Truth in Fiction Or, Morality in Masquerade. A Collection of Two hundred twenty five Select Fables of Aesop, and other Authors. Done into English Verse. By Edmund Arwaker |
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| XXIV. | FABLE XXIV. The Fly and Ant:
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 | Truth in Fiction |  |
FABLE XXIV. The Fly and Ant:
Or, Calumny retorted.
A
Fly upbraids an Ant, compares their Race,
That Her's was Noble, and the Pismire's Base;
That She Aloft on active Wings did flie,
While T'other on the Ground did grov'ling lie:
That She in Courts convers'd; the Other Slave,
Born to Contempt, sculk'd in an humble Cave:
That She on Choice of costly Dishes fed;
The Other meanly far'd, and scarce had Bread:
She took no Pains to be thus nobly serv'd;
The Other, tho' a constant Drudge, was starv'd.
That Her's was Noble, and the Pismire's Base;
That She Aloft on active Wings did flie,
While T'other on the Ground did grov'ling lie:
That She in Courts convers'd; the Other Slave,
Born to Contempt, sculk'd in an humble Cave:
That She on Choice of costly Dishes fed;
The Other meanly far'd, and scarce had Bread:
She took no Pains to be thus nobly serv'd;
The Other, tho' a constant Drudge, was starv'd.
The Ant, the Meanness of her Birth confess'd;
But, with that Meanness pleas'd, averr'd it best:
The Vagrant Fly, she own'd, rov'd ev'ry-where,
But had no Being whither to repair:
While She a settl'd House-keeper was found,
And never stroll'd from her Paternal Ground:
Nor envy'd She the Fly's Ragoo's and Wine,
Who cou'd, more pleas'd, on Pulse and Water dine;
And was delighted with the Pains and Care
She took to get her self that homely Fare:
Whereas the Fly was Insolent and Rude,
Did into ev'ry Dish and Cup intrude;
The Emblem of detested Sloth was known,
That liv'd on other's Labour, not her own:
She was caress'd, commended, and belov'd,
And her Example by the World approv'd:
She never found her mean Provision scant,
And, as she ne'er Abounded, ne'er did Want:
But the unthrifty, idle, useless Fly,
In Winter wou'd be forc'd to Beg, or Die:
Tho' she was now too hot and haughty grown,
She then wou'd find her Courage cool'd, and down;
Then unregarded, and despis'd, wou'd fall,
As nauseous as her vile Original.
But, with that Meanness pleas'd, averr'd it best:
The Vagrant Fly, she own'd, rov'd ev'ry-where,
But had no Being whither to repair:
While She a settl'd House-keeper was found,
And never stroll'd from her Paternal Ground:
Nor envy'd She the Fly's Ragoo's and Wine,
Who cou'd, more pleas'd, on Pulse and Water dine;
314
She took to get her self that homely Fare:
Whereas the Fly was Insolent and Rude,
Did into ev'ry Dish and Cup intrude;
The Emblem of detested Sloth was known,
That liv'd on other's Labour, not her own:
She was caress'd, commended, and belov'd,
And her Example by the World approv'd:
She never found her mean Provision scant,
And, as she ne'er Abounded, ne'er did Want:
But the unthrifty, idle, useless Fly,
In Winter wou'd be forc'd to Beg, or Die:
Tho' she was now too hot and haughty grown,
She then wou'd find her Courage cool'd, and down;
Then unregarded, and despis'd, wou'd fall,
As nauseous as her vile Original.
The MORAL.
‘While Noisie Fools their own Indowments vaunt,‘And, in Contempt, upbraid their Neighbour's Want;
‘The Loose-tongu'd Blabs, who, without Wit or Fear,
‘Speak what they shou'd not, what they wou'd not, hear:
‘Recrimination do's their Malice foil,
‘And their Invectives on themselves recoil.
| Truth in Fiction | |