his advisers, and his material resources. I plan to kill him and to seize the royal power myself without difficulty.' This very day this Lively person intends to carry out his design. That is why I am here to warn the master whose service is mine by inheritance."
To Rusty this report was more terrible than the fall of a thunderbolt. He sank into a panic-stricken stupor and said not a word. Then Victor, comprehending his state of mind, continued: "This is the great sadness in the discharge of a counselor's duty. There is wisdom in the saying:
When a counselor or king
Rises higher than he should,
Fortune strives in vain to make
Still her double footing good;
Being woman, feels the strain;
Soon abandons one of twain.
For, indeed
With broken sliver, loosened tooth,
Or counselor who fails in truth,
Pull roots and all; so only, grief
Will find its permanent relief.
And again:
No king should ever delegate
To one sole man the powers of state:
For folly seizes him, then pride,
Whereat he grows dissatisfied
With service; thus impatient grown,
He longs to rule the realm alone;
And such impatient longings bring
Him into plots to kill his king.
