[Footnote III.34: _At play with nuts_)--Ver. 2. It is thought by Schwabe that Phædrus wrote this Fable in defence of his early patron Augustus, against those who censured him for the levity of his conduct in his old age, as we learn from Suetonius that he amused himself with fishing, playing with dice, pebbles, or nuts with boys. --For some account of Roman games with nuts, see “The Walnut-tree,” a fragment of Ovid, in vol. iii. p. 491, of Bohn’s Translation of that author.] FABLE XV. THE DOG TO THE LAMB. A Dog said to a Lamb[35] bleating among some She-Goats: “Simpleton, you are mistaken; your mother is not here;” and pointed out some Sheep at a distance, in a flock by themselves. “I am not looking for her,” {said the Lamb}, “who, when she thinks fit, conceives, then carries her unknown burden for a certain number of months, and at last empties out the fallen bundle; but for her who, presenting her udder, nourishes me, and deprives her young ones of milk that I may not go without.” “Still,” said the Dog, “she ought to be preferred who brought you forth.” “Not at all: how was she to know whether I should be born black or white?[36] However, suppose she did know; seeing I was born a male, truly she conferred a great obligation on me in giving me birth, that I might expect the butcher every hour. Why should she, who had no power in engendering me, be preferred to her who took pity on me as I lay, and of her own accord shewed me a welcome affection? It is kindliness makes parents, not the ordinary course {of Nature}.” By these lines the author meant to show that men are averse to fixed rules, but are won by kind services. [Footnote III.35: _To a Lamb_)--Ver. 1. Burmann suggests that this Fable is levelled against the cruelty of parents, who were much in the habit of exposing their children, who were consequently far from indebted to them. Schwabe conjectures that the system of employing wet-nurses is intended here to be censured.] [Footnote III.36: _Black or white_)--Ver. 10. This, though disregarded by the mother, would be of importance to him, as the black lambs were first selected for sacrifice.] FABLE XVI. THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE OWL. He who does not conform to courtesy, mostly pays the penalty of his superciliousness.