Æsop's Fables: Together With the Life of Æsop

Excerpt from Æsop's Fables: Together With the Life of ÆsopIt happened to Homer, the prince of Grecian poets, that the place of his nativity was never certainly known; and it would be as difficult to ascertain the country which gave birth to Esop, so much have ancient authors differed upon this subject also. Some have thought him a Lydian, born in the city of Sardis, the capital of that kingdom; others have believed he drew his origin from the island of Samos. Some have maintained that he was a Thracian, of the city of Mesembria; but authors are now, for the most part, agreed, that he was a native of Phrygia, either of Amorium, or Cotiaeum, both towns in the same province. However, as it may be allowable to conjecture on a point so dubious, I imagine they who have thought him a Lydian, or a Samian, have grounded their Opinion on the probability of his being born in one of those places where he Spent the greatest part of his life; and it is certain that during his slavery, his common habitation was in the island of Samos; and after he was made free, he lived almost wholly in the court of Croesus, king of Lydia. But though this Opinion is not totally destitute of a plausible appearance, the probability of his being a Phrygian, as it is founded on the common consent of many ancient writ ers, and supported by the most credible authority, is now generally received and established.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.