Common Places, Part 2 · Chapter 13 · Section 11
Of a Fable and Apollogie.
In Iudg. 9.44 They ſaie that an apollogie is a kind of fable: What a fable is. Auguſtine.and a fable they define to be a narration of a falſe thing, deuiſed for commoditie or delite ſake. Or (as Auguſtine, in his ſecond booke, & 11. chapter De ſoliloquijs ſaith;) A fable is a lie, made for delectation ſake, although properlie it cannot be called a lie. For the falſehood of it is ſtraitwaie found out, and eſpeciallie in apollogies. For in them are brought in inſenſible and vnreaſonable creatures talking one with another, and intreating of verie weightie matters. And ſo ſoone as the hearer perceiueth this, he ſtraitwaie vnderſtandeth, that the matter is feigned, Of fables ſome are likelie to be true, and ſome not.and not ſo doone [as it is vttered.] And doubtleſſe ſome fables are likelie to be true, and ſome are far from probabilitie. For it is verie likelie, that once there fell a contention betwéene Aiax and Vlyſſes for the armor of Achilles, which at the length was iudged vntounto Vlyſſes: and that Aiax tooke ſo great diſpleaſure thereat, as becomming mad, he ſlue himſelfe. But contrariewiſe, it is without all probabilitie, that a woman was turned into a plant, or into a ſtone: An apollogie.ſo as an apollogie may be likened to a fable that is not likelie to be true.
45 The kinds or ſorts of a fable, are comedies, tragedies, ſatyrs, and narrations of harping and h…dicall poets, and alſo apollogies. But which of theſe feignings be lawfull, and which be not lawfull, may thus be defined. Thoſe, which hauehave vnmanerlines and ſcurrilitie; that is, a mirth ioined with diſhoneſtie, ought not to be admitted. But thoſe, which are written honeſtlie, and with ſhamefaſtneſſe, ſo that they can refreſh the mind with ſome pleaſure, and are alſo profitable to teach good maners, are not to be deſpiſed. That ſuch, as be vnciuill, muſt be put awaie, it is confirmed by two teſtimonies of the apoſtle. To the Corinthians he writeth; Euill talke corrupteth good maners. 1. Co. 15, 33And vntounto the Epheſians, the fift chapter, it is written; Let not whooredome, nor anie vncleanneſſe, Epheſ. 5, 3. and 4.nor couetouſneſſe be named among you, as it becommeth ſaints. Then is added foreign, filthineſſe; foreign, fooliſh talking; and foreign, ieſting; which are not comelie. By theſe words he reprooueth all communications, which are defiled either with diſhoneſtie or ſcurrilitie.
The verie ſame ſawe Plato, Plato.in his third booke De Repub. where he excludeth poets that ſpake of gods, as though they ſhould ſpeake of men: bicauſe they, in ſo writing, doo both diſhonourablie treate of the nature of God, which is the beſt and moſt excellent; and alſo excuſe the ſinnes of common men, when as they teſtifie, that both the gods, and alſo noble men, did things alike. Which certeinlie we may perceiue in the comedie of Eunuchus in Terence, where Chaerea, Terence.a wicked yoong man, beholding a wanton table in the harlots houſe (wherein was painted Iupiter comming into Danae by a ſhower) began to hauehave a pleaſure in himſelfe; ſéeing he, being but a ſéelie man, did thoſe things, which he perceiued by that table, that the chéefe god in old time had committed; I did it (ſaith he,) yea I did it with good will. Alſo, Cicero ſaith, Cicero.that Homer feigned theſe things, and tranſlated humane things vntounto the gods. But I would rather they had tranſferred diuine things vntounto vsus!
46 Auguſtine, in his ſecond booke of confeſſions, the 15. and 16. chapters, Auguſtine.complaineth and ſoroweth, that he being a child and a yoong man, learned profitable words, but yet in vaine things. I would to God (ſaith he) I had béene inſtructed in profitable writings! I heard Iupiter thundering, and therwithall committing adulterie. The minds and affections of men are prone enough vntounto vices. Wherefore it is wickedlie doone, that children and yoong men ſhould in that age be ſtirred vp to ſinne, by vile and filthie fables. But apollogies are profitable, which conſiſting both of honeſt words and good arguments, doo rightlie inſtruct that firſt age. Aeſope, the ancient writer, Aeſope.happilie exerciſed himſelfe in this kind: although ſome doo aſcribe his fables vntounto Heſiodus, who was before Aeſops time. But this one apollogie (whereof we now treat) was written long before the time of Aeſope & Heſiodus. For the time of the Iudges, and namelie of Gedeon, was an hundreth yeares and more, before the war of Troie. There is an other apollogie alſo in the ſecond booke of kings, verſe. 9.the 14. chapter, where Amaſias obteining victorie of the Edomits, prouoked the king of Iſrael to make warre with him. VntoUnto whom king Ioas anſwered thus; The thiſtle of Libanon ſent vntounto the cedar that is of Libanon, and ſaid; GiueGive thy daughter to my ſonne to wife. And a wild beaſt went out of Libanon, and trode down the thiſtle. By which apollogie he ſhewed, that he was ſo much greater than Amaſias the king of Iuda, as the cedar trée excelleth the thiſtle: and gaue him warning, that he ſhould, after that ſort, be troden downe and oppreſſed by his hoſt, as the thiſtle periſheth that is troden downe by wild beaſts.
The vſe of apollogies.47 Theſe things hauehave I therefore rehearſed; bicauſe the Gréeke and Ethnike writers ſhould not be thought to be the firſt inuenters of theſe profitable deuiſes. All men agree, that the vſe of apollogies is then to be added, when we hauehave to deale with rude perſons. For they vnderſtand not what a perfect argument or an vnperfect meaneth; neither are they able to perceiue inductions: ſo that of particulars they might gather vniuerſals. And they paſſe not vponupon the examples of noble perſonages; bicauſe they themſelues are abiect and baſe. Wherefore, ſéeing they be ſmallie inſtructed by thoſe meanes, there remaine fained narrations: where they being allured with the ſtrangeneſſe of the matter, giuegive great héed to the things that are ſpoken, and are otherwhiles at length perſuaded. Moreouer, they are good to helpe memorie: for things, that are ſo new and pleaſant, doo verie much delight; and thoſe things, that be ſo pleaſant, be not eaſilie forgotten. Furthermore, men can ſooner abide themſelues to be reprooued by apollogies, than by euident ſpéeches. For the plaine truth ingendereth hatred, but being couered with apollogies or darke ſpéeches, it may be abidden. At the beginning, the hearers know not wherevnto the matter tendeth: therefore being ignorant what will be ſpoken, they tarrie out the end, and perhaps be perſuaded at the length. Chriſt finiſhed the whole parable of the vine, Matt. 21, 33.and at the end, the Scribes and Phariſies perceiued, that it was ſpoken againſt themſelues. So alſo among the Romans, Menenius Agrippa, by an apollogie wan the cōmon people, which had diuided themſelues from the Senators, to ioine themſelues againe with them. For theſe cauſes are the parables, dreames, and viſions of the prophets verie much vſed in the holie ſcriptures.