42 THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. 



withal grow old and feeble, it followed, that he was 

 only freed from the condition of mortality ; but for 

 old age, that came upon him in a marvellous and 

 miserable fashion, agreeable to the state of those 

 who cannot die, yet every day grow weaker and 

 weaker with age. Insomuch that Jupiter, in com 

 miseration of that his misery, did at length meta 

 morphose him into a grass-hopper. 



This fable seems to be an ingenious character or 

 description of pleasure, which in the beginning, and 

 as it were in the morning, seems to be pleasant and 

 delightful, that men desire they might enjoy and 

 monopolize it for ever unto themselves, unmindful 

 of that satiety and loathing, which, like old age, 

 will come upon them before they be aware. And so 

 at last, when the use of pleasure leaves men, the 

 desire and affection not yet yielding unto death, 

 it comes to pass that men please themselves only by 

 talking and commemorating those things which 

 brought pleasure unto them in the flower of their 

 age, which may be observed in libidinous persons, 

 and also in men of military professions : the one de 

 lighting in beastly talk, the other boasting of their 

 valourous deeds, like grass-hoppers, whose vigour 

 consists only in their voice. 



JUNO S SUITOR, OR BASENESS. 



The poets say, that Jupiter, to enjoy his lustful 

 delights, took upon him the shape of sundry crea 

 tures, as of a bull, of an eagle, of a swan, and of a 

 golden shower : but being a suitor to Juno he came 



