Take Delight in, and frequent the Company of Good Men, for it will give you a Tincture of their Manners too.
Take heed of that Vulgar Error, of thinking that there is any Good in Evil. It is a Miſtake when Men talk of Profitable Knavery, or of Starving Honeſtly; for Virtue and Juſtice carry All that is Good and Profitable along with them.
Let Every Man mind his own Buſineſs, for Curioſity is Reſtleſs.
Speak Ill of No body, and you are no more to Hear Calumnies then to Report them: Beſide that, they that Practice the One, Commonly Love the Other.
Propoſe Honeſt Things; Follow Wholeſome Councells, and Leave the Event to God.
Let no man Deſpair in Adverſity, nor preſume in Proſperity, for All Things are Changeable.
Riſe Early to your Buſineſs, Learn Good Things, and Oblige Good Men; Theſe are three Things you ſhall never Repent of.
Have a Care of Luxury and Gluttony; but of Drunkenneſs Eſpecicially; for Wine as well as Age makes a Man a Child.
Watch for the Opportunities of doing things, for there's Nothing Well done, but what's done in Seaſon.
Love and Honour Kings, Princes and Magiſtrates, for they are the Bands of Society, in Puniſhing the Guilty, and Protecting the Innocent.
Theſe, or ſuch as theſe, were the Leſſons that Æſop read daily to his Son; but ſo far was he from mending upon Them, that he grew Every Day worſe and worſe, ſhewing that it is not in the power of Art or Diſcipline to Rectify a Perverſe Nature, or (as Euripides ſays) to Make a Man Wiſe that has no Soul. But however, according to Neveletus, he came ſoon after to be Touched in Conſcience for his Barbarous Ingratitude, and Dyed in a Rageing Remorſe for what he had done.
The Spring was now at Hand, and Æſop was preparing for the Task he had Undertaken About the Building of a Tower in the Air, and Reſolving All Manner of Questions: But I ſhall ſay no more of That Romantick part of the Hiſtory, then that he went into Ægypt, and Acquitted himſelfe of his Commiſſion to Amaſis with Greate Reputation. From thence back again to Labynetus, Laden with Honours and Rewards; from whom he got leave to Return into Greece; but upon Condition of Repaſſing to Babylon by the Firſt Opportunity.
