“The gardens, house, and wine vaults too, Give to the spinster as her due; The clothes, the jewels, and such ware, Be all the tippling lady’s share; The fields, the barns, and flocks of sheep, Give the gay courtesan to keep. Not one will bear the very touch Of things that thwart their tastes so much; The slut to fill her cellar straight Her wardrobe will evacuate; The lady soon will sell her farms, For garments to set off her charms; But she that loves the flocks and kine Will alienate her stores of wine, Her rustic genius to employ. Thus none their portions shall enjoy, And from the money each has made Their mother shall be duly paid.” Thus one man by his wit disclosed The point that had so many posed. V. THE BATTLE OF THE MICE AND WEASELS. The routed Mice upon a day Fled from the Weasels in array; But in the hurry of the flight, What with their weakness and their fright Each scarce could get into his cave: Howe’er, at last their lives they save. But their commanders (who had tied Horns to their heads in martial pride, Which as a signal they design’d For non-commission’d mice to mind) Stick in the entrance as they go, And there are taken by the foe, Who, greedy of the victim, gluts With mouse-flesh his ungodly guts. Each great and national distress Must chiefly mighty men oppress; While folks subordinate and poor Are by their littleness secure. VI. PHÆDRUS TO THE CAVILLERS. Thou that against my tales inveigh’st, As much too pleasant for thy taste; Egregious critic, cease to scoff, While for a time I play you off, And strive to soothe your puny rage. As Esop comes upon the stage, And dress’d entirely new in Rome, Thus enters with the tragic plume.-- “O that the fair Thessalian pine Had never felt the wrath divine, And fearless of the axe’s wound, Had still the Pelian mountain crown’d! That Argus by Palladian aid Had ne’er the advent’rous vessel made; In which at first, without dismay, Death’s bold professors won their way, In which th’ inhospitable main Was first laid open for the bane Of Grecians and barbarians too. Which made the proud Æetas rue, And whence Medea’s crimes to nought The house and reign of Pelias brought. She--while in various forms she tries Her furious spirit to disguise, At one place in her flight bestow’d Her brother’s limbs upon the road; And at another could betray The daughters their own sire to slay.” How think you now?--What arrant trash! And our assertions much too rash!-- Since prior to th’ Ægean fleet Did Minos piracy defeat, And made adventures on the sea. How then shall you and I agree? Since, stern as Cato’s self, you hate All tales alike, both small and great. Plague not too much the man of parts; For he that does it surely smarts.-- This threat is to the fools, that squeam At every thing of good esteem; And that they may to taste pretend,