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    who all pass under the . name of gnomic . poet .- ? - —the Gorman cyclopedist proceeds to -give , an account of a more advanced form of didactic poetry ; , viz .,, the Fable , or Apolog-ne ¦( u-wAoyo c iiud Xoyoc ) . " The most ancient and Greek fables * ' * he say * , ¦' arc twoor three ascribed to Arehilochus and Stesichorus . and one found in llesiod . The most celebrated fables , " lie adds , / ' are those of iEsop , \ vlto lived in the age of Solon . They -were probably composed in prose . Socrates translated some of them into verse . They were collected in a body by Demetrius Phalareus , and a translation of them is said to have been made about the same time into elegiac verse . In the age of Augustus ' they were translated into the verse called choliarnbies , by 13 abrius . Tliis metrical version is supposed to have been the basis oH the modern copies which are in prose , and belongperhaps , more . properly to the subject of philosophy . "

    , Speaking of the didactic poets of the Alexandrine ag'e , the same learned writer remarks , that there were , after the ¦ capture of Corinth , B . C . 1-1-G , several writers belonging- to the didactic class , "but none of them of much celebrity : Among the principal were . Babrius , or Babrias , and Oppiau . The former lias been already mentioned , as author of a metrical version of the ' Apologues' of iEsop ; the latter wrote on fishing and hunting . " Oi iEsop himself he tells us , that he was a Phryg-ian , g-enerally supposed to have lived , at least 600 u . c . ; that he -was born a slave , and served different masters ; the last .-of whom , Jadman of Samoa , a philosopher , gave him his freedom . The other cirei . imstaiice . sof '

    his life are but imperfectly known , although they ai * e detailed with considerable fullness in the biography of him ascribed to Maximus Plaiiudes , a rnonk of Constantinople in the 11 th' . century ¦; upon which , however , little reliance can be placed . The same Planndes also collected and enlarged the fables of iEsop . never , probably , committed to writing by himself . They had been put into choliambic verse by Babrius ( improperly called Bivb ' ria « , and Gabrias ) , who lived in the -time of . Augustus . From this metre they were gradually reduced again to . prose , and received their present form from Plariudes . . treated the fable form of ' ¦ ' After him

    • Horace as _ a poetry . . , says Seholl , another German scholar , " Roman literature presents us with no fables until the reign of Tiberius . '' In his reign nourished Phsedrus , % yho [ received his freedom from Augustus . He was the principal author of fables among the Homans . " He had the merit of first makingknown to the Romans the fables of iEsop ; xiot that all his fables are translations , of those of the Phrygian philosopher ; but those which seeni to be properly his own , or of which , at least , we do not know the G-reeJc originals , are in the manner of iEsop . He is as original as JLa Fontaine , who , like Phdrus , borrowed the subject in a great number of his fabler . " "The next author ot fables in Latin verse , " adds iEsehenburg \ "is Flavius Avianus , who employed the elegiac metre instead of the iambic . Julius ¦ Titianus , who lived under Caracalla , wrote fables in prose , or rather translated into Latin prose the fables of Babrius .

    . Such is , iu the most concise form , what may be rc-garded as the orthodox belief on this subject previous to the treatment of it by Sir G . CV . Lewis . ZVIany , of course , will , as he anticipates , bo dissatisfied with his attempt . to fix the clato of JJabrms . But to Bueh ,. he says , that they Avill find no traces of his fables oarlieji 1 than the lunperor Juliaii , a oenturj' or more later ; who , in his Epistle LIX ., quotes a verso of the 3 : 2 nd Fable , v . 1 ., without the author ' s name . Tzetzes and Siutlas , alouo , the latest p f tho yranrmnrians , quote much from Babrius , previous to the finding ' of the present 3 ISS . ; and all that we can . arrive at , with any approximation to certainty , is , that Babrius lived hetween the close of tho first century after Christ and the age of Julian .

    A . manuscript o Babrius was discovered in IS 14 , by . M . Aunoidos Menas , alearned Greek , who was commissioned by M . Villotnain , Minister Public Instruction under Louis Philippe ; it was found , aijiongst other literary treasures , in tho oonvent of St . Laura , on Mount Athos . The copy was much damaged , and tho monks asked so high a price for it , that Menas declined to buy it , and could only convey a transoi'ipt of it to Paris ? which M . Villeinain placed in tho hands of M . Boissonado ( see Class . JVIus ., II ,, 4 X 3 ) , b y . whc-ni it waspublished in October , 1814 . Tho date of the MS . was supposed to bo of tho . tenth century . Sovoral other Continental editions followed on tho Parisian ^ Sir Q-, C . Lowis put forth his own—tho first edition of Babrius in England —in 1816 .

    For tho fublo itself Babvius traooa its origin to a romoto antiquity—to a highly pobtio ago ; in whioh mou oommunod with Naturo . aa «¦ kindred intolligonoe , and attributed speooh to plants and animals , not merely in literary notion but in religious uyliof , Hoar him—Babrius wo moan , — on tlu « point : — Ifc wns tho Q-oldon Ago , when every bruto l £ ud vpioo artioiiiato , in 8 i > oooh was skilled , And tho xaid-forosts with its synods flllod . Tlw tongues of rooks and pino-loaf then were froe j To ship and sailor then wouia speak tho soa j Sparrows with farmers would , shrewd talk maintain ; Earth gave all fruits , noi * asked for toil again . Mortals and gods wore wont to mix as fnouda .

    Tho birthplaoo of fablo was thon Paradise ; and , perhaps , wo blight ovon road Adam , for JBsop . Sir 0-. 0 , Lowia dovotos tiomo upaoo in his learned profaoo to an cviiialj'sifi of tho 7 I' ] sopian fablo . His objoot is to establish tho indigenous Groolc origin or this ola »« of oompositions from , a oonsidoratiou of its natural history . Babrius occasionally mentions animals of foreign extraction , and known only to the ' later Gi'oqlfs j but ohiolly introcluoos thoso only as olmraotorB wMqIvcvvo reooguised by tho oarliost traditionw

    of the 'iEsopiaii Fables . It was not until after tho revival of letters that the opinion obtained any credence that the pro . se . Esopiaii Fables were really those- of JE- ^ op . Nothing , ' avers Mr . . l ) avies , could be more manifestly unsound ; and he niaintains tlio European , origin of this class of notion . Of this gentleman ' s versiou it is . but fair that wo now proceed to give specimens or examples ; Indoing this we shall . subserve- also a . ¦ moral purpose . All , for instance , are not merely dry practical maxims , but there are aortic that aim at sentiment ainl beauty . Take , as a . u example , the fablu of' The Female « lave and Venus . " A man , enattiouv'd of his ugly slave , . An arrant slufc , to her , for asking , guvc Whate ' cr she would . Hence , as more gauds she wins , . And trails lino purple o ' er her slattern shins , At . wife and mistress she defiance ilings ; But Venus , as the cause of these good things * With lamps she fain would honour , and cacti day ; Make offering , supplicate , pay vows , and pray ; Till to her canio the goddess , in her sleep , And , while the house wa . 3 busli'd in slumber deep , Said , " Thank rue . not , aZ though I'd mule Ihe . s fair ; To him that thinks thec so , a bate I bear . Whoso in what is foul can beauty und , . Ig surely Grod-abhqrr'd , and halt in mind . " - The fabulist is not . always mindful of tradition , or . cl . iaiigO : it t . > suit his own convenience—as in the follow ing : — . JOVE'S CASK , Jove in a cask all blessings paek'd and bidj . . A . chai'ge for inan : but first secui'cd the . lid . Unbridled man , agog to Scan the gift Aiid its : contents , essay'd the top to lift . Released , each blessing mounted to tlie sky . And would i ^ o t" bide below , when free to fly . . Hope only , taified . Her the lid secured , When closed at last . And thus hath Hope endured In hurnan hoaies . In . her sole form we see Earnest of all the goodsj that then did flee . Hesiod ' s account of the matter is very different , llisi was probably an older , version- ~ of ¦ ¦ th e same story , according to winch Pandora ' s box was full of ills ; but in both versions Hope is left at the bottom . The change , however , of evils into blessings , in the more recent versions , illustrates the gradual amelioration ot the common creed . Here is a curious fable , agreeing with Horace , however , m-particulars , on Prometheus creating ! mm : iu beings— . PROMETHEUS AND MANKIND . Prometheus erst , when Jove the order spake , Proceeded men and brutes , 'tis said , to luuke . . But when Jore saw that beasts outnumbered men , He bade him niix some of tho brutes again , And fashion them into the human mould . ' The brutes into a lump Prometheus rolled . And form'd men of it , e ' en as Jovo desired . But , as for thoso so moulded , it transpired That in tho change they gained a human sha pe , Yet did not from their eni'lier mind escape : But kept that to'the end , whioh they began By sharing with the brutes and not with man . The next fable is well known , und contains a hit at tluit , -u ;) . ; - stition which in all times and places hi only too common : — THE HUSBANDMAN WHO HAD LO 3 T HIS MATTOCK . lVcnehing bis vineyard pneo a husbandman His mattock lost ; and to inquire bogan , If it had gone by any workman ' s thoft . But each denied . When no resoureo was left , To put them on their oaths , ho took thorn all Up to the oity . ' Tis our wont to call The country gods poor folks : but thoso who dwoll In walls , wo deem , aro true , and order well . Now in a fountain in tho forpgato street Tho party stay'd to rest , and washed their foot . Just then the crier rioh rewards was telling To him who'd show who robb'd tlio snored dwelling . The farmer hoard , and said , "My journey ' s viviul "If the god knows not , who lias robbed his fano , And but from men , for bribos , tho news rocoivos , How oan ho know , or find out , othor thiovos ?" Othors aro moro imaginative , and make u pootioul uefis of logoiului ' . r themes : — THE NIGl-HINaALB AND THE SWALLOW . Ear from nion ' s flolds tho swallow fortli had flown , Whon eho espied amid tho woodlands lone Tho nightingale , sweot songstress . Hov lumont Was Ifcys to his doom untimely sont . Kaoh know tho othor through tho mournful strain , Slow to embi'aoo , and in swoot talk remain . Then said tho swallow " Dearest , llv ' ufc thou still P Ne'dv have I soon thoo sinoo thy Tlimolan ill . Borne oruol Fate hath ovor oorao botwoon , ' Our virgin Hvos till no \ r apart have boon . Come to tho / lelds s roviait lioinod of mou : Como dwoll with mo , a comrade dear , again , Whore thou shalt ohaiun ( 1 « p swains , no uavntfo brood : Dwell near mon ' s ho . uuts , and quit tho opoii woyd i One roof , ono ohnrabor , sure , oan liouao thy t > vt >» Cv dost prefor tho niglitly iVozon dow ,

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    398 The Saturday Analyst and Leader . [ Ogt . 27 , 1860

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 27, 1860, page 898, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2371/page/10/