IE S C H Y L U S, eicifesat his tomb ; upon which was infcribod the (ullowi. epitaph : "Jiylus, Kuphorion's Ton, whom Athens bore, Lies lure inteir'd, on GcL's fruitful Ihore. Tlv,- plains of Marathon his worth record, And heaps of Mecles that it 11 beneath 1m hvord [D]. Atyrp rpauoi T;... 3 A}.'t. :;^to .,<** - z .'t. i . .i,/, /E3OP, the Phrygian, lived in the time of Solon, ah the 50th Olympiad, under the reign of Crcefus the lall ki., of Lydia. As to genius and abilities, he was greatly indeU- td to uiture; but in other refpefls not fo fortuna:--, hn born a fUve, and extremely deformed. St. Jerome, fpc of him, fays, he was unfortunate in his birth, condition, and death; hinting thereby at his deloimity, fervile (late, anl tragical end. His go-at genius, however, enabled him to fupport his misfortunes ; and in order to alleviate the hard- {hips of fervitude, he compofcd thofe entertaining and in- itrudive fables, which have acquired him fo much reputation. He is generally fuppofed to have been the inventor of that kind of writing: but this is come (led by fever?.!, particularly Quintilian, who feems to think that Hefiod was the firir. nu-Q^nt. thor of fables. /Efop, however, certainly improved this art Critilll> ' w to a very high degree ; and hence it is that he has been ac- counted the author of this fort cf productions : jpus au&or quam materiarr. reperir, Hanc ego polivi verfibus fcnariis. Phasd. Prol. ad. lib. i. If any thoughts in thefe iambics fhine, Th' invention's /Efop's, and the verfe is mine. The firft mafter whom yEfop ferved, was one Csrafius De- Mc:L marchus, an inhabitant of Athens ; and there, in all pr. biiity, he acquired his purity in the Greek tongue. After him p r - ID Jj at he had one or two more matters, and at length came: under a philofopher named Xamhus. Jt was in his ti:- vice that he firft difplayed his genius : Xanthus being one 1 day walking in the fttlds, a garucner allied him why thofe plants, which he nurfcd with fo much care, did not thrive H i w 169648
