om one to another making the same
representations and receiving from all, large and small alike, the same
refusals. Liberty, unbridled lust of appetite, the ambushes of the
woods, all these things were their supreme delight. They all renounced
the glory attaching to great deeds.

They thought that in following their passions they were enjoying
freedom, not seeing that they were but slaves to themselves.

XXXIX

THE QUARREL BETWEEN THE DOGS AND THE CATS AND BETWEEN THE CATS AND THE
MICE

(BOOK XII--No. 8)

Discord has always reigned in the universe; of this our world furnishes
a thousand different instances, for with us the sinister goddess has
many subjects.

Let us begin with the four elements. Here you may be astonished to
observe that they are, throughout, in antagonism to each other. Besides
these four potentates how many other forces of all descriptions are
everlastingly at war!

In bygone times there was a house which was full of cats and dogs who
lived together like amicable cousins, for this reason: Their master had
made a hundred irrevocable laws and rules, settling their respective
tasks, their meals, and every other incident of their lives, and at the
same time he threatened with the whip the first one who should promote a
quarrel. The kindly, almostly brotherly nature of this union was very
edifying to the neighbours.

But at last the concord ceased. Some little favouritism in the bestowal
of a bone, or a dish of food, caused the outraged remainder to raise
furious protests. I have heard some chroniclers attribute the discord to
an affair of love and jealousy. At any rate, whatever the origin, the
altercation speedily fired both hall and kitchen, and divided the
company into partisans for this cat or for that dog.

A new rule was made, which exasperated the cats, and their complaints
deafened the whole neighbourhood. Their advocate advised returning
absolutely to the old rules and decrees. The law books were searched
for, but could nowhere be found. And that was no wonder, for the books
which had been hidden in a corner by one set of partisans at first had
been at last devoured by mice. This gave rise to another law-suit, which
the mice lost and had to pay for.

Many old cats, cunning, subtle, and sharp, and bearing a grudge against
the whole race of mice beside, lay in wait for them, caught them, and
cleared them out of the house, much to the advantage of the master of
the establishm