Fable II. The Adventures of Melesichthon

MElefichthoD, born at Megara, of an illustrious race among the Greeks, made it the whole fludy of his youth, to imitate in war the examples of his ancestors. he (ignalized his valour and tajents in several expeditions; and as all his inclinations were to magnificence, he there made fo sumptuous a figure, that he quickly run out his fortune; he was forced to retire to a country-house, upon the sea side, where he lived in a profound solitude, with his wife Proxinoe* she had wit, courage, and spirit; her beauty and birth had made her courted by matches, much richer than Me* lefichthon; but him she had preferred to all others, solely for his merit, these two persons, whose virtue and affedion, had made them naturally happy for a course of several years, began now to render themselves mutually unhappy, by the sympathy they had with each other. Melefichthon would have more easily supported his misfortunes, could he have fufTered them alone, and without a person who was fo dear to him. Proxinoe was sensible that /he increaf^d the

D l8 T H E A 2>V E N T V & B t pains of Meleiichthon: they drove to comfort themselves by two children, who seemed to have been formed by the Graces; the son was named Melibeos, and the daughter Poemenis. Melibeus, in a tender age» begun already to discover (Irength, address, and cott« rage; at wredling, running, and the other exerdfes^ he out-did the children of the neighbourhood; he would plunge into the fbrefts, nor were his arrows less sure than those of Apollo; he followed that god (Ull more in the fdences and liberal arts, than in the exerdfes of the body. MeleGchthon, in his retirement, taught him whatever can improve or adorn the mind, what* ever can make virtue beloved, or regulate the manners. Melibeus had a simple, mild, and ingenuous air, but noble, resolute, and bold: his father would cafl his eyes upon him, and his eyes would drown themselves in tears. Poemenis was inflru^ed by her mother in all the curious arts which Minerva hath given to men; (he added to the mod: exquisite handy-works, the charms of a voice, which she joined to a lyre, more moving than that of Orpheus; to behold her, one would have thought it was young Diana, just come forth from her native floating island; her flaxen trcfTes were negligently tied behind, some that had escaped, waved upon her neck in the wind; (he bad but a light garment, which a girdle tucked a little up, in order to be the fitter for adtion: without the foreign aid of ornament, she edipfed the moO; beau-

OtMBLIfllCHTHOM. X^ tifiil objedf> and yet she koewit not; (he had eren sever dreamed of beholding herself in a fountain; she saw none but her own san)ily, and thought of nothing but her work, but the father, overwhelmed with cares, and finding his affairs irretrievable, (baght nothing but solitude: his wife and children vere his constant rack; he would often walk along the shore to the foot of a huge rock, full of wild caves; there would he deplore his misfortunes, and then often enter into a deq^-winding vale, which a thick wood hid from the rays of the sun, in all his meridian power: he would fit down upon the turf, which bordered a cryfhd fountain, and all the melancholy thoughts would return in crouds into his mind; refrefliiitg deep was far from his eyes, he no longer Ipoke but in moans, old-age came before the time, to wither and wrinkle his face; he forgot even all the wants of life, and sunk down under his afflidion.

One day as he was in this deep valley, he fell asleep. through weariness and wade of spirits: then he saw in a dream, the goddess Ceres, crowned with gilded ears of com, presenting herself to him with a kind and majeffic countenance, wherefore, said she to him, calling him by his name, do you fu&r yourself to be deprefTed * by the rigours of fortune? alas! answered be, my friends Have forsaken me^ I have, no longer any fubflance, nothing remains to me, but creditors, and layr-suits; my Urth crowns my misfortune; I cannot bear the thought

-to T H 1 A D V E N T U E K p ' of working like a slave, in order to earn my living.

Then Ceres replied: doth nobility eonfift in po'f-' sessions? doth it not rather coniifl in imitating the Virtue of one's ancestors? there are none noble but such as are jufl. live upon little; earn that little by your labour; be a burden to no body; and you will be the Doblefl of men. mankind render themselves miserable by softness and false glory, if neceflaries are wanting to you, why would you owe them to any others than yourself? do you want courage to give them to yourself, by a laborious life?

She said; and forthwith presented to him a golden plough, with an horn of plenty, then Bacchus appeared, crowned with ivy, and holding a thyrfe in his hand, he was followed by Pan, who played upon the flute, and made Fauns and Satyrs dance around. Pomona next made her appearance, loaded vath fruits, and Flora bedecked with the liveliest and most fragrant flowers; ail the rural deities cast a favourable eye upon Melefichthon.

He awoke, conceiving the force and meaning of this divine dream; he felt himself cheared and full of tafle for ail the labours of a country life, he disclosed the dream to Proxinoe, who entered into all his fentiments. the very next day they difmifled all their useless servants; no longer w.is to be seen about them any do medics, whose sole employment was the service of their persons; they had now neither c&ariot, nor charioteer: Proxinoe with Poemenis spun as they tended their sheep; afterwards they made their webs and ftufis; then they cut and sewed their own doathsy and those of the rest of their family: in place of the works of silk, gold, and silver, which they had wont to make with the exquiiite art of Minerva, they now exerdled their fingers only at the spindle, or such like humble toils; they prepared with their own hands, the herbs which they gathered in their garden, for the food of the whole house; the milk of their flock, which they went and milked themselves, completed their plentiful chear; they bought nothing, all was prepared with propriety and ease: every thing was good, simple, natural, seasoned by appetite, infeparable from sobriety and labour.

In this rural life, every thing about them was clean and neat; all the tapestry was fold, but the walls of the house were white, nor was ought to be seen any where slovenly, or out of order; the furniture was never covered with dust; the beds were of fluffs, coarle, but decent; the very kitchen had a neatness, not to be found in great houses, every thing there was finely disposed and (hining. to regale the family on holidays, Proxinoe would bake delicious cakes; she had bees, whose honey was sweeter than that which flowed from the trunks of hollow oaks, during the golden age. the cows came of themselves to offer floods of milk; that laborious housewife had in her garden all the

0,es plants useful for the food of many io each {eason, and was always the^firfl to have the fruits and herbs m their refpedive times; (he had even a great many flowers, whereof (he fold a part, after having employed the odier in the adorning of her houie. the daughter fecooded the mother, and tasted.no other pleasure than that of singing while (he worked, or tended her flocks in the pastures; no other flock equalled hers, nor contagioo, nor wolves durst approach it; as flie fuog her tender lambkins danced upon the grass, and all the echoes around seemed to take pleasure in repeating her songs.

Melefichthon manured himself his field, himfeif drove his plough, himself sowed and reaped; he found the toils of agriculture less hard, more innocent, and more useful than those of war. scarce had he mowed the tender grass of his meadows, when he hasted to carry oflT the gifts of Ceres, which paid him an hundredfold his seed, quickly Bacchus distilled for him, a nedlar worthy of the table of the gods; Minerva gave him also the fruit of her tree, which is fo useful to man. winter was the season of rest, wherein the whole family aflembled, tasted an innocent joy, and thanked the gods for being fo disabused of false pleasures. they eat no meat, but in their facrifioes, and their flocks were destined solely for the altars.

Melibeus discovered scarce any of the paifions of youth; he tended the larger cattle, he felled great oaks in the foreib, he dug little canals to water the

OFMBLESfClfrHOII, 2} meadows, he was iodefatigaUe in eafiog his father; his pleafares, when labour was not in season, were hantingt ninning with young persons of his own age, and reading, <^ which his father had given him a taste.

In a Tery little time Melefichthon, by accufloming inmfelf to a simple life, found himself richer than he had been before; he had indeed only the necefTaries of ^9 but he had them all in abundance; he had little or DO fodety, but in his own family; they aU loTed one another, and rendered themselves mutually happy; they lived far from the palaces of kings, and from the pleasures that are bought fo dearj theirs were sweet, innocent, simple, easy to be found, and without any dangerous consequence. thus were Melibeus and Poemenis bred up in the tafle of rural toils; they remembred their birth, only in order to have the more courage in supporting poverty, plenty returning into that house, brought back no pride with it; the whole family were flill simple and laborious, when every body would be saying to Melefichthon, riches flow again upon you, it is time to reafTume your ancient splendor, he would make this answer, whether would you have me attach myself to the pageantry which was my undoing, or to a simple and laborious life, which hath rendered me rich and happy? at length, finding himself one day in that darksome woody where Ceres had instru^ed him by fo useful a clmnii he bid him down tipoa die gnfi,

Joy il ht hid had aogniih the tboe faefare. ke fil »- fUltpi and the goddeft appearing to laa, sis is fiirmar dreamt bespoke htm b these votdi:

conrifti in receiTuig Dothbg from aoj, good to othen • rtcmc, therefore, the fruitful womb of the earth, and

Ubour I beware of ever quittbg thrauglk SoBrndk or vain*gloryi what it the natural and innhanftWeibgce of ideniy.

AklSTEUS Af^D VtRGIL.