Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/216

---

---

Manners, and ſo we make a ſhift in ſome ſort to Legitimate the Abuſe. In Jupiter's appointing theſe Frauds, we read the Power of Humane Frailty that Diſpoſes us to Entertain them: For we are Falſe enough by Nature without any need of Preſcription.

---

Fab. CLXXXIV.

Jupiter and Modeſty.

MAN was made in ſuch a Hurry (according to the Old Fable) that Jupiter had forgotten to put Modeſty into the Compoſition, among his other Affections; and finding that there was no Way of Introducing it afterwards, Man by Man, he Propos’d the turning of it Looſe among the Multitude: Modeſty took her ſelf at firſt to be a Little hardly Dealt withal, but in the End, came over to Agree to't, upon Condition that Carnal Love might not be ſuffer'd to come into the ſame Company; for wherever that comes, ſays ſhe, I’m Gone.

The MORAL.

Senſual Love knows neither Bars nor Bounds. We are all Naturally Impudent; only by Cuſtom, and Fig-leaves, we have teen taught to Diſguiſe the Matter, and Look Demurely; and that's it which we call Modeſty.

REFLEXION.

THE Extravagant Heats and Tranſports of Lovers, and Voluptuaries, take away all Shame. This Fable Hints to us the Wild Extravagances of an Unbridled Appetite, and that till that Devil be laid, there can be no Thought of Lodging Carnal Love and Modeſty under the ſame Roof. Jupiter's forgetting Modeſty in the Compoſition of Man, Intimates the Difficulty of Admitting it, till Fleſh and Blood has done the Friendly Office towards the Peopling of the World; for there’s hardly any Place for Councel, till theſe Heats arc in ſome Meafure taken off; and it is no Wonder, that when Love comes to be without Reaſon, it ſhould be without Modeſty too; for when 'tis once paſt Government, it is conſequently paſt Shame. When Our Corruptions, in fine, are Strong, and Our Underſlandings Weak, we are apter to Hearken to the Motions of the Blood, and to the Vain Imaginations of a Deprav'd Affection, then to the Dry Doctrines and Precepts of Authority and Vertue,

This Difficulty of keeping Young and Hot Blood in Order, does mightily Enforce the Neceſſity of an Early Care for the Training up of Children, and giving them a Tincture, before it be too Late, of thoſe Docctrines and Principles, by which they are afterward to Govern the Whole Frame of their Lives. For in their Tender Years they are more Suſceptible of Profitable and Vertuous Impreſſions, then afterwards, when they come to be Sollicited by the Impulſe of Common, and Vulgar Inclinations. Theyſhould