This fable seems to be directed against the odious trade of informing.
Not that giving information against criminals and enemies of the public
is in itself odious, for it is commendable; but the circumstances and
manner of doing it oftentimes make it a vile and detestable employment.
He that accuses another merely for the sake of the promised reward, or
in hopes of getting his forfeited estate, or with any other such
mercenary view, nay, even to save his own life, whatever he gets by the
bargain, is sure to lose his reputation: for, indeed, the most innocent
company is not safe with such a one in it, nor the neighbourhood secure
in which he lives. A villain of his stamp, whose only end is getting,
will as soon betray the innocent as the guilty: let him but know where
there is a suspected person, and propose the reward, and he will scarce
fail to work the suspicion up to high-treason, or be at a loss to give
sufficient proofs of it. We have no small comfort concerning this sort
of people, when we consider how improbable it is that they should thrive
or prosper long in their ill-gotten possessions. For he that can betray
another for the sake of a little pelf, must be a man of such bad
principles, that it cannot be for the interest of any community to
suffer him to live long in it. Besides, he himself will not be
contented with one single villany; and there is no fear but he will
provoke justice to hurl down upon his head at least as great a calamity
as he, by his malicious information, has brought upon another.