A Poetical Translation Of The Fables of Phaedrus With The Appendix of Gudius, And an accurate Edition of the Original on the opposite Page. To which is added, A Parsing Index For the Use of Learners. By Christopher Smart |
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XIII. | FABLE XIII. Esop playing. |
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A Poetical Translation Of The Fables of Phaedrus | ||
FABLE XIII. Esop playing.
As Esop was with boys at play,
And had his nuts as well as they,
A grave Athenian passing by,
Cast on the sage a scornful eye,
As on a dotard quite bereav'd—
Which when the moralist perceiv'd,
(Rather himself a wit profest
Than the poor subject of a jest)
Into the publick way he flung
A bow that he had just unstrung:
“There solve, thou conjurer, he cries,
“The problem, that before thee lies.”
The people throng—he racks his brain,
Nor can the thing enjoin'd explain.
At last he gives it up—the seer
Thus then in triumph made it clear.
“As the tough bow exerts its spring,
“A constant tension breaks the string;
“But if 'tis let at seasons loose,
“You may depend upon its use.”
And had his nuts as well as they,
A grave Athenian passing by,
Cast on the sage a scornful eye,
As on a dotard quite bereav'd—
Which when the moralist perceiv'd,
(Rather himself a wit profest
Than the poor subject of a jest)
Into the publick way he flung
A bow that he had just unstrung:
“There solve, thou conjurer, he cries,
“The problem, that before thee lies.”
The people throng—he racks his brain,
Nor can the thing enjoin'd explain.
At last he gives it up—the seer
Thus then in triumph made it clear.
“As the tough bow exerts its spring,
“A constant tension breaks the string;
115
“You may depend upon its use.”
Thus recreative sports and play,
Are good upon a holiday,
And with more spirit they'll pursue
The studies which they shall renew.
Are good upon a holiday,
And with more spirit they'll pursue
The studies which they shall renew.
A Poetical Translation Of The Fables of Phaedrus | ||