321
THE
FABLES
OF
Poggius.
Fab. CCCLII.
Industry and Sloth.
ONe was asking a Lazy Young Fellow what made him lye in Bed ſo long? Why (ſays he,) I am hearing of Cauſes every Morning; that is to ſay, I have Two Laſſes at my Bed-ſide ſo ſoon as ever I wakes. Their Names are Induſtry and Sloth; One bids me get up; 'tother bids me lye ſtill; and ſo they give me Twenty Reaſons why I ſhould Riſe, and why I ſhould not. 'Tis the part in the mean time of a Juſt Judge to hear what can be ſaid on Both ſides; and before the Cauſe is over, 'tis time to go to dinner.
The Moral.
We ſpend onr Days in Deliberating what to do, and we end them without coming to any Reſolution.
REFLEXION.
This Fable docs naturally enough ſet forth an Expoſtulation betwixt Reaſon and Appetite, and the Danger of running out our Lives in Dilatory Deliberations, when we ſhould rather be Up and Doing. In all theſe Caſes, 'tis odds that the Paradox carries it againſt the true Reaſon of the Thing; for we are as Partial to our Corruptions, as if our Underſtanding were of Councel for our Frailties, and manage Diſputes of this kind, as if we had a Mind to be overcome. The Sluggard’s Caſe in this Fable is the Caſe of Mankind in all the Duties of a Virtuous and a Well-Govern'd Life, where Judgement and Conſcience calls us one Way, and our Luſts hurry us another. We ſpend All our Days upon Frivolous Preliminarics, without ever coming to a Reſolution upon the Main Points of our Buſineſs. We will, and we will not, and then we will not again,and
