a 
‘ 4 
1803.] 
celebrity is the more valuable, fince they 
mult have furnifhed materials, and a mo~ 
del for imitation, to all fucceeding fabu- 
Rigs, <3. 
It has been judged, therefore, that the 
public will not receive with indifference an 
edition of thefe Fables, which (with thofe 
of Pilpay) may be confidered as the only 
original pieces of compofition of this {pe- 
cies, and of which the. Fables of Efop, 
molt of thole of Phadrus, and even many 
of La Fontaine, are only. tranflations and 
copies, 
It was among. the Oriental nations 
that apologues took their rife: in coun- 
tries in which princes were accuftomed, 
from their earlieft infancy, to the groffeft 
adulation, and where every throne was the 
feat of the moft delpotic authority, no one 
would have ventured to have declared the 
naked truth, and to have given undifguiled 
counfel to the power whofe fword, ful- 
pended over all, wouid have inftantly 
claimed the forfeit head of any rafh ad- 
vifer, who might wound the pride of the 
diadem. 
The fages and philofophers of the Eaft, 
therefore, had recour{e to the veil of alle- 
gory to involve their leffons of wifdom, 
and thusthe apologue was invented. Be- 
fides, the genius of the Oriental languages 
readily adapted itfelf to thefe fictions ; tor 
nothing could better accord with the ftyle 
of allegory, than a language highly figu- 
rative, and replete with metaphors, {uch 
as were employed, under different idioms, 
by all the people of the Eaft. 
Thus, too, we find the apologue ufed 
by the Hebrews, from the earlieft antiqui- 
ty, and in one their writings is preferved 
the Fable of the Trees and the Brambie, 
the moft ancient of any with which we are 
acquainted, 
_ ‘The name of Solomon is revered arnong 
the Eaftern nations, who have given him 
the title of .«€ the Father of True. Wif- 
_dom,”’and regacd him asa philofapher from 
whom nothing in nature was concealed, 
‘© from the lofty cedac of Lebanon to the 
humble hyffop on the wall.” The wri- 
tings of this Royal Sage are fuil of alle- 
_gories, parables, and fimilies, which, if 
they were more uniformly fupported, 
would form genuine apologues. 
A love for the allegorical ftyle is fill 
retained in the Ea(t, and the language i in 
common and daily ule admits of meta- 
_phorical phrafes, and figurative emble- 
_matical expreflions, which the teverity of 
“our European idioms would not veature 
_to employ. ’ 
; ¥ It is true, that Efop isnot a mere fic- 
ONTaHLXY Mac, No, 95. 
Nie co + ore the Weines of Lotman: 
507 
titious perfonage, at leat he mult eee ex= 
ifted long after Lokman. Plutarch, Sui- 
das, and Paufanias agree in placing Efop 
about the time of Croefus; King, of ¢(Ly- 
dia, and Solon, Legiflator of the Athenis 
ans, that is to fay, fome time. between the 
forty-fixth and fiity~fifth Olympiad. Now 
all the Oriental writers, both the Arabian 
and Perfian, neues agree in placing 
the life of Lokman 500 -years prior to 
that of Efop, at the fame period in which 
they alfo piace the reign of Dawud or 
David over the Hebrews, and Kaykaus 
and Kaykhofru over the Perfians. In 
this cafe, Lokman would be the origmal 
from whom Efop borrowed his apologues, 
asthe latter might eafily have come to the 
knowledge of the works of the Arabian 
Fabulift during the refidence which he is 
faid to have made inthe courts of different 
princes of Afia. - 
But the .opinion the moft eonevally, re- 
ceived, and which indeed is much more 
probable than the former, is, that Lok- 
manis the fame perfon, whom the Greeks, 
not knowing his real name, have. called, 
in their. own tongue, Atcwmos or Efopi a 
term derived from that of A:Siwxrs ox Ethi~ 
"pian, by a flight change, which often o¢- 
curs in a word whilit paffing from one di- 
aleét to another. Now Lokman was a 
Habe/hy, an AbyfMinian or Ethiopian flave; 
and the Oriental writers relate of him al- 
moft all the peculiar circumftances which 
have fince been attributed to Efop, and 
which may be found ia the various, Lives 
of this Fabulift. The following few par- 
ticulars concerning Lokman, taken. from 
the Oriental writers: will ferve to efiablifn 
his identity with Efop. 
Lokman was, as has been feen, of the 
race of thofe thick-Jipped and curled 
haired. Ethiopians, who were brougat 
from’ the interior of Africa as. flaves, 
and tran{ported to different countrics by 
way of merchandife. . It was his lot to 
ybe fold in Paleftine, under the reigns of 
‘David and Solomon. His corhmon oecu- 
pation was to.tend his, matters floeks, 
and in this indolent employment, which 
left nim ample time for meditation, heime 
proved. the,.gift of wifdom, which, the 
Orviental. writers aflure us, hereceived ‘from 
God, and compofed his apologues, .para- 
bles, and proverbial’ maxims, the number 
of which is faid to amount to-ten thou- 
fand. 
- Out of this prodigious. number of ins 
ftructive. works, which,-if united, would 
make a code of morality, traditionhas pre- 
ferved to us only a few fablesswhich the de~ 
ficugtive hand of Time has ipared, ond 
oe 3 thole 
