Xll. INTRODUCTION. 



Fabulist. It would appear, according to some of these 

 relations, that ^Esop, originally a Shepherd's boy, had 

 risen from the condition of a slave, to great eminence, 

 and that he lived in the service of Xanthus and judman, 

 or Idmon, in the island of Samos, and afterwards at 

 Athens. Phcedrus speaks of him as living the greater part 

 of his life at the latter place, where, it appears, a handsome 

 statue, executed by the hand of the. famous statuary 

 Lysippus, was erected to his memory, and placed before 

 those of the seven sages of Greece.* He also notices 

 his living at Samos, and interesting himself in a public 

 capacity, in the administration of the affairs of that place; 

 where Aristotle also introduces him as a public speaker, 

 and records the fact of his reciting the fable of the Fox 

 and the Hedgehog, f while pleading on behalf of a minister, 

 upon the occasion of his being impeached for embezzling 

 the public treasure. .Esop is also mentioned as speaking 

 in a public capacity to the Athenians, at the time when 

 Pisistratus seized upon their liberties. J Upon each of 

 these occasions he is represented as having introduced a 

 Fable into his discourse, in a witty and pleasing manner. 

 He was holden in the highest veneration and esteem in 

 his day, by all men eminent for their wisdom and virtue. 

 It appears there was scarcely an author among the ancient 

 Greeks who mixed any thing of morality in his writings, 



* These sages were Solon, Thales, Chilo, Cleobulus, Bias, Pitta- 

 cus, and Periander, to whom Laertius adds Anacharsis, Maro, 

 Pherecydes, Epimenides, and Pisistratus. 



t "Ye men of Samos, let me entreat you to do as the Fox did; 

 for this man, having got money enough, can have no further 

 occasion to rob; but if you put him to death, some needy person 

 will fill his place, whose wants must be supplied out of your 

 property." 



The Fable of the Fox and the Hedgehog was applied by Themis- 

 tocles to dissuade the Athenians from removing their magistrates. 

 ~B. Boothby. 



The Fable of the Frogs desiring a King. 



