The discovery of the first part added substantially to the remains which we have of the poetry of ancient Greece. The terseness, simplicity, and humor of the poems belong to the popular classic all the world over, in whatever tongue it appears; and the purity of the Greek shows that Babrius lived at a time when the influence of the classical age was still vital. He is placed at various times. Bergk fixes him so far back as B.C. 250, while others place him at the same number of years in our own era. Both French and German criticism has claimed that he was a Roman. There is no trace of his fables earlier than the Emperor Julian, and no metrical version of the Aesopean fables existed before the writing of Babrius. Socrates tried his hand at a version or two. But when such Greek writers as Xenophon and Aristotle refer to old folk-tales and legends, it is always in their own words. His fables are written in choliambic verse; that is, imperfect iambic which has a spondee in the last foot and is fitted for the satire for which it was originally used. The fables of Babrius have been edited, with an interesting and valuable introduction, by W.G. Rutherford (1883), and by F.G. Schneidewin (1880). They have been turned into English metre by James Davies, M.A. (1860). The reader is also referred to the article 'Aesop' in the present work. THE NORTH WIND AND THE SUN Betwixt the North wind and the Sun arose A contest, which would soonest of his clothes Strip a wayfaring clown, so runs the tale. First, Boreas blows an almost Thracian gale, Thinking, perforce, to steal the man's capote: He loosed it not; but as the cold wind smote More sharply, tighter round him drew the folds, And sheltered by a crag his station holds. But now the Sun at first peered gently forth, And thawed the chills of the uncanny North; Then in their turn his beams more amply plied, Till sudden heat the clown's endurance tried; Stripping himself, away his cloak he flung: The Sun from Boreas thus a triumph wrung. The fable means, "My son, at mildness aim: Persuasion more results than force may claim." JUPITER AND THE MONKEY A baby-show with prizes Jove decreed For all the beasts, and gave the choice due heed. A monkey-mother came among the rest; A naked, snub-nosed pug upon her breast She bore, in mother's fashion. At the sight Assembled gods were moved to laugh outright. Said she, "Jove knoweth where his prize will fall! I know my child's the beauty of them all." This fable will a general law attest, That each one deems that what's his own, is best. THE MOUSE THAT FELL INTO THE POT A mouse into a lidless broth-pot fell; Choked with the grease, and bidding life farewell, He said, "My fill of meat and drink have I And all good things: 'Tis time that I should die."