6 GREEK PHILOSOPHY. 



JEsop, " may be considered as in the nature of a real mother to that 

 which she brings forth out of her own bowels ; but she is only a step- 

 dame in the production of those plants that are cultivated and assisted, 

 nay, sometimes even forced under her care, by means of the sheer in- 

 dustry of another. It is natural for her to withdraw her nourishment 

 from the one, and to lavish her powers upon the other kind of plants." 

 .This solution of the gardener's question is said to have so delighted 

 him, that he not only refused to take money for the herbs that had 

 been bought, but welcomed JSsop to the produce of his garden in 

 future. 



Jsop had to bear with all the oppressions of slavery ; and many 

 anecdotes, of dubious authority, are told of this part of his life. He 

 is said to have interpreted an obscure inscription, which had utterly 

 foiled his master ; and, emboldened by his success, to have demanded 

 of him what reward he would offer, if he were to point out to him a 

 considerable hidden treasure ? " One-half of it and your liberty," said 

 Xanthus. Possessed of the property, however, the faithless Samian 

 conveniently forgot the conditions upon which he acquired it, and re- 

 turned to the defenceless -<Esop menaces and blows ; though he is said 

 to have been fearful lest he should betray the matter to king Dionysius, 

 who was entitled to the advantage of the discovery. On another oc- 

 casion, the wife of Xanthus having eloped from her husband, notwith- 

 standing the acerbity of her disposition, he was desirous of recalling 

 her, and ^Esop undertook the task of fulfilling his wishes. He pre- 

 pared a plentiful feast, and gave it publicly abroad, that his master's 

 first wife having separated from him, this entertainment was prepared 

 for a second marriage. The effect was as he had imagined, the lady 

 immediately ordered her chariot to be prepared, and returned to the 

 house of her husband. At another time Xanthus, in a moment of 

 inebrietv, had made a considerable wager that " he would drink the 

 sea dry," and, on becoming sober, applied to JEsop to extricate him 

 from the difficulty into which he had involved himself. " Sir," said 

 the slave, " be careful of Bacchus ; it is the humour of this god first to 

 make men cheerful, then to make them drunk, and lastly to make them 

 mad." He exhorted him, however, to take courage, and pursue his 

 advice. Xanthus, accordingly, appeared next day on the sea-shore, 

 attended by the man with whom he had made the ridiculous agree- 

 ment. "And now," said he, " am I ready to drink the sea dry, but 

 it is you who must first stop all the rivers which run into it." 



A circumstance, however, at last occurred, which not only liberated 

 beration. j SO p from his undeserved degradation, but so attracted the attention 

 of the Samians as to elevate him highly in the public esteem. He 

 appears, in this instance, to have been a little more wary in his com- 

 munications for the benefit of others, and determined to assert that 

 station in society for which his acute and comprehensive mind so ad- 

 mirably qualified him. In common with all the surrounding states in 

 this semibarbarous age, these people were strongly addicted to the 



