Page:Fables of Aesop.pdf/11

 An Old Man had many sons, who, in disregard of their father’s authority, had many quarrels. At last, called them together, he took a short bundle of sticks and desired them, one by one, to try and break it. They all tried in vain, the sticks being closely bound together. The father then untied the bundle, and gave a single stick to each of his sons, which they broke with great ease. ‘My sons,' said the old man, ‘if you keep conjoined in the bonds of love no one will can hurt you; but if brotherly ties are broke, you will easily be overcome. Discard is exceedingly odious among members of the same family. A Fox was one day strolling about at his ease, looking for something with which to amuse himself. At last he fell in with an actor’s mask, and ‘never having seen any thing of the kind before, he made a halt with the intention of giving it a proper examination. After having turned it over and over for some time, and seen that it was only a sham face, he threw it away with contempt, and was heard to say, 'Thou senseless thing, what noble part canst thou support? thou hast a head, but where are thy brains?Beauty without sense, is despicable; or, manners make the man.