the great vestibule,
as Periander made use of a key for a private entrance, which led him
into the interior of the building, at the end of the great hall.
Hereupon, the officers of state, and the officers of the household who
stood near the vestibule, waiting their return, seeing Periander, the
ambassador, and the courtiers at the other end, hastened towards them,
shouting as before--'There are but seven wise men, and Periander is the
wisest.' Periander ordered them to be beaten with stripes; then,
retiring into his private apartment with the ambassador, he conversed
freely with him, and dismissed him with many and large presents.

"The ambassador returned to Syracuse, and was immediately ordered into
the royal presence, where he narrated, amidst the laughter of the
courtiers, and of the Tyrant himself, the whole affair as it had
happened. When the laughter had a little subsided, the king said, 'Let
it be written in a book, how one of the seven wise men had wellnigh been
beaten by a goose, who certainly had been too much for him, had not
another come to the rescue. Truly a goose is a foolish bird, too much
for one, but not enough for two.'"

* * * * *

N.B.--Hence it will be seen that this saying is of more antiquity than
is generally believed, and has no relation to modern gluttony, and was
in fact a saying of the Tyrant of Syracuse, when he heard the story told
by his ambassador. This story, which will be Greek to many, will,
perhaps, be no Greek at all to you. In that case go yourself to the
Ambrosian library; or, in criticising what I may send, you may be as
unfortunate as the great scholar who unconsciously questioned the Greek
of Pindar. But, both for the moral and Greek, I will but add--

"Verbum sat sapienti."

Dear Eusebius, ever yours,
----.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: It is a dangerous thing to touch upon chronology. It is
said of the great Duke of Marlborough, that in a conversation respecting
the first introduction of cannon, he quoted Shakspeare to prove that it
was in the reign of John.

"O prudent discipline from north to south,
Austria and France _shoot_ in each other's mouth."

Yes, said his adversary, but you quote Shakspeare, not history.]

[Footnote 2: Is it possible that Coleridge may have seen this apologue
when he wrote his "Ancient Mariner," and introduced a similar incident
of the albatross?]

T