Some wolves were trying to catch a flock of sheep off guard. Unable to overpower them because of the dogs that guarded them, they decided to use cunning to get their way. They sent envoys to ask the sheep to hand over their dogs: it was the dogs, they said, that were the cause of the enmity between them; let the sheep simply give them up, and peace would reign. The sheep, not foreseeing what would happen, handed over the dogs, and the wolves, having taken hold of them, easily slaughtered the flock now left unguarded.
It is the same in states: those who lightly give up their orators do not suspect that they will soon be subjugated by their enemies.
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