Phædrus tells us upon his word, that this is a true story, and that
he wrote it for the sake of a set of industrious idle gentlemen at
Rome, who were harassed and fatigued with a daily succession of care
and trouble, because they had nothing to do. Always in a hurry, but
without business; busy, but to no purpose; labouring under a voluntary
necessity, and taking abundance of pains to shew they were good for
nothing. But what great town or city is so entirely free of this sect,
as to render the moral of this Fable useless any where? For it points
at all those officious good-natured people, who are eternally running
up and down to serve their friends, without doing them any good; who,
by a complaisance wrong judged or ill applied, displease whilst they
endeavour to oblige, and are never doing less to the purpose than when
they are most employed. In a word, this Fable is designed for the
reformation of all those who endeavour to gain for themselves benefits
and applause, from a misapplied industry. It is not our being busy and
officious that will procure us the esteem of men of sense; but the
application of our actions to some noble useful purpose, and for the
general good of mankind.
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