Part 21 (1/2)
They try to make escape in vain, Nor, dumb through fear, can they complain.
By stealth they Mercury depute, That Jove would once more hear their suit, And send their sinking state to save; But he in wrath this answer gave: ”You scorn'd the good king that you had, And therefore you shall bear the bad.”
Ye likewise, O Athenian friends, Convinced to what impatience tends, Though slavery be no common curse, Be still, for fear of worse and worse.
III. THE VAIN JACKDAW.
Lest any one himself should plume, And on his neighbour's worth presume; But still let Nature's garb prevail-- Esop has left this little tale: A Daw, ambitious and absurd, Pick'd up the quills of Juno's bird; And, with the gorgeous spoil adorn'd, All his own sable brethren scorn'd, And join'd the peac.o.c.ks--who in scoff Stripp'd the bold thief, and drove him off.
The Daw, thus roughly handled, went To his own kind in discontent: But they in turn contemn the spark, And brand with many a shameful mark.
Then one he formerly disdain'd, ”Had you,” said he, ”at home remain'd-- Content with Nature's ways and will, You had not felt the peac.o.c.k's bill; Nor 'mongst the birds of your own dress Had been deserted in distress.”
IV. THE DOG IN THE RIVER.
The churl that wants another's fare Deserves at least to lose his share.
As through the stream a Dog convey'd A piece of meat, he spied his shade In the clear mirror of the flood, And thinking it was flesh and blood, Snapp'd to deprive him of the treat:-- But mark the glutton's self-defeat, Miss'd both another's and his own, Both shade and substance, beef and bone.
V. THE HEIFER, GOAT, SHEEP, AND LION.
A partners.h.i.+p with men in power We cannot build upon an hour.
This Fable proves the fact too true: An Heifer, Goat, and harmless Ewe, Were with the Lion as allies, To raise in desert woods supplies.
There, when they jointly had the luck To take a most enormous buck, The Lion first the parts disposed, And then his royal will disclosed.
”The first, as Lion hight, I crave; The next you yield to me, as brave; The third is my peculiar due, As being stronger far than you; The fourth you likewise will renounce, For him that touches, I shall trounce.”
Thus rank unrighteousness and force Seized all the prey without remorse.
VI. THE FROGS AND SUN.
When Esop saw, with inward grief, The nuptials of a neighb'ring thief, He thus his narrative begun: Of old 'twas rumor'd that the Sun Would take a wife: with hideous cries The quer'lous Frogs alarm'd the skies.
Moved at their murmurs, Jove inquired What was the thing that they desired?
When thus a tenant of the lake, In terror, for his brethren spake: ”Ev'n now one Sun too much is found, And dries up all the pools around, Till we thy creatures perish here; But oh, how dreadfully severe, Should he at length be made a sire, And propagate a race of fire!”
VII. THE FOX AND THE TRAGIC MASK.
A Fox beheld a Mask-- ”O rare The headpiece, if but brains were there!”
This holds--whene'er the Fates dispense Pomp, pow'r, and everything but sense.
VIII. THE WOLF AND CRANE.
Who for his merit seeks a price From men of violence and vice, Is twice a fool--first so declared, As for the worthless he has cared; Then after all, his honest aim Must end in punishment and shame.
A bone the Wolf devour'd in haste, Stuck in his greedy throat so fast, That, tortured with the pain, he roar'd, And ev'ry beast around implored, That who a remedy could find Should have a premium to his mind.
A Crane was wrought upon to trust His oath at length--and down she thrust Her neck into his throat impure, And so perform'd a desp'rate cure.
At which, when she desired her fee, ”You base, ungrateful minx,” says he, ”Whom I so kind forbore to kill, And now, forsooth, you'd bring your bill!”
IX. THE HARE AND THE SPARROW.
Still to give cautions, as a friend, And not one's own affairs attend, Is but impertinent and vain, As these few verses will explain.
A Sparrow taunted at a Hare Caught by an eagle high in air, And screaming loud-- ”Where now,” says she, ”Is your renown'd velocity?
Why loiter'd your much boasted speed?”