A Tyrannous, or wicked _Magistrat_, Is fitly represented by a _Catt_: For, though the _Mice_ a harmfull vermine bee, And, _Cats_ the remedie; yet, oft wee see, That, by the _Mice_, far lesse, some house-wives leese, Then when they set the _Catt_ to keepe the _Cheese_. A ravenous _Cat_, will punish in the _Mouse_, The very same Offences, in the house, Which hee himselfe commits; yea, for that _Vice_, Which was his owne (with praise) he kills the _Mice_; And, spoyleth not anothers life alone, Ev’n for that very _fault_ which was his _owne_, But _feeds_, and _fattens_, in the spoyle of them, Whom hee, without compassion did condemne. Nay, worse than so; hee cannot bee content, To slaughter them, who are as innocent, As hee _himselfe_; but, hee must also play, And sport his wofull _Pris’ners_ lives away; More torturing them, 'twixt fruitlesse _hopes_ and _feares_, Than when their bowels, with his teeth he teares: For, by much terrour, and much crueltie, Hee kills them, ten times over, e’re they die. When, such like _Magistrates_ have rule obtain’d, The best men wish their powre might be restrain’d: But, they who shun enormities, through _Feare_, Are glad when _good-men_ out of Office are. Yea, whether _Governours_ bee good or bad, Of their displacings _wicked-men_ are glad; And, when they see them brought into disgraces, They boldly play the _Knaves_ before their faces. _Loe, heere is all, that bee possest, Which once was =Victor= of the =East=._ [Illustration: RESTAT DE VICTORE ORIENTIS. ILLVSTR. VIII. _Book. 4_]