Si benefacta locis malè, simplex mente, bonusq.:
Non benefacta quidem, sed malefacta puta.
Ingratis seruire nefas, gratisq. nocere:
Quod benè fit gratis, hoc solet esse lucro.”[[111]]
In several instances in his historical plays, Shakespeare very expressly refers to this fable. On hearing that some of his nobles had made peace with Bolingbroke, in Richard II. (act. iii. sc. 2, l. 129, vol. iv. p. 168), the king exclaims,—
“O villains, vipers, damn’d without redemption!
Dogs, easily won to fawn on any man!
Snakes, in my heart blood warm’d that sting my heart!”
In the same drama (act. v. sc. 3, l. 57, vol. iv. p. 210) York urges Bolingbroke,—
“Forget to pity him, lest thy pity prove,