality, and Common Faith; and at the Next Step Advances to Sacrilege, in Robbing the Altar. And what follows upon it now, but a Divine Judgment, that ſets fire to her Neſt, and Avenges the Cauſe of the very Fox, though One of the Falſeſt of Creatures! From hence we are to Gather Thoſe Two Doctrines for our Inſtruction. Firſt, That the Miſdemeanors of Temporal Sovereign Powers are ſubjected only to the Animad verſion of the ſupreme Lord of the Univerſe. And ſecondly, That in the Caſe of Tyranny it is not for Private Men to pretend to any Other Appeal.

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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