If with a bribe his candour you attack,
He bows, turns round, and whip—the man's in black!
Yon critic, too—but whither do I run?
If I proceed, our bard will be undone!
Well, then, a truce, since she requests it too:
Do you spare her, and I'll for once spare you.
WRITTEN AND SPOKEN BY THE POET LABERIUS, A ROMAN KNIGHT
WHOM CÆSAR FORCED UPON THE STAGE.