_Arion_ and a _Dolphin_.
This Famous _Arion_ was a Great Favourite of _Periander_ the King of
_Corinth_; he Travelled from thence into _Sicily_ and _Italy_, where
he gathered a great Mass of Treasure, and gain’d over and above, the
Good-Will and Esteem of all People wherever he came. From thence he
put himself Abord a _Corinthian_ Vessel, to go back again, where he
got an inkling among the Ships Crew of a Conspiracy to take away his
Life. He Discours’d the Mariners about it, and came in the end to this
Composition; that if he would cast himself presently into the Sea, and
let the Conspirators have his Mony, there should be no further Violence
offer’d to his Person. Upon this Agreement he obtain’d Liberty to give
them only one Song before he Leap’d Overbord; which he did, and then
Plung’d into the Sea. The Seamen had no thought of his ever coming up
again; but by a wonderful Providence, a _Dolphin_ took him upon his Back,
and carried him off safe to an Island, from whence he went immediately
to _Corinth_, and presented himself before _Periander_, just in the
condition the _Dolphin_ left him, and so told the Story. The King ordered
him to be taken into Custody as an _Impostor_; but at the same time
caused Enquiry to be made after the Ship, and the Seamen that he spake
of, and to know if they had heard any thing of one _Arion_ where they
had been? They said Yes, and that he was a Man of Great Reputation in
_Italy_, and of a Vast Estate. Upon these Words, _Arion_ was Produced
before them, with the very Harp and Cloaths he had when he Leapt into the
Sea. The Men were so confounded at the Spectacle, that they had not the
Face to deny the Truth of the Story.
The MORAL.
_Mony is the Universal Idol. Profit Governs the World, and_ Quid Dabitis
& Tradam _may be the Motto: But Providence yet in the Conclusion makes
all things work for the Best_.