lay in their claim for him, as there were cities which contended for being the birthplace of Homer, he was moft probably a native of Phrygia. Many authors affirm it, in general; and one, in particular, fays that he was born in Cotiæum; a city of that province in the Leffer Afia. 12 Efop was probably of low parentage; for the whole that we hear of him in his youth is, that he was a 3 fhepherd's boy, and afterwards a flave. His first mafter, in that capacity, was 14 Carefias, of Athens. In that city he had a fair opportunity of learning the Grecian language in its perfection: and there alfo he might be led to the thought of writing fables, from the mode of instruction then in fashion; which was Thef. Gr. Tom. 6. p. 2897.) Mefembria, a city in Thrace.. And befides feveral of the perfons before mentioned, Lucian, Phædrus, Aulus Gellius and Stobæus, fpeak of him as a Phrygian. So that the weight of authority is much the most prevalent for his being born in Phrygia; and if the account of the proverb (mentioned p. xx.) be true, that alone would make all other authorities quite unneceffary. 12 Suidas. 13 Philoftratus; in the life of Apollonius. Lib. 56. 5: 14 14 Meziriac, ch. 2. from Aphthonius. Bayle calls him Carafius, as from Meziriac. was by conveying it in moral fentences, or proverbs: and a fable (in Efop's manner) is nothing else but a ftory invented for that purpose. It is also faid, (and I think with very good reafon) that Efop chofe this method, because his ftation as a flave would otherwife have weakened his authority; which defect he was willing to fupply by the ftrength and beauty of his allegories. His next mafter after Carefias, was 16 Xanthus; and his third, 17 Idmon, firnamed the Wife, of the island of Samos. It was with the laft, that he had the famous Rhodopis for his fellow-flave, according to Herodotus and Plutarch; and according to Pliny, 15 fhe was his wife, or 15 Meziriac, ch. 3. mate, Probably from Phædrus Introd. to Lib. 3. ver. 33. to 38. 16 Suidas. 17 So Plutarch calls him; de serâ numinis vindictâ. P. 556, 557-Herodotus calls him Jadmon, B. 2. c. 134. 18 Minimam ex his, (the pyramids of Egypt) fed laudatiffimam, a Rhodope meritricula fa&tam: Æfopi, fabularum philofophi, conferva quondam, & contubernalis, hæc fuit. Plin. L. 36. c. 12. Contubernalis fignified of old the (wife, or) mate, of a flave.-Qualicunque villico contubernalis mulier mate, during his fervitude there. It was the fame Rhodopis, who afterwards became fo celebrated, and fo extremely 19 rich. Idmon was fo much pleafed with the behaviour and wisdom of Efop, that after having been fome time in his fervice, he gave him 20 his liberty. Efop, after having obtained his freedom, gradually acquired fo great a reputation, affignanda eft; quæ contineat eum, & in quibufdam rebus adjuvet. Columella, de Re Rust. L. 1. c. 8.— Contubernalis mulier propriè dicitur fervi; nam uxoris nomen in liberâ tantum ponitur. Scævola, de fidei Com. Lib. Leg. Thais 45, S. 15.-Contubernium propriè fervile connubium. Paul. Lib. Sent. 2. C. 10. There is fome reafon to imagine, they were a remarkably handfome couple: for as she is said to have had her name from the beauty of her complexion, (Podov & WHIS;) he feems to me to have had his, from the particular fparkling of his eyes: (Arow," the future tenfe of Aida, & w↓.) 19 She made a noble prefent to the temple at Delphi, from the tenth of her fubftance, according to Herodotus; and Pliny fays fhe built one of the famous pyramids of Egypt. Nat. Hift. Lib. 36. c. 12. Herodotus fays, the pyramid ascribed to her was built long before her time; and that tho' fhe was very rich fhe could not have been able to fuftain the immenfe charge of that building. B. 2. ch. 134, and 135. 20 Meziriac. ch.4. from the fcholiaft on Aristophanes's Aves, Herodotus, and Plutarch. tion, that at length he was confidered as equal to the most celebrated" of the feven fages of Greece, his contemporaries: so that what Horace faid of Stertinius, perhaps in his humourous way; 22 "That he was the eighth of the wife men;" might be faid of Efop very seriously: nay there are fome, who very much prefer his manner of inftruction to that of the philofophers juft mentioned; 23 and give good reafons for their opinion. He was well acquainted with thofe great men, particularly with Solon and Chilo. He was received with them in the court of Periander, King of Corinth; who himself was one of the number; and in that of Croefus, King of Lydia, in his capital of Sardis. He was much at Meziriac, chap. 5. 23 Afopus ille, e Phrygia fabulator, haud immerito fapiens exiftimatus eft: quum quæ utilia monitu fuafuque erant, non feverè, non imperiosè, præcepit & cenfuit, ut Philofophis mos eft; fed feftivos delectabilefque apologos commentus, res falubriter ac profpicienter animadverfas, in mentes animofque hominum cum audiendi quâdam illecebrâ induxit. Aulus Gellius, Noctes Att. L. 2. c. 29. 24 Sent thither by Crafus: Plutarch's Convivium Sapient. much beloved by that prince; and it was in his court that Efop fhewed he had more wisdom, or at least more polilitical wisdom, than all of them; on the following occafion. Crofus 2", after having fhown these fages the magnificence of his court, and the vaftnefs of his riches; afked them, "Whom they thought the happiest man?" Some of them named one, and fome another: Solon, (whom I think without injury we may look upon as fuperior to all the reft) in his anfwer gave two inftance. The firft was that of one Tellus, a poor Athenian, but of great virtues; who had eminently diftinguished himself by his care and education of his family, and at laft loft his life in fighting for his country: the other, was of two brothers, who had given a very remarkable proof of their filial piety, and were in reward for it taken out of this life by the Gods, the very night after they had performed fo dutiful an action: and concluded with adding that he had given fuch inftances, because no one could be pronounced hap 25 Διατειψε παρα Κροισκ φιλέμενος. Suidas. Art. fopus. 26 Meziriac, ch. 5.-Plutarch in the Life of Solon. |