Collected Works of Erasmus: Adages: II vii 1 to III iii 100, Volume 34 9781442670648

Table of contents :
Contents
Foreword
Adages II vii 1 to III iii 100
Adages: 1 Pomarius Hercules / Hercules eating apples – 100 Suem irritat / He provokes the boar
Adages: 1 Servatori tertius / A third to the Deliverer – 100 Quam curat testudo muscam / More than a tortoise minds a fly
Adages: 1 Stultior Morycho / As big a fool as Morychus – 100 Navis aut galerus / Ship or cap
Adages: 1 Mazam pinsuit a me pistam / He baked the sponge cake I kneaded – 100 Nudior paxillo / As naked as a peg
Adages: 1 Herculei labores / The labours of Hercules – 100 Animo aegrotanti medicus est oratio / To a sick spirit speech is a physician
Adages: 1 Si quid mali, in Pyrrham / If there's anything bad, on Pyrrha's head – 100 Vitiat lapidem longum tempus / Length of time wears the marble
Adages: 1 Sileni Alcibiadis / The Sileni of Alcibiades – 100 Intersecta musica / The music is cut off
Notes
Works Frequently Cited
Table of Adages

Citation preview

COLLECTED WORKS OF ERASMUS V O L U M E 34

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COLLECTED WORKS OF

ERASMUS ADAGES II vii 1 to III iii 100

translated and annotated by R.A.B. Mynors

University of Toronto Press Toronto / Buffalo / London

The research and publication costs of the Collected Works of Erasmus are supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The publication costs are also assisted by University of Toronto Press.

www.utppublishing.com © University of Toronto Press 1992 Toronto / Buffalo / London Printed in Canada ISBN 0-8020-2831-4

Printed on acid-free paper

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Erasmus, Desiderius, d. 1536 [Works] Collected works of Erasmus Partial contents: v. 34. Adages II vii i to III iii 100 / translated and annotated by R.A.B. Mynors. ISBN 0-8020-2831-4 (v. 34) i. Erasmus, Desiderius, d. 1536. I. Title. PA85OO1974

876'.04

C74-oo6326-x

Collected Works of Erasmus The aim of the Collected Works of Erasmus is to make available an accurate, readable English text of Erasmus' correspondence and his other principal writings. The edition is planned and directed by an Editorial Board, an Executive Committee, and an Advisory Committee.

EDITORIAL BOARD

Alexander Dalzell, University of Toronto James M. Estes, University of Toronto Charles Fantazzi, University of Windsor Anthony T. Grafton, Princeton University Paul F. Grendler, University of Toronto James K. McConica, All Souls College, Oxford, Chairman Mechtilde O'Mara, University of Toronto Jane E. Phillips, University of Kentucky Erika Rummel, Wilfrid Laurier University Robert D. Sider, Dickinson College J.K. Sowards, Wichita State University G.M. Story, Memorial University of Newfoundland Craig R. Thompson, University of Pennsylvania James D. Tracy, University of Minnesota EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Alexander Dalzell, University of Toronto James M. Estes, University of Toronto Charles Fantazzi, University of Windsor Anthony T. Grafton, Princeton University Paul F. Grendler, University of Toronto James K. McConica, All Souls College, Oxford George Meadows, University of Toronto Press Ian Montagnes, University of Toronto Press Mechtilde O'Mara, University of Toronto

Jane E. Phillips, University of Kentucky R.J. Schoeck, University of Kansas R.M. Schoeffel, University of Toronto Press, Chairman Robert D. Sider, Dickinson College J.K. Sowards, Wichita State University G.M. Story, Memorial University of Newfoundland Craig R. Thompson, University of Pennsylvania James D. Tracy, University of Minnesota Prudence Tracy, University of Toronto Press

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Danilo Aguzzi-Barbagli, University of British Columbia Maria Cytowska, University of Warsaw Otto Herding, Universitat Freiburg Jozef IJsewijn, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Robert M. Kingdon, University of Wisconsin Paul Oskar Kristeller, Columbia University Maurice Lebel, Universite Laval Jean-Claude Margolin, Centre d'etudes superieures de la Renaissance de Tours Bruce M. Metzger, Princeton Theological Seminary Clarence H. Miller, St Louis University Heiko A. Oberman, University of Arizona John Rowlands, British Library J.S.G. Simmons, Oxford University John Tedeschi, University of Wisconsin J. Trapman, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen J.B. Trapp, Warburg Institute

ADAGES COMMITTEE

Alexander Dalzell, University of Toronto Charles Fantazzi, University of Windsor Erika Rummel, University of Toronto G.M. Story, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Chairman

Contents

Foreword ix Adages II vii 1 to III iii 100 1 Notes 317 Works Frequently Cited 427 Table of Adages 429

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Foreword

The aim of this translation of some seven hundred of the Adagia (ll vii iIII iii 100) is to present, as in the preceding volumes (CWE 31, 32, 33), an English version of the final form of a steadily augmented and revised work, as left by Erasmus in 1536 and published in the Opera omnia of 1540. (For the special problem of the Greek passages which constitute something of an anthology and for which Erasmus supplied Latin versions, see the Translator's Foreword to CWE 31 xiv.) The purpose of the notes is to identify the sources on which Erasmus drew, and to show how his collections increased and fresh comments suggested themselves from the Adagiorum Collectanea of his Paris days (1500) into the Aldine Chiliades of 1508 and its successive revisions published in Basel in 1515, 1517/18, 1520, 1523, 1528, 1530, 1533, and 1536. A certain additional range of allusions is also noted, but not the use made of individual adages in the vernacular literatures and in the graphic arts; it is the aim of this version to serve as a tool to workers in those larger fields. Like its immediate predecessors (CWE 32, 33) this volume is the work of the late R.A.B. Mynors, and readers of the serial volumes (CWE 31-36) will wish to know that at the time of his death in October 1989 he had virtually completed not only CWE 33 (published in this series in 1991) but also the present volume, and that he had made a start on the two remaining volumes of translated text and annotation. Sir Roger had also done valuable work in assembling material, Herculei labores, for the introductory volume (CWE 30), particularly on the Greek and Latin sources of the Adagia, the bibliographical history of the work, and of course the necessary indexes. The present volume was reviewed and prepared for the press by Erika Rummel, who also attended to the filling of lacunae in the notes with the advice of other members of the Adages Committee of the Editorial Board. In this task, the ASD text, available for this volume, was especially useful. Other acknowledgments are recorded in the appropriate places in the annotation of the text. It is proper to express again our thanks to Lady

Lavinia, Sir Richard, and Lady Fiona Mynors for their helpfulness when Sir Roger's typescripts, notes, and manuscript compilations were sorted for the continuation and eventual completion of this part of the Erasmus enterprise. The Editorial Board and the University of Toronto Press are also pleased for the opportunity to express their gratitude to the patron of the Collected Works of Erasmus, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, for its support of the research and publication costs of the edition. CMS

ADAGES II vii 1 to III iii 100

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Pomarius Hercules Hercules eating apples MrjAios 'HpaKAijs, Hercules eating apples, was a contemptuous way of referring to a man who had some grand title, but neither wealth nor influence to give him power. An incident gave rise to this. Suidas tells us that one day some country people were proposing to sacrifice a bull to Hercules, and it broke its halter and escaped; nor had they any alternative offering. They seized an apple, stuck four twigs into it to serve for legs and then added two more as though in the place of horns, thus producing a sort of model of a bull; and this absurd image they sacrificed to Hercules instead of a victim. Julius Pollux, in book one of his work On the Names of Things, tells the story rather differently, as follows. It is a regular practice in Boeotia, he says, to sacrifice apples to Hercules. Once, when the god's festival was imminent and it was urgently necessary to have the offering ready, the victim, which should have been a ram, was late in arriving because of a sudden flood which made the river Asopus impassable. None the less, some children who were playing near the altar duly performed the sacrifice. They had a fine apple, into which they stuck four stout straws by way of legs and two more in place of horns, playing with the idea that they were thus offering a ram. Hercules was thought to have been greatly delighted with his victim; and so it remained a custom in Thebes to sacrifice apples to Hercules. And hence the god acquired a nickname, the Hercules of apples.

2

Verecundia inutilis viro egenti Bashfulness is useless to a man in want 'But diffidence is no good companion for a needy man'; so we read in Homer,1 Odyssey 17, and it is cited by Plato2 in the Laches. And a little further on: 'Diffidence, he says, ill becomes a beggar.' And again in Hesiod:3 'Shame is no profit to a man in need.' The line passed into a proverb, the lesson of which is that we should cast off diffidence when under pressure of necessity. Diffidence, which in many situations is highly unhelpful, is never more so than when circumstances demand that we do all we can, just as modesty is unprofitable which deters us from learning what it is disgraceful not to know. As Horace4 puts it, 'foolish is shame that hides untreated sores,' and in another passage Tou are the victim of a foolish shame.' Euripides5 alludes to the same point in the Iphigeneia in Aulis: 'But yet one should be modest, when one can.' Homer in Iliad 24 writes that diffidence or reverence can be a very great help, and also a very great hindrance: 'Nor has he the shame / Which does so much for men, both good and bad.' And we can see7 a number of

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sufferers from this unprofitable diffidence, who would rather conceal their bodily infirmities than be rid of them with the help of their friends. Such, we read, was the disposition of Apelles, who tried to conceal both his ill health and his poverty; and a kind friend secretly put a gold nugget under his pillow. But those are very much in the majority who through an unhelpful bashfulness conceal ill health and poverty of mind. Yet they often find as a result that their trouble breaks out into the open, and their shame is then more pitiable and quite unavailing. 3

Ventrem mihi objicis You taunt me with my belly Two other lines are recorded in the collections of Greek adages: 'You taunt me with my belly; but this is the most honourable of all reproaches, for when full it is a featherweight, only when empty is it heavy/ For my part I do not see where the proverb comes in, unless it is in the phrase 'most honourable of reproaches/ which seems to have been in use in Greek as a proverb. Euripides in his Iphigeneia in Aulis: This is an honourable reproach with which you charge me/ Or it may lie in the part that sounds something like a riddle: 'when full it is a featherweight, heavy when empty/ For other containers grow heavier as they grow fuller and lighter as they empty, but with the belly it is the opposite: the more distended it is with food, the lighter it becomes because the spirits are stimulated and heightened by eating.

4

Turpe silere Shame to be mute \io-xpbv (Tiamav, Shame to be mute. It will be right to use this whenever someone is roused by another man's example to pursue a course of study or a piece of business. It originated with, or at any rate was used by, Aristotle.1 When Isocrates was teaching rhetoric, he was moved by a spirit of competition and he too began to teach the art of speaking in those afternoon promenades of his which are so celebrated, with the comment 'Shame to be mute when Isocrates is vocal/ Cicero2 in his De oratore shows that Aristotle borrowed the words with a few changes from some tragedy, for he writes as follows: 'When Aristotle saw that the school of Isocrates was prosperous and full of well-born pupils as a result of his switching the subject of his discourses from litigation public and private towards an empty elegance of style, he suddenly altered the shape of his own teaching almost entirely, quoting with some changes a line about Philoctetes. Philoctetes said it was shame for him to be mute in front of barbarians; Aristotle [changed this to] "when Isocrates was free to speak/"

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In book six of the Letters to Atticus: 'For my part, were not Bibulus3 so excited about a triumph, though as long as there was a single foreigner in Syria he no more set foot outside the city gates than he did out of his own front door, I should not give this a second thought; but as things are, it is shame to be mute/ But nowadays this is misused by some people, who think nothing more shameful than to be mute, for fear4 that an illiterate audience may underestimate their learning and their literary style. Hence comes the principle of the uneducated speaker in Lucian,5 'never to keep silence/ because in front of the ignorant a man will be thought tongue-tied and ignorant himself, unless he is perpetually chattering. 5

Munerum animus optimus In gifts the spirit is what matters "SevC(0v Se re BV/JLOS apio-Tog, But in gifts the intention is the most important thing. In Greek this is the half of a dactylic hexameter,1 and it was used proverbially to convey that, when we receive gifts from friends, we should consider, not the value of what they have sent us, but much more the intention of the sender, in the same way that Xerxes2 in the story took the water that the countryman offered him in his cupped hands, and Christ preferred the widow's mite3 to all the offerings of the rich. And we are told by one authority4 that for 'a small present sent by a humble friend' we ought to be as grateful as if it was something big. Pliny5 in his preface expressed this in a different metaphor: 'But milk is offered to the gods by country folk and many foreign peoples, and mere salted meal is the tribute of those who have no incense/ It is indeed a very familiar fact in our own day that those who offer some gift should draw attention to the spirit of it rather than the thing itself. The adage is recorded by Phurnutus6 in his work On the Nature of the Gods.

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Nescit capitis et inguinis discrimen He does not know the difference between head and groin Those who have reached such a depth of effrontery, or rather blindness, that they make simply no distinction between what is respectable and what is indecent are said not to know the difference between head and groin. Among respectable parts of the body the head holds first place, and so it is quite right to keep it bare; from the belly downwards all is indecent, and is kept covered. Juvenal, of a tipsy woman: 'For Venus when in liquor makes no sense; / 'Twixt head and groin she knows no difference/ These words clearly have the shape of a proverb.

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Multitude imperatorum Cariam perdidit Excess of generals ruined Caria IloAAoi orpaTTjyoi Kapiav aTrwXecrav, Too many generals brought Caria down. An iambic line, of which the message is that nothing is so disastrous as liberty of action in the mob, when they obey no one man, but everyone does what is right in his own eyes. The Greek for this is anarchia, an evil1 almost worse than tyranny, which is the worst thing there is. But polyarchia, the rule of many, is as great an evil as the so-called anarchia, the rule of none. Homer2 teaches the same lesson in that line in the second book of the Iliad, which itself later passed into a proverb: 'The rule of many is not good; let one man rule/ These words are used by Ulysses when repressing disorder among the soldiery, one of whom was Thersites. The same Homeric line was adopted by Dio, when he saw that Heracleides was preparing to rebel, as we learn from Aemilius Probus.3 The adage took its rise from the Carians, who once enjoyed great prosperity, but later were brought so low by civil strife that their worthless character became proverbial, as I have shown in another place.4

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Mus albus A white mouse Mv$ ASVKOS, A white mouse, in Suidas1 (Mvg KOCKOS, A bad mouse, in Diogenianus) was applied to a lecherous man and one prone to sexual excess, for house mice are very lecherous creatures, and white mice especially. Aelian,2 book 12 chapter 10, cites authorities to show that the lechery of mice is extraordinary. To much other evidence he adds that of Epicrates in one of his plays where, wanting to convey that a woman is particularly lewd, he calls her myonia, a mousehole; and he quotes the proverb A white mouse from a comedy by Philemon. Hence, it seems, came the practice of using as words of endearment between lovers not only lovebird' and 'dove' and others of the kind, but 'mouse' as well. Martial:3 'Call me mouse if you will, and the light of your life/

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Fades tua computat annos Your years are counted in your face This, which of course has the air of a proverb, is used by Juvenal of an old woman who has already passed her time of life and is far too ancient for amatory dalliance, but in her lascivious language still carries on as if she were a girl. 'Your years are counted in your face' he says, which means that the wrinkles in your face advertize how old you are, although your lecherous

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disposition has not yet grown old. The fable1 of the crocodile is relevant here. A crocodile was boasting of its distinguished ancestry and how it won all its battles, and the fox replied as follows: 'Even though you do not admit it, it is clear from your hide that you have many years of active service behind you.' For that creature2 has a hide which is armed against all blows with a kind of very tough plate. Martial3 says of someone who prided himself on his youthful appearance 'Your beard cries out against you, You're a man.' 10

Phoenice rarior As rare as the phoenix QoivtKos (nravMTspos, As rare as the phoenix, is used of things, or even of men, that are very hard to find. The adage derives from the myth of a bird called the phoenix, of which Pliny1 writes in book 10 chapter 2: 'And above all the famous phoenix of Arabia, of which it is said (but I rather think this is a myth) that there is only one in the whole world, and that after great efforts it has not been sighted. They say it is as big as an eagle; the neck glittering with gold and the rest of the body scarlet; the tail dark blue picked out with feathers of a rose-colour; its face distinguished by a crest, and a plume of feathers on its head.' In the same passage other marvels relating to the phoenix are recorded; but as they do not contribute to the understanding of the adage, I leave them for anyone interested to read there for himself. Ovid2 in book 15 of the Metamorphoses puts the following lines in the mouth of Pythagoras: One bird there is that still himself renews: Phoenix the Assyrians call him, and his food Is neither seed nor blade, but incense-beads And spicy juices. When life's span is spent, In holm-oak sprays and crest of quivering palm With beak and talons he constructs his nest. With spikenard this he lines and cassia, With pounded cinnamon and tawny myrrh; Then sits thereon, and dies an odorous death. A fledgling phoenix next, the story runs, Springs from his corpse, to live as long as he, Then, when full-grown and strong to bear the load, The ponderous burden of those lofty boughs, Lifts his own cradle and his father's grave, And to Hyperion's city wings his way In filial duty, there to lay it down, Before Hyperion's holy temple-gates.

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A poem on the phoenix also survives, the work of Lactantius3 Firmianus, a piece not without eloquence (the Muses be my witness) and by no means to be despised. 11 Non es laudandus ne in coena quidem You deserve no praise, even at a feast OVK eiraivsQeiys, ovS1 ev TrepideCirvQ), You could not be praised, even at a funeral feast, was said of someone who was utterly disreputable. The Ancients, and the Athenians in particular,1 had a practice at funeral feasts, called in Greek perideipna, of delivering2 encomiums, memorial addresses and panegyrics in praise of a dead man, even if he had done little to deserve this while alive. For, as Ovid3 puts it, 111 will feeds on the living but is silent after death/ As a result we sometimes deprive the living of the praise they deserve, and give the dead even what they have not earned. Festus Pompeius4 tells us that in Antiquity it was the custom to hire women to lament the departed at funerals, with some admixture of praise, and to lead the rest in the process of mourning; hence they were called praeficae, which is close to praefectae, appointed leaders. For this he quotes evidence from Naevius: 'I really think this woman must be a praefica, a professional mourner, from the way she praises a dead man/ The origin of the phrase may be what seems to have been a custom in Antiquity, that at drinking-parties some men's praises should be recited even in their lifetime, in the way that Alcibiades hi Plato5 produces an encomium on Socrates, and in Plutarch Callisthenes praises Alexander the Great. Praises of this kind were not, however, considered of great value, as being produced under the influence of liquor. Nor do I think it would be foolish if one were to refer the proverb to a practice in the old days of having a lyre-player at feasts to sing of the exploits of the gods or famous men, as happens in Homer at almost every feast. In Virgil7 too 'Long-haired lopas sounds his golden lyre/ Though here again the praise was often invented to give pleasure to the audience. The adage is recorded by Diogenianus. Q

12 Pedibus in sententiam discedere To vote with one's feet The meaning of To vote with one's feet and of A foot-slogger's vote (pedaria sententia) is adequately explained by Aulus Gellius,1 book 3 chapter 18. If applied by way of metaphor to any form of approval for someone else's views, it will assume proverbial shape; if, for instance, one were to say 'No sensible man would vote with his feet forthwith for anything that may have come into

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his wife's head/ or 'It is right that emotion should vote with its feet for the proposals made by reason, not against them/ 'I vote for your proposal with hands and feet and with my whole body/ A metaphor from the ancient custom, which used to be observed whenever there was a great crowd of people wishing to record their votes. Livy2 in book 7 of his first decade: 'When I have finished giving you my opinion, those of you who think the same as I do will cross over in silence to the right, and the view of the larger number will prevail/ and shortly after that '"Those of you who think this is the solution should cross over forthwith to the right." And they all crossed over, and followed Decius as he made his way through a gap left by the pickets/ Cicero3 in his eleventh Philippic: 'He said however that if any of those who had been asked their opinion after him should have produced a better suggestion, he would vote [lit, 'go'] for it/ Again, in a letter to Lentulus: 'For they saw clearly that many times more would vote for Hortensius' proposal than openly agreed with Volcatius/ In the same letter: 'They voted in large numbers for the other points/ Again, writing to Plancus: 'A well-attended senate abandoned him, and voted for all the other points/ This system of voting was called discessio, a division [lit, 'a going away']. Pliny the nephew4 in book two of his Letters, writing to Adrianus: 'But, when there occurred a division, first the members standing by the consuls' chairs proceeded to go over to Cornutus' side, then those who were letting themselves be counted with Collega crossed the floor/ The man who interrupted the taking of votes was said to 'intercede/ 5 Livy in book nine of his Rome from the Foundation: "When this was received with nothing but praise, and they were all voting [pedibus irent] for his proposal, a brief attempt was made to intercede/ And again in book five of the same work: 'When they were voting [pedibus iretur] in favour of this proposal, the remaining tribunes made no attempt at opposition/ Pliny the Elder, book 2 chapter 7, made something of a change in the form of the phrase: 'This opinion' he says 'began to take root, and both the learned public and the unlearned adopted it at the run/ To give enthusiastic and over-hasty support to something he calls 'adopting it at the run/ and puts 'to take roof for 'to prove acceptable/ Flavius Vopiscus7 in his life of the Emperor Aurelian shows that it was also customary to approve someone else's proposal by raising one's hand, for he writes as follows: "Then with some lifting their hands, others voting with their feet, and most of them shouting their approval, the senatorial decree was carried.' Sallust too conveyed much the same in his War against Catiline, when he wrote that 'Silanus later was moved by Gaius Caesar's speech to say that he would support [pedibus iturum se] the proposal of Tiberius Nero, while others signified their approval of Caesar in various ways/ Quintilian9 speaks

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of 'voting in support of a proposal with hands and feet'; besides which, anyone who also indicated his assent by the look in his face and his gestures was said 'to vote in support with his whole body/10 The method of voting by raising the hand is known in Greek as cheirotonein or cheirotonia, a word also found in Scripture/1 as in chapter eight of second Corinthians: cheirotonetheis. Phrases such as 'to subscribe to' a proposal, an opinion, a wish, and suffragari, refragari, to lend or withdraw support, and other metaphors of the kind, whenever they are diverted some little distance from their straightforward meaning, pass gradually into the status of proverbs. 13 Sustine et abstine Bear and forbear Epictetus, a philosopher of the Cynic school, embraced without exception all those principles of philosophy which relate to the happiness of human life, and which other philosophers expound with difficulty in so many volumes, in two words and no more. For a long time now they have been current as a proverb among educated men, and well do they deserve to be inscribed on walls and columns everywhere, and to be engraved on every ring. They are as follows:' Kvexav KOL airexau, Bear and forbear. One of them teaches fortitude in adversity; the other warns us to refrain from forbidden pleasures. They are recorded in the Nights of Gellius,1 book 17 chapter 19. The following lines are recorded in Athenaeus,2 with no mention of the author's name: 'Good should we call the man who brings good things; / Good too is he who beareth bad things well.' 14

Naturam expellas furca, tarnen usque recurrit Though you cast out nature with a fork, it still returns When I see the Greeks dragging some things into their pile of proverbs by the scruff of the neck,1 as the saying goes, why should I hesitate to include the sort of sayings which are not only adages in form but so neatly expressed that nothing could be neater? A good example is that line in Horace's2 Epistles, 'You may cast out nature with a fork, but she will still return.' The point is, that things which Nature has deeply rooted and implanted in us are not easily unlearned. If we are sometimes forcibly obliged, by fear or shame or any other cause, to put on a mask which is not ours, we resume our normal character with ease when we have the chance. Those, for instance, whose fear 'to do wrong'3 arises not 'from love of virtue' but from fear of the big stick, return to their original way of life as soon as the stick is removed. And Terence:4 'If he hopes it will escape notice, he returns to his true self.' The image is taken from branches which are twisted by the use of a forked prop into a different position from the way nature had placed them; and when the prop is removed

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they tend to resume their former direction. Pindar5 in the eleventh of his Olympians expressed the same idea in another way: 'But their inborn nature neither wily fox nor roaring lions can change/ However much you may tame a lion, it always returns to its native ferocity, nor does a fox, however much domesticated, ever forget its inborn treachery. Pindar again, in hymn 13 of the same collection, writes 'It is difficult to conceal one's natural character/ Horace7 too in another passage: 'Remove the danger and, the bit removed, / Nature without restraint will gallop off/ 15 Navis annosa haudquaquam navigabit per mare An old ship will not sail the open sea Navs iraXaua TTOVTOV ovxl irXtiKTSi, An old ship will not sail the open sea, is well adapted to those whose strength has been sapped by old age, so that they are no longer capable of doing something difficult or facing danger; first the size of the burden overwhelms them and they perish, and those whose business is at stake are put in jeopardy. It is a familiar image. The adage is recorded by Diogenianus. 16

Ni pater esses Were you not my father Ei /AT) irarrip ffa^a, Were you not my father. This was commonly said when they repressed some severe criticism out of respect or fear, and left it to be understood. The complete phrase runs as follows: Were you not my father, I would have said you are not in your right mind/ It is a line from Sophocles' Antigone, spoken by Haemon, who is protesting against his father's preparations to put to death the girl to whom the son is betrothed. We shall use it to indicate that we heartily disagree with someone who by his age or influence or for some other reason commands our respect, but out of reverence do not wish to take issue with him openly. Suppose for instance that one rightly wanted to refute one of Aristotle's opinions before an audience of Peripatetics, one might speak like this: 'The author of this opinion carries the greatest weight, for it is perhaps a crime to disagree with Aristotle. Otherwise, were he not my father ...,' meaning 'Did I not defer to his authority, I possess the means of refuting him/ If you leave half the sentence unexpressed, it will gain somewhat more point. Recorded by Diogenianus.

17 Magnum os anni A good year talks big Msya (TTo^a TOV BVLOVTOV, A good year talks big, was used whenever an unusually good harvest or a fall in the cost of bread raised the spirits of those

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who would otherwise have lacked self-confidence, and set them talking. It is typical of country people to speak more boastfully and make more generous promises when they have the prospect of a good harvest. Recorded by Suidas. It does not differ much from He has hay on his horn, or from The springs of silver speak. 18 Megaricae sphinges Megarian sphinxes MeyapLKal (rfayyss, Megarian sphinxes, was a name given commonly in old days to certain courtesans, either because catamites are currently called sphictae1 in Greek from the word sphingo, or because in Megara sphinx was a word for a children's nurse, or because the people of Megara were immoral and untrustworthy, and their character earned them in old days this discreditable name. Hence Aristophanes2 in the Wasps criticizes the Megarian laugh, of which I have spoken elsewhere: 'Nor yet a knock-kneed laugh from Megara/ Suidas3 too quotes another line, but as usual without giving the author's name: Tes, but for this I've a Megarian trick.' By 'Megarian laughter' or 'tricks' he understands the luxurious habits of the Megarians. Recorded in the collection of Diogenianus. 19

Mellis medulla Marrow of honey MeAtro? /^feAd?, Marrow of honey, was applied to anything exceptionally sweet. Hence too it comes that Ennius, as reported by Cicero,1 called Marcus Cornelius Cethegus 'the marrow of persuasion' as being a singularly attractive speaker, for that which is best of its kind seems to have been hidden by nature in the very heart of things. For the same reason those very common expressions 'in one's very marrow' and 'to love in the marrow of one's bones'2 are no different in form from proverbs. We find the same formula3 in The Greece of Greece.'

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Meliores nancisci aves To be given better auspices Those people are said' P^JLSLVOVOJV oiaiv&v rvxelv, To be given better auspices, who after a period of adversity find themselves in more prosperous circumstances. For in Latin two words for 'bird,' avis and ales, mean sometimes not the living creature but the actual omen and augury derived from it, and it is the same in Greek with oionos and ornis; for strouthos is not used in the same

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way, as Eustathius1 shows in his comment on Odyssey book one. Horace2 in the Odes: 'Ill-augured are you now, taking her homeward/ and again in another passage: 'That winged Maeonian poet/ Homer3 in the Iliad, book 24: 'So do not you yourself become for me / A bird of evil omen in these halls/ and again in book 12 of the same poem: 'The one best augury is to fight in defence of the fatherland/ The Ancients laboured under the superstitious belief that in attacking any great enterprise they must observe the chance encounter of birds, and some of them were professed specialists in this field as though it were an art. Hence the Romans had their College of Augurs. Among Christians4 this profession, based on superstition, has already been almost drummed out of town, but only with the result that its place has been taken by an evil almost more pestilential and actually double-headed - those who foretell the future by the stars, and others who falsely claim divine inspiration and wish to be taken for prophets by the credulous and uneducated public. Yet it is astonishing how both parties find victims on whom they can impose; for impose they do, not only on the mob but on kings themselves and the rulers of the world. 21 Aliud genus remi Another sort of oar "AAAo yevos Kuym)*;, Another sort of oar, was used in old days when someone introduced a novelty which had never been seen before, or when there was a change in someone's original character and he adopted a new and unaccustomed way of life. It arose, they say, from the fact that, when Hercules was voyaging in search of the Erythraean cattle, he used his lion-skin in place of a sail, his club for a mast, the thongs of his quiver for rigging, his bow for an oar, and a cauldron for his boat. When the inhabitants caught sight of this highly unusual style of sailing, they cried out 'Another sort of oar/ Recorded in the collections of Plutarch. 22

Clamosior lauro ardente As noisy as burning bay-leaves Mei£ova fio& 8aV dvpai, The Muses' doors are open. This adage will be in place whenever we wish to convey that someone has a fertile and ready intelligence, quick to absorb the noblest subjects of study, as though he had the blessing of the Muses, and they showed no reluctance to keep him supplied. Conversely, it will be possible to say of men whose minds work more slowly that, as they learn, the Muses' doors are closed. Or, when the point is that we ought not to keep learning, the gift of the Muses, to ourselves, but share it openly and without jealousy, as if we were kindling another man's lamp from our own. Recorded by Zenodotus. 42

Martis campus The field of Mars "Apeaig iTsdiov, The field of Mars. Cited by Suidas from the Peisander of Alexandrides, it was diverted to apply to those who clearly were equipped with the self-confidence of fighting-men, and operated by force rather than policy, with fists rather than fair phrases; no 'joining issue out of courf * for them, but unprincipled clamour; might was their right. For them Hesiod2 has an admirable compound word cheirodikai, strong-arm justice. In general, a man's sphere of action is called in Greek his 'field.'3

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Argenteis hastis pugnare To fight with silver spears ' Apyvpeais \dyxaiv, Hipparchion loses his voice. When someone falls silent suddenly, at a moment when people specially want to hear what he has to say. It is a by no means rare occurrence for some individuals that when they have to speak before an audience their 'voice sticks in their throat/ as though they were terrified. It is said that this happened to Theophrastus, who was otherwise a very ready speaker in company. On such occasions as these, therefore, there may well be a place for this adage. They say that in Greece in the old days there were two leading lyre-players, Hipparchion and Rufinus. At the regular games celebrated every nine years at Juliopolis these two were to engage in a contest; and it so happened that Hipparchion was unnerved by the uproar in the theatre and lost his voice; hence this became a popular joke. Zenodotus is the authority.

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Pecuniarum cupiditas Spartam capiet, praeterea nihil Love of money will be Sparta's undoing, and nothing else ' H ^iXoxp^i^arCa ^iraprav eAot, a\\o 8s audsv, Hunger for gold will Sparta captive make, and nothing else. Of those who can be overcome by money alone, and are otherwise invincible. The adage takes its rise from an oracle, which replied to an enquiry by the Spartan kings Alcamenes and Theopompus that the Spartans would not be defeated until they began to set a value on gold and silver. It corresponds to a saying of Philip, king of Macedon, who thought no citadel so strong that it could not be taken, provided it was accessible to an ass laden with gold. It corresponds also to the story of Danae, whom no precautions could protect from the insidious shower of gold. Cicero mentions this in book 2 of the De officiis, and Plutarch in his 'Customs of the Spartans/

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Non decet principem solidam dormire noctem A ruler should not sleep the whole night through Among the numerous lines in Homer which, as Macrobius1 tells us, were once current as proverbs, I would place near the top of the list one from book two of the Iliad: 'A wise prince should not sleep the whole night through/ The message of the proverb is that watchful care is specially appropriate for

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princes, who bear such a load of business on their shoulders. So it is with Aeneas in Virgil:2 while others sleep or indulge in pleasure, he either lies awake, or at the least is aroused, and is painted as thoughtful, serious, and full of planning for the future, 'But pious Aeneas all night long full of thought/ and again, 'Aeneas, can you prolong your sleep at such a juncture?' and again 'Art thou awake, Aeneas child of the gods? Awake!' A distinguished example of this is provided by Epaminondas, the famous Theban general. When the people of Thebes during several days of public holiday were indulging with some freedom in drink and abandoning themselves to pleasure, he alone was awake and sober, and went round the city walls, checking the weapons. When asked why he did so, he replied that 'he was sober and wakeful in order that the rest might be free to drink and sleep.' So Plutarch3 records in his essay To An Uneducated Ruler/ To return to the quotation I have just given from Homer,4 the words are spoken to Agamemnon by a Dream personified, which bears the likeness of Nestor. The whole passage runs as follows: 'Sleepest thou, son of Atreus and sage Hippodamas? A wise prince should not sleep the whole night through, to whom the people are entrusted, and such a load of care.' Again in Iliad 10 Agamemnon alone is portrayed as wakeful while all the rest are asleep: 'Down by the ships all the other Achaean chieftains lay all night long in the gentle bonds of sleep. Not so the son of Atreus, Agamemnon, shepherd of the people; sweet sleep held him not, for his mind was full of thought.' In the same way he shows us Jove awake in Iliad 2: Then did the other gods, and men that marshalled chariots, sleep all night long, but no sweet sleep held Jove as he pondered in his heart/ Plutarch,5 in that same essay which I have just quoted, tells us something not irrelevant to the proverb, and well worth remembering in itself. Tt was the custom of the king of Persia always to have one chamberlain on whom the duty was laid of entering the royal bedchamber every morning and waking the king with the following words: "Arise, o king, and consider the business which Mesoromasdes instructed you to consider.'" If a prince were learned and wise, he would have no need of any such chamberlain to remind him of his duty; but reason herself will be always in his bosom, repeating such words as 'Consider' and 'not sleep the whole night through/ Plato in the seventh book of the Laws praises wakefulness on many grounds, and particularly in princes. I will subjoin his words: 'Princes who are wakeful in their cities in the night are a terror to the wicked, alike to their enemies and their citizens/ And a little earlier in the same passage: 'For no one when he is asleep is good for anything/ For they are asleep who act in a listless manner, and sometimes they achieve their purpose, but not often. So Pindar7 in his tenth Olympian is right when he says that 'Joy that has cost no toil falls to few men's lot/

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Capram portare non possum, et imponitis bovem I cannot carry a she-goat and you load me with an ox Plutarch in the essay entitled 'That we ought not to borrow': 'For there will be the ridicule expressed in the proverb I cannot carry a she-goat and you load me with an ox/ When a man refuses a lighter burden and demands to have something far heavier put upon him; if, for example, from reluctance to suffer poverty (for that is the subject to which Plutarch adapts it) one were to entangle oneself with money-lenders, a burden which even rich men find hard to bear.

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Nunquam enim meas boves abegerunt nee equos For they have never driven off my cows nor yet my horses Ov yap TTMTTOT efiag (loug rjAaaav ovSs pev linravs, For they have never driven off my cows nor yet my horses, was clearly used in the old days as a proverbial formula for They have never hurt me nor done me an injury,' when we maintain that there is no reason why we ought to hate this man or that. Plutarch in his essay That we ought not to borrow': 'And do not think that I say this because I have declared war on the money-lenders, for they have never driven off my cows nor yet my horses,' they have never, that is, deprived me of anything of mine. This will be more like a proverb, the further it is transferred from its straightforward sense. It is taken from the first book of Homer's Iliad, where Achilles in his quarrel with Agamemnon maintains that he has no reason to engage in war with the Trojans except to oblige Agamemnon: T did not come hither on account of the Trojan warriors, to fight against them, for they have done me no harm; they have never driven off my cows nor yet my horses, nor did they ever lay waste my harvests on the deep soil of Phthia, nurse of heroes.' This originates in the customs of a bygone age, when men still led a pastoral life, and the prime cause of warfare was the rustling of cattle, as Homer1 elegantly suggests in Iliad 18, when he is describing the shield of Achilles...2 That no one may complain that I do not think highly of these lines, I have translated them as follows: 'Aloof from them there sat two watchmen of the folk, on the look-out in case they might see sheep and cows with crumpled horns. And at once there they were, and with them went two herdsmen playing on their pipes, and they foresaw no trap. But the watchers when they saw them ran down, and quickly then did they cut to pieces the herds of cattle and the fair flocks of sheep with white fleeces, and killed the herdsmen.'

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Felix qui nihil debet Happy is he that owes nothing EvSaL/jLcov 6 fjLT)8ev dKC\(ov f Happy is he that owes nothing. A familiar aphorism in Greek, the truth of which will easily be confirmed many times over by anyone who has made the experiment of being heavily in debt. Those without this experience should read Plutarch's essay1 'That we ought not to borrow/ and he will easily discover how miserable it is to be in debt. What can be more calamitous than so often to turn red with shame, so often to put a bold face on things, to be in constant state of running away, of hiding, of telling lies and covering up; to be the humble suppliant one day and importunate claimant the next; to suffer demands in public for repayment, to be avoided, to be pointed out by the finger of scorn - never, in short, to be one's own master? All these troubles, and many others beside them, go with being in debt. There is a Greek epigram2 on the same theme, bearing the name of Automedon, which runs like this: 'First on the list of happy men is he who owes no one anything, second the bachelor, third he who is childless. If one goes mad and marries, he gets his reward if he can bury his spouse forthwith and pocket a large dowry. Learn then this lesson and know yourself wise; let Epicurus waste his time enquiring where the void is and what the atoms are/ Plutarch,3 in the essay called 'That We Ought Not To Borrow/ says that among the Persians there were two sins; the first was to be in debt, and next after that, to tell lies, because they thought these were closely connected, seeing that those who have borrowed heavily are often driven to falsehood. What Plutarch tells us is to be found in Herodotus,4 in the first book.

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Ad digit! crepitum At the snap of a finger Those who give some command in an arrogant and contemptuous manner are said to convey their meaning by the snap of a finger. St Jerome1 in his letter to Rusticus the monk, used the phrase of a very proud and supercilious man who, when about to say something, demanded silence by a snap of his fingers, and then in a similarly pompous way brought out his words with long intervals between them, 'so that you might think it was a fit of the hiccoughs and not someone talking/ This gesture seems to have been typical of masters telling their servants to perform some menial task. Martial2 in book 3 in his attack on Zoilus: 'Some eunuch knows the signal when he snaps his fingers/ and in his book of distichs:3 'When I'm summoned with a snap of the fingers, and the houseboy is slow off the mark, how often have the cushions taken over the task which is properly mine!' Cicero4 in book 3 of the De officiis: 'If

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therefore a good man were to possess this power of insinuating his name into rich men's wills by a mere snap of his fingers, he would never make use of this power, not even if he were perfectly satisfied that no one at all would ever suspect what he had done.' This resembles the phrase about Jove nodding his head in agreement or refusal, which is quoted from Homer by Pliny5 in his Letters. And people are said to do things 'on the nod,' who achieve some result with the minimum of effort. Also 'to obey someone's lightest nod/ of those who hasten to comply. 100

Suem irritat He provokes the boar *\v opivKi, He rouses the boar, was used of someone with an appetite for quarrels. For a wild boar when challenged makes straight for its challenger. Experts in hunting tell us that if a man threatens a boar with his spear, even if the boar was already in pursuit of someone else, it will turn immediately and attack the man who has challenged it, not even avoiding his spear-point.

i

Servatori tertius A third to the Deliverer To*> TpCrov Tq> 'Ztirrrjpi, The third to the Deliverer. Proculus Diadochus,1 in his essay on the three parts of the soul as analysed by Plato and the four kinds of virtue, made use of this adage in the words I quote: 'But having solved these questions and distinguished the parts of the soul in accordance with their essence, now for the third to the Deliverer, as they call it.' Proculus' meaning is that, after two points have been dealt with, there remains a third, how four virtues are to be related to those three parts of the soul. Proculus seems to imitate a phrase in Plato's Charmides:2 'Once again then, I said, a third to the Deliverer; let us reconsider this, as it were, from the beginning.' He seems to have made the same allusion, though less openly, in the Laws? book 3: 'But that third Deliverer of yours, when he saw that the government was still above itself and showing too much spirit, imposed on it as a sort of bridle the power of the ephors.' His point is that three controls have been built into the Spartan constitution, to prevent its violent change into a despotism. The first was the addition of a second family as an authorized source of recruitment for their kings; for at first only one family was eligible. Secondly, the influence of the nobles and leading men was balanced by the authority of the twenty-eight

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older citizens, which in major questions of state was reckoned equal with that of the kings. Last but not least, there was the institution of the five ephors, whom a king was compelled to obey. All this, he thinks, was arranged by divine providence to safeguard the state, and that is why he says The third Deliverer/ The adage is taken from Pindar,4 from hymn six of the Isthmians, where with reference to the third cup drunk in honour of Jupiter the Deliverer we find these words: 'May it be mine to make ready a third [bowl] for the Deliverer at Olympia, and pour a drink-offering for Aegina in music sweet as honey.' The meaning of the lines is somewhat as follows. Pindar expresses the wish that some day a man from Aegina may win an Olympic victory, so that it may be his own privilege to mix a third cup in honour of Jupiter the Deliverer, accompanied by praise both for the victor himself and for Olympian Jove. He thinks of a 'bowl' either in the literal sense of the mixing-bowl from which they drink at the parties given to celebrate the victory, or of the l>owl of song/ of which he says elsewhere5 'Sweet is the mixing-bowl of clear-voiced songs/ The scholiast on this passage of Pindar explains that it was customary in Antiquity for the first bowl of wine at a drinking-party to be mixed in honour of Olympian Jove, the second for the Heroes, and the third for Jove the Deliverer. As evidence for this he cites from the Nauplius of Sophocles: 'Jupiter who sets an end to pain, and the third mixing-bowl poured in libation to Jove the Deliverer/ He also cites Aeschylus7 in his Epigoni: 'Libations first to Jupiter for timely wedlock and to Juno; the second mixing I then offer to the Heroes; and in third place a votive libation to Jove the Deliverer/ He adds that this last was called 'the cup of the Deliverer' because up to this point the drinking had stopped short of intoxication and had not yet harmed men's wits, whereas once a man had passed beyond that limit, his course seemed set for lechery and drunkenness, in line with that famous dictum of Asdepiades in Apuleius, that the first cup of wine pertains to thirst, the second to pleasure, the third to intoxication, the fourth to madness. This same cup in honour of Jupiter the Deliverer they call teleion,9 the final or the perfect cup, either because it was the last stage in this system of drinking, or because three is thought to be the most perfect of all numbers, as having a beginning, a middle and an end, and is therefore especially fitted for a theological context, and is applied by Plato10 to the soul, as being divine and therefore consisting of a triad. And there is another point which is not without a background in theology: that the first and third libation-bowls should be dedicated to Jupiter and the middle one to demigods. In the first place the middle position was appropriate to the Heroes, for several reasons. One was that in Plato's view11 their status was halfway between the supreme gods Q

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'whose home is Olympus/ as Homer12 puts it, whom Plato supposes to be minds owing no allegiance to any bodies, and ourselves, who are burdened with bodies and are therefore exposed to passions and to death. For the school of Plato ascribe bodies to these daemons, though they are airy bodies and not like ours; and this opinion was shared by St Augustine13 in his treatise On the Nature of Daemons, and several times elsewhere. Another reason might be that according to myths told by the poets demigods have a mixed and intermediate origin, one parent being a god and the other a human being, as Hercules was the offspring of Alcmena and Jupiter, Castor and Pollux of Leda and Jupiter. Furthermore, by Jove they understand the supreme intelligence that embraces all things at once, so that he is both beginning and end of all things; and that was why they both began their drinking under his patronage and ended it with him. Jupiter the Deliverer is mentioned more than once by Aristophanes14 in the Plutus, as in this passage: 'So I think it right for myself to bid farewell to Jove the Deliverer and remain here where I am.' The scholiast tells us that in Athens there was a temple of Jupiter the Deliverer, who was also called by some people the Liberator. Jove the Deliverer is also mentioned by Athenaeus15 in the second book of the Doctors at Dinner, where he adds that it was once the custom, when food was placed on the table, to pour neat wine, presumably to make clear how great was the power of the good god. Then, when each man had watered his drink to suit himself, they uttered the name of Jupiter the Deliverer by way of introduction to suggest that wine so mixed could be drunk safely and without risk of harm. But in book nl6 he virtually tells us that after dinner too, when they had washed their hands, a cup was customarily brought in to be drunk in honour of Jupiter the Deliverer, which was identical with the so-called 'cup of the Good Spirif; and as authority for this he cites Diphilus, who writes in his Sappho: 'Archilochus, take this full after-dinner cup, in honour of Jove the Deliverer and the Good Spirit/ It will be right to use the adage when we wish to convey that we are approaching the last and most important part of a piece of business. Before I finish I should like to make one other point, that Pindar's words17 prove the identity of Olympian Jove and Jove the Deliverer. Plutarch1 in the fifth decade of his Table-Talk' speaks of these three cups, if I am not mistaken: 'For when we sacrifice to a god, we do not sacrifice to all the other gods, especially with temples and altars; but when we mix three bowls, we pour libations to some gods out of the first bowl, to others out of the second, and to yet others out of the last, for jealousy has no place in the heavenly choir.' He also mentions the topic in the seventh decade/9 making it clear that when a sacrifice was made to one god, prayers were made to all at once, but not by name.

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Hyperi vertigo The twirling of a pestle ' Ytrepav TrepiTpovrj, A pestle going round and round. When a man is always busy on the same task and yet never gets anything finished. Plato, presumably the comic poet, in his Adonis, cited by Zenodotus: 'Then I shall never have the twirling of a pestle.' Plutarch1 in his 'Against the Stoics/ making the point that they argue in a circle: 'Corinth son of Jove is always coming into their conversation; but say nothing of the twirling pestle, for fear you seem to make fun of them/ It looks therefore as though the phrase was used when the same things are often repeated, until they become tedious. Logicians2 speak of 'begging the question' when an argument goes round in circles. Hesychius3 explains it of those who always say the same thing, and all the time make no progress. Plato4 discusses something in the Theaetetus which is so close to this that it might be thought identical: 'The twirling of an axle (scytalefi or a pestle or whatever else they speak of/ when the discourse returns to the same point in the way in which, in that passage, Theaetetus says that the man who holds the right opinion ought to concur in the right opinion. The translator6 renders scytale by scutica, a thong, since Plato speaks of the leather strip wrapped round the staff.

3

Sus sub fustem Put the hog under the cudgel "YtJ? VTTO poTTOiXov, Put the hog under the cudgel. When someone plunges headlong into instant peril and disaster, for it is the custom in some places to club a pig to death. Recorded by Suidas. Zenodotus says it is found in Deinolochus.

4

Si bovem non possis, asinum agas If you cannot drive an ox, drive an ass Ei ny bvvaio POVI>, sXavve ovov, If you can't drive an ox, drive an ass; that is, if you can't do a thing as you would wish, do it as best you can. If a distinguished position does not come your way, make the most of what does come. If you are not allowed to do what you hope to do, be content with the second best. Suidas is the authority.

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Siren amicum nunciat, apis hospitem A bee foretells a stranger and a wasp foretells a friend ^sipTjv JJLSV (f>C\ov dyyeAAei, £eiyov 8s ^eXifrcra, A bee proclaims a stranger but a wasp foretells a friend. For use when we get a good omen on the same subject from several sources, or when everyone gives rein to his own hopes and infers from the most trivial indications that what he wishes is about to happen; for siren in this context does not mean one of those famous maidens in Homer but a kind of insect not unlike a bee. So we learn from Suidas. Though in Hesychius the text reads creCpy, not crsipriv.

6

Etiam si lupi meminisses If you had even mentioned a wolf Ei Kal \VKOV efjivr)cr6r)pv£, More, Phrygian, more,' so that these become the words of someone gladly acknowledging the compliment and, very great as it was, demanding yet something more. Hence when someone flatters us openly we can reply by repeating 'More, Phrygian.' Recorded by Suidas3 and Zenodotus.4

26

Magis sibi placet quam Peleus in machaera He is as pleased with himself as Peleus with his sword Meya (frpovel fiaAXov 77 HrjAevs eirl TJJ fiaxaipp, He is as pleased with himself as Peleus with his sword, is suitable for a man who is made intolerably insolent and conceited by something. The story is that this sword was forged by Vulcan, and given by the gods as a present to Peleus as an acknowledgment of his valour and good sense. Peleus used it both in battle and in the huntingfield, and achieved all he wished. Zenodotus says this is mentioned both in Anacreon and in Pindar.

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Generosus es ex crumena You owe your blue blood to your purse Yevvalos elsKftaXavrCov,You owe your blue blood to your purse, was levelled as a taunt against a man who had wished to be thought well-born on account of his wealth, though in all other respects he was obscure and plebeian. For coin is one of the sources of nobility, and not ancestral wealth alone, as Aristotle1 says, but coin from any source no matter how recent. And men of this sort are often more rude and insolent than those who owe their distinction to a long line of ancestors.

28

Liberorum amantior quam Gello As fond of children as Gello FeAAw Trai:8oi\(t)Tepa, As fond of children as Gello, was customarily used of those who had died an untimely death, or who were exceptionally devoted to their sons but ruined them by pampering and indulgence. Gello is said to have been an unmarried girl, who died while still very young. The people of Lesbos believed that her ghost walked, and attacked children. Hence the deaths of children who suffered an untimely fate were ascribed to this Gello. Sappho is cited as having mentioned this story.

29

Gleba arvum Clod and field Baj\og apovpa, Clod and field. When someone adds small things to big, supposing that he renders some assistance. Hence I suspect that we should change the word for field into the accusative or dative case, and mentally supply some verb meaning 'is added to' or 'increases' or some such thing. For a man contributes nothing significant if he adds a clod of earth to a field; it is just like drawing water from a lake, and pouring it into the sea.

30

Glauci ars The art of Glaucus TAavKav TB^VT}, The art of Glaucus. This proverb has two uses. It is appropriate, either to some task very swiftly completed, or to something finished with the greatest skill and care. Some think it comes from a certain Glaucus of Samos, who first invented the soldering of bronze; others from a Libyan who is said to have made four cymbals, adjusted to each other in exact proportions, so that the thickness of the first bore the ratio of four to three to the second, three

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to two to the third, and double to the fourth. These when struck produced a particular musical harmony. Zenodotus is the authority. 31

Noctuae Laurioticae Lauriotic owls T\OVKeg AavpicoriKai, Lauriotic owls, was used as a riddling way of referring to the power of money. Laurios is a region of Attica rich in veins of gold, and so they struck gold coins with the image of an owl on them, as I have said in another passage.1 The scholiast2 adds that four-drachma coins with an owl were also struck. Aristophanes3 in the Birds: Saurian owls shall ne'er desert you; in your houses they shall nest, / Rear their broods within your purses/

32

Glaucus poto melle resurrexit Glaucus drank honey and came back to life TAavKog TTi&v yueAt avearr), Glaucus drank honey and revived. Used customarily when someone whose death is commonly reported is seen again in public, and appears like one risen from the dead to those who had firmly believed he was no more. It arose quite certainly from something that actually happened: a man called Glaucus, contrary to universal expectations, recovered from a fatal illness after drinking a medicine made with honey, and this was turned in jest into a proverb. Some tell the story thus: A certain Glaucus, after drinking honey, almost died from an attack of bile, but the physicians rushed to his bedside, and a herb called polyidos, also known as dragonwort, restored him to health.

33

Generosior Codro As nobly born as Codras Evyevsarepos KoSpov, As nobly born as Codrus, will be rightly used by way of irony of those who pride themselves on smoke-stained busts of their ancestors and on ancient lineage. Codrus was the son of Melanthus, and Melanthus was sixth in descent from Neleus, one of whose other descendants was Nestor. This Melanthus, then, was driven out of his native Messene and came to Athens; and there he engaged in single combat with Xanthus, a Boeotian who at that time was ruler of Athens, defeated him, and seized power over the Athenians. He was succeeded by Codrus his son, whose devotion to his country has earned him a great name. For when the Athenians were at war with the Dorians, and it had been declared by an oracle that they would be victorious, provided that their king had been killed by the enemy,

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Codrus, prizing his country's glory above his own safety, challenged the enemy in disguise, and was killed. He left two sons, Mentor, who after his father's death succeeded to the kingship, and Neleus, who acted as leader of a colony despatched to Asia. Such more or less is the account in Zenodotus. 34

Cadmea victoria A Cadmean victory Kd8/jLSiovcrtvf There's no difference in build between you and Chaerephon, was said of a pale and skinny person. Chaerephon was a writer of tragedies who told the story of the Heraclidae, and when his nightlong labours made him exceptionally thin and worn, to criticize him became a common jest. He also got 'the Owl' as a nickname. Aristophanes hi the Clouds: 'You'll be no different in look from Chaerephon.' He refers to him in the Plutus too: 'Not at all different from Pamphilus' Heraclidae.' For Pamphilus1 had painted the Heraclidae in the Stoa, supplicating the Athenians with whom they had taken refuge for fear of Eurystheus; and so he calls them 'Pamphilus'.'

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Nihil ab elephante differs There's no difference between you and an elephant ' EAe^a^To? /ueAm (Tocvrbv KaraTrtxTreL?, You roll in honey and smear yourself with honey, means that you live a sweetly comfortable life, as though it did not suffice to batten on honey without being honey all over. Found in Diogenianus.

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Mercurius inf ans Mercury tongue-tied 'Ep/jirjg afjLvOTjTOs, that is, Mercury tongue-tied, voiceless or illiterate. An ironical proverb, used of those who pretend to know nothing of an art in which they are experts, for Mercury is the parent of eloquence and the liberal arts. I should not, I think, conceal the fact, that the current texts read' Epfirj? a/jivrjTog, that is, Mercury the outsider, the uninitiate; and if anyone prefers this, I do not dislike it either. For who in fact is more expert in the Mysteries than Mercury, the interpreter of the gods, who belongs equally to the upper and the nether worlds, and is himself chief mystagogue or leader of the Mysteries?1 It corresponds to the phrase used by Aristides2 in his Pericles: The Cretan and the sea.'

11

Mendicorum loculi semper inanes Beggars' wallets are always empty TiTaxuv ovXal ael Ksvai, Beggars' wallets are always empty. Used of people who are always begging and are insatiable; related to one I have recorded

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elsewhere, The beggar's wallet is never filled. Both are in Suidas, though I do not find oulai* in the sense of 'wallets'; I do find oulades2 for 'flour-jars/ though the word is sometimes used to mean 'stomachs' on account of their softness. 12.

Meliacum navigium A Melian vessel To MrjAiaKov irAoiov, A Melian vessel, seems to have been used of one that was worthless and, in Terence's phrase,1 'full of chinks and leaking all over the place.' They trace the proverb back to an incident which ran as follows. A man called Aristotle of Melia was appointed head of an expedition to found a new colony. Many who wished to escape the long voyage produced a variety of excuses, some saying their wives were sick and others that their ships were leaky, and using these as pretexts to remain at home. Aristotle lost patience, and pronounced a curse on them: that they should never have sound ships, and always do as their wives told them. So this would clearly be suitable when anyone invents reasons to avoid doing his duty. Melia, according to Stephanus,2 is a city in Caria. Suidas tells us that melia is also a kind of tree, producing an example from the Birds of Aristophanes: 'In leafy melia perching.' It may be that the wood of this tree is useless for shipbuilding; in any case, though the story about the people of Melia may be true, there is certainly an allusion to the tree.

13 Melanione castior As chaste as Melanion MeXaviwos vw^pov ear epos, As chaste as Melanion, was applied to a man who showed the greatest abhorrence of female society. It is said that a certain Melanion from hatred of women departed for the wilderness, and there with the dog which was his only companion hunted wild beasts through pathless mountains and forests, and could never be persuaded to return home. The adage is mentioned by Aristophanes in the Lysistrata. This is not to be found among the published plays, but I have read it in manuscript.1 The same image will be used in As chaste as Hippolytus,2 for he had the same passion for hunting and the same hatred of women. 14

Matris ut capra dicitur He's called after his mother like a she-goat Trjs /mrjTepog &v ev rois Tshfiaat ftarpax^v, I care no more for such things than for frogs in the marsh. A proverbial exaggeration, by which we convey that some business is nothing at all to do with us. It will also be used rightly of critics when we wish to say that we emphatically despise their attacks; for frogs may chatter and croak without stopping at the passers-by and endlessly repeat their dreary chorus1 'brekekekex koax koax,' yet no one is moved in the slightest. It points in the same direction when Origen2 interprets the frogs in Egypt as the chattering of logicians and sophists in papal decrees.

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Cucurbita sanior Healthier than a pumpkin More healthful than a pumpkin. Suidas and Zenodotus record this as an adage. Athenaeus1 in book 3 cites this line from Epicharmus: 'And it was far

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more healthful than a pumpkin/ It will make a verse in Greek if you read eti ge for eti; the form I have given is found in Aldus' edition of Athenaeus. On the source he makes no suggestion. And so we may conjecture that it arises either from the fact that a pumpkin is not easily damaged by bad weather thanks to the tough skin by which it is protected, or because it is supposed to be effective in various remedies, as Dioscorides2 suggests in book 2. So too Pliny,3 book 20 chapter 3. Nor is it only one species that is used for remedies; there is value also in the cultivated kind, called in Greekkolokynthe, in one that is hollow inside and grows wild called in Greek (as Pliny says) somphos, and in a smaller cultivated sort called kolokynihis, which one might render by 'little pumpkin.' It seems to me quite reasonable to derive this proverb from the uniformly rounded shape of a gourd and its unbroken surface, neither broken by cracks nor attacked by grubs; for to be unblemished and well filled-out are symptoms of bodily health. Related to one I have listed elsewhere,4 KpoTwvos vyisorspos, As healthy as Croton. 78

Cum Deo quisque gaudet et flet Laughter and tears come by the will of God avi> Tsi\ei, He owes a penalty for abuse. Kydos with a long first syllable means 'glory'; with a short syllable it is cursing and jeering, whence they also derived a verb kydazein, to revile. Consequently, when someone was reported to the authorities and complained of for a trivial reason, perhaps some rash remark, they used a proverbial expression, 'He has paid the penalty for bad language' and 'He owes a penalty for cursing'; for in Antiquity a fine was levied on those who had used offensive language of another man.

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Cnips in loco A flea in its place ' 0 KV\\II KV xPQ, The flea in its place, used of those who suddenly changed their position and moved from one place to another, a fault to which Horace1 confesses himself subject. The sknips or knips (for I find both forms) is a grub which originates in timber, and when it has gnawed through the wood it always tries to move to a new place. Some2 express the proverb in the form A flea out of its place, so that you must understand 'migrates/ Pliny,3 book 16 chapter 41, names among pests in timber the teredo, a worm with a head very large in proportion, so called because it gnaws the wood with its teeth; but the name properly belongs, he says, to the worm that infects timber in the sea. He adds that there is one of this kind called the cerastes, which as soon as it has 'gnawed enough timber to have room to turn round, engenders another/ Whether4 these facts have any relevance to this proverb I rather doubt; for there is a Greek tradition that knips is a small winged creature that eats wood, not unlike a gnat. If this is true, I do not see how it is consistent with Aristotle's statement5 that a bird called xylokoptes, the woodpecker (called in Latin, if I am not mistaken, picus Martins) digs into trees with its beak in order to bring up the knips lurking in the wood. Suidas7 says that knipos, the genitive case of the word knips, is the origin of a word knipos in the nominative, and that this means sparing, living on a very scanty diet, evidently following the example of the knips, which exists on gnawing wood which is a by no means luxurious food. Hence it seems natural that the adage can be used of mean and hardy people who live very frugally.

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Cyclobori vox A voice like the Cycloborus KvKAofiopov (fxovri, A voice like the Cycloborus, was applied to excessively noisy and obstreperous people, or those with an ugly harsh voice. The Cycloborus was a river in Attica, not a continuous stream but a seasonal torrent, which made a great roaring noise, and this was the source of the proverb. Aristophanes in the Knights: "Rapacious, roaring like Cycloborus.'

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Thasium inf undis You pour in Thasian Baaiov evsxeis, You mixed in Thasian. Apparently a customary expression when someone diluted wine, not with water but with some heavier wine. For Thasian wine in the old days had a high reputation, as Apuleius1 testifies in his first Apology; 'The greengrocer' he says 'and the wine-merchant are rightly allowed to praise green vegetables and wine for the nobility of their native soil, Thasos for wine and Phlius for greens.' And Pliny2 in the Natural History, book 14 chapter 7, writes that of imported wines the most famous were Thasian and Chian. Thasus, by the way, is an island off the coast of Thrace, and hence comes the proverb3 A Thasos of good things. They say this island was the home of Staphylus, with whom Bacchus was deeply in love. The phrase comes from the Plutus of Aristophanes,4 in which is the following line: 'If you poured in Thasian, you did right, in heaven's name.' An old woman complains of a youthful suitor who used to flatter her, to the extent of saying that she had a very sweet smell. To this Chremylus makes a humorous reply; no wonder, he says, the young man thought so, if she used to ply him with Thasian wine, which smells delightful. The scholiast adds that enecheis, poured in, is used for ekirnas, you mixed.

i&

KAsiTopia^eiv To touch the clitoris KAsiTopiagsw, was a current word of abuse for the behaviour of those who were sexually attracted by boys or, as Diogenianus says, of excessively licentious women.1 The source of the proverb is not really clear, except for the statement in Hesychius that cleitoris in Greek is a name for a region adjacent to the female pudenda, so that it was the practice to use this verb for licentious fondling; and Suidas2 concurs.

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Claudiana tonitrua Claudian thunder Festus Pompeius seems to suggest that Claudian thunder had passed into common usage, when he writes that it got its name from 'the practice introduced by Claudius Pulcher at games played1 behind the stage of hurling stones in such a way as to produce a sound like real thunder. For it had been the custom previously to make very weak and feeble sounds by throwing keys and stones into a bronze pan/ The adage (provided we think it should be admitted to the family of adages) will suit men who make an excessive clamour and are insufferably noisy. Much resembles one I have recorded elsewhere,2 Dodonean bronze.

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Claudi more tenere pilam To grasp a pillar like a lame man Cicero1 in his speech Against Piso writes in this fashion: The Greek philosopher began by making distinctions, and analysing how the words were used; but our friend, like the lame man (as they say) grasping the pillar, swore his allegiance to what he had received from tradition.' So far Cicero. The proverb is suitable for those who habitually cling to what they have learned from their teachers and follow that, right or wrong, without choice or selection. The metaphor is taken from the lame man who, being unable to trust his own feet, clings firmly to the nearest column. Unless anyone would rather refer it to the game of ball,2 for a lame man will never catch the ball unless you send it just right; otherwise, if it is sent anyhow, he is too slow on his feet to be able to catch it. Seneca,3 in book seven of the De beneficiis, 'And suppose you instruct me to throw the ball to a cripple/ meaning, to confer a benefit on someone who is unfit to receive it. Plautus4 in the Aulularia: 'And then by day he sits at home like a crippled shoemaker the whole day long/ In general, this will be appropriate for all those who depend on another man's judgment and lean on another man's authority, like the people who are satisfied once they have uttered the words The Master said.5

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Loripedem rectus derideat Let the healthy man mock the cripple There is a phrase in Juvenal1 which is both very epigrammatic in itself and a perfect example of proverbial structure: 'Let the healthy man mock the cripple and the white man mock the black/ This will be appropriate whenever a man

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accuses other people of some defect from which he suffers himself or tirades against faults in others from which he himself is not free; just as if, for instance, one lame man were to taunt another with this limp. He who is ready to speak against others ought to be completely free from faults himself, and it is the height of folly to throw stones at someone else which he can throw back at you. 'Who can stomach a Gracchus2 declaiming against rebellion, Verres preaching against theft and Milo against murder?' There is a well-known saying of Leo3 of Byzantium, when some abusive person had reviled him for the weakness of his eyes, being himself a hunchback: 'You abuse me' he said 'for something which can happen to any man, while you carry the wrath of god on your own back/ 22

Clisthenem video I spy Cleisthenes KAsLotfsvrjv 6p&, I spy Cleisthenes. This Cleisthenes had a bad reputation, and was attacked with savage abuse by the comic poets, for he was thought to lack virility, and wore improper clothes as though he wished to turn himself into a woman, following the example of the famous Assyrian king Sardanapalus.1 Aristophanes2 in the Thesmophoriazusae: 'Do you see yourself? - Indeed I don't; but I spy Cleisthenes/ Suidas records it, and says it suits those who have a smooth, carefully shaven skin; for Cleisthenes habitually shaved his chin that he might look like a young man. This is also expressed in the form K\sioi)evov, was proverbially used of those who ate fatted quails or thrushes, or who had a lascivious and wanton laugh. So too the noun Ki^Ata/^o? is used of an effeminate and shameless titter. This will therefore suit either greedy

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men who are devoted to delicate food, or those who enjoy lecherous pleasures. Starlings imitate everything, and the thrush is listed by Pliny1 among the birds which imitate the human voice; for the authorities translate this word in different ways. 25

Cilicium exitium A Cilician ending KtAuao? dAedpos, A Cilician ending, was said of a cruel and savage end; for the Cilicians, on account of the piracy by which they lived, and their constant forays against their enemies, had a very bad name for savagery and cruelty. This is why the Athenians called especially cruel punishments 'Cilician/ Hesychius1 among others mentioned this. The phrase may be compared with the use of 'Isaurian' in the lawbooks2 for a cruel and savage robber.

26

Centaurice Centaur-like KevTavpiK&iKi8C£siv, was used in common speech of those who were abandoned to an immoral passion for boys. Some prefer to relate it to those who habitually make an excessive and tiresome use of the letter r; for the people11 speak of normally turn the letter sigma (s) into rho (r). This fault is also attributed to the Eretrians, on the evidence of the proverb2 The Eretrians' rho. To-day this is a common jest against the people of Picardy:3 the women of Paris with their mincing pronunciation turn r into s, and say Masia for Maria.

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Cantharo astutior As cunning as Cantharus KavOdpov (roCoi, Some have a tongue, others in turn have teeth. Used customarily of those who talked or ate a great deal; for it often happens at dinner-parties that, while some people chatter away, more intent on conversation than on food, others sit silent all the time, strenuously devouring what is set before them. It will be more eloquent if diverted some way from its natural meaning; if, for instance, a man were to threaten reprisals in action against someone who has injured him in words only. Poets have a tongue which they can use for attack; but princes have molar teeth with which they can make short work of poets.

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Improbi consilium in extremum incidit malum The counsel of the wicked has incurred utter disaster ' A.7rr)VTr)(re KCXKOV /foi/Ar/ irpos inreprarov &rr]v, Wicked designs have incurred utter destruction. A proverbial hexameter line, describing the man who, after many years of wrongdoing without punishment, falls at last into calamity, so that he pays the penalty at one time for all his misdeeds.

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Aliud noctua sonat, aliud comix The owl has one cry and the raven another "AAAo yhavf;, &\\o Kopavy 0eyyeTai, The owl has one cry and the raven another, or The voices of owl and raven are not the same. This can be adapted either to those who compete with opponents far better than they are, or to people whose divergent characters and gifts make agreement impossible, or when one man has far greater powers of self-expression than another. For just as you can recognize a bird by its song though you cannot see it, so the difference of style betrays a work ascribed to the wrong author. There is no species of writers among whom you cannot find bastard and spurious pieces mixed in with their genuine words. A false title may be added by anyone; but

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the manner of writing, which is scarcely ever even by chance the same in two writers, confirms the attribution or rules it out. 75

Reperire rimam To find a chink Plautus used a proverbial form of expression when he said in the Curculio: 'You will find some chink/ of people who always find some pretext or excuse and, whatever the matter in hand, can never be restrained by such bonds of good faith that they cannot find some way of slipping out. In the same way Horace has Tile on a hundred chains, / Your cursed Proteus will slip through them all/ Drawn from birds or mice kept in captivity.

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Album panem pinso tibi I knead you a white loaf AevKrjv tiagav fyvpw aoi, I knead, or mix,1 you a white loaf. Customarily used when someone displays generous expectations of great things to come, for maza is a kind of loaf, and that the Greeks set a high value on white bread is shown by several passages of Lucian,2 especially in his essay On Salaried Posts: 'Having never, even in a dream, eaten your fill of white bread/ And St Jerome3 in his letter to Nepotianus puts fine white flour in a list of delicacies. 'What is the point' he says 'of not using olive oil and seeking out things to eat that are troublesome and difficult - dried figs, pepper, palm-kernels, fine white flour, honey, pistachios?' And that 'bakers did not even exist in Rome before the war with Perseus, 580 years and more after the foundation of the city' is clear from Pliny,4 book 18 chapter 11, where he sets out several methods of making special kinds of bread. Another point: the first product of wheat-flour has more of a shining white colour, but from barley-flour it is the last fraction that is whiter, as Aristotle5 shows in the Problems, section 21 problems 3 and 7; and he gives the reason for this. In Greek choice loaves were called white bread, and the commoner sort dark or black; thus Alexis,7 cited by Athenaeus in book three: 'Of white loaves eight, of black loaves eight as well/ (Here belongs that line 'They wolf down black bread steeped in left-over broth/) In the same passage9 there is a rather nice story of Diogenes the Cynic, who was eating cake when someone asked him what he was eating; and he replied that he was eating 'well-baked bread/ I thought it well to add this, to make clear the extraordinary importance attached in the old days to the baking of bread. In the same author, book four,10 there is a description of an Attic dinner is which loaves are mentioned which were 'as white as snow/

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Candidum linum lucri causa duels You marry white flax for the sake of gain AevK(o\ei>ov \ivov KepdayyaiJLelg, You many neat white flax for the sake of gain, is suitable for a man who marries an ugly woman or an old woman for the sake of her dowry. Furthermore/ he calls the wife 'flax' either because in Antiquity linen garments were confined to women, or because in matrimony the woman is tied to her husband and ceases to be free; for Greek sometimes uses /mow, the word for flax, in the sense of bond. Leukolenos in Homer2 is an epithet of Juno, from her white arms. Recorded by Diogenianus.

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In capras sylvestres To the wild goats Kar' alyas aypCas, To the wild goats. The words of a man seeking to avert and turn aside some evil by directing it against the wild goats, related to one of which I have spoken elsewhere,1 On Pyrrha's head. Also to another,2 'Would that such parties might befall my foes.' Athenaeus3 uses the adage in book two of the Doctors at Dinner: 'For Myrtilus, with the air of a man who would send us, the earnest enquirers, to the wild goats, said that Hegesander of Delphi has mentioned the word in his Commentaries.' He used the phrase for something which is very difficult to find or does not exist anywhere; for he had quoted evidence from his authority which Plutarch later says does not exist. It was to this proverb, I suppose, that Apuleius4 alluded in the Ass, when he imagines Psyche as sent by Venus to the wild rams.

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Adsint dii beati The blessed gods be on our side %vi> 8e Oeol fjuxKapss, The blessed gods be on our side. The words of a man who prays for the happy outcome of some undertaking; for this is the customary opening of the rhapsodes, the bards who recited and expounded the Homeric poems. So too it was a habit of lyre-players, when about to strike up, to call on Apollo to attend and bless their song: 'Be welcome then, O king!' And people drawing up their wills sought a good omen by opening with the words 'May it be for the best/ In Rome too a man before speaking in public would use a similar formula, praying that what he was about to say might bring good fortune and prosperity to the republic. Recorded by Zenodotus.

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In Aphannis At Aphannae Efc 'Afiavvas, At Aphannae. Stephanus tells us that Aphannae was a place in Sicily which was exceedingly obscure and mean, whence it also clearly derived its name.1 Hence came the proverb Or at Aphannae, used of things that are uncertain or non-existent. Zenodotus says it arose from the following incident. The Sybarites on one occasion went to the oracle and asked it to grant them victory over the people of Croton, who were present at the time. One of the Crotoniates gave them a jesting reply: 'You will win your victory at Aphannae.' A Sybarite, supposing this answer to emanate from the god, wondered very much what this word Aphannae could mean. He says the proverb is appropriate for those who think themselves invincible and more than anyone can withstand.2 But Stephanus' explanation seems to me more likely.

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Ad id quod erat opus For a necessary purpose Efc TO 8eov, For a necessary purpose (we must understand I expended it, or something of the sort). It is said to be taken from a speech by Pericles. The story goes that by a gift of money he persuaded the Spartan king Astyanax, who was already preparing for war, to leave Attica. Later, when he had to account for this money to the public assembly, and was ashamed to confess openly the purpose on which he had spent the sum, he indicated this indirectly by saying 'I spent such and such a sum of talents for a necessary purpose/ Such more or less is the story in Zenodotus. The adage was also alluded to by Aristophanes in the Clouds: Tike Pericles, I spent it on a necessary purpose/ The scholiast on this passage adduces several anecdotes from which the proverb is thought to arise; if anyone has a fancy to see these, I have told him where they can be found. It will have an elegant effect, if the sense is wrested to make a humorous comment on those who have been so careless in managing other people's money that they cannot present a satisfactory account of it.

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Adactum iusiurandum An imported, or imposed, oath 5

ETTtfAcrd? opKos, An imported, or imposed, oath was a name for one that was not native but foreign and introduced from elsewhere, as Zenodotus makes clear; as for instance if a Greek were to swear like a Scythian by sword and

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wind/ for each separate nation usually swears by its own gods. Or it is an oath not taken spontaneously but imposed by force;2 or one that is taken voluntarily and without compulsion, if we believe Suidas3 and the Etymologicum.4 For there are three kinds of oath, one called in Greek epomoton, another called katomoton, and a third called epakton. Hesychius,5 on the other hand, says: 'That to which another man compels us, not spontaneous.' I should not myself have listed this among adages, had not Zenodotus before me put it 'on this roster.' 83

Scabrosior leberide As prickly as a snake's slough KsvTpdrepog \epypC8os, As prickly1 as a snake's slough. Of things which are exceptionally rough and unpleasant. For leberis in Greek is that discarded outside either of snakes or of fish which slough off their skins, also called syphar? and this is well known to be very rough, no doubt because it is extremely dry. Recorded by Suidas.

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Procul auribus nuntius veniat May this news be far from my ears "ATT' OVOLTOS ayyehos &X6oi, Be this news far from my ears. The words are those of someone hoping to be spared bad news; Suidas cites them from Callimachus. Homer too in Iliad 18: Would that such things might remain far from my hearing.'

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A puro pura defluit aqua Water poured over what is clean stays clean Theognis in his book of moral sentiments in elegiacs: Wash me, if you will: from the top of my head the clear water will flow always undefiled/ I have added this couplet because I thought there was a proverb hidden in it. It will be suitable for a man who is innocent and above all suspicion: even if accusations are one day brought against him, his reputation is unblemished, and in fact emerges higher than before. With good reason it is thought highly to the credit of Cato the censor, that though so often accused and brought into

Ill ii 85 / LB II 7660 257 court (actually four and forty times), he was always cleared by the verdict of the jury. 86

A lupi venatu From a wolf-hunt ' KTTO A.VKOV dijpas, From a wolf-hunt. Used ordinarily when a man abandons a task before he has finished it, or as an expression for a disagreeable and uncivilized business. Hunting the wolf is dangerous and it is not easily taken, while the hunting of other beasts is thought most enjoyable. Mentioned by Suidas.

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A subeunte portum navi From a ship as she enters harbour ' ATTO KaraSvojjisvrjs, As she enters harbour: we must supply the rest of the sense, Take your profit from the ship as she enters harbour. The point of the adage is that speed is of the greatest importance if you want to make money, and that the saying Be sleep far from your eyes1 is above all adapted to merchants. This is taken from the industrious dealers who buy up a cargo directly from the sailors as they reach harbour, for then they both pay less and sell at a larger profit. This could be varied to mean that any opportunity of making a profit should be seized at once; or that we should make a request of someone at the moment when fortune has just brought him some great windfall. At that moment we are all more generous givers. Persius2 in his fifth satire varied the image when he wrote: 'be the first to take the fresh-brought pepper from the camel's back before he has had his drink'; immediately, that is, while the camel which brought the merchandise is still thirsty after his journey. The proverb is mentioned by Suidas.

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A bis septem undis By twice seven waves ' ATTO 8lg ETTTO. KvpaTuv, From twice seven waves. Suitable for those who have been cleared of some great stain on their characters, for in Antiquity it was the custom for those polluted by manslaughter to wash their garments by plunging them twice seven times in a flood of water. Suidas is our evidence.

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Exigit et a statuis farinas He makes even the statues give him food ALTBL ye KCU TOUS avSpidvrag &\$ira, He makes the very statues give him food. Can be used of a man who with no consideration for others rips off what he can take from any source, even from the statues of the dead. It is very like that phrase You exact tribute even from the dead. This applies to princes who fleece their people, extracting taxes from any possible source, even from urine; or to avaricious priests, who do not grant so much as the right to be buried without a fee.

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Athos celat latera Lemniae bovis Athos darkens the flanks of the Lemnian cow "A0W? KaXvTTTSL TrAevpa A^/m'a? /8oo?, Athos overshadows the flanks of the Lemnian cow. When someone gets in the way, or makes himself a nuisance, or casts a shadow on another man's reputation, or becomes an obstacle in other ways. They say that in Lemnos there was an immense statue of a cow made of white marble; and Mount Athos was so high that, in spite of the great distance between them, it cast its shadow over this image. Athos is a mountain mass in Thrace, so huge that it casts a shadow three hundred stades long, as Stephanus1 tells us. This is mentioned by Apollonius2 in book one of his Argonautica: At dawn, as on they sailed, Athos arose, The Thracian mount which, though it lies as far From Lemnos as a well-girt merchant-ship From morn till noon would sail, with airy tip Right to Myrina overshades the isle.

Plutarch3 also mentions the proverb in the Moralia (in other passages and particularly in the essay to which he gave the title 'On the Face Which Appears in the Orb of the Moon'), testifying that the shadow stretches for nearly seven hundred stades. The scholiast4 on Theocritus cites the following line from Sophocles: Athos 'darkens the surface of the Lemnian sea.' 91 Praesentem mulge; quid fugientem insequeris? Milk the one that's handy'; why pursue him that runs away? Tr)v irapeava-av &/j,sAys, ri TOV fievyovra SIWKBLS, Milk the one thaf s handy; why pursue him that runs away? is a proverbial hexameter line, the lesson of

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which is that we should not lose a present advantage in hope of some future gain which is not so clearly within our reach. Taken from the Cyclops of Theocritus. The scholiast cites a line from Hesiod to the same effect: 'The fool lets go what's handy and goes after what is not/ He takes it to have the same sense as one of which I have spoken elsewhere: Driving the willing ox. 92

Quid ad Mercurium? What's that to Mercury? Ti irpos TOV ' Ep/uLrjv, What's that to Mercury? The same as Nothing to do with the verse, and What has this to do with Bacchus? and Nothing to do with the subject; for Mercury was the patron of speech. Suitable for those whose talk is a long way from the point at issue.

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Quid Achivos a turre judicatis? Why judge the Achaeans from the tower? Tt TOVS 'Axaiovs airb TOV irupyav KpCvere, Why do you judge the Danaans from the walls? will be suitable for use whenever someone pronounces on a topic to which he has not given sufficient attention. Aristides in Themistocles: 'Why on this point do we judge the Achaeans from the tower?' Evidently derived from the third book of the Iliad* where Priam, who is on the battlements of Troy, sends for Helen and asks her who the men were whom he could see in the distance in the Greek army, and praises Agamemnon's appearance in the following words: 'Who is this great fine man among the Achaeans? There are others a head taller than he, but none saw I so handsome and of such honourable aspect; he looks every inch a king.' Nor will it be unapt if turned to fit those who, placed in safety themselves, pass judgment on those who are in a post of danger, as those do who sit idly on a tower or wall and watch others fighting, finding in many a lack of courage or skill which they could not make good themselves, if they were exposed to the same dangers. Aristides2 in Themistocles: 'And yet it is by no means the same thing when far out at sea to speak of those who are in the ship and show your own courage, and when you are quite out of the storm under a wall.'

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Quis usus cepis putridi? What use are rotten onions? T& xpeCa TTvOofjisvav Kpo/jLfivov, What use are rotten onions? is used of things, and even of people, who are cast out and have no possible use. Onions are a

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very cheap vegetable anyhow, and when they have gone bad, nothing could be more contemptible. Related to that phrase in Plautus: 1 would not buy it for a rotten walnut/ 95

Philoxeni Non Philoxenus's No To 3>i\oJ;svav ov, Philoxenus's No. For use in cases of obstinate denial and refusal, or when someone does not know how to give way or to say anything that may give pleasure. Such men should keep well away from the society of princes, in whose presence one must either keep one's mouth shut, or say what will tickle their ears. Philoxenus the poet, as I have said elsewhere, found it so impossible to speak well of the poems of Dionysius, that he preferred to be sent back to the stone-quarries.

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Meos corymbos necto I twine my ivy-clusters Toy? efious Kopufjifiavs irAeKO), I twine my ivy-tendrils. When someone gives an answer which has nothing to do with the question. It is recorded in the following form: - Greetings, Hypsipyle. -1 twine my ivy-clusters. - It was not of that I spoke. - My husband is here?

Clearly taken from some passage of comedy, in which one of the characters has something to hide and gives quite irrelevant answers. There is a thing very much like this in Terence,1 in the Phormio, when Phaedria is asked where Antipho is, and in reply first of all returns the greeting and then says he is in the best of health. Plautus2 too has a similar passage in the Mercator: - Now I've my sword in my hand. - For if I were to show you the way in, -1 take my oil-bottle and off I go.

And so it goes on, for the whole passage is too long to be quoted without risk of tedium.3 This is related to one I have discussed elsewhere:4 Sickles I asked for.

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Compendiaria res improbitas Rascality takes the short cuts ^VVTO/JLOS i) TTovTjpia, (3pa8ela f) aperij, Rascality takes the short cuts, and virtue goes the long way round. A man who has once turned his mind to doing wrong will find any form of wickedness comes easily, while the individual virtues need great effort to acquire them. It is a fact that through some perversion of our nature we lay hold immediately and self-taught on what is shameful, and the course of honour is forced upon us with difficulty by continuous efforts. Plutarch in his 'Apophthegms' gives this saying to Cleomenes. Some robber chief had made a descent into Spartan territory, and said, when he was taken, that he had done so because he had no means of feeding his soldiers, and had therefore turned to those who had plenty and gave none of it away. 'Rascality' said Cleomenes 'always takes the short cuts.'

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Umbra pro corpore Shadow instead of substance Xiao: avrl TOV cratjjiaTOs, Shadow instead of substance. Whenever someone appears to have done some great thing, but in the end carries off nothing but a label, or mere expectations. Borrowed from Aesop's fable about the dog which pursued the reflection of some meat because it looked larger than the reality, and lost the meat itself. This was more or less embodied in iambic verse by a certain Gabrias, as follows: Bearing a piece of meat beside a stream A dog looks down and spies another dog; Opens his mouth to seize the other's meat, And loses what himself already has.

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Sinopissas You behave like Sinope ^ivami&is, You behave like Sinope, you are lecherous. Taken from Sinope, a celebrated courtesan whose lechery was notorious, who seems to have been given the name because she had hurtful eyes.1 Athenaeus in book 15 tells us that she was from Aegina. There was also another Sinope, Aesop's daughter, who valued her virginity above everything.

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100 Vitiat lapidem longum tempus Length of time wears the marble Zrji/tei Kal TTerprjv 6 TTO\Vvf] epeo-^eXei, The crow irritates the eagle. They say that crows have an odd habit of annoying the eagle; but the eagle ignores the provocation, being no doubt well aware that the crow can do him no harm. There will thus be a place for this adage whenever some lightweight little man, who can do neither good nor harm, barks at the heels of the great. As Menelaus says of seers in Euripides' Iphigeneia in Aulis, 'There's nothing to him, either bad or good.' 19 Lupus pilum mutat, non mentem A wolf may change his hair, but not his heart ' O \VKO$ rrjv TpC^a, ov rrjv yva>iJi'r)v dAAdrrei, A wolf changes his hair but not his nature. Old age brings white hair to the wicked, but does not take away their iniquity. For wolves turn white, and horses too, as men do when they grow old. 20

Laqueus laqueum cepit One snare has caught another ' Arixp 17 770717 SOLKG X^eaQai Trdyrjv, But one snare seems likely to catch another. When one bad man keeps watch on another; adulterer watches adulterer, for example, thief watches thief, traitor watches traitor; for it

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sometimes happens that, while two are laying traps, each for the other, each is detected by the other. 21 Ipsum ostii limen tetigisti You have touched the very threshold of the door AVTOV KSKpovKas rbv fiaTrjpa r^s dvpas, You have set your foot on the actual threshold of the door. This was commonly used when they got to the heart of the matter. Aristophanes in the Frogs: 'Know now that you have reached the very door/ 22

Callus insilit The cock jumps in ' AAsKTpv&v sTTLTTrjSa, The cock jumps in. When someone who has suffered one defeat reopens the contest. Taken from the behaviour of fighting-cocks. For this is the creature's habit, to jump into the fray, in order to do the maximum damage with the spurs with which nature has equipped it for this purpose.

23

Nunc ipsa vivit sapientia Now wisdom itself is alive Avrrj vuv (Toia £,r\, Now wisdom itself is alive. The language of a man full of approval and delight at something which he thinks skilfully and neatly said or done. It will be more elegant if used by way of irony against those who handle a distinguished case very foolishly.

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Nunc ipsa floret Musa Now is the Muse herself in flower A.VT7) vvv avdel 17 Movcra, Now is the Muse herself in flower. Very close to the preceding. For use when something is said or written that we think scholarly or eloquent or charming, as though the Muses gave it their blessing. This too will gain in elegance if used by way of irony, when someone thinks he makes a brilliant speech, though he speaks abominably.

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Onus navis A burden on the ship "AxOog vsax;, A burden on the ship. Against lazy and useless people we may well use the taunt This is just what makes a burden on the ship.' Very close

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to 'A vain burden on the Earth/ It will also suit a great man who also causes trouble. For ships carry far more burdens than wagons. Of 'Wagon-loading' things I have spoken elsewhere. 26

Marinam auditionem fluviali abluit sermone He washed the sea-salt from his ears with words like river-water ' AA/jvpav aKorjv airsK\vcraTo TTOTI/JLV \6yq), He washed away the sea-salt language with words clear as drinking-water. When a man sweetens, so to say, by a change of style what his hearers found harsh and unpleasant. Words proper to the sense of taste are adapted to the ears, for harsh or abusive language makes the same effect on the ear as salt water on the palate, and spring water to the palate is like calm and kindly words to the hearing. Plato1 uses the adage in the Phaedrus: 'I long to dilute this sea-water language with words clear as drinking-water.' Athenaeus2 too in book three of the Doctors at Dinner: 'At these words Cynulcus called for some decocta, saying that such salt and bitter language ought to be washed away with sweet fresh water.' Cynulcus, though speaking Greek, used a Latin word, and, when Ulpian expressed indignation that he should use an unfamiliar and barbarous expression, retorted that he was speaking in Rome itself and used a word which was a native of that city. For there they used expressions such as 'he asked for cold,' 'he asked for hot' or 'for decocta/ leaving the word 'water7 to be supplied.

27

Arcadicum germen A scion of Arcadia ' ApKdSiov /SAacmrjfia, A scion of Arcadia, was commonly used of those who were overgrown and idle. Juvenal:1 'That Arcadian youth, / 'Neath whose left pap no beating organ stirs.' The Arcadians had a bad name in old days for inborn stupidity. Athenaeus2 in book 14 has much to say of their barbarism. They were the first people to refuse entry into their whole city to music and all those liberal disciplines, the pursuit of which does so much to civilize human nature. Thus it was that a hostile climate and the neglect of a liberal education combined to make them brutish and their customs barbarous in the extreme. Lucian3 in his essay On Astrology records as the reason why the Arcadians were thought stupid that, while all other peoples welcomed astrology, they alone despised it, and made themselves out to be actually more ancient than the Moon, whence they got the name Pre-moon men. They also got a humorous reputation in Greek epigrams as balanophagoi, acorn-eaters; for acorns were the food of early man before grain was discovered. The epigram4 runs as follows: 'Many the men in Arcadia whose daily bread is

Ill iii 27 / LB II 7880 291 acorns.' Aristophanes5 in the Birds mocks at them on many grounds for boasting of their own antiquity: 'More ancient you than Jove himself, you were there before Cronos and the Titans/ 28

Hie Rhodus, hie saltus Here's Rhodes: let's see you jump AVTOV ' Podos, avrov TrrjSirj/jLa, Rhodes is here: here's your jump, was a phrase in common use for those who boasted extravagantly of something they had done, for which there was no evidence at all.1 Taken from a fable current among those ascribed to Aesop.2 A young man was boasting that he had made some remarkable jumps while in Rhodes, and one of the people who heard him interrupted with 'Suppose this is Rhodes: 'lef s see you jump.' So it will be suitable when someone is called upon to give a demonstration of some feat which he boasts that he has performed somewhere else. Ovid:3 'Let Ulysses spin his yarns of what he does when there's no one there to see.' I take this to be related to that remark in Theocritus,4 in the Wayfarers: 'Compete on the spot then, and pasture your oxen on the spot.' Some people talk very big when it is quite safe, but when danger is at hand, they run away; and this line can be used against them. There is a similar metaphor in Greek, when they tell people to pay cash on the spot: Tut it down here and now/ Athenaeus5 in book six: 'Then if you put down the actual cash/ Though the printed texts have not avrb but avr&, wrongly, if I am not mistaken.

29

Archidamicum bellum An Archidamian war ' ApxiSa/jLios 7roAe/i09, An Archidamian war, was applied to any savage and cruel war, the epithet being taken from the Spartan general Archidamus, who invaded Attica with very large forces and laid it waste for ten years. The most severe damage of all he inflicted on the Acharnians, by cutting down all their trees, as Synesius1 also records in his Praise of Baldness. Any widespread devastation thus came to be described as an Archidamian war. The adage is also mentioned by the author2 of a study on the language of Demosthenes, who points out that it occurs in Lysias. The cruelty of Archidamus is also recorded by Pausanias3 in his book on Laconia.

30

Mortuum unguento perungis You smear ointment all over a corpse Ne/cpop [jLvpC^eis, You smear ointment all over a corpse. Of expenditure that serves no useful purpose, or when some treatment is applied too late. It was a custom in antiquity, and especially in Egypt, to smear ointment all over the

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bodies of the dead, to prevent putrefaction. This custom still survives among princes in our own day, like many other pagan practices, and is a clear proof of their folly. 31 Mortuus jacet pedens The dead man lies there farting Ne/c/oo? KSITCU pdswv, The dead man lies farting. Used in practice when a poor man gave himself the airs of opulence. I have found it in one source only, in Apostolius of Byzantium, and I rather think that we might leave it to him and the common herd. 32

Rudentes et remos cum armis commutavit He has changed rigging and oars for arms Nrjla Kal Kameag avff oTT\(av r)\\agavTO, They changed for arms their oars and sailors' tackle. Will be appropriate when someone abandons the skill and the livelihood to which he is accustomed, moved by a thirst for reputation; for instance, if a sailor turned soldier or a merchant were to take holy orders. Nei'a are the ropes used on shipboard and kopeai the spars from which oars are made.

33

Niobes mala The woes of Niobe Nidftrjg TraOrj, The woes of Niobe, was applied to very great and very bitter misfortunes. Niobe1 was a daughter of Tantalus and the wife of Amphion, and she had six sons and six daughters. This good fortune made her insolent, and she despised Latona, as being the mother of only two children, Apollo2 and Diana. Niobe, according to the story, after the deaths of her children, of whom she had a great many, was overcome with grief and was turned to stone, (which3 indicates that she became stiff and immobile from excess of sorrow). The rock4 which gave rise to the story, according to the scholiast on Homer, can still be seen on Mount Sipylus in Phrygia, and runs constantly with tears. Ovid,5 who gives a most elegant account of the story in book six of the Metamorphoses, writes as follows of the rock: Only her tears yet flow; Swept by some whirlwind to her native land, She there stands fettered to a rocky peak, Dissolves in tears, and still the marble weeps.

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Those6 who perish utterly are said in Greek to be done away panoiki, with all their house, as when, for instance, a pestilence leaves a family with no survivor. 34

Radit usque ad cutem He shaves close to the skin avpsl ev XP&, He shaves close to the skin. Quoted by the grammarians from Sophocles;1 it was said of a man who was thought to deal with someone too strictly. Taken from barbers who shave some customers through a comb, leaving as it were the stumps of the hairs, and some without a comb right down to the skin. Plautus2 in the Captivi: 'But shall I say he'll give him a close crop, or through a comb? That I don't know; but if he knows his job, he'll trim him to some tune.' He speaks of his master, who will cross-examine the man with every care, and 'shave him close to the skin.' Related to that other proverb,3 To cut to the quick.

35

Signum bonum aut certe1 malum An omen good or else bad %vfjL/3ohoaOAoa\\bs T& Ss&, A phallus for the god. Used by custom when something is paid by way of tribute which is not very respectable but highly apt, like1 saying 'to make water in a chamber-pot/ Plutarch2 in his essay 'On Love of Wealth' makes it clear that in ancient times a procession at the solemn games went as follows. In the first place was carried an amphora of wine and a clematis (which is a kind of bean); next, a goat was led by somebody, and then another man carried a basket of nuts; in the last place was borne the phallus. This was a representation of the male sexual organ, and the reason why it was incorporated in the mysteries is given by Plutarch3 in his 'On Isis and Osiris/ Columella4 in the book he wrote in verse calls Priapus himself Ithyphallus: 'But in the rough-hewn trunk of some old tree / Venerate Ithyphallus' deity/ And Pompeius makes it clear that Ithyphallus is a name for the male sexual organ. Hence it is that even in our own day the Italians use that word to show disapproval of someone they despise. Something on the phallus will also be found in the second book of Herodotus,5 I have spoken elsewhere6 of the phallus as belonging to Bacchus - on the proverb A chickpea Bacchus.

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Obturbas frustra velut unda You trouble me in vain as might a wave ' Qj'Aefc ILCCT^V /lie KVJJL d^rcog, You trouble me in vain as might a wave, your attentions are tedious and useless. This is a fragment of verse from some poet or other. Taken from a wave constantly pounding a rock. Here belongs that line in Virgil: 'Hard as Marpesian marble, stern as flint/

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Optimum obsonium labor senectuti Hard work best earns a dinner for old age "Oif/ov apiffrov TTOVOS TO) yrfpQt, Hard work best earns a dinner for old age. Work when you are young, that it may be easier to find something to live on when old. Diogenes, when asked what he thought the most pitiful thing there is, replied A penniless old age. But the adage seems incomplete. I think myself that for ponos we should read ponei (work hard, that is, in the imperative), to make you understand that the weakness of old age requires support from better food, and that to secure this when you are old, you should put money by as a young man.

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Omne aes alienum cepe et mulcta allium All my debts onions and my taxes garlic n&v fjiOL xpsos KpojjL/jLva Kctl TO Ti^fjia (TKopoSa, All my debts onions and my taxes garlic; one must supply 'I wish.' When someone who is heavily burdened with debt wishes that he could pay off what he owes at small expense. I very much fear that this too was taken by Apostolius not from ancient authors but from his own pot-companions.

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Oportet omnibus corydalis Every lark must have one Hdcrrjo-i Kopv8a\oicri xpy k6(j>ov syysvsotiai, Every lark must have a crest. Cited from Simonides,1 and several times used by Plutarch,2 especially in his life of Timoleon, in the following sense: no mortal man's nature is such that it has no admixture of vice, just as though not to be found without vice were as much a part of man's nature as it is of a lark's to have a crest. I will give Plutarch's words: 'Since it was essential, apparently, not only for every lark to have a crest, as Simonides says, but for every democracy to have a common informer.' Aristophanes3 mentions larks in the Birds, making use of a delightful fable from Aesop. This bird, he says, was the oldest of all birds; in fact, it

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started life before the earth was made; and when its father had died of a fatal illness, and there was no place to bury him, it buried him in its head. Hence the crest, to take the place of a tomb; and in that passage it is decided that the lark should be king. In the same play he gives us to understand that there was a certain Philoctetes4 with a misshapen and pointed head, who was called Corydus, the Lark. There is a parallel to this in Crates'5 saying, recorded in Laertius, that hardly anyone exists who is quite free from every fault, but there is a rotten seed in every pomegranate. 68

Toto devorato bove in cauda def ecit He ate the whole ox and stopped short when he got to the tail TIavTa eKTpay&v TOP fiavv sis Tr)v aupav aireKafjiev, He ate the whole ox and stopped short when he got to the tail; that is, he finished the rest of the business, and stopped from exhaustion just before the end. It looks like an iambic line, corrupted. All the same, this too smells of the dregs of the people.

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Juxta fluvium puteum fodit He digs a well alongside the river Ylapa TTorafjibv (f>peap opvTTsi, Beside the river he digs a well, of a man toiling at some foolish and pointless task. Close to that other: He carts wood to the forest. Wells are dug when water is short.

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Mutabilior Metra Erisichthonis As changeable as Metra, Erisichthon's daughter MsTapAijTOTepos Mrjrpas TTJS ' Eptm^dovog, As changeable as Metra, Erisichthon's daughter. Suitable for the man who shows no consistency, but adopts a different personality at different times. Among tales told in Antiquity is one of a girl, Metra by name, who used to change into various forms. The story runs as follows. There was a Thessalian called Erisichthon who squandered his property and was reduced to penury. He had a very beautiful daughter called Metra, and made a prostitute of her; and the men who were her customers used to bring various offerings, some of them horses, some oxen, some sheep, for at that date gold silver and jewels were not yet in use. So the people of Thessaly used to say in jest that his daughter Metra turned into all the things that were given to Erisichthon by his daughter's lovers; hence the proverb. Erisichthon's story is in Ovid's Metamorphoses book 8.

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Catella Melitaea A Maltese lapdog M.e\iTalov KvvCdiov, A Maltese lapdog. Suitable for someone treated as a favourite, and kept in the lap of luxury and ease to give pleasure and serve no useful purpose. For dogs are of three kinds. Some are kept for use in hunting, and are called ichneutai, which means something like 'trackers.' Some have the duty of keeping watch over the house, and their name is oikouroi, guard-dogs. Others again are fed and housed purely for pleasure, as playthings at any rate for foolish women, and these they call meliterians or Melitaeans, Maltese. It is of them that Plato1 was thinking when he wrote that 'a lapdog takes after its mistress/ And Gorgo in Theocritus,2 in his Women of Syracuse, when she is leaving the house, tells her servant to pacify the baby when he cries, and to call the dog in. Lucian3 tells a very amusing anecdote of a bearded Stoic philosopher, to whom his mistress entrusts her lapdog when they are travelling in the same carriage, adjuring him by all in life that he holds most dear to take good care of it. In the households of the rich one can find servants of the same sort, whom they keep in their houses not to do anything useful but to entertain them.

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Ne cinerem vitans in prunas incidas Avoiding the ashes, do not fall into the red-hot coals MT) Tspav (frsvyuv sis avdpaKiav irecrris, Shunning the ashes, do not fall into the furnace. Do not avoid this evil or that in such a way that you run into one that is far worse. This looks like a hexameter that has gone wrong; it will stand up if you write katapiptes in place of peses.

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Syrus cum non sis, ne syrissa Not being a Syrian, do not behave like one Mr) &v Svpo? /-IT) ovptge, Not being a Syrian, do not behave like one. Do not adopt behaviour that is unbecoming, do not wish to seem different from what you are; or, since you are of gentle birth, do not act as though you had the character of a slave or a barbarian. For the Syrians had a bad name for lack of moral fibre. There is some wit and humour in this remark, owing to the ambiguity of the verb syrizo, which means both to behave like a Syrian, and to play on the pan-pipes.

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Ne move festucam Stir not a twig Mr) Kapos KIVSI, Stir not a twig. A humorous expression, proverbial for a person who cannot endure any noise. You may see some people so hard to

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please that, whatever you do, they take offence, even though you only move a bit of straw. 75

Cum parvula est, bona videtur spina While it is small a thorn seems good MiKpodsv r/ oLKovQa ayaSr) ^aCvsrai, While the thorn is small, it seems good. Childhood is always likeable. Just like the thorn, which is harmless, and indeed edible,1 until it grows hard with age. He is thinking, I suppose,2 of asparagus. And there is a saying current among theologians:3 'Older in years, older in iniquity.' Such is the state of human affairs: all things of their own accord go to the bad. There is a couplet quoted from Diphilus:4 'A skilled old greybeard - such is Time, my friend, / And loves to change us all from bad to worse/

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Moschus canens Boeoticum Moschus singing a Boeotian strain Mocr^o? a8(ov BOIOJTSIOV, Moschus singing a Boeotian strain, This Moschus was an unskilful lyre-player, who used to stretch out a note to great lengths without drawing breath. The name Boeotian is given to one of the modes of music, like Phrygian or Dorian. This will be suitable for those who talk a great deal, but have nothing to say.

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Filum contentionis tune erat This, then, was the thread of the dispute Miro? 'spidos TOT' fjv This, then, was the thread of dispute. Used by custom of two obstinate disputants, when each is so stubborn that neither will yield. In several places in his Letters Jerome1 has the phrase 'to tug the rope of contention/ nor do I remember to have read it in any other author; except in Tertullian2 at the beginning of his book Against the Jews. Evidently derived from the game in which two men stand, one at either end of a rope, and each tries to pull the other over to him. This I take to be also the source of a saying I have recorded elsewhere:3 Let us not break the rope by stretching it too hard.

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Neque caecum ducem neque amentem consultorem Neither a blind guide nor a witless counsellor M77T8 TvfyKbv oSriyov fjirJTe avorirov ovjjiflou\ov, Neither a blind guide nor a witless counsellor (we have to supply 'Choose for yourself). 'Learn from

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those who themselves have been well taught/ Seek advice, but from a wise man. Horace is on the other side: Though he were blind who shows you where to go, / Yet listen none the less/ 79

Mus non ingrediens antrum cucurbitam ferebat The mouse that did not run into its hole was carrying a gourd Mvs efc TptiyArjv ov ^ajpcov KoXoKvvrrjv sfiepe, The mouse unable to enter its hole carried a gourd. Suitable for a man who, though he does not know how to look after himself, tries to assist others. Or who attempts tasks beyond his strength. This took its rise, by the look of it, from a fable, but it was a foolish old-wives-tale, or I am much mistaken.

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Novos parans amicos ne obliviscere veterum When you make new friends, do not forget the old ones Neoi/9 (frCXavs TTOI&V, Aajare, r&v TraXai&v ^T] eiriXavBavav, When you make new friends, my good sir, do not forget the old ones. This can also be adapted to a change in your subjects of study, for it is a good plan sometimes to look back at the old ones, even after you have devoted yourself to a different field. For example, if you were to advise a man who has turned over to study law, that he should return to the humanities from time to time. It is used by Ermolao Barbara in one of his letters to Pico della Mirandola.

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Etiam dormiens somniat He dreams even when he's asleep ' OveipoTTo\Bl Kal Kadev8(ov, He dreams even when he's asleep. Still a popular saying in our own day, when they wish to convey that someone is wholeheartedly addicted and given over to one thing in particular; for such people have a habit of dreaming at night about what they have been devoted to during the day. Aristophanes in the Clouds: 'Even when he's asleep, he dreams of nothing but horseflesh/ This is said of a young man who has such a passion for keeping horses that he has dissipated all his patrimony. And a few lines previously: 'He dreams of horses/ Someone may say1 'Is it surprising if someone dreams when he's asleep? But the verb used, oneiropolein, means not so much dreaming as the interpretation of dreams, and hence the formation or fulfilment of hopes. And so the poet wishes the young man's passion to be regarded as a dream; and in this way he has the same dream twice over, both waking and asleep. Plautus2 on the other hand speaks of dreaming while awake. Terence:3 'Is he dreaming what he wanted while he was awake?' And

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in Horace4 Europa says: 'Am I awake, lamenting for a sinful act, or does some empty vision deceive my innocence?' 82

Chordae vice In place of a string ' CLg avrl xopSris, As though instead of a string, will be suitable when we wish to convey that what seemed imperfect in some way has now been made good from some other source. Plutarch can be seen to have used it as a proverb in his Table-talk': 'So let this be added in place of a string to the learned account you have given us/ It derives from the tradition at Locri which I have set forth in The grasshopper of Acanthus.

83

In caput praecipitari To be pitched head foremost 'ETri KS(f>a\riv uQelvQai, To be thrown on one's head, that is, to be sent headlong, was used of a man who was expelled in deep disgrace or, better, was consigned to perdition. It comes in Lucian's essay1 On Salaried Posts. Terence2 uses a similar figure of speech: They advised me to send her headlong,' to turn her, that is, out of the house. Plutarch3 in his 'Contradictions of the Stoics': 'Chrysippus for the sake of gain sends a wise man headlong to Panticapaeum and the Scythian wilderness.' Panticapaeum, according to Stephanus,4 is a city in Scythia on the Bosphorus. I myself think Seneca's phrase5 is identical when he says in book six of the De beneficiis 'Some I will keep longer by me, others I will reject and send them headlong.' Phoenix of Colophon, cited by Athenaeus in book 12, gave the adage something of a new look, when treating of Ninus, king of Assyria, who despised everything in comparison with bodily pleasures. His scazon iambics run as follows: 'He shone in eating and in mixing drinks; / All else, however, he drove over the precipice/ that is, he utterly despised.

84 "Affwovdos iroAefjios A truceless war Cicero1 in book 9 of his Letters to Atticus: This then is the war in which I am compelled to play my part, to be an ally and a supporter - a truceless war fought against my fellow-citizens.' By 'truceless' he means endless, ruthless and irreconcilable. Suidas2 makes it clear that the same word aspondos was used of enemies with whom any agreement was impossible. It carries a sense of 'inconfederable,' if I may use such a word to make my meaning clear. It will

Ill iii 84 / LB II 8ooC

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be suitable for implacable opposition and discord. St Chrysostom3 uses the proverb in his forty-seventh homily on Matthew. St Basil4 too in one of his letters to Athanasius: 'And if they are asked the reason for this undeclared and truceless war, they say it is the psalm-singing and the type of music that is established among us/ Aeschines5 in the speech called Misconduct on an Embassy: Which could never lead to peace in place of war, but only to undeclared war in place of peace/ meaning savage and implacable. Again in the same speech: 'But if the causes of wars are to be laid at the door of politicians, and the rewards are to fall to the generals, your wars will know no truce and no declaration/ For the man who declares war in form, who sends the proper envoys and offers the proper sacrifices, cools off to some extent simply as a result of the delay; and this is probably the reason why such delays were introduced, just as in litigation the triple summons and joinder of issue, and in divorce law the bill of divorcement and the solemn formula Take back what is yours/ give an opportunity, while these formalities are in progress, for the uncontrolled hostility shown at the outset to cool down. 85

Ab Eteobutadis ducit genus He traces his line from the Eteobutadae ' E£ ' ETsofiovTadajv eA/cet TO yevos, He traces his line from the Eteobutadae, used to be said of men who were descended from illustrious forebears and from ancient lineage, in fact from a character called Butes, who instituted the priesthood in Athens, and from his descendants the chief magistrates were later chosen. This will be more elegant if used ironically of a man of low degree, or of someone who boasts of his ancestors and his blue blood.

86

Ergini cani Erginus' white hairs ' Epyivov TroAiai, Erginus' white hair, of hair which goes white in a hurry, which comes before the proper time of life. Erginus was the son of Clymenes, and he was one of the Argonauts. When Hypsipyle daughter of Thoas king of Lemnos had announced funeral games in honour of her dead father, Erginus, a mere stripling but already white-headed in spite of his years, arrived to compete with the others, and the women of Lemnos made fun of him because of his untimely white hair. Thus he gave rise to a proverb, being all the more notable because he defeated all the other athletes and won a famous victory. It will be more entertaining if used ironically of old men already white, who wish all the same to be thought still young, and excuse their white hair as the result not of age but of responsibility or some other

Ill iii 86 / LB II 8oiC

3"

cause that brought it on early. It can also be diverted to apply to those who are young in years but in mind and manners have given themselves already the airs of age, and men to whom 'experience of business has been quick in coming, and arrived sooner than their beards/ as Persius1 puts it. But nothing brings on old age so quickly as care, love, hate, envy, fear and grief. Here belongs that phrase of Theocritus2 in the Aites: The yearning lover grows old in one day/ where the scholiast adduces a very similar line from Odyssey 19: 'Men in adversity forthwith grow old/ Pindar3 likewise in the Olympians: 'Young men's hair too grows white even before the proper time of life.' To those who yearn for something every space of time is long: 'Slow runs the year4 for children not yet of age, oppressed by their mothers' severe and watchful eye/ Even today, sailors tell us that in imminent peril of shipwreck a man's hair can suddenly go white. 87

' l^cTKLfiaXixOai To be a target for the finger ' Eaxi/iaAftflai ere xpy, You should be a target for the finger. This insulting gesture was used to convey supreme contempt. Eskimalisai in Greek is to display the middle finger while keeping the others closed, to show disrespect, or to indicate contempt by snapping one's fingers. Hence too that line in Juvenal1 which I have recorded elsewhere: 'Bade her go hang, showed her his middle finger-nail/ Suidas2 cites this line from Aristophanes; it is to be found in the Peace: 'Just see the joy in the face of the man who makes sickles, / How to the smith who makes weapons he's showing the middle nail/ But if anyone wants to know the true meaning of eskimalizein, I would rather he learned it from Suidas than from me. It will be used more elegantly, and more like a true proverb, if applied to a man's position in the world, or his stock of learning, or anything else which is the object of supreme contempt.

88

Extrema extremorum mala Of ultimate disasters the ultimate ' Eo^drftw £xrxara xoixh SiaTreTTpaKTOL, Of ultimate disasters the ultimate has struck us. Taken by itself, the form of the expression contains the essence of a proverb, as I have pointed out at the outset of this work.1 To the same formula is clearly attributable a phrase from Hipponax quoted by Athenaeus2 in book 15, 'Evil of evils/ for a supreme misfortune. Also the words used by someone3 of Attica, 'Hellas of Hellas/ as a way of saying 'the fine flower of Greece/ In the same class are also agathdn agathides,4 reels of good things; deinoteros Deiniou, as clever as Deinias; kyntera kyntonos, as shameless as

Ill iii 88 / LB II 803A

312

Kynton. It looks as though this type of phrase had been borrowed by the Greeks from Hebrew, which redoubles words to convey emphasis and force. To this class belongs that expression in Jeremiah 'Good figs good' and 'Bad figs bad/ when he wants to convey Very good' and 'very bad/ 89

Cucurrit quispiam ne pluvia madesceret, et in f oveam praefocatus est To avoid getting wet a man ran through the rain, / Fell into a pit, and was ne'er seen again "Erpexe TLS (JLTJftpexOeC-q,Kal sis fioOpov airEirviyr}, A man ran through the rain in order not to get wet, fell into a pit, and was drowned. When someone trying to escape a lesser evil without sufficient care runs into a very serious one. This looks as though it had been taken by Apostolius from common everyday speech; many things of the kind I have deliberately passed over.

90

Heterognathus es You use both jaws ' ^Tepoyvadog el, You use both jaws, was customarily said to a heavy eater, because to satisfy his greed he chewed his food alternately with either jaw; for a 'double-jawed' man is so-called from the way he transfers his food back and forth from one jaw to the other. Hesychius however explains it of stubborn and disobedient people, thinking the metaphor taken from horses.

91 Urbanus nihil aequi cogitat A city-dweller has no righteous thoughts OvSev (frpovEt SiKaiov avrjp CHOTUKOS, A city-dweller has no righteous thoughts. The lesson of this is that those who live in the country are more innocent than others, because they alone1 do all their business with the land; those on the other hand who dwell in cities are contaminated by their contacts with commerce and with men and turn out more cunning. They are astute,2 a word thought to come from the Greek astu, a city. The proverb can also be adapted to the idea that the highly cultivated manners and polished civilities of the city have cunning or astuteness as their almost inseparable companion. Those on the other hand whose manners are more or less countrified are as a rule more trustworthy and of more straightforward character. This is a six-foot iambic line, but the text is corrupt. And Demea in Terence3 says that in the city one trouble gives rise to another.

Ill iii 92 / LB II 8o3C 92

313

Patroclo sordidior As sordid as Patroclus UaTpoKAsovg ei8(t)A.orepos avrjp, not 'a city-dweller' but 'a man in an advanced state of sexual excitement' who has temporarily lost all sense of right and wrong; and this gives an iambic line which has been claimed for both tragedy (frag adesp 330 Nauck) and comedy (frag adesp 598 Kock). 1 they alone] Erasmus appears to be using a Latin hexameter line solaque cum softs habeat commercia terris; but no such line has yet been traced. 2 astute] The derivation (facile but false) ofastus, cunning, from astu, city, could have been found in Paulus' epitome of Festus p 5 Lindsay. 3 Terence] Eunuchus 987; really two distinct sentences, not one, which makes it irrelevant. In 150$ this stood before the derivation of 'astute.' Removed in 1520, it was placed here, with the preceding sentence, in 1533. 92 Apostolius 13.100; Suidas n 795. The name should be Patrocles, not Patroclus. 1 Aristophanes] Plutus 84, with the scholia 2 Eudemus] See on in i 61. 93 Apostolius 14.9; 'recorded in the collections of Apostolius of Byzantium' stood at the end in 150$, but was removed in 1515. The Greek comes perhaps from a lost comedy (frag adesp 538 Kock). 1 Such is my will] Juvenal 6.223, also cited in n v 87 and in vii i 2 Scholars have observed] This sentence is of 1515. Erasmus has gone on to a somewhat different point: not only do the words of command addressed to slaves tend to be monosyllables, but this is true also of many slave names; though the frequency of two-syllable slave-names in comedy has already been pointed out in m i 12. 3 Mys] Mouse, given in Greek; the name is supplied by Diogenes Laertius 10.3. The use of 'are' where the text as it stands requires 'is,' and the writing of Aesop for Epicurus (corrected in 1526), suggest that a second name may have fallen out fallen out of Erasmus' draft. 4 Athenaeus] 5.2223, referring to Herodicus, a grammarian of the second century BC. From here to the end was added in 152$. 5 Demosthenes] A slip for Demetrius Poliorcetes, king of Macedonia (early third century BC); this comes from Athenaeus I4.6i4e-f. 6 Ariobarzanes] Name of several kings of Cappadocia in Asia Minor 7 Nabuchodonosor] The Greek name for the Old Testament king Nebuchadnezzor of Babylon 8 Polypyrgopolinices] The braggart soldier in Plautus' Miles gloriosus is called Pyrgopolinices. 9 Megalodorus] A character in Plautus' Aulularia is called Megadorus.

NOTES III iii 94-111 iii 99

425

94 Apostolius 14.29; Suidas n 1529. The note on phenakizein and the last sentence (which is from Hesychius, cf ASD11-5 237:68i-2n) added in 1533 95 Apostolius 16.39; Suidas T 378 1 epithet] From Aristophanes Knights 1331 or Suidas T 377; the words in brackets were inserted in 1533. 2 Aristophanes] Clouds 984-5, with the scholia 3 gray with age] This is a misreading of the Greek, which refers to an Attic festival, the Dipolia. 4 All these things] Sentence added in 1515, which year also saw the addition from the same source of iv iv 29 Cecidis et Buphoniorum. 96 Apostolius 16.73 1 solemn openings or... emotions] These words, which are given in Greek (with a Latin version added in 1515), may be Erasmus' own, inspired by Quintilian 6.1.7 and Apuleius Metamorphoses 10.7. Cf ASD 11-5 239:700-702^ 2 Lucian] Anacharsis 19; Timon 37 3 Terence] Andria 709 4 Horace] Satires 2.7.21, cited also in m iii i (LB II7776) 5 Spartianus] Verus 1.3; part of the so-called Historia Augusta, a collection of lives of emperors ostensibly dating from the first half of the fourth century AD, which Erasmus edited for Froben in 1518. This reference was added here in 1517/5. 6 Plutarch] Moralia 224(1, added in 1526; the speaker is really Labotas. 97 Apostolius 16.84. In ^508 after 'to say a word' followed a concluding sentence 'I fear that this is another addition picked up by Apostolius in some bibulous party,' which looks back to m iii 66. This of course had to be suppressed in 1528 when Erasmus found the adage in the first edition of Gregory's letters, published that year in Haguenau. 1 Theologian] Gregory of Nazianzus Epistulae 114.6 (PG 37 2125), added with what follows in 1528 2 Pero] Pero and Philiscus are two apocryphal opponents of Virgil who appear in the medieval tradition of his life; Maevius, the bad poet who acquired an unenviable immortality from his mention in Eclogues 3.90, became proverbial, as in Adagia II v 54. 98 Apostolius 16.89, who there transcribes Aelian De natura animalium 15.27 (for a similar case, see m iii 47) 1 Athenaeus] 9.3883, citing Socrates of Argos (FGrHist 310 F17); this was added in 1517/8. 2 Greek maxims] Menander Sententiae 212, cited already in n iv 30 3 iambic lines] From an unidentified tragedy (frag adesp 352 Nauck), quoted by Plutarch Moralia 2$E (tr F. C. Babbitt); this was added in 1515. 99 Apostolius 16.95. The phrase 'for it smacks of the common herd' was added in 1515; always ready for a dig at Apostolius, Erasmus - uncharacteristically failed to notice that the words form the second half of a dactylic hexameter,

NOTES III iii 99-111 iii 1OO

426

and so presumably come from some literary source. This is Suringar 55; Tilley D 454 The dog offended, the sow suffered. 100 From the Greek proverb-collections: Zenobius 3.99 (the longer version), Suidas E 410, Apostolius 6.94. The words are thought to come from some lost comedy (frag com adesp 680 Kock). 1 singers, actors, and dancing] The words for the different entertainers are feminine in Greek; Erasmus uses masculine forms for the singers and players. 2 Plato] The last sentence, added in 1533, is a recollection of Plato Symposium 1766, where the flute-girl is asked to leave that she may not interrupt the conversation; Erasmus had alluded to this in 1508 in m v 80.

WORKS FREQUENTLY CITED This list provides bibliographical information for words referred to in short-title form in this volume. ASD

Opera omnia Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami (Amsterdam 1969- )

CEBR

P.G. Bietenholz and T.B. Deutscher eds Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation 3 vols (Toronto 1985-7)

Collectanea

Desiderius Erasmus Adagiorum Collectanea (Paris 1500); we use the numbering of the revised edition of 1506/7

CSEL

Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum (Vienna-Leipzig 1866- )

CWE

Collected Works of Erasmus (Toronto 1974-

Diels-Kranz

H. Diels and W. Kranz eds Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (Berlin 1951-2) 3 vols

FGrHist

F. Jacoby ed Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker (Berlin/Leiden 1926- )

GCS

Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte ed Kommision fur spatantike Religionsgeschichte der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin

Kaibel

G. Kaibel ed Comicorum Graecorum fragmenta (Berlin 1899)

Kock

T. Kock ed Comicorum Atticorum fragmenta (Leipzig 1880-8) 3 vols

LB

J. Leclerc ed Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami opera omnia (Leiden 1703-6) 10 vols

Nauck

A. Nauck ed Tragicorum Graecorum fragmenta (Leipzig 1889)

Otto

A. Otto Die Sprichworter ... der Romer (Leipzig 1890)

)

WORKS FREQUENTLY CITED PG

J.P. Migne ed Patrologia graeca (Paris 1857-86)

PL

J.P. Migne ed Patrologia latina (Paris 1844-66)

Reedijk

C. Reedijk ed The Poems of Desiderius Erasmus (Leiden 1956)

Suringar

W.H.D. Suringar Erasmus over nederlandsche spreekwoorden ... (Utrecht 1873)

Tilley

M.P. Tilley Dictionary of Proverbs in English in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Ann Arbor, Michigan 1950)

428

The name 'Suidas' has been retained for the great Byzantine lexicon, now known to be properly called 'the Suda' (ed A. Adler, Leipzig 1928-38), since Erasmus supposed Suidas to be the compiler's name.

TABLE OF A D A G E S n viii Pomarius Hercules Hercules eating apples n vii2 Verecundia inutilis viro egenti Bashfulness is useless to a man in want n vii3 Ventrem mini objicis You taunt me with my belly n vii4 Turpe silere Shame to be mute n viij Munerum animus optimus In gifts the spirit is what matters n vii6 Nescit capitis et inguinis discrimen He does not know the difference between head and groin n vii/ Multitude imperatorum Cariam perdidit Excess of generals ruined Caria n vii8 Mus albus A white mouse n vii 9 Facies tua computat annos Your years are counted in your face II vii 10 Phoenice rarior As rare as the phoenix n vii 11 Non es laudandus ne in coena quidem You deserve no praise, even at a feast II vii 12 Pedibus in sententiam discedere To vote with one's feet II vii 13 Sustine et abstine Bear and forebear n vii 14 Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurrit Though you cast out nature with a fork, it still returns n vii 15 Navis annosa haudquaquam navigabit per mare An old ship will not sail the open sea II vii 16 Ni pater esses Were you not my father II vii 17 Magnum os anni A good year talks big II vii 18 Megaricae sphinges Megarian sphinxes II vii 19 Mellis medulla Marrow of honey II vii 20 Meliores nancisci aves To be given better auspices II vii 21 Aliud genus remi Another sort of oar II vii 22 Clamosior lauro ardente As noisy as burning bay-leaves II vii 23 Nunc leguminum messis Mow's the time to pick the beans

3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 6 7 8 8

10 10 11 11 11 12 12 12 13 13 14

TABLE OF ADAGES

II vii 24 Nunc dii beati Now the gods are happy II vii 25 Ordinem deserere To desert one's post II vii 26 Ovium nullus usus Sheep are no use II vii 27 Periculum prorae selis The danger-point is the bench in the prow II vii 28 Impete peritum artis Attack a man skilled in the art II vii 29 Philippi gallus Philip's cock II vii 30 Parit puella, etiam si male adsit viro A girl has a baby, even if she consorts badly with her husband II vii 31 Pasetis semiobolus Pases' halfpenny II vii 32 Parvus semper tuus pullus Your chick is always small II vii 33 Phaselitarum sacrificium A sacrifice Phaselite-fashion II vii 34 Peius Babys tibia canit Babys plays the flute even worse II vii 35 Cercopum coetus An assembly of Cercopes II vii 36 Cervinus vir A man with the heart of a deer II vii 37 Cercopissare Cercopian tricks II vii 38 Vale carum lumen Farewell, beloved light II vii 39 Veniat hospes quisquis profuturus est A welcome to any stranger who will be profitable II vii 40 Obolum reperit Parnoetes Parnoetes invented the obol II vii 41 Apertae Musarum ianuae The Muses' doors are open II vii 42 Martis campus The field of Mars I! vii 43 Argenteis hastis pugnare To fight with silver spears II vii 44 Archytae crepitaculum Archytas' rattle II vii 45 Aratro iacularis You shoot with a plough II vii 46 Atticus moriens porrigit manum An Athenian holds his hand out on his deathbed II vii 47 Argi collis Argus' hill

43°

14 14 15 15 15 16 16 16 i? 17 18 19 19 20 20 21 21 22 22 22 23 23 24 24

TABLE OF ADAGES

II vii 48 Asinus esuriens fustem negligit A hungry ass does not notice the stick ii vii 49 Aut cucurbitae florem aut cucurbitam Either the gourd-flower or the gourd II vii 50 Nudae Gratiae Naked are the Graces H vii 51 Crobyli iugum Crobylus' yoke II vii 52 Mylus omnia audiens Mylus hearing everything II vii 53 Nos decem Rhodienses, decem naves We ten Rhodians are ten ships II vii 54 Obliquus cursus A devious course II vii 55 Ne Jupiter quidern omnibus placet Even Jupiter does not please everybody H vii 56 Non persuadebis, ne si persuaseris quidem Even if you persuade me, I'll never believe you n vii 57 Novit haec Pylaea et Tyttygias Pylaea knows this and Tyttygias II vii 58 Polycrates matrem pascit Polycrates looks after my mother n vii 59 Te ipsum laudas You praise yourself II vii 60 Syrbenae chorus A band from Syrbene H vii 61 Hesiodi senecta The old age of Hesiod n vii 62 Lotum gustavit He has tasted the lotus II vii 63 Ex ore lupi From the wolf's mouth II vii 64 Boni viri lachrymabiles Good men are prone to tears II vii 65 Bocchyris Bocchyris n vii 66 Camelus saltat The camel dances II vii 67 Canis in vincula The dog asks for his chain II vii 68 Chius ad Coum Chiot against Coan II vii 69 Optimum condimentum fames Hunger is the best sauce II vii 70 Phani ostium Phanus' front door II vii 71 Aut Plato philonissat aut Philo platonissat Either Plato philonizes or Philo platonizes

431

24 25 25 25 26 26 26 27 27 27 28 28 29 30 30 31 3i 32 33 33 33 34 35 35

TABLE OF ADAGES II vii 72 Viro Lydo negocium non erat A man from Lydia was free of troubles II vii 73 Ne unquam viri senis Never... of an old man II vii 74 Amaea Azesiam reperit Amaea has found Azesia II vii 75 Tanquam heros in clypeo excipere Like a hero to entertain in my shield II vii 76 Jovis sandalium Jove's sandal II vii 77 Lux affulsit Light has dawned II vii 78 Lupus aquilam fugit The wolf runs away from the eagle II vii 79 Lupus ante clamorem festinat The wolf is off before the shouting starts II vii 80 Lupo agnum eripere postulant They want to snatch the lamb from the wolf II vii 81 Viam qui nescit ad mare etc He who knows not the way to the sea, etc II vii 82 Volens nolente animo Willingly, but with a heavy heart II vii 83 Vulturis umbra A vulture's shadow II vii 84 Praesens abest Though present he is far away II vii 85 Una lavabor I will bathe with you II vii 86 Pinus in morem Like a pine-tree II vii 87 Procridis telum Procris' weapon II vii 88 Promeri canes Promerus' hounds II vii 89 Magistratum gerens, audi et juste et injuste When in offfice expect both just and unjust criticism II vii 90 Fulgur ex pelvi A flash in the pan II vii 91 Ex inanibus paleis From empty chaff II vii 92 Atrei oculi The eyes of Atreus II vii 93 Mutus Hipparchion Hipparchion loses his voice II vii 94 Pecuniarum cupiditas Spartam capiet, praeterea nihil Love of money will be Sparta's undoing, and nothing else II vii 95 Non decet principem solidam dormire noctem A ruler should not sleep the whole night through

432

36 36 36 37 37 37 38 38 38 38 39 39 39 40 40 4i 4i 4i 42 42 42 43 43 43

TABLE OF ADAGES

II vii 96 Capram portare non possum, et imponitis bovem I cannot carry a she-goat and you load me with an ox II vii 97 Nunquam enim meas boves abegerunt nee equos For they have never driven off my cows nor yet my horses II vii 98 Felix qui nihil debet Happy is he that owes nothing II vii 99 Ad digiti crepitum At the snap of a finger II vii 100 Suem irritat He provokes the boar

n viii i Servatori tertius A third to the Deliverer n viii 2 Hyperi vertigo The twirling of a pestle n viii 3 Sus sub fustem Put the hog under the cudgel n viii 4 Si bovem non possis, asinum agas If you cannot drive an ox, drive an ass n viii 5 Siren amicum nunciat, apis hospitem A bee foretells a stranger and a wasp foretells a friend n viii 6 Etiam si lupi meminisses If you had even mentioned a wolf n viii 7 Similior ficu As like as two figs n viii 8 Simul et da et accipe Give and take at the same time n viii 9 Semper me tales hostes insequantur O that I always had such enemies II viii 10 Anus eriphus An aged kid n viii 11 Anus saltat An old woman dancing n viii 12 Anus subsultans multum excitat pulveris An old hag's capers raise a power of dust II viii 13 Anus velut equus profundam habebis fossam As an old woman you will have a deep grave, like a horse II viii 14 Aphyarum honos Whitebait glory II viii 15 Cur non suspendis te? Why not hang yourself? II viii 16 Quid tibi Apollo cecinit? What tune has Apollo played for you? II viii 17 Quid non fies profectus Arbelas? Make for Arbelae and you'll do great things II viii 18 Bonus e pharetra dies A good day out of the quiver

433

45 45 46 46 47

47 50 50 50 51 5i 51 5i 52 52 53 53 53 54 54 54 54 55

TABLE OF ADAGES

434

II viii 19 Res Cannacae Cannacas' things 55 II viii 20 Qui modus equitum! Look, what horsemen! 56 II viii 21 Chironium vulnus A wound for Chiron 56 II viii 22 Charontis janua Charon's gate 56 II viii 23 Minxit in patrios cineres He has made water on the ashes of his ancestors 57 II viii 24 Maschalam tollere To lift the elbow 57 II viii 25 Magis ipse Phryx The Phrygian wins 58 II viii 26 Magis sibi placet quam Peleus in machaera He is as pleased with himself as Peleus with his sword 58 II viii 27 Generosus es ex crumena You owe your blue blood to your purse 59 II viii 28 Liberorum amantior quam Gello As fond of children as Gello 59 II viii 29 Gleba arvum Clod and field 59 II viii 30 Glauci ars The art of Glaucus 59 II viii 31 Noctuae Laurioticae 60 Lauriotic owls II viii 32 Glaucus poto melle resurrexit 60 Glaucus drank honey and came back to life II viii 33 Generosior Codro 60 As nobly born as Codrus II viii 34 Cadmea victoria 61 A Cadmean victory II viii 35 Pecuniae vir 62 Money makes the man II viii 36 Dives factus iam desiit gaudere lente Rich now, he has ceased to enjoy lentils 63 II viii 37 Calvum vellis You pluck the hair from a bald man's head 63 II viii 38 Somnus absit ab oculis Be sleep far from your eyes 63 II viii 39 Phoci convivium 64 Phocus' dinner-party II viii 40 Antiquior quam chaos et Saturnia tempora Older than chaos and the age of Saturn 64 II viii 41 Tanquam Argivum clypeum abstulerit, ita gloriatur He gives himself such airs, he might have stolen the shield from Argos 64 II viii 42 Tanquam conchylium discerpere To tear in pieces like a shell-fish 65

TABLE OF ADAGES II viii 43 Mutus magis quam scapha As dumb as a boat II viii 44 Nudus tanquam ex matre Naked as he came from his mother II viii 45 Est Pylus ante Pylum Pylos there is before Pylos II viii 46 lecit Achilles duas tesseras et quatuor Achilles has thrown two threes and a four II viii 47 E tardigradis asinis equus prodiit The plodding donkeys have produced a horse II viii 48 Epeo timidior As great a coward as Epeus II viii 49 Ephesiae litterae Ephesian letters II viii 50 Eodem in ludo docti Taught in the same school II viii 51 Tanquam in phiditiis Like a Spartan dinner II viii 52 Equo senescenti minora cicela admove On ageing horses set a lighter brand II viii 53 Eretriensium rho The Eretrian rho II viii 54 Oestro percitus Smitten by an oestrus II viii 55 In magnis et voluisse sat est In great enterprises even to have shown the will is enough II viii 56 In holmo cubabo I shall sleep in a hollow stone II viii 57 Eadem cera One and the same wax II viii 58 In quinque iudicum genibus situm est It lies on the knees of five judges II viii 59 Emunctae naris. Muccosis naribus With nose well wiped. Thick in the head II viii 60 Fames et mora bilem in nasum conciunt Hunger and waiting fill the nose with bile II viii 61 Generosior Sparta As spirited as Sparta II viii 62 Locrensis bos A Locrian ox II viii 63 Ficulnus gladius A figwood sword II viii 64 Ficum Mercurio A fig to Mercury n viii 65 Ut fici oculis incumbunt As warts grow on the eye II viii 66 Cum hasta, cum scuto With spear and shield

435

65 65 66 66 67 67 67 68 68 69 70 70 70 7i 71 71 72 72 73 73 73 73 74 76

TABLE OF ADAGES II viii 67 Viri senis astaphis calvaria An old man's skull is as dry as raisins II viii 68 Post folia cadunt arbores First the leaves fall, then the trees II viii 69 Ante tubam trepidas You're frightened before you hear the trumpet sound II viii 70 Ameles angulus Neglected corner II viii 71 Ultra res Callicratis Beyond the standard of Callicrates II viii 72 Vulcanium vinculum Vulcan's chains II viii 73 Ad satietatem usque To the point of saturation II viii 74 Votum munificum Wishes make wealthy II viii 75 Utinam domi sim How I wish I were at home! II viii 76 Utinam male, quemadmodum invenisti, eikias May you disgorge in disgrace your disgraceful gains II viii 77 Ultro Deus subjicit bona God gives good things of his own free will II viii 78 Ventres Idle bellies II viii 79 Ulysseum commentum An invention worthy of Ulysses II viii 80 Victitant succo suo They live on their own juice II viii 81 Viri infortunati procul amici When a man's out of luck, his friends are out of reach II viii 82 Vias novit quibus effugit Eucrates He knows by what roads Eucrates escaped II viii 83 Vivit, incende ignem It's alive, kindle the fire II viii 84 Venter auribus caret The belly has no ears II viii 85 Cum pulvisculo Dust and all II viii 86 Valere pancratice To be as fit as a pancratiast II viii 87 Foedum et mansisse diu vacuumque redisse It is a disgrace to stay too long and return empty-handed II viii 88 Tragulam iniicere To cast a spear II viii 89 Trium literarum homo A three-letter man II viii 90 Trium dierum commeatum Three days' rations

436

77 77 77 77 78 78 78 79 79 79 79 80 81 82 82 82 83 83 83 84 84 84 85 85

TABLE OF ADAGES II viii 91 Tragoedias in nugis agere To make tragedies out of trifles II viii 92 Transversum agere To drive off course II viii 93 Thrasybulo Dionysium dicitis esse similem You say that Dionysius is like Thrasybulus II viii 94 Tributis potiora Better than tribute n viii 95 Tragica simia A tragical ape II viii 96 Tineas pascere To feed the worms II viii 97 Titio ad ignem A log onto the fire II viii 98 Tithymallus Laconicus Laconian spurge II viii 99 Tinctura Sardonica Sardinian dye H viii 100 Quam curat testudo muscam More than a tortoise minds a fly nix i Stultior Morycho As big a fool as Morychus nix 2 Quatuor obolis non aestimo I wouldn't give four obols for it nix 3 Tenuem nectis You weave a small web nix 4 Terrestria balnea Subterranean baths nix5 Ter Thrice nix 6 Theagenis pecuniae Theagenes' wealth nix 7 Tantali lapis The rock of Tantalus nix8 Surdior Toronaeo portu As deaf as the harbour at Torone nixg Surdior turdo As deaf as a starling nixio Effoeminatorum etiam oratio effoeminata Womanish men's language is womanish too nix 11 Stupidior Praxillae Adonide As stupid as the Adonis of Praxilla nix 12 Simonidis cantilenae Songs of Simonides nix 13 Si tibi est machaera, et nobis urbina est domi You may have a sword, but I too have a spit of my own

437

85 86 86 86 87 87 87 88 88 89

89 91 91 92 92 93 93 94 94 95 95 95 96

TABLE OF ADAGES Ilixi4 Semper agricola in novum annum dives

Farmers are always rich next year

96

The Furies, ever virgins

96

No mourning for an aged ox Sero venisti, sed in Colonum ito You're late; off with you to Colonus Ad pedem To fit the foot Sarpedonium littus Sarpedon shore Servilior Messena As harshly enslaved as Messene Servus cum sis, comam geris You wear your hair long, though you're a slave Servorum civitas Slave city Samiorum flores The flowers of Samos Summaria indicatura A grab bag Regia vaccula A kingly cow Pura a nuptiis Unsullied by wedlock Rheginis timidior As frightened as the Rhegians Inertium chorus A party of lazybones Rapina rerum Cinnari Despoiling Cinnarus of his possessions Rhadamantheum iudicium The verdict of Rhadamanthys Rhadamanthi jusjurandum Rhadamanthys' oath Littore loquacior As talkative as the seashore Praesentem fortunam boni consule Take your present fortune in good part Qui omni in re et in omni tempore He who in everything and at every season Qui e nuce nucleum esse vult, frangit nucem He who wants to eat the inside of the walnut breaks the shell Quis parentem laudabit, nisi infelices filii? Who shall praise a father except children who are failures? Nam iam illi non sunt, at qui sunt, mali For they are no longer alive, and those who are alive are no good

96

Iiixi5 Semper virgines Furiae Ilixi6 Senex bos non lugetur Ilixiy

nix 18

Iiixi9 Ilix2O

Ilix2i IIJX22

Iiix23 Iiix24 Iiix25 Iiix26 Ilix27 Iiix28 Iiix29 ii 1x30 II 1x31 II 1x32

Iiix33 Iiix34 Iiix35 111x36 Iiix37

438

97 97 97 98 98 98 99 99 100 100 100 100 100 101 101 1O2 1O2 103 103 1O4 105

TABLE OF ADAGES 111x38 Quaerendae facilitates, deinde virtus Seek riches first, then virtue Iiix39 Qui apud Inferos sunt terniones The triplets that exist among the dead nix4O Neque quantum lusciniae dormiunt They do not sleep as much as nightingales II 1x41 Cuiusmodi portento me involvit fortuna With what a portent fortune has embroiled me! II 1x42 Fixis oculis intueri To gaze fixedly at Iiix43 Pulverem oculis offundere To throw dust in a man's eyes Iiix44 Psecas aut ros Drizzle or dew Hix45 Haesitantia cantoris tussis A singer in difficulties means a cough 111x46 Extritum ingenium A worn-out brain II 1x47 Panagaea Diana Panagaean Diana 111x48 Pastilles Rufillus olet, Gorgonius hircum Rufillus reeks of lozenges, Gorgonius of he-goat II 1x49 Claudus optime virum agit The lame man makes the best lecher nix 50 Ogygia mala Ogygian disasters 111x51 Omnia chnaumata Every scrap 111x52 Sic est ad pugnae partes re peracta veniendum That's the way to take part in a battle, when it's all over ii 1x53 Obsequium amicos, veritas odium parit Flattery wins friends and truth engenders hate II 1x54 Obviis ulnis With open arms

nix 55 Oblivionis campus Oblivion Fields 111x56 Omnia sapientibus facilia To the wise all things are easy nix57 Omnia esculenta obsessis The besieged find all things edible 111x58 Omnia similia They're all the same II 1x59 Totus echinus asper A sea-urchin is rough all over nix6o Omnia bonos viros decent Everything comes well from a good man nix6i Omitte vatem Hands off the holy man

439

105 105 106 106 106 106 107 107 107 108 108 108 109 109

no no in in 112 112 112 112 113 113

TABLE OF ADAGES Iiix62 Oderint, dum metuant Let them hate, so long as they fear II 1x63 Odit cane peius et angue Hates worse than dog and snake II 1x64 Stultior Coroebo As foolish as Coroebus II 1x65 Stupa seniculus An old man is but chaff nix66 Phormionis thori Phormio's camp beds II ix6j Stultitia est Jovem putare esse It's folly to believe that Jove exists Iiix68 Tuum tibi narro somnium I tell you your own dream Iiix69 Sponsi vita A wooer's life II ixyo Et fama fuit et eras So ran the tale, and such you were Iiix7i Innocuus alium aspiciam meum habentem malum Unhurt I shall watch another man enduring my trouble Iiix72 Simul et dictum et factum No sooner said than done Iiix73 Obiicere canibus agnos To throw lambs to the dogs Iiix74 Nullius indigens Deus God is in need of nothing Ilix75 Nucleum amisi, reliquit pignori putamina I've lost the kernel, and he's left the shell in pledge nix 76 Nudo mandas excubias You post a naked man on sentry-duty nix 77 Nunc contingat servari May my luck save me now nix 78 Nunc bene navigavi, cum naurragium f eci Now that I've suffered shipwreck, my voyage has gone well nix79 Nunc in regionem veni Now I've arrived 111x80 Nunc ilia advenit Datidis cantilena Now is the moment come for Datis' tune llixSi Non enim spinae No more thorns 111x82 Non statuar leaena in machaera I'll not be set up as a lioness on a sword-hilt 111x83 Ne contra bovem opta Pray not against your ox 111x84 Non nostrum onus: bos clitellas? Not my burden: a saddle on the ox? 111x85 Nota res mala optima An evil thing known is best

44°

113 114 114 115 115 115 115 116 116 116 117 117 117 118 118 118 119 119 120 120 121 121 121 123

TABLE OF ADAGES

nix86 Inveni, non quod pueri in faba I've made a find, and it's not what children find in beans II 1x87 Midas in tesseris consultor optimus Midas on the dice gives the best advice nix 88 Ni purges et molas, non comedes Unless you clean and grind, you'll have nothing to eat nix88A Nihil essent alia sine auro All the rest would be nothing without gold II 1x89 Nihil differs a Chaerephonte There's no difference between you and Chaerephon II 1x90 Nihil ab elephante differs There's no difference between you and an elephant ii 1x91 Ne intra vestibulum quidem Not even as far as the porch II 1x92 Neque cum malis neque sine malis Neither with bad things nor without them Iiix93 Ne in pelle quidem Not even in skin Iiix94 Ne tria quidem Stesichori nosti You don't know even Stesichorus' triplet Iiix95 Nephalia ligna Nephalian wood 111x96 Nephalium sacrum A nephalian sacrifice nix 97 Neglectis urenda filix innascitur agris Fern to be burnt grows in neglected fields 111x98 Nauphracton tueri To have a warship look Iiix99 Negocium ex ocio Leisure to business turned nixioo Navis aut galerus Ship or cap n x i Mazam pinsuit a me pistam He baked the sponge cake I kneaded n x a Nauson Naucrati Nauson to Naucrates nx 3 Tolle tolle mazam quam ocissime scarabaeo A dung-cake for the beetle, quick as quick! n x 4 Non est meum negotium, multum valeat This is none of my business; away with it! 0 x 5 Abominandus scarabaeus An abominable dung-beetle n x 6 Molestum sapientem apud stultos loqui It is hard for a wise man to speak at length in foolish company n x 7 Modio demetiar May I measure by the peck

441

124 124 124 125 125 125 126 126 126 126 127 127 127 128 128 128

129 129 130 130 131 131 131

TABLE OF ADAGES

n x 8 Mens non inest Centauris Centaurs have no brains

132

You anoint yourself with honey Mercurius infans Mercury tongue-tied Mendicorum loculi semper inanes Beggars' wallets are always empty Meliacum navigium A Melian vessel Melanione castior As chaste as Melanion Matris ut capra dicitur He's called after his mother like a she-goat Quasi locum in balneis Like a place in the baths Milium torno sculpere To turn millet on a lathe Magnetum mala The misfortunes of the Magnesians Complura masculi canis cubilia Here there and everywhere, the randy dog will find his pair Multa in bellis inania Many are the illusions of war Militavit cum Erasinade He fought under Erasinades Mulieri ne credas, ne mortuae quidem Ne'er trust a woman, even when she's dead Mulierum exitia Women's woes Multa noris oportet, quibus Deum fallas You need great knowledge, if you would deceive God with it Multi Mannii Ariciae Many men called Mannius at Aricia Murus aheneus A wall of bronze Multi te oderint, si teipsum amas Many will hate you if you love yourself Malorum panegyris A throng of misfortunes Magis impius Hippomene As impious as Hippomenes Manivoro vinculo With fetters that gnaw the arm Malum Hercules Hercules and the apple Manum habere sub pallio To have one's hands in one's pockets

132

0 x 9 Melle temetipsum perungis IIX1O

nxu 11X12

11x13 11x14 11x15 11x16 11x17 11x18 11x19 IIX2O 11X21 11X22 11X23 11X24 11X25 11X26 11X27 11X28 11X29 IIX3O 11X31

442

132 132 133 133 133 134 134 134 135 135 136 136 136 137 137 137 138 138 138 139 139 139

TABLE OF ADAGES

11x32 In sinu manum habere

11X33 11X34 11X35 11x36

11X37 11x38

11X39 11x40 11x41 11x42

11X43 11x44

11X45 11x46

11x47 11x48

11X49 11x50 11x51 11x52

11x53 11x54

11x55

To have one's hand in one's bosom Praemansum in os inserere Spoonfeeding Mala proditio Treason without reason Mali thripes, mali ipes Worm's bad, grub's bad Mali bibunt improbitatis fecem Evil men drink the dregs of their wickedness Lydio more In Lydian fashion Lydi mali, post hos Aegyptii etc Lydians are rascals, and Egyptians second, etc Lutum sanguine maceratum Clay kneaded with blood Liberae caprae ab aratro She-goats are free from the plough Lis litem sent One quarrel breeds another Lignum tortum haud unquam rectum A twisted branch, never straight Lesbiis digna Fit for Lesbians Lemnia manu With Lemnian hand Lepus apparens inf ortunatum facit iter A hare appearing makes your path unlucky Limen senectae The threshold of old age Lingua bellare To fight with the tongue Larus hians A cormorant open-mouthed Laconismus Laconic Late vivens Live in obscurity Labyrinthus A labyrinth Labore laboriosus In labour laborious Laciadae Laciadae Laborem serere To sow hard work Labrax Milesius A Milesian bass

443

140 140 141 141 141 142 142 142 143 143 143 144 144 144 144 145 145 146 147 147 148 148 148 149

TABLE OF ADAGES

11x56 Lavares Peliam

11X57 11x58

11X59 11x60 11x61 11x62 11x63 11x64 11x65 11x66 11x67 11x68 11x69 11x70 11x71 11x72 11x73 11x74 11x75 11x76 11x77 11x78 11x79

You would give Pelias a bath Iterum atque iterum ad Pythum via Over and again the Pytho road Cum Delphis sacrificaverit, ipse carnes absumit After offering sacrifice at Delphi, he eats the meat himself loflfjudgeii1 To visit the Isthmian games Ipsi curandum It's his own business Hyperberetaea Hyperberetaean Ulyssis remigium Ulysses' crew Zaleuci lex A law of Zaleucus Zopyri talenta The talents of Zopyrus Una scutica omneis impellit One whip drives them all Tanquam Chalcidica nobis peperit uxor My wife breeds like a woman of Chalcis His Medus non insidiabitur The Persians shall not lie in wait for these In Orci culum incidas May you fall into Orcus' anus In virus Jupiter novit Jupiter has no wish to know Excubias agere, aut ditari To keep watch or to become rich Intra septimam Before the seventh In cotyla gestaris You are carried piggy-back In apes irruisti You have charged into the bees Orci galea The helmet of Orcus Initium belli The start of the war In fermento jacere To lie in the leaven In eo ipso stas lapide, in quo praeco praedicat You stand on the very block where the cryer cries his wares Inus dolores The sorrows of Ino In omni fabula et Daedali exsecratio In every story there's a curse on Daedalus

444

149 149 150 150 150 151 151 151 152 152 152 153 153 153 154 154 154 155 155 157 157 157 158 158

TABLE OF ADAGES

11x80 In parte vel ignem praedetur aliquis Let each man steal the fire too in his turn 11x81 In nihil sapiendo jucundissima vita In knowing nothing is the sweetest life 11x82 Ignem palma Fire on the hand 11x83 Sub cultro liquit He left me under the knife 11x84 Fores habet tritas, ut pastorum casae He has a doorway as well trodden as a shepherd's cottage 11x85 Apio opus est It's celery he needs Iix86 lalemo frigidior Tedious as a dirge 11x87 Humi hauris You draw water from dry ground 11x88 Humi serpere To crawl on the ground 11x89 Olerum appositiones Greens on the table 11x90 Fictilis homo A man of clay 11x91 Hipparchorum tabula The hipparchs' list 11x92 Heteromolia causa A one-sided case 11x93 Harmodii cantilena The Harmodius song 11x94 Haud canit paternas cantiones He does not play the same tune as his fathers 11x95 Non certatur de oleastro No contest here for the wild olive 11x96 Hasta caduceum Spear and herald's staff 11x97 Gallorum incusare ventres To blame cocks' guts 11x98 Ardens vestis A blazing robe 11x99 Senecta leonis praestantior hinnulorum juventa A lion in old age is stronger than fawns in youth IIX1OO Nudior paxillo As naked as a peg

m i l Herculei labores

445

159 159 160 160 161 161 161 162 162 162 163 163 164 164 164 164 165 165 165 167 167

The labours of Hercules

167

I have escaped evil, I have found good

182

mi 2 Effugi malum, inveni bonum

TABLE OF ADAGES

III 13 Aegypti nuptiae Aegyptus' wedding III 14 Aedilitatem geris sine populi suffragio A self-appointed aedile III 15 Pax redimenda Peace is worth paying for ill 16 E duobus tria vides You see three in place of two m i7 Edentulus vescentium dentibus invidet The toothless man looks askance at those who have teeth to eat with m 18 lisdem vescentes cepis Eating the same onions m 19 Solidos e clibano boves Whole pot-roast oxen nil 10 Drachmae grando A hail of drachmas m i l l Duodecim artium Up to a dozen tricks m i 12 Duplices viros Double men m i 13 Domi manere oportet belle fortunatum He who is well off should stay at home m i 14 Per hastae cuspidem currere To run through a spear-point m i i4A Macerata vita Soft living m i 15 Alia Menecles, alia porcellus loquitur Menecles tells one story and the pig another m i 16 Haud annuncias bellum Your news is not of war m i 17 Machinas post bellum adferre To bring up the artillery when the war is over m i 18 Levissima res oratio Words are the lightest of things mi 19 Non omnia eveniunt, quae in animo statueris All does not come to pass that you have set your heart on m i 20 Murem ostendit pro leone He displayed the mouse instead of the lion mi 21 Pugnis et calcibus Punching and kicking m i 22 Inimicus et invidus vicinorum oculus Unfriendly and spiteful is the neighbour's eye m i 23 Totum subvertere Total overthrow m i 24 Bona terrae Earth's bounty m i 25 Palumbem pro columba A pigeon instead of a dove

446

183 183 184 184 184 184 185 185 186 186 186 187 187 187 188 188 189 189 189 190 190 190 190 191

TABLE OF ADAGES

mi 26 Cilix haud facile verum dicit A Cilician finds it hard to speak the truth mi 27 Culicem elephanti conferre To match a gnat against an elephant m i 28 Dum clavum rectum teneam As long as I my tiller forthright hold mi 29 Incus maxima non metuit strepitus The heaviest anvil has no fear of noise m i 30 Veneri suem immolavit He has sacrificed a pig to Venus mi 31 Non licet bis in bello peccare In war it is not permitted twice to err m i 32 Panidis suffragium The judgement of Panides mi 33 Pattaecione calumniosior A worse blackmailer than Pattaecion mi 34 Omni pede standum One must put one's best foot forward mi 35 Callum ducere To grow thick-skinned m i 36 Extra organum Beyond the instrument mi 37 Demulcere caput To stroke a man's head m i 38 Toto organo With a full range mi 39 Ultra linum Beyond the thread spun mi 40 Omnia secunda: saltat senex All's well: the old man dances mi 41 Gladium dedisti, qui se occideret You have given him a sword with which he could kill himself mi 42 Alienum arare fundum To plough another man's land mi 43 Fluvius quae procul absunt irrigat A river waters what is far away m i 44 Magno flumini rivulum inducis You lead a rivulet into a great river m i 45 Ne patris quidem nomen dicere possit He could not even tell you his father's name m i 46 Ne si bos quidem vocem edat Not if an ox were to speak mi 47 Aegaeum navigat He sails the Aegean 11148 Liberi poetae et pictores Poets and painters are not subject to audit mi 49 Per transennam inspicere To see through a lattice

447

191 191 192 192 192 193 193 194 194 194 195 195 195 196 196 197 197 198

198 198 198 198 199 199

TABLE OF ADAGES

mi 50 Ne de lite pronuncies Judge not a cause mi 51 Duobus pariter euntibus When two go together mi 52 Manu serendum, non thylaco Sow with the hand and not with the whole sack mi 53 A fronte atque a tergo Forward and backward m i 54 Gallos quid exsecas? Why castrate Galli? mi 55 Quanto asinis praestantiores muli How much better mules are than asses mi 56 Difficilis vir A formidable man m i 57 Unum augurium optimum tueri patriam One omen is best of all: to fight for one's country mi 58 Ne quid suo suat capiti For fear he might stitch a cap for his own head mi 59 Terra mini prius dehiscat Sooner may the earth open beneath me mi 60 Vestis virum facit Clothes make the man mi 61 Teneri calidis balneis Softened by hot baths m i 62 Dextrum pedem in calceo, sinistrum in pelvi Right foot in a sandal, left foot in a basin 01163 Dea impudentia Impudence is a goddess mi 64 De possessione deiicere To eject from possession mi 65 Daedali alae The wings of Daedalus mi 66 Deinde expergiscebar And then I awoke m i 67 De lapide emptus Bought off the block mi 68 Date mihi pelvim Give me a basin m i 69 Dares Entellum provocas You are Dares challenging Entellus mi 70 Ad Cynosarges Off with you to Cynosarges mi 71 Cythnicae calamitates Cythnian disasters mi 72 Cythonymi probrum Cythonymis' disgrace mi 73 Cyziceni stateres Cyzicene staters

44^

200 200 201 201 202 202 203 203 204 204 204 205 205 205 206 206 207 207 208 208 209 210 210 210

TABLE OF ADAGES

mi 74 Cyrnia terra

449

A land like Cyrnus

210

The riches of Cinyras

211

These things trouble me less than frogs in the marsh

211

Healthier than a pumpkin

211

Laughter and tears come by the will of God

212

To wrestle with Corycus

213

So speak the Curetes

213

We're better off than yesterday

213

Cretans [perform] the sacrifice

213

No sooner is he pitied than his gratitude is dead

214

He runs in vain

214

The bite of an asp

215

When the tree is felled, everyone gathers the firewood

215

Nought is at all points blest

215

The fortunate have many kinsmen

217

The falling-out of lovers

217

Good health first, next good looks, and in the third place wealth

218

To eat hay. He should be fed on ambrosia

218

Hopes are the food of exiles

219

And children's children

219

To go a-horsing

220

The character of a sheep

220

To die the death of a mouse m i 97 Ante lentem augere ollam To exalt one's dish beyond lentils

220

mi 75 Cinyrae opes

mi 76 Minus de istis laboro quam de ranis palustribus m i 77 Cucurbita sanior

m i 78 Cum Deo quisque gaudet et flet m i 79 Cum Coryco luctari m i 80 Curetum os

mi 81 Melius nobis est quam heri m i 82 Cretenses sacrum

01183 Simul et misertum est et interiit gratia m i 84 Frustra currit

m i 85 Morsus aspidis

m i 86 Arbore dejecta quivis ligna colligit m i 87 Nihil est ab omni parte beatum m i 88 Felicium multi cognati m i 89 Amantium irae

m i 90 Primum recte valere, proxima forma, tertio loco divitiae

01191 Foenum esse. Ambrosia alendus mi 92 Spes alunt exules mi 93 Et nati natorum mi 94 l.tnro^avelv

m i 95 Ovium mores

01196 Muris interirus

221

TABLE OF ADAGES

m i 98 Pudebat recusare et non audebant suscipere They were ashamed to refuse and did not dare accept m i 99 Sphaeram inter sese reddere To throw the ball from one to another m i 100 Animo aegrotanti medicus est oratio To a sick spirit speech is a physician m ii i Si quid mali, in Pyrrham If there's anything bad, on Pyrrha's head ill ii 2 In tuum ipsius malum lunam deduces You will bring down the moon to your own hurt III ii 3 Corvus aquat A crow in search of water ill ii 4 Convenerat Attabas et Numenius Attabas and Numenius have met ill ii 5 Colossi magnitudine The size of a Colossus ill ii 6 Mali commatis Of a bad stamp ffliiy Benevolus trucidator Well-wishing murderer in ii 8 Corytheo deformior As ugly as Corytheus m ii 9 Contra torrentem niti To strive against the stream ni ii 10 Usque ad aras amicus A friend as far as the altar Codalijchoenix ffliiii Codalus' measure m ii 12 Concha dignus Worth a shell m ii 13 Conto navigare To navigate with a pole m ii 14 Cydi poenam debet He owes a penalty for abuse m ii 15 Cnips in loco A flea in its place ffl ii 16 Cyclobori vox A voice like the Cycloborus ffl ii 17 Thasium infundis You pour in Thasian ffl ii 18 KAeiroptd^eip To touch the clitoris ffl ii 19 Claudiana tonitrua Claudian thunder m ii 20 Claudi more tenere pilam To grasp a pillar like a lame man

45°

• 221 222 223

224 225 225 226 226 227 227 228 228 228 229 229 229 230 230 231 231 231 232 232

TABLE OF ADAGES HI ii 21 Loripedem rectus derideat

Let the healthy man mock the cripple mil 22 Clisthenem video I spy Cleisthenes ni ii 23 Cleocritus Cleocritus mil 24 Coturnissare To feed on quails m ii 25 Cilicium exitium A Cilician ending ni ii 26 Centaurice Centaur-like m ii 27 Cilicii imperatores Cilician generals m ii 28 Civitates ludimus We play cities m ii 29 Cissamis Cous Cissamis of Cos m ii 30 Carcini poemata Carcinus' verses m ii 31 Carica victima A Carian victim m ii 32 Callicyriis plures More than the Callicyrians m ii 33 Cera tractabilior As pliable as wax m ii 34 Occisionis ala The wing of slaughter m ii 35 Celmis in ferro Celmis with sword in hand m ii 36 Cestum habent Veneris They have the girdle of Venus ni ii 37 Pontificalis coena A dinner for a pontiff m ii 38 Cepas edere aut olfacere To eat, or to sniff, onions m ii 39 Scarabeo nigrior As black as a beetle m ii 40 Chalcidissare To play the Chalcidian m ii 41 Phicidissare To "phicidize' mii42 Cantharo astutior As cunning as Cantharus ni ii 43 Canis tanquam Delum navigans You sing as if you were sailing to Delos mil 44 Caunius amor A passion for Caunus

451

232 233 233 233 234 234 234 234 235 235 236 236 236 237 237 237 238 239 239 240 240 240 240 241

TABLE OF ADAGES

m ii 45 Scarabei umbrae Shades of a dung-beetle ni ii 46 Papyri fructus non postulat magnam spicam Papyrus seed asks not for a heavy ear ni ii 47 Budoro more In ox-flaying style m ii 48 Boeotia auris A Boeotian ear m ii 49 Botrus oppositus botro maturescit Grapes ripen cluster against cluster ni ii 50 Immolare boves To kill oxen m ii 51 Boves messis tempus exspectantes Oxen looking towards harvest-time m ii 52 Bos Homolottiorum An ox of the Homolottians m ii 53 Bos apud acervum An ox at the heap m ii 54 Aut oportet tragoedias agere omneis aut insanire All men must either act tragedies or go mad m ii 55 Aufer mothonem a remo Keep a dancer of hornpipes away from the oar m ii 56 Auribus arrectis With ears pricked up ni ii 57 Aurum Colophonium Colophon gold m ii 58 Asini mortes The deaths of a donkey m ii 59 Asinus compluitur An ass can stand the rain raii6o Aspersisti aquam You've sprinkled me with water m ii 61 Arcadiam me postulas You ask me for Arcadia m ii 62 Arcadas imitans Doing as the Arcadians do m ii 63 A quinque scopulis desilire in fluctus To leap from five rocks into the waves ni ii 64 Aqua praeterfluit Water pours by m ii 65 Aquila non captat muscas An eagle does not hunt flies mii66 'Avspivaoros et You need artificial fertilization m ii 67 Repariazare To break treaties like the Parians m ii 68 Mari e fossa aquam Water out of a ditch into the sea

452

241 241 241 242 243 244 244 244 245 245 246 246 247 247 247 247 248 248 248 248 249 249 250 250

TABLE OF ADAGES

ni ii 69 Hamaxiaea

453

Wagon-loads

250

To mow the moss

251

It rains black-puddings

251

Some have a tongue, others have teeth

252

The counsel of the wicked has incurred utter disaster

252

The owl has one cry and the raven another

252

To find a chink

253

I knead you a white loaf

253

You marry white flax for the sake of gain

254

To the wild goats

254

The blessed gods be on our side

254

ni ii 70 Museum demetere ni ii 71 Extis pluit

ni ii 72 Aliis lingua, aliis dentes

ni ii 73 Improbi consilium in extremum incidit malum ni ii 74 Aliud noctua sonat, aliud cornix m ii 75 Reperire rimam

ni ii 76 Album panem pinso tibi ni ii 77 Candidum linum lucri causa ducis m ii 78 In capras sylvestres

ni ii 79 Adsint dii beati

miiSo In Aphannis

At Aphannae ni ii 81 Ad id quod erat opus For a necessary purpose m ii 82 Adactum iusiurandum An imported, or imposed, oath m ii 83 Scabrosior leberide As prickly as a snake's slough m ii 84 Procul auribus nuntius veniat May this news be far from my ears m ii 85 A puro pura defluit aqua Water poured over what is clean stays clean m ii 86 A lupi venatu From a wolf-hunt m ii 87 A subeunte portum navi From a ship as she enters harbour m ii 88 A bis septem undis By twice seven waves ni ii 89 Exigit et a statuis farinas He makes even the statues give him food niii9O Athos celat latera Lemniae bovis Athos darkens the flanks of the Lemnian cow m ii 91 Praesentem mulge; quid fugientem insequeris? Milk the one that's handy; why pursue him that runs away? m ii 92 Quid ad Mercurium? What's that to Mercury?

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TABLE OF ADAGES

ni ii 93 Quid Achivos a turre judicatis? Why judge the Achaeans from the tower? m ii 94 Quis usus cepis putridi? What use are rotten onions? m ii 95 Philoxeni Non Philoxenus's No ni ii 96 Meos corymbos necto I twine my ivy-clusters ni ii 97 Compendiaria res improbitas Rascality takes the short cuts m ii 98 Umbra pro corpore Shadow instead of substance m ii 99 Sinopissas You behave like Sinope ni ii 100 Vitiat lapidem longum tempus Length of time wears the marble in iii i Sileni Alcibiadis The Sileni of Alcibiades in iii 2 Sarone magis nauticus More of an old sailor than Saron ill iii 3 Assidua stilla saxum excavat Constant dropping wears away a stone III iii 4 Salaminia navis A ship of Salamis in iii 5 Pyrrhandri commentum One of Pyrrhander's tricks III iii 6 "A^T/Ao? TT\OVTO