If there be any thing you doubt of that falls under the Cognisance of Philo sophy, I am ready to serve you in't But your pre sent Point being Augury, I shall take leave to Acquaint you that a Servant I have at home, is as likely to make a Right Judgment that way as any Man I know. But for reading upon Prodigies or Commenting upon the Flights of Birds, or the Entrails of Bea sts, The se are Things quite Be side the Philo sophers Bu sine ss. But if the Que stion were Concerning the Government of Life and Manners, the Nature of Things Cele stial or Terre strial The Duties that we owe to God or Man you could not do better then repair to Philo sophers for satisfaction. Wi sdom, 'tis true, may be called properly enough the Knowledge of Things Divine and Humane, but will you therefore expect that a Philo sopher should do the Office of a Shoomaker or a Barber, becau se the Trades are conver sant about Humane Things? No No Gentlemen, a Man may be a Great Philo sopher without any Skill at All in the Handling of the Awl, or the Razor. It is the Cu stom of the World for People in All Ca ses where They are either Ignorant or Doubtfull, to Repair to Men that have the Reputation of Philo sophers, for Councell and Satisfaction, But this, under favour, is a Great Mi stake for it is with Philo sophers, as it is, I say, with other Arts and Profe s sions that have their Functions a part the One from the Other. I need to tell your Wi sdoms, That so Many Heads so Many Minds, and so many severall Men, so many severall Conceptions of Things Nay and further, That every severall Art, or Pro se s sion requires a Di stinct Faculty or Di spo sition, that is more or le ss Peculiar to it self. When you Appear to Morrow to give in your An swer, I would have you Speak to the People after this Manner. When Æ sop found how the Ca se stood, Never Trouble your Head any further, says he, Do but follow my Advice, and I'le bring you off as well now as ever I did before.
Xanthus hereupon laid the Whole Matter before him, and told him in Conclu sion, that he was not only lo st in his Reputation, but in Danger to be Torn to Pieces by the Rabble. This put him into a deep Melancholly which made Æ sop very Importune, and Impatient, to know the Cau se of it with A s surances, That he would serve his Ma ster in The Affair, Whatever it was, to the Uttermo st of his Power. Upon This, he betook him selfe to his Study, and the More he Beat his Brains about it, the further he found him selfe from and hope of Expounding The Secret. The Samians took this for a Fore-boding, that Threat'ned some di smal Calamity to the State, and in a general Con sternation They pre sently called a Councell of their Wi se Men and Xanthus de sired some few Days time for further Con sideration. The Ring, it seems, that had the Towne-Seale upon't was lay'd somewhere in Sight, Where an Eagle could come at it She took it up in the Aire, and dropt it into the Bo some of a Slave. He was not Ignorant however of his own Value Neither did he Neglect any hone st Way or Occa sion of Advancing his Name and his Credit in the World as in One Particular In stance among the Samians, on a Strange Thing that happened There upon a Very Solemn Day. Æ SOP had thus far born All the Indignities of a Tedious Slavery, with the the Con stancy of a Wi se Man, and without either Vanity or Abjection of Mind.
Æ sop Expounds upon an Augury, and is made Free.