The Battle Of The Rats And The Weasels.

[1]      The weasels live, no more than cats,      On terms of friendship with the rats;      And, were it not that these      Through doors contrive to squeeze      Too narrow for their foes,      The animals long-snouted      Would long ago have routed,      And from the planet scouted      Their race, as I suppose.      One year it did betide,      When they were multiplied,      An army took the field      Of rats, with spear and shield,      Whose crowded ranks led on      A king named Ratapon.      The weasels, too, their banner      Unfurl'd in warlike manner.      As Fame her trumpet sounds,      The victory balanced well;      Enrich'd were fallow grounds      Where slaughter'd legions fell;      But by said trollop's tattle,      The loss of life in battle      Thinn'd most the rattish race      In almost every place;      And finally their rout      Was total, spite of stout      Artarpax and Psicarpax,      And valiant Meridarpax,[2]      Who, cover'd o'er with dust,      Long time sustain'd their host      Down sinking on the plain.      Their efforts were in vain;      Fate ruled that final hour,      (Inexorable power!)      And so the captains fled      As well as those they led;      The princes perish'd all.      The undistinguish'd small      In certain holes found shelter,      In crowding, helter-skelter;      But the nobility      Could not go in so free,      Who proudly had assumed      Each one a helmet plumed;      We know not, truly, whether      For honour's sake the feather,      Or foes to strike with terror;      But, truly, 'twas their error.      Nor hole, nor crack, nor crevice      Will let their head-gear in;      While meaner rats in bevies      An easy passage win; -      So that the shafts of fate      Do chiefly hit the great.      A feather in the cap      Is oft a great mishap.      An equipage too grand      Comes often to a stand      Within a narrow place.      The small, whate'er the case,      With ease slip through a strait,      Where larger folks must wait.