(_FROM THE LATIN OF BUCHANAN._)
Calenus owed a single pound, which yet
With all my dunning I could never get.
Tired of fair words, whose falsehood I foresaw,
I hied to Aulus, learned in the law.
He heard my story, bade me "Never fear,
There was no doubt--no case could be more clear:--
He'd do the needful in the proper place,
And give his best attention to the case."
And this he may have done--for it appears
To have been his business for the last ten years,
Though on his pains ten times ten pounds bestow'd
Have not regain'd that one Calenus owed.
Now, fearful lest this unproductive strife
Consume at once my fortune and my life,
I take the only course I can pursue,
And shun my debtor and my lawyer too.
I've no more hope from promises or laws,
And heartily renounce both debt and cause--
But if with either rogue I've more to do,
I'll surely choose my debtor of the two;
For though I credit not the lies he tells,
At least he _gives_ me what the other _sells_.
Rufus.
* * * * *
_Epigram on Louis XIV._--I find the following epigram among some old
papers. The emperor would be Leopold I., the king Louis XIV.
_Epigram by the Emperor, 1666, and the King of France._
Bella fugis, sequeris bellas, pugnæque repugnas,
Et bellatori sunt tibi bella tori.
Imbelles imbellis amas, totusque videris
Mars ad opus Veneris, Martis ad arma Venus.