As the foregoing fable was intended to caution us against consenting to
any thing that might prejudice public liberty, this may serve to keep
us upon our guard in the preservation of that which is of a private
nature. This is the use and interpretation given of it by Horace, the
best and most polite philosopher that ever wrote. After reciting the
fable, he applies it thus:--'This,' says he, 'is the case of him, who
dreading poverty, parts with that invaluable jewel, liberty; like a
wretch as he is, he will always be subject to a tyrant of some sort or
other, and be a slave for ever; because his avaricious spirit knew not
how to be contented with that moderate competency, which he might have
possessed independent of all the world.'