ason to
deplore a similar misfortune."

The Flea and the Ox

A FLEA thus questioned an Ox: "What ails you, that being so huge and
strong, you submit to the wrongs you receive from men and slave for
them day by day, while I, being so small a creature, mercilessly feed on
their flesh and drink their blood without stint?" The Ox replied: "I do
not wish to be ungrateful, for I am loved and well cared for by men, and
they often pat my head and shoulders." "Woe's me!" said the flea; "this
very patting which you like, whenever it happens to me, brings with it
my inevitable destruction."

The Goods and the Ills

ALL the Goods were once driven out by the Ills from that common share
which they each had in the affairs of mankind; for the Ills by reason
of their numbers had prevailed to possess the earth. The Goods wafted
themselves to heaven and asked for a righteous vengeance on their
persecutors. They entreated Jupiter that they might no longer be
associated with the Ills, as they had nothing in common and could
not live together, but were engaged in unceasing warfare; and that an
indissoluble law might be laid down for their future protection. Jupiter
granted their request and decreed that henceforth the Ills should visit
the earth in company with each other, but that the Goods should one by
one enter the habitations of men. Hence it arises that Ills abound, for
they come not one by one, but in troops, and by no means singly: while
the Goods proceed from Jupiter, and are given, not alike to all, but
singly, and separately; and one by one to those who are able to discern
them.

The Dove and the Crow

A DOVE shut up in a cage was boasting of the large number of young ones
which she had hatched. A Crow hearing her, said: "My good friend, cease
from this unseasonable boasting. The larger the number of your family,
the greater your cause of sorrow, in seeing them shut up in this
prison-house."

Mercury and the Workmen

A WORKMAN, felling wood by the side of a river, let his axe drop by
accident into a deep pool. Being thus deprived of the means of his
livelihood, he sat down on the bank and lamented his hard fate. Mercury
appeared and demanded the cause of his tears. After he told him his
misfortune, Mercury plunged into the stream, and, bringing up a golden
axe, inquired if that were the one he had lost. On his saying that
it was not his, Mercury disappeared beneath the water a second time,
retur