The Fable of Homer is a Rational one, and that of Æsop is not. But this is no reason why one is more or less a Fable than the other. [1]Horace calls the Iliad a Fable, tho' the Names are Human; just as the Stories of Æsop are call'd Fables under the Names of Dogs, Lyons, Jupiter, The Frogs, and the like.
Homer has stretch'd out his Fable by long Harangues, by Descriptions, by Similitudes, and by particular Actions: In like manner, might one amplify that of Æsop without spoiling it. One need only relate what provok'd these Dogs to quarrel, and to describe the rise of their Anger with all its Circumstances: To make fine Descriptions of the Plain where the Sheep were feeding, and of some neighbouring Forest, which serv'd the Wolf for a shelter and Retreat: To give this Enemy some little Cubs to breed up, to make them follow their Sire in the Quest of their Prey, and to describe the Booty they take at several times
One should not likewise omit the Genealogy of these Heroes. The Wolf should boast of his Descent from Lycaon; and one of the Dogs should have issu'd in a direct line from the great Celestial Dog, and the Canicula. This should be the Hero of the Poem, for he would be very hot and Cholerick. He would do well to represent the Personage of Achilles; and the Folly of a certain Ajax his Kinsman, would be a handsom Proof of this Nobility, and of an Origin so Divine as that is. There is no need of any thing farther to engage Heaven in this Quarrel, and to divide the Gods into Parties. For the Gods have as much to do in the Republick of Æsop, as in the States of Homer; witness Jupiter, who was so far concern'd as to appoint Kings over the Common-wealth of the Frogs.
And here we have matter enough to give this Subject a very large extent, provided we have Expressions to answer it, and take care to insert as often [2] as Homer has:
(
Greek characters)
.
For this fine Epithet for a Dog, (Greek characters), a Fleet-runner, ought by no means to be omitted.
In short, Homer does likewise resemble Æsop, in that he as well as the other had a great mind to make the Beasts speak in the person of Xanthus the Horse of Achilles.
We conclude then, that the Name of Fable which is given to the Fable of the Iliad, and that of Æsop, is neither Equivocal nor Analogous, but Synonymous and equally Proper; that all the Qualities which make any difference between them, do by no means affect either the Foundation, the Nature, or the Essence of the Fable, but only constitute the different sorts of it; and lastly, that if a Fable beRational,
