LOCKIT:

Thus gamesters united in friendship are found,

Though they know that their industry all is a cheat;

They flock to their prey at the dice-box's sound,

And join to promote one another's deceit.

But if by mishap

They fail of a chap,

To keep in their hands, they each other entrap.

Like pikes, lank with hunger, who miss of their ends,

They bite their companions, and prey on their friends.

John Gay, THE BEGGAR'S OPERA (1728)