And vndermine the grounde, wheron wee goe.
The Olephant so huge, and stronge to see,
No perill fear’d: but thought a sleepe to gaine
But foes before had vndermin’de the tree,
And downe he falles, and so by them was slaine:
First trye, then truste: like goulde, the copper showes:
And Nero ofte, in Nvmas clothinge goes.”
Freitag’s “Mythologia ethica,” pp. 176, 177, sets forth the well-known fable of the Countryman and the Viper, which after receiving warmth and nourishment attempted to wound its benefactor. The motto is,—
Maleficio beneficium compensatum,—
“A good deed recompensed by maliciousness.”