Roger L'Estrange, Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists… (1692)
“ A Stag that was close Pursu'd by Huntsmen, fled for Safety into a Lyons Den; and as he was just Expiring under the Paw of the Lyon: Miserable Creature that I am, says he, to Fly for Protection from Men, to the most Unmerciful of Beasts! The Moral. There are Harder and Gentler Wayes, even of Ruine it selfe; as 'tis Common we see for Men under a Capital Sentence to Petition even for the Change of the Death. ”
