The Practice of Requiting Good Offices is a Great Encouragement to the
Doing of them; and in truth, without Gratitude there would be Little Good
Nature; for there is not One Good Man in the World that has not need
of Another. This Fable of the _Ant_ is not All together a Fiction, for
we have many Instances of the Force of Kindness; even upon Animals and
Insects: To pass over the Tradition of _Androclus_’s Lyon, the Gratitude
of Elephants, Dogs and Horses is too Notorious to be Deny’d. Are not
Hawks brought to the Hand, and to the Lure? And in like manner, are not
_Lyons_, _Tygres_, _Bears_, _Wolves_, _Foxes_, and other Beasts of Prey
Reclaim’d by Good Usage? Nay, I have seen a Tame Spider, and ’tis a
Common Thing to have a Lizzard come to Hand. Man only is the Creature,
that to his Shame no Benefits can Oblige, no, nor Secure, even from
seeking the Ruine of his Benefactor: So that This _Pismire_ sets us a
Lesson here in her Thankfulness to her Preserver.