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Trees, Hammers, £f?c. are fuppos'd to fpeak. See Apo- logue.
Rational differs from the Moral Fable in this 5 that the former, though it be feign'd, might be true 5 but the the latter is impoffible $ as 'tis impoffible for Brutes or Stocks to fpeak.
Alix'd Fables, are thofe compofed of both forts, ratio- nal and moral ; or wherein Men and Brutes are introduced convcrfing together. Of this we have a fine Inltance, in c fuftin L.XXXIU. c.4-madebya petty King, to alarm the antient Gauls againil the Aiajjilians, who arriving out of Afta, in Spain, charra'd with the Place, beg'd leave of the Inhabitants to build a City.
'The 'Bitch and Shepherd., a Mix'd Fable.
A Bitch big with young, beg'd of a Shepherd, a Place to lay her Whelps in ; which when /he had obtain'd, /he further beg'd for leave to rear 'em in the fame. At length, the Whelps being now grown up, depending on the Strength of her own Family, /he claim'd the Property of the Place. So the MaJ/ilians who arc now only Strangers, will here- after pretend to be Matters of this Country.
As to the Laws of Fable, the principal are ; Firft, That to every Fable there be fome Interpretation annexed, to JTtew the moral Senfe, or Defign thereof. This Interpre- tation, if it be plac'd after the Fable, is called onrijwBjw, or affabulatio ; if before it, 'B-fe^ufW, fircefabulatio. idly, That the Narration be clear, probable, fhort and plea fan t. To preferve this Probability, the manners rauft be exprefs'd, and clofely kept to, as in Poetry. See Probability and Manners.
M. de la Motte, has fome fine Remarks on the Subject of Fables, at the Beginning of his Fables nouvelles, dedics an Roi 1 7 19. A Fable, according to this polite Writer, is a little Epic Poem ; differing in nothing from the great one, but in Extent, and in that being lefs confin'd as to the Choice of its Perfons, it may take in all forts at pleafure,as Gods, Men, Beafts, or Genii 5 or even, if occafion be, create Perfons, i. e. perfonify Virtues, Vices, Rivers, Trees, &c. Thus AT. de la Matte very happily introduces Virtue, Ta- lent, and Reputation, as Pcrlons making a Voyage toge- ther. See Epopea, and Personifying.
That Author fuggefts two Reafons, why Fables have pleas'd in all Ages and Places. The firft is, that Self-love is f pared in the Inftruclion. The 2 d , that the Mind is exercifed by the Allegory. Men don't love direct: Precepts $ too proud to condefcend to thole Philolophers whofeemto command what they teach j they will needs be inftrufled in a more hum- ble manner : They would never amend, if they thought that to amend were to obey. Add, that there is a fort of Acti- vity in the Mind, which mutt, be humour'd. It pleafes it felt in a Penetration, which difcovers more than is /hewn : and in apprehending what was hid under a Veil, fancies it felf in fome mealure the Author of it. The Fable muft always imply or convey fome Truth : in other Works, De- light alone may fumce; but the Fable mult inftruct:. ItsEf- fencc is to be a Symbol, and of confequence to fignify fomewhat more than is exprefs'd by the Letter. This Truth mould for the generality be a moral one; and a Se- ries of Fictions conceiv'd and compos'd in this View, would form a Treatife of Morality preferable to any more direct and methodical Treatife : Accordingly, Socrates, we are told, had a Defign to compofe a Courfe of Morality in this way. This Truth mould be concealed under the Allegory ; and in Stricrncfs, it ought not to be explained either at the Be- ginning or End.
The Truth, or Idea intended, mould arife up in the Reader's Mind from the Fable it felf. However, for the Convehiency of the lefs difecrning Readers, it may be a good way to point out the Truth or Moral in precifer terms. To have the Moral at the End of the Fable, feems much better than at the Beginning: The Mind is apt to be forettall'd in the latter Cale: I carry the Key all along with me, fo that there is no room to exercife my Mind, in finding any thing my felf.
The Image, AT. de le ATotte obferves, muft be yuft, and exprefs the Thing intended, dire&ly and without any jfcmiiyoeme : It mult be one, that is, all the Parts muft be viJibly acceffiiry to one principal end ■ and it mutt be natural* that is, founded on Nature, or at Icaft on Opinion.
afcrib'd to him. His Life, as wrote by flanudes, is it felf si thorough Fable- I E muft be own'd to be very happily smagin'd, to make the Inventor of Fables a. Slave, and his Walter a Philofopher. The Slave has his Mafters Pride, and ill Humour to deal with all, throughout. His Leffons were all contain'd in the Fables thciiifelves ; and the Readers were left the Fleafure of picking ihem out themfelves.
'Tis generally allow'd among the Learned, that tl-.o' the Matter and Invention of the Fables be JEjop's, the Turn and Expreffion is not. The Greek is of 'Flanudes, and bad Greek it is in the Judgment of F. Vavaffor, de Lu- dicra Ditl. Some Authors will have Socrates the Author of the Fables of JEfop ; others attribute them to Solomon, and others to Homer.
- Pbccdrus was a Slave too, and a freed-Man , but he had
the Advantage over JEfop in Education. He is only a Fa- bulift, as he tranflates and copies. Tho' his Fables be generally Ihort, yet is he prolix, compared to his Author. His Style however is always florid, his Defcriptions concife, and his Epithets fuitable : He frequently adds Graces ne- ver dreamt of by the Inventor 5 and every where enriches the Simplicity of JEJbp in the molt delicate manner.
'Philpai, another Pabulift, govcrn'd ludoftan a long time under a powerful Emperor : but he was not the lefs a Slave ; for the prime Miniftcrs of fuch Princes arc always more fo than the meaneft Subjects. 'Philpai compriz'd all his Po- liticks in his Fables; and accordingly hisWork long continued the Book of State ; or the Difcipline of Jndoftau. It was tranflated into 'Perflan and ArabicfiviA fince into the mo- dern Languages. His Fables, M. de la Motte obferves, are rather famous than good : but he is the Inventor, and the Merit of Invention will always compenlate for a deal of Faults. His Fables are often wild, and artlefs ; and the Collection is a fort of Romantic Affemblage of Men and Genii ; compofed, in its kind, like Cyrus or Orlando 5 where the Adventures are continually thwarting and clafhing with each other.
We fay nothing of the Fables of Gabrias, Sabrius, A- viemis, Abfiemins, &c.
Among the Moderns, we have none that deferve to be feen in the Company abovc-mention'd, but Meffi. de la Fon- taine, and Motte. The firft of whom has pick'd out all the beft things in JEfof, 'Phxdrus and 'Philpai, and given them a-new in French with a Delicacy and Simplicity peculiar to himfelf, and which in the Judgment of his Country-men, fets him even above Thtfdrus.
The latter, rather than take up with what de la Fontaine had left, chofe to be an Inventor himfelf. He has suc- ceeded. His Fables are many of them very happy, tho' fome think 'em too full of Thought and Reifoning. His Verfification is infinitely more correct than that of la Fon- taine ; and more fuitable to the Subjefl, than that of le Noble.
Fable, is alfo us'd for the <PUt of an Epic or Dramatic Poem • or the Atlion which males the Subject of lucb Poem, or Romance. See Poem, Drama, Eric and Ac- tion. v . „ , ,.
The Fable, according to Artftotle, is Ap;>yi ; *j "" "WCW /uBS©-, the principal Part, and as it were the Soul of a Poem. It muft be confider'd as the firft Foundation of the Com- pofition ; or the Principle, which gives Life and Motion to all the Parts. In this Senfe, the Fable is defined A 2>iJ- courfe invented with Art, to form the Manners by Infiruc- tions difguis'd under the Allegory of mi Atlion.
The Epic Fable, according to Soffit, is confin'd to the Rational kind, i.e. the Actors and Perfons are to be Gods and Men. And yet it admits of adeal ofLatitude : it may be either grave, illuftrious, and important ; or low, and popular: either whole, or defective: in vcrfc, or in profe : much epifodified, or brief : rehearfed by an Author, or re- prefented by Actors on the Scene 5 all which are only fo many Circumftances, which do not make any A-ltcration in the Na- ture and Effence of the Fable.
The Characters that fpecify the Epic Fable arc thefe : It is Rational and Probable ; it imitates a whole, and an im- portant Action ; and it is long, and related in Verle. None of which Properties affect the nature of the Fable ; or make it lefs a Fable than thofe of JEfop.
The Fable, according to Ariftotlc, confifts of two effen- tial Parts, viz. Truth, as its Foundation ; and Fiction, which difguifes the Truth, and gives it the Form of Fable. The Truth is the Point of Morality intended to be incul- cated : the Fiction is the Aition, or Words the Inftruftion is cover'd under.
To make a 'Plot or Fable : The firft thing, according to the great Critick juft mention'd, is to pitch on fome moral Inftruction to be exemplify'd.
E. gr. I would exhort two Brothers, or other Perfons who have fome common Intereft to live in Amity ; in order to preferve it. This is the end of the Fable, and the firft thing I have in view. In order to this, I endeavour to im- prefs this Maxim on their Minds, that ill Viiderftaiidivg ruins Families, and all kinds of Society. This Maxim is the Moral, or Truth which is to be the Ground of the Fa- ble : which mora! Truth is now to be redue'd into Action 5 and a general Action to be framed from feveral fingle and real Actions of fuch as were ruined by ill Underftanding.
Thus
