The third fable.

The fable of a fox, wolf and bear.A certain fox conceiting himself not able to subsist, if the wolves and bears lived in mutual amity, stirred up the one against the other; and afterwards fearing lest the wolf which favour’d him less, should get the better, and then finding himself without enemy, should destroy him, resolved to strengthen the bear privately with food, which he had spared for himself, and to see the fight between them, under pretence of being mediator, but really to feed upon the blood of the conquer’d; which when he tasted, he was so transported with the relish, that rather than forbear the blood, he let the bear have so much of his other natural food, that he was grown weak. But the two combating beasts, observing this ill design of the pretended mediator, and his weakness together, destroyed this blood thirsty fox, the one premeditately, the other by the fortune of the war; besides, he fell unpitied. For suppose the wolf and bear had grown so weak by the fox’s artifices, that they could not have hurt him; yet there were lions, tigers, and other beasts of prey, which could as certainly and easily have devoured him, because he had lost his strength, and could no longer in any extremity run to his hole, and thereby save and defend himself.

Thus God and nature punisheth those that abuse their strength, and takes the crafty in their own subtilty. As false selt-love is the root of all mischief, so prudence and well-grounded self-love is the only cause of all good and virtuous actions. Pursuant to which, as we say, Do well, and look not backward, is the greatest polity Holland can use. And the richest blessing which God can pour down upon a nation, is to unite the interests thereof to peace, and the welfare of mankind: according to the good rule, He that loves himself aright, is a friend to all the world.