Just as a hen, when she has seized on something
Too large to swallow at a single mouthful,
Runs round and round, and holds it tight, and longs
To gulp it down, while others follow her;
So the first guest that felt my fish's flavour
Leapt from his couch, and fled around the room,
Holding the dish, while others chased a-stern.
One might have raised the sacred cry, as if
It was a miracle; for some of them
Snatch'd something, others nothing, others all.