A Cat caught a Cock for a meal but first asked for excuses as to why it crowed so early. The Cock answered it was to help man. The Cat wasn’t impressed.
Tyrants need no excuse.
A Cat caught a Cock and thought about reasonable excuses for eating him. He accused him of being a nuisance by crowing at night; not letting men sleep. The Cock defended his action by saying this was for the benefit of men, as it wakes them for labor. The Cat replied, “you abound in apologies, but it’s time for breakfast.” At that he made a meal of the Cock.
Townsend version
A Cat caught a Cock, and pondered how he might find a reasonable excuse for eating him. He accused him of being a nuisance to men by crowing in the nighttime and not permitting them to sleep. The Cock defended himself by saying that he did this for the benefit of men, that they might rise in time for their labors. The Cat replied, “Although you abound in specious apologies, I shall not remain supperless”; and he made a meal of him.
JBR Collection
A Cat one day caught a Cock, and resolved to make a meal of him. He first asked him, however, what defence he had to make.” What reason can you give,” said he, “for your screaming at night so? No honest body can sleep for you.” “Nay,” answered the Cock, “I only crow in the service of man, to tell him when it is time to commence his labours.” “What nonsense you talk!” said the Cat; “you are mistaken if you think that such an excuse as that will do me out of my breakfast.”
Samuel Croxall
THE Cat, having a mind to make a meal of the Cock, seized him one morning by surprise, and asked him what he could say for himself, why slaughter should not pass upon him? The Cock replied, that he was serviceable to mankind, by crowing in the morning, and calling them up to their daily labour. That is true, says the Cat, and is the very objection that I have against you; for you make such a shrill, impertinent noise, that people cannot sleep for you. Besides, you are an incestuous rascal, and make no scruple of lying with your mother and sisters. Well, says the Cock, this I do not deny; but I do it to procure eggs and chickens for my master. Ah! villain, says the Cat, hold your wicked tongue; such impieties as these declare that you are no longer fit to live.
THE APPLICATION
When a wicked man, in power, has a mind to glut his appetite in any respect, innocence, or even merit, is no protection against him. The cries of justice and the voice of reason are of no effect upon a conscience hardened in iniquity, and a mind versed in a long practice of wrong and robbery. Remonstrances, however reasonably urged, or movingly couched, have no more influence upon the heart of such a one, than the gentle evening breeze has upon the oak, when it whispers among its branches; or the rising surges upon the deaf rock, when they dash and break against its sides. Power should never be trusted in the hands of an impious selfish man, and one that has more regard to the gratification of his own unbounded avarice, than to public peace and justice. Were it not for the tacit consent and harmless compliance of a great majority of fools, mankind would not be ridden, as oftentimes they are, by a little majority of knaves, to their great misfortune: for, whatever people may think of the times, if they were ten times worse than they are, it is principally owing to their own stupidity: why do they trust the man a moment longer, who has once injured and betrayed them?
Thomas Bewick (The Polecat and The Cock)
A Polecat, that had long committed depredations on the farm-yard, having a mind to make a meal of the blood of the Cock, seized him one morning by surprize, and asked him what he could say for himself why slaughter should not pass upon him? The Cock replied, that he was serviceable to mankind by crowing in the morning, and calling them up to their daily labour. That is true, says the Polecat, and is the very objection that I have against you, for you make such a shrill impertinent noise, that people cannot sleep for you. Besides, you are an incestuous rascal, and make no scruple of lying with your mother and sisters. Well, says the Cock, this I do not deny; but I do it to procure eggs and chickens for my master. Ah! villain, says the Polecat, hold your wicked tongue, such impieties as these declare that you are no longer fit to live.
APPLICATION.
When a wicked man in power has a mind to glut his appetite in any respect, innocence or even merit is no protection against him. The cries of justice and the voice of reason, are of no effect upon a conscience hardened in iniquity, and a mind versed in a long practice of wrong and robbery. Remonstrances, however reasonably urged, or movingly couched, have no more influence upon the hearts of such, than the gentle evening breeze has upon the oak, when it whispers among its branches; or the rising surges upon the deaf rock, when they dash and break upon its sides. Power should never be trusted in the hands of an impious selfish man, and one that has more regard to the gratification of his own insatiable desires, than to public peace and justice; but as a wicked son may succeed to the station of a virtuous and patriotic father, care should be taken to guard against a surprise, by a vigilant watchfulness of the encroaching nature of power, even when in benevolent hands, that those checks may not be undermined which counteract its abuse in bad ones. Had the poor Cock exerted his usual vigilance, it would have served him much more effectually than either his innocence or his eloquence.
L’Estrange version
It was the hard fortune once of a cock, to fall into the clutches of a cat. Puss had a months mind to be upon the bones of him, but was not willing to pick a quarrel however, without some plausible color for’t. Sirrah (says she) what do you keep such a bawling, and screaming a nights for, that no body can sleep near you? Alas, says the cock, I never wake any body, but when ’tis time for people to rise, and go about their bus’ness. Nay, says the cat, and then there never was such an incestuous rascal: why, you make no more conscience of lying with your own mother, and your sisters — In truth, says the cock again, that’s only to provide eggs for my master and mistress. Come, come, says puss, without any more ado, ’tis time for me to go to breakfast, and cats don’t live upon dialogues; at which word she gave him a pinch, and so made an end, both of the cock, and of the story.
Moral
‘Tis an easie matter to find a staff to beat a dog. Innocence is no protection against the arbitrary cruelty of a tyrannical power: but reason and conscience are yet so sacred, that the greatest villanies are still countenanc’d under that cloak and color.
Catus et Gallus
Catus, cum gallum cepisset, criminare coepit quod esset animal turbulentum, qui noctu clamitando non permitteret homines quiescere. Gallus se excusabat quod id ageret ad eorum voluptatem, cum ad opera facienda illos excitaret. Rursum catus ait, “Impius es, qui nec a matre nec a sororibus te abstineas, sed per incontinentiam illis te commisceas.” Gallus se defendebat dixitque quod, ex huiusmodi coitu, gallinae pariunt ova. Tunc inquit catus, “Quamvis excusationibus abundes, ego tamen te missum facere non intendo.”
Perry #16