Bentley's conjecture that Æsop was 'very handsome' does not find general acceptance; it has, nevertheless, a solid foundation in the fact that the Greeks confined art to the imitation of the beautiful only, reprobating the portrayal of ugly forms, whether human or other. It is not to be believed, therefore, that the chisel of Lysippus was employed in the production of a statue to a deformed person, which not even the gift of wisdom would have rendered acceptable to the severe taste of his countrymen. Without going so far, however, as to accept the view of the learned Master of Trinity, that Æsop was probably _very_ handsome, we may with safety conclude that the objectionable portrait of the sage as drawn by the Byzantine is without justification. FOOTNOTES: [19] Suidas. [20] The mina was twelve ounces, or a sum estimated as equal to £3 15s. English. [21] See _post_, p. 76. [22] Spelt variously Locman, Lôqman, Lokman. [23] This woman is notorious in history as a courtesan who essayed to compound for her sins by votive offerings to the temple at Delphi. She is also said to have built the Lesser Pyramid out of her accumulated riches, but this is denied by Herodotus, who claims for the structure a more ancient and less discreditable foundation, being the work, as he asserts, of Mycerinus, King of Egypt (Herod., ii. 134). [24] Phædrus, Epilogue, book ii. [25] Boothby, Preface, p. xxxiv. CHAPTER VII. STORIES RELATED OF ÆSOP. 'I cannot tell how the truth may be; I say the tale as 'twas said to me.' SCOTT: _The Lay of the Last Minstrel_. 'Such the simple story told, By a sage[26] renowned of old, To a king[27] whose fabled gold Could not procure him learning.' JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. There are numerous tales told of Æsop, some of which are obviously mythical; others, though their actual parentage may be doubtful, are entirely in keeping with his reputation for common, or uncommon, sense and ready wit. Phædrus has several of these, and Planudes, an untrustworthy chronicler, as we have seen, has many more. Some of the stories of the latter are absurd enough, and bordering perhaps on the foolish; but, on the other hand, he tells several that may be pronounced excellent in every sense, and whatever the shortcomings of the monk in other respects, he deserves credit for having rescued these from the oblivion which otherwise might have been their fate. Most writers, especially modern writers, on Æsop, have scouted with an unnecessary display of eclecticism the whole of the stories collected by Planudes regarding his hero; but in this they show a want of discrimination. Whether the stories are true of Æsop or not, and I know of no character on whom they may be more aptly fathered, they are as ripe in wisdom as are many of the best of the fables, and their pedigree is quite as authentic.