He was a Phrygian by birth, and lived in the time of Croesus, king of Lydia, to whom he dedicated his fables.

The writings of this great man, in whatever light we consider them, will be equally entitled to our admiration.

But we are well aware, that the very mention of him as a writer of fables, may depreciate him in the eyes of some.

To such we shall propose a question, "Whether this species of writing has not been more beneficial to mankind; or whether it has not produced more important events, than any other ?" With respect to the first consideration, it is evident that these fables, as consisting of plain and simple transactions, are particularly easy to be understood; as conveyed in images, they please and seduce the mind; and, as containing a _moral_, easily deducible on the side of virtue; that they afford, at the same time, the most weighty precepts of philosophy.

Here then are the two grand points of composition, "a manner of expression to be apprehended by the lowest capacities, and, (what is considered as a victory in the art) an happy conjunction of utility and pleasure."[024] Hence Quintilian recommends them, as singularly useful, and as admirably adapted, to the puerile age; as a just gradation between the language of the nurse and the preceptor, and as furnishing maxims of prudence and virtue, at a time when the speculative principles of philosophy are too difficult to be understood.