"My good fellow," said the lion, "pray do not say such things. For
Never publicly defame
Any once commended name:
Broken promises are shame.
"Now I formerly gave him a safe-conduct, since he appeared as a suppliant. How then can he prove ungrateful?" But Victor rejoined:
"No rogue asks reason for his wrath;
Nor saint, to tread in kindness' path:
By nature's power, the sweet or sour
In sugar dwells or nim-tree's flower.
And again:
Caress a rascal as you will,
He was and is a rascal still:
All salve- and sweating-treatments fail
To take the kink from doggy's tail.
And once again:
Slight kindness shown to lofty souls
A strange enlargement seeks:
The moonbeams gleam with whiter light
On Himalaya's peaks.
While, on the other hand:
The kindness shown to vicious souls
Strange diminution seeks:
The gleam of moonbeams is absorbed
On Sooty Mountain's peaks.
A hundred benefits are lost,
If lavished on the mean;
A hundred epigrams, with their
True relevance unseen;
