A LION, worn out with years and powerless from disease, lay on
the ground at the point of death. A Boar rushed upon him, and
avenged with a stroke of his tusks1 a long-remembered injury.
Shortly afterwards the Bull with his horns gored2 him as if he
were an enemy. When the Ass3 saw that the huge beast could be
assailed with impunity4, he let drive at his forehead with his
heels. The expiring Lion said, "I have reluctantly brooked5 the
insults of the brave, but to be compelled to endure such
treatment from thee, a disgrace to Nature, is indeed to die a
double death."
