A ploughman was shut up by bad weather in his farmhouse. Unable to go out for food, he first ate his sheep; then, as the bad weather went on, he ate his goats too; and at last, with no let-up, he came to his plough-oxen. Then the dogs, seeing what was happening, said to one another, "We must get out of here; for if the master has dared to touch the very oxen that work with him, how will he spare us?"
We should be especially wary of those who do not shrink from harming even their own.
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