Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/129

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carriage that makes the Pretender Ridiculous. The Our-doing of a Great Man in his Own Way, Savours in ſome degree of Ill Manners, as it is upon the Main, a High Point of Indiſcretion. One man cakes it for an Affront to be Out-witted; Another to be Out-Fool'd, as Nero could not Endure to be Out-Fiddled; But in ſhort, be the Matter never ſo Great, or never ſo Trivial, 'tis the ſame Caſe as to the Envy of the Competition.

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Fab. LXXVI.

A Dog in a Manger.

A Churliſh Envious Curr was gotten into a Manger, and there lay Growling and Snarling to keep the Horſes from their Provender. The Dog Eat None himſelf, and yet rather Ventur'd the Starving his Own Carcaſe then he would ſuffer any thing elſe to be the Better for't.

The Moral.

Envy pretends to No Other Happineſs then what it derives from the Miſery of Other People, and will rather Eate Nothing it ſelfe then not Starve Thoſe that Would.

REFLEXION.

We have but too many Men in the World of This Dogs Humour; that will rather Puniſh Themſelves, then not be Troubleſome and Vexatious to Others. There's an Envy of Good Things too as well as of Good Men; but This Fable is ſo well known that it is Moralliz’d in a Common Proverb.

If ſome men might have their Wills the very Sun in the Firmament ſhould withdraw his Light, and they would ſubmit to Live in Perpetual Darkneſs Themſelves, upon Condition that the reſt of the World might do ſo for Company. Whatſoever their Neighbor Gets They Loſe, and the very Bread that One Eats makes T'other Meager: which is the Genuine Moral of the Fable. There is in this Malevolence, ſomewhat of the Punithment, as well as of the Spite, of the Damn'd: They take delight in Other Peoples Miſeries, and at the ſame Time are their Own Tormentors. This Diabolical Envy is Deteſtable even in Private Perſons; but whenever the Governing Patt of a Nation comes to be Tainted with it, there’s Nothing ſo Sacred that a Corrupt Supercilious Ill Natur'd Miniſter will not ſacrifice to This Execrable Paſſion. No Man ſhould Eat, Live, or Breath Common Air if He could Hinder it. ‘Tis the Bus'neſs of his Life, and the Delight of his Soul, to Blaſt all ſorts of Honeſt Men, and not only to Leſſen their Characters, and their Services, but to Range them in the Number of Publique Enemics: And he had Twenty times rather ſee the Government Sink, then have it thought that any hand but his Own ſhould have a Part of the Honour of Saving it. Now He that Betrays his Maſter for Envy, will never fail of doing it for Mony:For