III.19 The Ass and Priests of Cybele

The luckless wretch that's born to woe
Must all his life affliction know--
And harder still, his cruel fate
Will on his very ashes wait.
Cybele's priests, in quest of bread,
An Ass about the village led,
With things for sale from door to door;
Till work'd and beaten more and more,
At length, when the poor creature died,
They made them drums out of his hide.
Then question'd "how it came to pass
They thus could serve their darling Ass?"
The answer was, "He thought of peace
In death, and that his toils would cease;
But see his mis'ry knows no bounds,
Still with our blows his back resounds."