_You must eat men. Yet thanks I must you con, That you are thieves professed; that you work not In holier shapes; for there is boundless theft In legal professions. Rascal thieves; Here's gold; go, suck the subtle blood of the grape, Till the high fever seethe your blood to froth And so 'scape hanging; trust not the physician; His antidotes are poison, and he slays More than you rob; take wealth and lives together; Do villainy, do, since you profess to do it, Like workmen. I'll example you with thievery; The sun's a thief, and with his great attraction Robs the vast sea; the moon's an arrant thief, And her pale fire she snatches from the sun; The sea's a thief, whose liquid surges resolves The moon into salt tears; the earth's a thief, That feeds and breeds by a composture stolen From general excrement; each thing's a thief; The laws, your curb and whip, in their rough power Have unchecked theft! Love not yourselves; away-- Rob one another! There's more gold; cut-throats; All that you meet are thieves! To Athens, go, Break open shops! Nothing can you steal But thieves do lose it!"_ Jaques, in the forest of Arden, discourses to the exiled Duke of the fools of fortune, and the nature of man. "_A fool, a fool!--I met a fool in the forest A motley fool;--a miserable world! As I do live by food, I met a fool; Who laid him down and basked him in the sun, And railed on Lady Fortune in good terms. In good set terms,--and yet a motley fool. Good morrow, fool, quoth I. No, sir, quoth he, Call me not fool, till heaven hath sent me fortune; And then he drew a dial from his poke; And looking on it with lack-luster eye Says very wisely: It is ten o'clock; Thus may we see, quoth he, how the world wags; 'Tis but an hour ago since it was nine; And after an hour more, 'twill be eleven; And so from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe, And then from hour to hour, we rot and rot, And thereby hangs a tale! When I did hear The motley fool thus moral on the time, My lungs began to crow like chanticleer, That fools should be so deep contemplative; And I did laugh sans intermission, An hour by his dial. O noble fool! A worthy fool! Motley is the only wear!"_ * * * * *