Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/460

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FABLES of ſeveral Authors.
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Fab. CCCCXXXIII.

Joy and Sorrow are near A-kin.

THere paſs'd a great many Bitter VVords once upon a time betwixt Joy and Sorrow; inſomuch that they Mov'd the Court upon it by Conſent, and made a Chancery Cauſe on't. Upon a Fair and a Full Hearing, the Judge found ſome colour of Equity on Both Sides, and would fain have made ’em Friends again. You ſhould confider, ſays he, how near y’are a-kin, and what a Scandal, 'tis to have theſe Heats and Squabbles among Relations: But all this went in at One Ear, and out at T'other: So that when he ſaw there was no to be done, he paſs'd this Sentence upon them, that ſince they would not go Hand in Hand Amicably of Themſelves, they ſhould be Link'd together in a Chain; and Each of them in his Turn ſhould be perpetually Treading upon the Heel of the Other; and not a Pin Matter then which went Foremoſt.

The Moral.

No Man is to Preſume in Proſperity, or to Deſpair in Adverſity for Good and Ill Fortune do as naturally ſucceed one another, as Day and Night.

REFLEXION.

It is the lot of Mankind to be Happy and Miſerable by Turns. The Wiſdom of Nature will have it fo 5 and it is exceedingly for our Advantage that ſo it ſhould be. There's nothing Pure under the Heavens, and the Rule holds in the Chances of Life, as well as in the Elements: Beſide, that ſuch an Abſtracted Simplicity, (if any ſuch thing there were,) would be neither Nouriſhing to us, nor Profitable. By the Mediation of this Mixture, we have the Comfort of Hope to ſupport us in our Diſtreſſes, and the Apprehenſions of a Change to keep a Check upon us in the very Huff of our Greatneſs and Glory: So that by this Viciſſitude of Good and Evil, we are kept ſteady in our Philoſophy, and in our Religion. The One Minds us of God’s Ommipotence and Juſlice; the Other of his Goodneſs and Mercy: The One tells us, that there’s No Truſting to our own Strength; the Other Preaches Faith and Reſignation in the Proſpect of an Over-ruling Providence that takes Care of us. What is it but Sickneſs that gives us a Taſte of Health? Bondage the Relliſh of Liberty? And what but the Experience of Want that Enhances the Value of Plenty? That which we call Eaſe is only an Indolency or a Freedom from Pains and there’s no ſuch thing as Felicity or Miſory, but by the Compariſon. 'Tis very true that Hopes and Fears are the Snares of Life in fome Reſpects; but then they are the Relief of it in others. Now for fear of the worſt however on either hand, every Man has it in his own Power by theForce