Frogs and Mice.
No sooner were they come unto the fight,
Where warlike Mice their enemies assayle,
But all at once the Crabs upon them light,
Asunder breake their legs, bite off their tayle,
Their javelins pluck away, & pinch their hands,
Nothing their savage cruelty withstands:
So Tiger-like upon the Mice they prey,
As would perforce the stoutest heart afray.
Where warlike Mice their enemies assayle,
But all at once the Crabs upon them light,
Asunder breake their legs, bite off their tayle,
Their javelins pluck away, & pinch their hands,
Nothing their savage cruelty withstands:
So Tiger-like upon the Mice they prey,
As would perforce the stoutest heart afray.
But when the Mice beheld these monsters rage,
So dire and bloudy as doth grieve me tell,
Their haughty courage some deale gan asswage,
Their hearts from wonted resolution fell;
Their armes they throw away, the field forsake,
And to their heeles for safegard them betake:
"For if both heaven and hell conspire decay,
"No marvell though poor Mice do runne away.
So dire and bloudy as doth grieve me tell,
Their haughty courage some deale gan asswage,
Their hearts from wonted resolution fell;
Their armes they throw away, the field forsake,
And to their heeles for safegard them betake:
"For if both heaven and hell conspire decay,
"No marvell though poor Mice do runne away.
Thus by the succour of the Crabs that day,
The Mice were forced to a shamefull flight,
The Frogs preserv'd from imminent decay,
Which else had slept in death and endlesse night.
And now the welked Phœbus gan to rest
His wearied waggon in the scarlet West,
When sullen night prepar'd her course to runne,
Seal'd up the battell with the setting Sunne.
The Mice were forced to a shamefull flight,
The Frogs preserv'd from imminent decay,
Which else had slept in death and endlesse night.
And now the welked Phœbus gan to rest
His wearied waggon in the scarlet West,
When sullen night prepar'd her course to runne,
Seal'd up the battell with the setting Sunne.
The
