Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CLXXXIV

by Roger L'Estrange

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. They should in Truth, be kept out of Distance, of either Seeing or Hearing Ill Examples: Especially in an Age that is Govern'd more by President then by Reason.