The Wolf and the Hunter
You lust of gain,—foul fiend, whose evil eyes
Regard as nothing the blessings of the skies,
Must I for ever battle you in vain?
How long demandest you to gain
The meaning of my lessons plain?
Book 8
Democritus and the People Of Abdera
How do I hate the tide of vulgar thought!
Profane, unjust, with childish folly fraught;
It breaks and bends the rays of truth divine,
And by its own conceptions measures mine.
Famed Epicurus’ master tried
The power of this unstable tide.
Education
Lapluck and Caesar brothers were, descended
From dogs by Fame the most commended,
Who falling, in their puppyhood,
To different masters anciently,
One dwelt and hunted in the boundless wood;
From thieves the other kept a kitchen free.
The Torrent and the River
With mighty rush and roar,
Adown a mountain steep
A torrent tumbled,—swelling over
Its rugged banks,—and bore
Vast ruin in its sweep.
The Cat and the Rat
Four creatures, wont to prowl,—
Sly Grab-and-Snatch, the cat,
Grave Evil-bode, the owl,
Thief Nibble-stitch, the rat,
And Madam Weasel, prim and fine,—
Inhabited a rotten pine.
The Falcon and the Capon
You often hear a sweet seductive call:
If wise, you haste towards it not at all;—
And, if you heed my apologue,
You act like John de Nivelle’s dog.
A capon, citizen of Mans,
Was summoned from a throng
To answer to the village squire,