Nos et res nostras conservet Summa Potestas!—
Hos versus dicas, ne tu furto tua perdas.'
Quite a long chapter could be made up of the doggerel rhymes frequently made use of in bygone days in which the prospective thief was warned off under penalties of a prison, or even of a worse end. Here is one:
'Si quisquis furetur
This little Libellum
Per Phœbum, per Jovem,
I'll kill him—I'll fell him—
In ventrem illius
I'll stick my scalpellum,
And teach him to steal