Iusta ultio.

Just revenge

Raptabat volucres captum pede corvus in auras
Scorpion, audaci praemia parta gulae.
Ast ille infuso sensim per membra veneno,
Raptorem in stygias compulit ultor aquas.
O risu res digna, aliis qui fata parabat,
Ipse perit, propriis succubuitque dolis.[1]

A raven was carrying off into the flying winds a scorpion gripped in its talons, a prize won for its audacious gullet. But the scorpion, injecting its poison drop by drop through the raven’s limbs, despatched the predator to the waters of the Styx and so took its revenge. What a laughable thing! The one who was preparing death for others himself perishes and has succumbed to his own wiles.

Corvus avis vorax & furax, cadaveribus at-
que rapinis intentus. Cùm autem aduncis suis pe
dibus in praedam avidae gulae rapuisset scorpio-
nem venenosissimum animal de quo Isidorus
qui caudae suae ictu paulatim venenum infun-
dens eius membris ulciscitur, raptoremque infla-
tum interimit. Res ridicula, ut qui aliorum in-
sidiabatur vitae, ipse propriis dolis periit. Simi
lis extat Apologus apud Aesopum de Corvo &
Serpente, hîc etiam adagia sumpta, Corvus ser
pentem, & Corvus scorpium, ut in Chiliadibus.