Fab. CCXLIX.
An Oxe and a Heifer.
A Wanton Heifer that had little Elſe to do then to Frisk up and down in a Meadow, at Eaſe and Pleaſure, came up to a Working Oxe with a Thouſand Reproaches in her Mouth; Bleſs me, ſays the Heifer, what a Difference there is betwixt your Coat and Condition, and Mine! Why, What a Gall’d Naſty Neck have we here! Look ye, Mines as Clean as a Penny, and as ſmooth as Silk I warrant ye. 'Tis a Slaviſh Life to be Yoak’d thus, and in Perpetual Labour. What would you give to be as Free and as Eaſy now as I am? The Oxe kept Theſe Things in his Thought, without One Word in Anſwer at preſent; but ſeeing the Heifer taken up a While after for a Sacrifice: Well Siſter, ſays he, and have not you Frisk’d fair now, when the Eaſe and Liberty you Valu’d your ſelf upon, has brought you to This End?
The MORAL.
REFLEXION.
THERE was never any thing gotten by Senſuality and Sloth, either in Matter of Profit or of Reputation, whereas an Active, Induſtrious Life, carries not only Credit and Advantage, but a Good Conſcience alſo along with it. The Lazy, the Voluptuous, the Proud, and the Delicate are Struck at in This Fable: Men that Set their Hearts only upon the Preſent, without either Entring into the Reaſon, or looking forward into the End of Things: Little Dreaming that all this Pomp of Vanity, Plenty, and Pleaſure, is but a Fattening of them for the Slaughter. 'Tis the Caſe of Great and Rich Men in the World; the very Advantages they Glory in are the Cauſe of their Ruine. The Heifer that Valu’d it ſelf upon a Smooth Coat, and a Plump Habit of Body was taken up for a Sacrifice; but the Oxe that was Deſpis’d for his Drudgery, and his Raw-Bones, went on with his Work ſtill in the Way of a Safe and an Honeſt Labour.
FAB.
