And we cannot be surprised that the danger of riches, and the comparative safety of obscurity and poverty, should sometimes form the moral of his fables.
That of the Mules and the Thieves, which is entirely his own, teaches this lesson:—
Muli gravati sarcinis ibant duo;
Unus ferebat fiscos cum pecuniâ,
Alter tumentes multo saccos hordeo.
Ille, onere dives, celsâ cervice eminet,
Clarumque collo jactat tintinnabulum;
Comes quieto sequitur et placido gradu.
Subito latrones ex insidiis advolant,
Interque cædem ferro mulum sauciant,