An Ant Formerly A Man

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An Ant Formerly A Man

At the root, people stay the same even if they look like they are changing.

L'Estrange version

The ant, or pismire, was formerly a husband-man, that secretly filch'd away his neighbour's goods and corn, and stor'd all up in his own barn. He drew a general curse upon his head for't, and Jupiter, as a punishment, and for the credit of mankind, turn'd him into a pismire; but this change of shape wrought no alteration, either of mind or of manners; for he keeps the same humour and nature to this very day.

Moral

That which some call good husbandry, industry and providence, others call raking, avarice, and oppression: so that the vertue and the vice, in many cases, are hardly distinguishable but by the name.

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