REFLEXION.
THIS (says Camerarius,) is to reprove the Practices of perverse Courts, and Extravagant Princes.
It is the proper Bus'ness of Mythology to Point out, and Represent the Images of Good and Evil, and under those Shadows to Teach us what we ought to do, and what not, either Severally and Apart, or as Members of a Society; that is to say, Simply, as Men in a State of Right Nature, or as Parents, or Children, Masters, or Servants, Husbands or Wives, Rulers or Subjects, Friends, Countrymen, Relations, and the like. Now as there are Good and Bad of all sorts; so their Virtues and their Vices, their good Behaviour and their Misdemeanors are to be set forth, Circumstanc'd and Distinguish'd in such sort, as by Rewards or Punishments, to Encourage the One, and to Discountenance the Other, in proportion to the Dignity of the Action, or the Degree of the Offence; by Conferring Marks and Characters of Honour, Offices of Trust, or Beneficial Commissions on the one hand, and by inflicting Sentences of Shame, Infamy, Pains Corporal, or Pecuniary on the other. Without this Distribution, one main end of Emblem is lost; neither is it the true Figure of Life. For Wicked Men, False Brethren, Unnatural Parents, Disobedient Children, Barbarous Husbands, Undutiful Wives, Tyrannical, Weak or Fantastical Governors; Rebellious Subjects, Cruel Masters, Faith∣less Servants, Perfidious Kindred and Acquaintance: All these Lewd Characters are as Absolutely necessary to the Perfecting of the Design, as the most Laudable Excellencies in Nature.
In this Fable of the Kingdom of Apes, the Author according to Came∣rarius, intended the Picture of an Extravagant Government, where he gives Flattery and Corruption the Advantages that in Policy and Justice belong to Services of Honour and of Truth: And at the same time De∣livers up a Man of Honesty, Justice and Plain Dealing to be torn to Pieces. This Kingdom of Apes has been Moralliz'd a Thousand and a Thousand times over in the Practice of the World, and such as the Foun∣tain is, such will be the Stream. Let Government it self be never so Sacred, Governors are still but Men; and how necessary and Beneficial soever the Order is at all Hands Confess'd to be, the Officers yet, and the Administrators are but Flesh and Blood, and liable to the Passions and Frailties of other Mortals.
There are in fine, many Distempers, Errors, and Extravagances, that shew themselves in the Exercise of Political Powers; as an inexorable Rigour for the Purpose, or as Lasche a Demission of Sovereign Authori∣ty. There are Cases of Sensuality, Pleasure, and Appetite, where Go∣vernours have only the Name of Rulers, while some over-grown Subject perhaps Usurps upon the Prerogative in effect, and does the worst things