Every Man in this World has Two Wayes before him, That is to ſay, firſt, The Way of Liberty, that's Narrow and Rugged at the Entrance, but plainer and Smoother ſtill the further you go. Secondly, The Way of Servitude or Slavery, that ſeems to be Eaſie at firſt, but you'l find it afterwards to be full of Intolerable Difficulties. The Samians, upon Theſe Words, Declared themſelves Unanimously for Liberty, and that ſince they were at preſent Free, They would never make Themſelves Slaves by their own Conſent: So The Ambaſſadors Departed, and there was a War Denounced.
When Crœſus came to Underſtand the Reſolution the Samians had taken, and how Inclinable they were to a Complyance, 'till Æſop, by the Power only of a few words, Diverted them from it, he Reſolv'd to ſend for and Diſcourſe with Æſop. So He made an Offer to the Samians, upon their ſending Æſop to him, to put a Stop at preſent to the courſe of his Arms. When Æſop came to hear of their Propoſition, he told them That he was not againſt their ſending of him, Provided only that he might tell them One Story before he Left them.
In Old Time, (ſays he) when ſome Beaſts talked better Sence then Many Men do now a days, there happened to be a Fierce War betwixt the Wolves and the Sheep, And the Sheep, by the help of the Dogs, had rather the Better on't. The Wolves, upon This, offer'd the Sheep a Peace, on Condition only that they might have their Dogs for Hoſtages, The Silly credulous Sheep agreed to't, and as ſoon as ever they had parted with the Dogs, The Wolves brake in upon them, and Deſtroyd them at pleaſure. See Fab. 45.
The Samians quickly ſmelt out the Moral of this Fable, and cry'd out, One and All, that they would not part with Æſop: But this did not hinder Æſop however from putting himſelf abord, and taking a Paſſage for Lydia with the Ambaſſadors.
