It is pretty extraordinary to find a fable of this kind finished with so
bold and yet polite a turn by Phædrus: one who attained his freedom by
the favour of Augustus, and wrote it in the time of Tiberius; who were,
successively, tyrannical usurpers of the Roman government. If we may
take his word for it, Æsop spoke it upon this occasion. When the
commonwealth of Athens flourished under good wholesome laws of its own
enacting, they relied so much upon the security of their liberty, that
they negligently suffered it to run out into licentiousness. And
factions happening to be fomented among them by designing people, much
about the same time, Pisistratus took that opportunity to make himself
master of their citadel and liberties both together. The Athenians
finding themselves in a slate of slavery, though their tyrant happened
to be a very merciful one, yet could not bear the thoughts of it; so
that Æsop, where there was no remedy, prescribes to them patience, by
the example of the foregoing fable; and adds, at last, 'Wherefore, my
dear countrymen, be contented with your present condition, bad as it is,
for fear a change should be worse.'