Two mules walked under the weight of the some: one carried baskets filled with money, the other one, sacks bulging with barley. The first one, the one with the precious load proceeded with his head held high and shook the jingling rattle with his neck; his companion followed with a calm and placid step.
Suddenly the robbers burst in from an ambush, and in the melee they wounded the mule with their swords, grabbed the money and neglected the barley of no value. So while one
mule mourned his fate, the other one said: "Yes, I am indeed glad to have been neglected, for I have lost nothing and suffered no injury."
This proves that poverty makes man safe; great riches are exposed to dangers.
[ Muli gravati sarcinis ibant duo:
Unus ferebat fiscos cum pecunia,
Alter tumentes multo saccos hordeo.
Ille onere dives celsa cervice eminens
Clarumque collo iactans tintinnabulum,
Comes quieto sequitur et placido gradu.
Subito latrones ex insidiis advolant
Interque caedem ferro mulum sauciant,
Diripiunt nummos, neglegunt vile hordeum.
Spoliatus igitur casus cum fleret suos:
«Equidem» inquit alter «me contemptum gaudeo;
Nam nil amisi nec sum laesus vulnere».
Hoc argumento tuta est hominum tenuitas;
Magnae periclo sunt opes obnoxiae.]
Suddenly the robbers burst in from an ambush, and in the melee they wounded the mule with their swords, grabbed the money and neglected the barley of no value. So while one
mule mourned his fate, the other one said: "Yes, I am indeed glad to have been neglected, for I have lost nothing and suffered no injury."
This proves that poverty makes man safe; great riches are exposed to dangers.
[ Muli gravati sarcinis ibant duo:
Unus ferebat fiscos cum pecunia,
Alter tumentes multo saccos hordeo.
Ille onere dives celsa cervice eminens
Clarumque collo iactans tintinnabulum,
Comes quieto sequitur et placido gradu.
Subito latrones ex insidiis advolant
Interque caedem ferro mulum sauciant,
Diripiunt nummos, neglegunt vile hordeum.
Spoliatus igitur casus cum fleret suos:
«Equidem» inquit alter «me contemptum gaudeo;
Nam nil amisi nec sum laesus vulnere».
Hoc argumento tuta est hominum tenuitas;
Magnae periclo sunt opes obnoxiae.]
