situation. I must use my intelligence!’” Mc21 20 “Then he said, ‘I see no more excellent strategy than to seek reconciliation with the cat,

for the cat has been beset by [the kind] of trouble that no one can rid him [of], except me.

Perhaps, if he listens to

what I’m going to address him with—truthful words that bear no deceit—he would understand me and would desire

5 my help, reconciling with me for his own benefit, wherewith [bringing], for me and him, salvation.’”

Mc23 22 “So he said to him, ‘How are you?’ He said, ‘As you would fancy — in dire straits!’ Mc25 23 The Rat said:

‘{I shall tell you something} in which I will not lie: I swear that before I found delight in everything that saddened you, and I viewed that which constrained

you as comforting to me. Today, however, I have joined you in trouble

and have been so beset by dire straits that your death cannot delight me—I am your partner in [misfortune], and I can only hope to be delivered