the very ſame Inſtant) at the mercy or the men they moſt Deſpiſe. [The Silver, being Ten Thouſand Talents, is given to Thee (ſays Abaſuerus to Haman,) The People alſo, to do with them, as it ſeemeth good unto Thee, Eſther, Cap. 3. V. 11.] Who would have Imagin'd now, that the Stiff Croſsneſs of a Poor Captive, ſhould ever have had the Power to make Haman's Seat ſo Uneaſie to him? Or that the want of a Cap, or a Cringe, ſhould ſo Mortally Diſcompoſe him, as we find afterwards it did! If Large Poſſeſſions, Pompous Titles, Honourable Charges, and Profitable Commiſſions; If a Plentiful Iſſue, Court-Favours, or the Flowing Bounty of a Gracious Prince, could have made This Proud man Happy, there would have been Nothing wanting to his Eſtabliſhment. But All This did not do his Work, it ſeems; neither, as big as he was, did there in Truth, need any Great Matter to Unſettle him. But he was as ſure to ſink under the Infirmity of his Own Mind, as if he had been Doom'd to Sink in the Fate of a Common Ruine.
When Haman ſaw Mordecai in the Kings Gate, (ſays the Text) that he ſtood not up, nor Moved for hint, he was full of Indignation againſt Mordecai. Nevertheleſs, Haman Refrained himſelf, and when he came Home, he ſent and call'd for his Friends, and Tereſh, his Wife; and told them of the Glory of his Riches, and the Multitude of his Children, And All the Things wherein the King had Promoted him, and how he had Advanced him above the Princes and Servants of the King. Tea, Eſther the Queen (ſays he) did let no man come with the King unto the Banquet that ſhe had prepaid, but my ſelf; and to morrow am I Invited unto her alſo with the King [Yet All This Availeth Me Nothing, ſo long as I ſee Mordecai the Jew ſitting at the Kings Gate, Eſther, Cap. 5. V. 9. 10, II, 12, 13.]
This Inſtance of Haman's Caſe may ſerve, in a Good Meaſure, for a Moral to the Arrogance of the Horſe here in the Fable; only Haman's Pride was the more Invidious and Malicious of the Two. To Wind up the Story; Mordecai was an Eye-ſore to Haman, and a Gallows of Fifty Cubits High was prepar'd for him by the Order of Haman, Cap, 5. V, 14. But the King, upon Examination of the Matter, Order'd Haman Himſelf to be Hanged. [So they Hanged Haman upon the Gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai, Cap. 7. V. 10] Haman's Pride, in fine, was a Torment to him, and he was not only Puniſh'd By it, and For it, but by a Righteous Judgment of Retaliation, he ſuffer'd Death Himſelf upon the very Gibbet that he had provided for Another.
How Wretched a Creature was Haman now, even in the Careſſes of his Royal Maſter, and in the very Rapture of all his Glories! And how Vain again were All the Marks and Enſigns of his Character and Power; that were not able to ſupport him againſt one Slighting Look of a Sorry Slave! He had the World at Will, we ſee; but All was as good as Nothing to him, ſo long as he ſaw Mordecai the Jew ſitting in the Kings Gate. Where's the Sober Man now, that would not rather chuſe to be Mordecai in the Gate, upon Theſe Terms, than to be Haman in the Palace? The One had the Bleſſing of a Conſcience that Fears Nothing but God; the Other was Haunted with a Fantaſtical Weakneſs of Mind, that makes a man Dread Every thing, and ſtand in awe of his Own Shadow! A Word, a Thought, an Imagination, a Countenance is enough to Break his Sleep, and to Shake the very Foundations of the Babel that he has Built. He fanſies Every Bolt that's Levell'd at hisVices,
