A CHARGER, feeling the infirmities of age, was sent to work in a mill instead
of going out to battle. But when he was compelled to grind instead of
serving in the wars, he bewailed his change of fortune and called to mind
his former state, saying, “Ah! Miller, I had indeed to go campaigning
before, but I was barbed from counter to tail, and a man went along to
groom me; and now I cannot understand what ailed me to prefer the mill
before the battle.” “Forbear,” said the Miller to him, “harping on what was
of yore, for it is the common lot of mortals to sustain the ups and downs of
fortune.
