[14] Alluding to the barber of King Midas, who, being a bad keeper of secrets, revealed to the reeds the fact of his lord and master having ass's ears.
"Creber arundinibus tremulis ibi surgere lucus
Cœpit; et ut primum pleno maturuit anno,
Prodidit agricolam; leni nam motus ab Austro
Obruta verba refert; dominique coarguit aures."
Ovid. Met. xi. 190.
[15] Θενίου Διὸς
.... "Who far and wide
A wand'rer....
Discover'd various cities, and the mind
And manners learn'd of men in lands remote."—Od. i. 1. Cowper.
A dreadful serpent....
... glided to the tree.
Eight youngling sparrows with the parent bird
Sat screen'd with foliage on the topmost bough.
The screaming little ones with ease he gorg'd,
And while the mother, circling o'er his head,
With shrillest agony bewail'd her loss,
He seiz'd her by the wing, first drew her down
Within his spiry folds, and then devoured."—Il. ii. 308. Cowper.
.... "Hunger hath a cry which never man
Might silence. Many an evil he endures
For hunger's sake. It is a craving gulf."—Od. xvii. 287. Cowper.