"
The analogy, which this fable bore to the sedition of the Roman
people, was understood and felt.
The analogy, which this fable bore to the sedition of the Roman
people, was understood and felt.
Tacitus
C.
251.
In less than ten years
afterwards, violent dissensions broke out between the patrician order
and the common people, who complained that they were harassed and
oppressed by their affluent creditors. One Sicinius was their
factious demagogue. He told them, that it was in vain they fought the
battles of their country, since they were no better than slaves and
prisoners at Rome. He added, that men are born equal; that the fruits
of the earth were the common birth-right of all, and an agrarian law
was necessary; that they groaned under a load of debts and taxes; and
that a lazy and corrupt aristocracy battened at ease on the spoils of
their labour and industry. By the advice of this incendiary, the
discontented citizens made a secession to the MONS SACER, about three
miles out of the city. The fathers, in the meantime, were covered with
consternation. In order, however, to appease the fury of the
multitude, they dispatched Menenius Agrippa to their camp. In the rude
unpolished style of the times (_prisco illo dicendi et horrido modo_,
says Livy), that orator told them:
"At the time when the powers of man did not, as at present,
co-operate to one useful end, and the members of the human
body had their separate interest, their factions, and
cabals; it was agreed among them, that the belly maintained
itself by their toil and labour, enjoying, in the middle of
all, a state of calm repose, pampered with luxuries, and
gratified with every kind of pleasure. A conspiracy
followed, and the several members of the body took the
covenant. The hand would no longer administer food; the
mouth would not accept it, and the drudgery of mastication
was too much for the teeth. They continued in this
resolution, determined to starve the TREASURY of the body,
till they began to feel the consequences of their
ill-advised revolt. The several members lost their former
vigour, and the whole body was falling into a rapid decline.
It was then seen that the belly was formed for the good of
the whole; that it was by no means lazy, idle, and inactive;
but, while it was properly supported, took care to
distribute nourishment to every part, and having digested
the supplies, filled the veins with pure and wholesome
blood.
"
The analogy, which this fable bore to the sedition of the Roman
people, was understood and felt. The discontented multitude saw that
the state of man described by Menenius, was _like to an
insurrection_. They returned to Rome, and submitted to legal
government. _Tempore, quo in homine non, ut nunc, omnia in unum
consentiebant, sed singulis membris suum cuique consilium, sum sermo
fuerat, indignatas reliquas partes, suâ curâ, suo labore, ac
ministerio, ventri omnia quæri; ventrem in medio quietum, nihil aliud,
quam datis voluptatibus frui; conspirasse inde, ne manus ad os cibum
ferrent, nec os acciperit datum, nec dentes conficerent. Hac irâ dum
ventrem fame domare vellent, ipsa unâ membra, totumque corpus ad
extremam tabem venisse. Inde apparuisse, ventris quoque haud segne
ministerium esse; nec magis ali quam alere eum; reddentem in omnes
corporis partes hunc, quo vivimus vigemusque, divisum, pariter in
venas, maturum confecto cibo sanguinem. _ Livy, lib. ii. s. 32. St.
Paul has made use of a similar argument;
"The body is not one member, but many: if the foot shall
say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it,
therefore, not of the body? and if the ear shall say,
Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it,
therefore, not of the body? If the whole body were an eye,
where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where
were the smelling? But now hath God set the members everyone
of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
afterwards, violent dissensions broke out between the patrician order
and the common people, who complained that they were harassed and
oppressed by their affluent creditors. One Sicinius was their
factious demagogue. He told them, that it was in vain they fought the
battles of their country, since they were no better than slaves and
prisoners at Rome. He added, that men are born equal; that the fruits
of the earth were the common birth-right of all, and an agrarian law
was necessary; that they groaned under a load of debts and taxes; and
that a lazy and corrupt aristocracy battened at ease on the spoils of
their labour and industry. By the advice of this incendiary, the
discontented citizens made a secession to the MONS SACER, about three
miles out of the city. The fathers, in the meantime, were covered with
consternation. In order, however, to appease the fury of the
multitude, they dispatched Menenius Agrippa to their camp. In the rude
unpolished style of the times (_prisco illo dicendi et horrido modo_,
says Livy), that orator told them:
"At the time when the powers of man did not, as at present,
co-operate to one useful end, and the members of the human
body had their separate interest, their factions, and
cabals; it was agreed among them, that the belly maintained
itself by their toil and labour, enjoying, in the middle of
all, a state of calm repose, pampered with luxuries, and
gratified with every kind of pleasure. A conspiracy
followed, and the several members of the body took the
covenant. The hand would no longer administer food; the
mouth would not accept it, and the drudgery of mastication
was too much for the teeth. They continued in this
resolution, determined to starve the TREASURY of the body,
till they began to feel the consequences of their
ill-advised revolt. The several members lost their former
vigour, and the whole body was falling into a rapid decline.
It was then seen that the belly was formed for the good of
the whole; that it was by no means lazy, idle, and inactive;
but, while it was properly supported, took care to
distribute nourishment to every part, and having digested
the supplies, filled the veins with pure and wholesome
blood.
"
The analogy, which this fable bore to the sedition of the Roman
people, was understood and felt. The discontented multitude saw that
the state of man described by Menenius, was _like to an
insurrection_. They returned to Rome, and submitted to legal
government. _Tempore, quo in homine non, ut nunc, omnia in unum
consentiebant, sed singulis membris suum cuique consilium, sum sermo
fuerat, indignatas reliquas partes, suâ curâ, suo labore, ac
ministerio, ventri omnia quæri; ventrem in medio quietum, nihil aliud,
quam datis voluptatibus frui; conspirasse inde, ne manus ad os cibum
ferrent, nec os acciperit datum, nec dentes conficerent. Hac irâ dum
ventrem fame domare vellent, ipsa unâ membra, totumque corpus ad
extremam tabem venisse. Inde apparuisse, ventris quoque haud segne
ministerium esse; nec magis ali quam alere eum; reddentem in omnes
corporis partes hunc, quo vivimus vigemusque, divisum, pariter in
venas, maturum confecto cibo sanguinem. _ Livy, lib. ii. s. 32. St.
Paul has made use of a similar argument;
"The body is not one member, but many: if the foot shall
say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it,
therefore, not of the body? and if the ear shall say,
Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it,
therefore, not of the body? If the whole body were an eye,
where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where
were the smelling? But now hath God set the members everyone
of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
