if we look into the very Beginnings of the Commonwealth of
Rome
, we see a Mutiny among the Common People appeased by a
Fable of the Belly and the Limbs
, which was indeed very proper to gain the Attention of an incensed Rabble, at a Time when perhaps they would have torn to Pieces any Man who had preached the same Doctrine to them in an open and direct Manner. As Fables took their Birth in the very Infancy of Learning, they never flourished more than when Learning was at its greatest Height. To justify this Assertion, I shall put my Reader in mind of
Horace
, the greatest Wit and Critick in the
Augustan