228 FABLES. 



APPLICATION. 



THIS Fable is recorded by Aristotle, who tells us 

 that ^Esop spoke it to the Samians on occasion of 

 a popular sedition, to dissuade them from deposing 

 their great minister of state, lest they might, in 

 getting rid of one who was already glutted with 

 their spoils, make room for a more hungry and 

 rapacious one in his stead. By this it would ap- 

 pear, that some ministers of state in ancient times, 

 instead of being guided by integrity and patriotism, 

 were intent only upon filling their own coffers, and 

 aggrandizing and enriching their own relations, 

 from the plunder of the people whose aifairs they 

 were entrusted with ; and that they considered them 

 as their prey, rather than their charge. A succes- 

 sion of such ministers, who can be countenanced 

 by weak monarchs only, is more calamitous to a 

 nation than plague, pestilence, and famine; for the 

 effects of their mal-administration do not end with 

 their wicked lives, but lay the foundation of ruin to 

 nations that would, under a patriotic government, 

 have been virtuous, great, and flourishing. 



