This Fable was spoken by Menenius Agrippa, a Roman consul and general,
when he was deputed by the senate to appease a dangerous tumult and
insurrection of the people. The many wars the Romans were engaged in,
and the frequent supplies they were obliged to raise, had so soured
and inflamed the minds of the populace, that they were resolved to
endure it no longer, and obstinately refused to pay the taxes. It is
easy to discern how the great man applied this Fable: for, if the
branches and members of a community refuse the government that aid
which its necessities require, the whole must perish together. The
rulers of a state, useless or frivolous as they may sometimes seem, are
yet as necessary to be kept up and maintained in a proper and decent
grandeur, as the family of each private person is, in a condition
suitable to itself. Every man’s enjoyment of that little which he gains
by his daily labour, depends upon the government’s being maintained
in a condition to defend and secure him in the unmolested control and
possession of it.
[Illustration] [Page 277]