Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/52

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HEN Æop had allmot taken the Whole Tower of Greece, he went to Delphos, either for the Oracle ake, or for the ake of the Wie Men that Frequented the Place. But when he came thither, he found Matters to be quite otherwie then he expected, and o far from deerving the Reputation they had in the World for Piety and Widom, that he found them Proud, and Avaritious, and Hereupon Deliver'd his Opinion of Them under this Fable.

I find (ays he) the Curioity that brought me Hither, to be much the Cae of People at the Sea ide, that ee omething come Hulling toward them a great way off at Sea, and take it at firt to be ome Mighty Matter, but upon Driving Nearer and Nearer the Shore, it proves at lat to be only a heap of Weeds and Rubbih. See Fab. 189.

The Magitrates of the Place took Infinite Offence at this Liberty and preently enter'd into a Conpiracy againt him to take away his Life, for fear he hould Give them the ame Character elewhere in his Travells, that he had done there upon the Place. It was not o Safe they thought, nor o Effectual a Revenge to make him away in private; but if they could o contrive it, as to bring him to a hamefull End, under a Form of Jutice, it would better anwer their Buines and Deign. To Which Purpoe they caued a Golden Cup to be ecretly convey'd into his Baggage, when he was packing up to Depart. He was no ooner out of the Towne upon his Journy, But Immediately Purued and taken upon the way by Officers, and Charged with Sacrilege. Æop deny'd the Matter, and Laughed at them All for a Company of Mad Men; But upon the Searching of his Boxes, they took the Cup, and hew'd it to the People, Hurrying him away to Prion in the Middle of his Defence. They brought him the Next Day into the Court, Where Notwithtanding the Proof of his Innocence, as clear as the Day, he was Condemned to Dye; and his Sentence was to be Thrown Head-long from a Rock, Down a Deep Precipice. After his Doom was pat, he Prevailed upon Them, with much ado to be heard a few Words, and o told them the Story of the Frog and the Moule, as it tands in the Fable.