Adagia 2101–2200

Ει τὶ κακόν, εἰς πύῤῥαν, If there's anything wrong, on Pyrrha's head - we must understand 'be it' or let if fall,' or something of the kind. In this way, if they feared some impending evil, they sought to avoid it by turning it aside, and prayed that it might fall on their enemy's head. Hence too that form of words well known in both Greek and Latin authors, 'May this befall our enemies.' Ovid: 'Would that such parties might befall our foes.' Again, in book three of the Art of Love: 'May cause of such foul shame befall my foes'; in book three of the Fasti: 'Would that that colour might befall my foes'; in book two of the Elegies: 'Sleep in an empty bed befall my foes! And let my foes live such a Spartan life!' and again in book three: 'Such cause for shame befall my enemies!' Virgil too in book three of the Georgics: 'May the gods send good men a better fate, And send that error on our enemies!' and in the eighth Aeneid, speaking of Mezentius: 'May the gods keep this in store for him and for his race.' Propertius: 'May a cold-blooded wench await my foes!' And Horace in the Odes: 'Let enemies' wives and children feel / The gathering south-wind's angry roar.' And Terence in the Heautontimorumenos, that is, the old self-tormentor: 'Oh dear! I do beseech you, let that be for your enemies,' and again in the Eunuchus: 'Would that all those who wish me ill were in the same plight.' The traditional origin of the proverb is as follows. In old days the people of Pyrrha were intensely unpopular with all their neighbours, with the result that if they ever saw trouble threatening, they sought to avoid it by praying that it might fall on the Pyrrhaeans instead, saying 'On Pyrrha's head be it!' Pyrrha, according to Stephanus, is a town in the island of Lesbos; and there is also another Pyrrha between Priene and Miletus. I rather suspect we owe it to the scribes that Plutarch in the 'Dinner of the Sages' refers to Priene instead of Pyrrha. His words run like this: 'And Thales laughed, and said: "If it's anything bad, back to Priene again. Bias will solve it, as he solved the first problem.'" It seems to me that the name was changed deliberately; Bias came from Priene, and so it was a joke to put Priene in place of Pyrrha.

Επὶ σαυτῳς τὴν σελὴνήν καθελεῖς, You bring down the moon on your own head. That witches by the use of certain spells could bring the moon down to earth was widely believed in Antiquity. Hence Virgil: 'Spells can bring down even the moon from heaven.' And Horace in the Odes: 'And by your books of magic, which have power / To loose the stars and call them from the sky,' and again in the Satires: And the blushing moon, in fear to see such sights, lies hid behind the massive tombs.' Juvenal too: 'Unaided she will save the labouring moon.' It was the ancient belief that witches of this type were customarily deprived of their eyes and feet. A certain Aglaonice, whose knowledge of astronomy enabled her to foretell eclipses, used to boast that she would drag the moon out of the sky and down to earth, and paid the penalty for her boasting, as I shall show in the proverb To drag down the moon. Thus a proverb derived from this practice was applied to those who brought disaster upon themselves by their own cunning. For instance, if a man had secured by skilful arts that someone should be sent for, and it then happened that the man he had arranged to be sent for supplanted him.

Κόραξ ὑδρεύει, A crow in search of water, was used customarily when someone got what he wanted, but not without trouble and ingenuity, or when he tried to achieve his end by some new-found scheme. Taken from the fable of the crow who was thirsty, and piled pebbles in the jar to bring up the water-level from the bottom to the brim. This is recorded as a fact by Pliny, book 10 chapter 43. It seems more likely however that the adage should be traced back to the fable told by Ovid in the second book of the Fasti, as follows: 'It chanced that Phoebus was getting ready a solemn feast for Jove (my tale will not detain you long). "Be off, my dear bird," he said, "and to avoid any delay in my solemnities, bring me clear water from a living spring." In her hooked talons the crow picked up a golden bowl and sped on her way high in the air. A fig-tree stood there thick-set with fruit that was still hard; she tested it with her beak, but it was not yet fit to pick. Forgetting her instructions, she settled (so the story goes) under the tree, to wait until lapse of time should have ripened the fruit. Once she had eaten her fill, she seized a long watersnake in her black claws, and returned to her master with a made-up tale: "It was this made me take so long, as it stood guard over the living water; it held the spring captive, and held up my task." "Do you add falsehood to fault?" Phoebus replied; "and dare you try to trick with lies a god who can read the fates? As long as juicy figs hang on the tree, you shall never drink water from a cool spring.'" This is mentioned also by Hyginius and by Aelian On the Nature of Living Creatures, book one. So the proverb seems to me more appropriate to a habitually dilatory person.

[greek], Attabas has joined forces with Numenius (some read Attagas). used customarily when two rascals join forces; Diogenianus tells us that they were a famous pair of thieves. This is mentioned by Diogenes Laertius in his life of Timon of Nicea. For he used this proverb to express his opinion of those who thought that the senses could be trusted when supported by the judgment of the intellect, though he himself did not think one could credit either reason or senses. Very like one of which I have spoken elsewhere, Bithus and Bacchius.

[greek], Of colossal size. A proverbial exaggeration in Lucian for men of exceptional physique, taken from the vast statues to which the name colossus is applied. Of these the most famous is the statue of the Sun, called the Colossus at Rhodes, which was 70 cubits high (according to Festus Pompeius, 105 feet), the toe of which few people could barely get their arms round. Others too of prodigious size are recorded by Pliny; for the Roman emperors were passionately fond of them, preferring (it seems) size to other forms of excellence. We also read that very large figures were called after Mount Etna. Of those that were large and very troublesome, and were called after Mount Athos, I have treated elsewhere, and also of those Big enough to fill a wagon.

[greek], Of a bad stamp, was used of a rascal, or of anyone contemptible and absurd. The image derives from rejected coins. Aristophanes in the Plutus: 'And he looks to be of the bad stamp.' Said of an informer, now reduced to beggary and starvation since Plutus has recovered his sight. The scholiast shows that comma, stamp, was used for a coin of very small value. It is the same as if you said 'counterfeit coin.' Later in the play: 'He will discover that he is one of that bad stamp.' The same poet in the Frogs speaks of 'the worst stamp,' and again in the Ecclesiazusae And very bad that stamp turned out for me.' The reason he gives is that, when he had gone down to the market to buy flour and had already opened his sack to take it, the crier gave notice that no one was to accept copper coin but everything must be paid for in silver. To the same formula belong those metaphors, which are virtually proverbial, 'a counterfeit man' and the verb 'to counterfeit' for 'to impose on someone' and the noun 'A counterfeit,' for 'trick' words which are found fairly frequently elsewhere, and in Plato's Laws, book 11, if anyone needs more definite evidence. And so those who are of known bad character are called 'counterfeit,' as if one spoke of forged coin. But this will be more apt if referred to the look in a man's face as a guide to his nature and disposition. For just as by looking at the image on a coin one can tell at once whether it is current or forged, so from a man's facial expression one can gauge his disposition at once, as Euripides among others bear witness, when he says in the Ion: 'One can usually tell, where men are concerned, by looking at their faces whether or no they have a noble nature.'

[greek], The killer meant well, suits those who bring utter disaster, and yet mingle with that a show of good intentions. Taken, they say, from Orestes, who killed his mother Clytemnestra and then gave a funeral banquet as though in her honour. Some also refer it to king Antigonus who, after disposing of Semele, arranged to have her bones delivered with all ceremony to her mother. Some prefer to trace the adage to Ptolemy the son of Philopator; he put his mother Berenice in chains in his own palace, and then handed her over for safe keeping to Sosibius, where, being unable to endure such insulting treatment from her son, she killed herself by taking poison. Ptolemy, much disturbed by dreams, built her a tomb in the middle of the city, which is now called the Monument, and laid all his ancestors to rest there with his mother, and Alexander the Great among them. Nor did this act of filial piety content him, but he set up a shrine for her at Aegialae called the temple of Berenice the Saviour. Such is more or less the account in Zenodotus. Not far from one I have recorded elsewhere: Good will untimely differs not from hate. So Horace: 'Such aggravating favours I decline.' And there is much point in that line of Ennius cited by Cicero in the second book of his De officiis: 'Kindness ill-placed unkindness I would call.'

[greek], As ugly as Corytheus. They say that there was a man called Corytheus who was exceptionally stupid and dull and, in addition, of a most unfortunate and revolting appearance, and his children too all took after their father. Hence this became a common jibe against any blockhead who was equally hideous. The adage is recorded by Zenodotus.

People are said to strive against the stream who do battle in vain against those they cannot defeat. Taken from swimmers, who prefer to swim downstream, especially if it is a torrent; and if they strive against it, they make no progress. Augustine uses this adage in one of his letters to St Jerome. And Juvenal praises Crispus' prudence for giving way to the violence of Domitian and falling in with the vagaries of a character which was in any case past cure: 'Therefore he never plied his strokes against the torrent.' Ovid too: 'Foolish the swimmer who could slanting cross, / But strives to brave the current full head on.' Gregory the Theologian, writing to Eudoxius the teacher of rhetoric: 'But that one should not force one's way against the stream in a river, one learns even from a proverb.'

[greek], I'm your friend as far as the altar. Although it is not my present purpose to collect apophthegms of any and every kind, yet this is so aptly put and so much like a proverb in appearance, and is moreover used so freely in eminent authors, that it deservedly seems to be a candidate for a place in my list. It is the reply made by Pericles when asked by one of his friends to support him in a lawsuit by committing perjury. 'If s my duty' he said 'to oblige my friends, but only as far as the altar.' Such is the account in Gellius. More aptly recorded by Plutarch in his essay 'On False Shame': 'I'm your friend as far as the altar.' The message of the proverb is that sometimes, if we wish to consult our friends' advantage and to comply with their wishes, it may seem right to diverge a little from the straight path, but only so far as will not involve us in trespassing on our respect for the Deity to oblige a human friend. In old days men used to lay a hand on the altar when they swore an oath. In any case, how far one should go in diverging from what is right for a friend's sake, and where one should stop, is fully and learnedly discussed by Aulus Gellius in his Attic Nights, book one chapter three.

[greek], The measure (or ration) of Codalus, was used of large measures, as we learn from Suidas; and beyond that I have so far discovered nothing on this subject in the authorities. One may guess that it arose from some greedy slave, whose measure for his ration was deeper than the normal, and by this trick he cheated his master. In the collection which circulates under the name of Hesychius, I find a fish called condalus, either identical with or at least close to the cestreus, which Gaza renders as the mullet. But he also mentions our proverb Codalus' measure elsewhere, suggesting that there was some market-clerk who habitually used larger measures.

[greek], Worth a shell. A thing of no value was called in Greek a seashell, as Latin uses naucum or floccus. Hence that something was utterly negligible and worthless they conveyed by calling it Worth a shell.

[greek], People were said To navigate with a pole, who used things in a way that suited them or followed a way of life that suited their own temperament; for a punt-pole can be used for no other purpose except to propel a boat. At the same time any given way of life does not suit everybody. It will be possible to use this if you ever wish to advise somebody to turn everything to the end for which it was invented; for example, 'Why sit on your money, which was not meant merely to be looked at, but to help you to live? Use your pole for navigation.' Recorded by Suidas.

[greek], 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.

'[greek], The flea in its place, used of those who suddenly changed their position and moved from one place to another, a fault to which Horace 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. Some express the proverb in the form A flea out of its place, so that you must understand 'migrates.' Pliny, 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.' Whether 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 statement 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. Suidas 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.

[greek], 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.'

[greek], 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 Apuleius 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 Pliny 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 proverb 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, 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.

[greek], 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. 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 Suidas concurs.

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 played 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, Dodonean bronze.

Cicero 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, 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, 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. Plautus 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.

There is a phrase in Juvenal 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 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 Gracchus declaiming against rebellion, Verres preaching against theft and Milo against murder?' There is a well-known saying of Leo 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.'

[greek], 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. Aristophanes 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 [greek] , As intemperate as Cleisthenes, of catamites and persons of soft, effeminate nature, the opposite of As temperate as Zeno.

[greek], Cleocritus, was a nickname levelled by way of abuse at catamites, luxurious and effeminate men in general. He was another man who owes his renown to the abuse of the Old Comedy; effeminate, catamite, foreigner they called him, of obscure and discreditable origin, and a child of Cybele, because the mysteries of Rhea were conducted by eunuchs and men who had abjured their sex. Nor did his appearance belie his character, for he had a face like some kind of bird. Suidas records this expressly as a proverb; otherwise I myself should not have listed it among adages.

[greek], was proverbially used of those who ate fatted quails or thrushes, or who had a lascivious and wanton laugh. So too the noun [greek] is used of an effeminate and shameless titter. This will therefore suit either greedy men who are devoted to delicate food, or those who enjoy lecherous pleasures. Starlings imitate everything, and the thrush is listed by Pliny among the birds which imitate the human voice; for the authorities translate this word in different ways.

[greek], 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.' Hesychius among others mentioned this. The phrase may be compared with the use of 'Isaurian' in the lawbooks for a cruel and savage robber.

[greek], Centaur-like, was applied to any action that was done savagely, fiercely or rudely, the word being derived from the behaviour of Centaurs. Aristophanes in the Frogs: 'Who battered on the door so Centaur-like?' For the Centaurs did everything by force and violence, being altogether ignorant of law and justice; though some people think that in Aristophanes there is irony in its application to Bacchus, who is otherwise so effeminate and un warlike.

[greek], Cilician generals, was applied to hairy men who were thickset with bristles, and hence cilicia was the word for cloaks of woven goats' hair. Diogenianus is the authority. The epithet Cilician by itself was given to those who were strong, dirty, and large; hence also 'to behave in Cilician fashion' of criminals and 'Cilician words' for a barbaric system of voting, because the Cilicians customarily take decisions by casting lots into a helmet. There is also record of the Cillicyrians who, though only slaves, banished their masters and seized the countryside. Of Bona Cillicon I have treated elsewhere.

[greek], We play at cities. This is a sort of game, played in the old days with counters, which the Ancients called poleis, cities and the moderns are now calling chôrai, places. The adage is used by Cratinus in The Runaways. This must, if I am not mistaken, be the passage cited by Julius Pollux in book nine of his On the Names of Things: 'A Pandionian city of a king, which utters flattery beyond measure; you know the one of which we speak, both the dog and the city of which they make a game.' The sort of game it was he describes as follows: 'The game, which is played with many counters, consists of a board with places on it, situated on lines. The counters are divided by colour into two sets, and the skill of the game consists in catching a counter of one colour between two of the other, and so removing it from the board.' Plato alludes to this proverb in book four of the Republic: 'Each of them is a great many cities, and not one city, as people say when they are playing the game.' Recorded by Zenodotus, though he does not indicate the meaning of the adage, and I therefore leave everyone free to guess what he thinks most like the truth. It seems to me likely to fit whenever someone pursues his own advantage by all possible means and lays traps for his rivals and competitors in every way he can. This is a game often played in the courts of princes and among those in public office. This game looks like the source of what is now called chess.

[greek], Cissamis of Cos. The story goes that he was very rich indeed in flocks and herds, but that a snake used to appear every year and seize the finest of all his beasts. The snake appeared to the man in a dream and told him to bury it; and when he neglected to do so, the result was that both he and all his family perished root and branch. So, more or less, Zenodotus. Here is another proverb that needs some sort of Delian diver. It is clearly related to one of which I have spoken elsewhere: The Temessaean spirit will be there.

[greek], Carcinus' verses, were proverbial for anything expressed obscurely and in riddling fashion. Carcinus was a poet of sorts, mentioned elsewhere in this work, at whom Aristophanes aims a jest in his comedy called Peace: 'Who appeared luckier than the Strobili of Carcinus.' Carcinus invented a story that Orestes was compelled by Ilius to admit in a riddling answer that he had murdered his mother; so Suidas tells us, who says that the proverb was used by Menander in his False Hercules. Stratonicus in Athenaeus, book 8, hearing a very important singer, asks who wrote the song; and when the reply is 'Carcinus,' he retorts 'Much more like a Crab singing than a man.' For karkinos in Greek also means 'crab' and so he makes a joke out of the double meaning.

[greek], A Carian sacrifice, was used of a sacrificial animal which was thin and far from attractive eating. It derives from a custom among the tribes in Caria of sacrificing a dog. It will be diverted neatly enough to food placed on the table which is tasteless, and the sort of thing no one willingly touches. There are some mean-minded people whose habit it is deliberately to set food before their guests which is going bad and has a nasty taste, partly because it costs less and partly to reduce the amount eaten at table. One might aptly say that such people 'offered a Carian sacrifice.'

[greek], More than the Callicyrians, was used of that large but worthless body of ordinary men. Callicyrians was the name given to the slaves of those in exile, who worked on the land at Syracuse, as we learn from Timaeus. There being an immense number of such people, it became an accepted proverbial expression to describe any very large body of persons as Callicyrians. Aristotle in his Constitution of Syracuse shows that this great number of slaves had come together from many different origins. The Callicyrians were in the same position in Syracuse as the Captives in Sparta, the Penestae in Thessaly, the Elarotae in Crete and the Hebrews in Egypt. It was normal to use this adage more particularly when they wished to indicate a sinister multitude of the sort that sometimes, relying on its numbers, overwhelms its masters. For these slaves too were more numerous than their masters, and for this reason had actually driven them out. Such, more or less, is the account in Suidas.

[greek], As pliable as wax, was said of an exceedingly docile person, or of a lively and pliable intelligence that could be led in any direction. Horace: Pliant as wax towards vice, but to good counsel rough.' Persius in his fifth satire: 'And assumes plastic features under your hand.' Horace again: 'In the moist clay will copy what you will.' It is a special property of wax to grow soft when worked in the hands, and hence the practice of using it to model various shapes. There was also a type of picture made of coloured waxes, mosaics made of pieces of stone, and various woods. Yet the unformed character of a child is more like clay than wax: it can be moulded to start with, while it is still soft, but once the character is hardened, it is not easily reworked into another shape but, as Plato says in book four of the Republic, "There is some risk at any rate that the direction in which a man sets out from childhood will dictate all that follows.'

[greek], The wing of slaughter, was a phrase for sudden extinction. The metaphor is taken from the feathered darts which suddenly bring death; though Zenodotus thinks it better to accept the words as a periphrasis for death itself, as though it came on wings.

Κέλμις ἐν σιδήρῳ, Celmis with sword in hand, was customarily said of those who had an immoderate trust in their own strength, as though they were invincible and no one could defeat them. Celmis, says Zenodotus, was one of the Idaean Dactyls, who raped Rhea the mother of the gods, and so was disowned by the rest of the brethren. It was his practice to forge iron of exceptional strength. He says that this story is mentioned by Sophocles in his Satyrs. The scholiast on Apollonius, speaking of the Idaean Dactyls, of whom Celmis was one, cites the following lines from an author called Phoronis: "There dwelt the Idaean magicians, the Phrygian mountaineers, Celmis and huge Damnameneus and overweening Acmon, skilled servants of the mountain goddess Adrasteia. It was they first discovered the craft of cunning Hephaestus; they put the dark-hued iron on the hearth, and made thereof a famous work.'

People are said to have τὸν κυπρίδος κεστὸν, the girdle of Venus, who employ new methods to entice anyone they please into falling in love with them. It is taken from Homer, Iliad, book 14, from the passage where Juno, before going to bed with Jupiter her husband, pays a visit to Venus, and asks for the loan of her girdle, which brings to its wearer great charm and sexual attraction. This the poet describes in the following lines: 'With these words she loosed from her bosom her embroidered girdle, in which were wrought all things that beguile the heart of man. Love was there and desire and fond discourse, all that sweet persuasion that steals the heart even of men of sense. This did she put into her hands, and spoke to her: "Take now this girdle and set it in your bosom, in the embroidery of which all things are wrought; and I do not think the plans you have in your heart will go astray.'" Theocritus too mentions it in his Lament for Adonis: 'Love's girdle perished with you.' The girdle of Venus therefore is a belt with magic powers of magnetism and enchantment, with which she is said to have won the affections of Mars. It is also mentioned by Martial: 'Wear this, dear child, affection's purest charm, / This circlet still from Venus' bosom warm.' And elsewhere: 'A girdle perfumed by the queen of love, / This belt to passion Jove himself did move.' And again elsewhere: 'Juno, and Venus herself, might ask you for a garland.' This adage will be useful in two ways: one, when we say that someone has the girdle of Venus, being capable of making anyone fall in love with them; the other, when we say that at this moment we need Venus' girdle, or that the girdle itself would be of no service to a person whose vigour and good looks have departed with age, and who is clearly now past the prime. For the flower of youth is enough of itself to arouse desire, which old age must arouse with gifts or love potions, though even these methods cannot secure desire in return.

In the old days, expensive and elaborate suppers were called 'fit for a pontiff.' Horace writes in the Odes with this in mind: An heir more worthy of it than yourself will polish off the Caecuban wine that you have kept under a hundred keys, and stain the pavement with a lordly liquour, as fine as any banquet of pontiffs.' The scholiast on this passage points out that it was the custom to call very elaborate dinners 'fit for a pontiff.' Macrobius in book three of the Saturnalia describes a pontifical dinner with a long tradition behind it in the most elaborate style and richly furnished with luxuries of every kind. The origin of this would seem to be that ritual and religious feasts are customarily furnished with very special dishes. What Horace writes is not far from a phrase current in Paris in our own day: the wags call a wine of full body with very little water in it 'theological wine.' And there was some point in the answer when someone, asked the origin of this proverbial phrase, replied that all the so-called prebends, deaneries and archdeaconries being now occupied by lawyers, there was nothing left for any theologian except what they call a benefice with a cure of souls. And as Scripture says of pastors 'Ye shall eat the sins of my people,' they need of course a very vigorous vintage to enable them to digest such a tough diet. Hence, they say, arose this popular saying. Plautus uses a similar metaphor in the Menaechmi when he speaks of 'dinners fit for a feast of Ceres,' Cereales coenas: 'Dinners he gives you fit for a feast of Ceres. Such a well-piled board! Such heaps of dishes neatly stacked! You have to stand on the couch if you want something off the top layer.' We also find coenas adipales, adiposas and adiiciales. Terence in the Phormio uses 'a doubtful dinner' for something very rich and plentiful.

Κρόμμυα ἐσθίειν, To eat onions, was a proverbial expression humorously applied to those who seemed to be crying. It took its rise from a saying of Bias'. When King Alyattes sent a messenger to demand his immediate presence, he replied 'Tell Alyattes from me to eat onions,' meaning to shed tears and lament. Such language showed his deep contempt for the king. The proverb arises from the fact that the smell of onions, being acrid, has the faculty of bringing tears to the eyes. Aristophanes, when he says 'So there was no need of onions,' indicates that the man will shed tears even without their aid. And since mustard has the same effect, there is no reason why it too should not provide a proverb. Columella in his poetical book: 'And mustard that will make him cry that tampers with it'; later too he mentions onions: 'Roots of dark alexanders and the tearful onion.' They used a similar metaphor and conveyed the same meaning when those who weep were said to sniff onions. Aristophanes in the Frogs: 'Why weep then? -I smell onions.' So, more or less, Suidas. Pliny however, book 20 chapter 5, says they are a cure for running eyes and dim sight; nor does this conflict with what I have said, for they purge by provoking a discharge. Xenophon in the Symposium has 'to smell of onions,' which fits those in humble circumstances who need a bath. Close to this is [greek], 'to dose with garlic,' for aggravating someone or making him shed tears. Aristophanes in the Knights, putting the words into the mouth of the Athenian people: 'Saying you loved me, you dosed me with garlic,' - though this word was coined by the comic poet to raise a laugh.

Κανθαρου μελάντερος, As black as a beetle. Used of men who are ugly and exceptionally dark-complexioned and swarthy; for the scarab or dung-beetle is a creature remarkably and repulsively black, of which I shall have more to say further on.

Χαλκιδίζειν and χαλκιδεύεσθαι described those who were thought to be greedy and overly intent on making money; for the people of Chalcis in the island of Euboea had a bad name for avarice in the outspoken abuse of the Old Comedy. Hesychius suggests that these same people lay under the stigma of immoral affection for boys, and hence the proverb arose as an offensive label for others subject to the same aberration.

Φικιδίζειν, 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 people I speak of normally turn the letter sigma (s) into rho (r). This fault is also attributed to the Eretrians, on the evidence of the proverb The Eretrians' rho. To-day this is a common jest against the people of Picardy: the women of Paris with their mincing pronunciation turn r into s, and say Masia for Maria.

[greek], As cunning, or As wily, as Cantharus. Zenodotus says there was an innkeeper in Athens called Cantharus, whose misdeeds and frauds and confidence-tricks were such that they condemned him to death; and consequently it became the practice in common speech to use this phrase of tricksters and impostors. It seems to me less far-fetched if referred to the living creature, the beetle cantharus, and to the Aesopic fable which tells how the dung-beetle, although vastly inferior in strength, overcame by cunning none the less the eagle who holds the crown among all birds.

[greek], You sing as if you were sailing to Delos, was said of an idle, leisurely and carefree man, leading a life of pleasure. The sea-voyage from Athens to Delos was easy and safe, with the result that those who undertook it had nothing to worry about and, since they feared no danger, sang as they sailed. The Athenians also had a practice of sending a ship to Delos every year, ceremonially equipped, on a religious mission, as Plato shows in the Crito. Hence one can understand that the passengers habitually sang hymns in honour of Apollo.

[greek], A passion for Caunus, was applied to a disgraceful love-affair, or when a man longed for something which it was unlawful to desire and forbidden to achieve. Biblis passionately loved her brother Caunus, and committed suicide when he repulsed her. Ovid: 'Let Biblis prove / That girls should only what's permitted love.' The adage is recorded by Diogenianus, and also by Eustathius on Dionysius.

[greek], Shades of a dung-beetle, was used of baseless fear, because this insect has a habit of suddenly flying in at nightfall with a horrible buzzing noise, and sometimes frightens a person taken unawares. Recorded by Diogenianus.

[greek], Papyrus seed asks not for a heavy ear. Though the iambic line in Greek is faulty in the word ahel, asks; the line is read in the Supplices of Aeschylus with [greek], supports. Habitually used of those who cannot enjoy what advantages they possess, because papyrus has weak stalks, which cannot hold up the ear when laden with seeds. Hence it produces ears, but they are empty. Byblus is the name of a kind of rush, for which the Latin is papyrus. In the Greek line [greek] is clearly a corruption for [greek], as the metre by itself is enough to show.

[greek], In ox-flaying style, or, as I find it elsewhere, [greek], In the fashion, or According to the law, of the Boudorians. Suidas and Zenodotus explain this as referring to men who deserve to be flayed like oxen, Diogenianus of people or things that arouse wonder. Boudoron, according to Stephanus, is a promontory opposite Salamis; Boudeia a town in Magnesia, which Homer calls Boudeion; the Boudini are Scythian tribes, so called because they use oxen as transport; for they are Hamaxobioi, that is, caravandwellers, and use waggons in place of houses. Thus there seems a double allusion to the etymology of the word, to bous derein, the flaying of oxen, and bous dounai, a giving of oxen. Strabo in book 10 mentions a river Boudron in Euboea, and also points to a hill in Salamis that looks towards Attica. Pliny again, in book 4 chapter 12, records Budini between the Geloni and the Agathirsi. But what reference all these have to the proverb I do not see. Hesychius shows that the boudoron was a mochlos or lever used in the flaying of oxen. The proverb will find a place if one wishes to say that a rascal must be dealt with not by arguments or legal process, but 'in ox-flaying style,' as in those words addressed to Sannio in Terence: 'For if you go on making a nuisance of yourself, you shall be carried straight off into the house, and there given a hiding until you're dead.'

[greek], A Boeotian ear, suits a man of insensitive taste. The stupidity of the Boeotians gave rise to several proverbs. This is very close to A Dutch ear. Diogenianus mentions the adage. Some writers affirm that Anaxagoras was once giving a public recitation at Thebes from his Thebaid; and when he saw that no one was listening, he closed the book and said: 'How rightly you are called Boeotians! You have the ears of a cow.' He was alluding of course to the derivation of the name; Boe-from bous meaning cow and -otians from ôta meaning ears, the name being clearly a compound of the two. Homer too in the fifth Iliad calls the Boeotians a thick-headed race: 'And next to him dwelt other Boeotians, a thick-witted folk.' Horace also criticized the slowness of the Boeotians in his letter to Octavianus Augustus: 'But were you to recall this judgment, subtle in the study of works of art, to books and to the Muses' gifts of which I treat, you would swear he was a Boeotian, born in that thick air.' I wonder that none of the commentators on this passage has enquired why it is that Horace ascribes thick-wittedness to the Boeotians as though it were their national specialty, when there is no evidence to this effect anywhere in Latin authors. There is a connection between this expression and one of which I have spoken elsewhere, Boeotian music, which can be understood as meaning countrified and badly played - coarse melodies adapted to coarse ears. Though Eustathius commenting on the second Iliad tells a somewhat different story. Some people think, he says, that Boeotia gets its name from a cow. For when Europa, the daughter of Phoenix, had been carried off by Jove from Sidon, her brother Cadmus was sent by his father to look for his sister. Having failed to find her anywhere, he set off for Delphi to consult the oracle. The god replied that he must not be anxious or too much concerned about Europa, but should follow a cow as his guide, and found a city wherever the cow might lie down when she was tired. Having received this answer, he travelled on through the land of Phocis; and then, when he had found a cow, near the pastures of Pelagon, he followed her as she went. After wandering over the whole of Boeotia, she lay down when she was tired at the place now occupied by the city of Thebes. Cadmus, wishing to sacrifice the animal to Pallas, sent some of his companions to the spring of Aretias to draw water for the sacrifice. A serpent, however, which guarded the spring, which is thought to be sacred to Mars (for it is from Mars that it gets its name), aroused by the noise, killed several of the men who had been sent. Cadmus was angry and killed the serpent; then, on the advice of Pallas, he sowed its teeth, and from them the famous earth-born warriors sprang. At this Mars was indignant, but as he prepared to kill Cadmus, he was forbidden by Jove, who gave Cadmus as his wife Harmonia the daughter of Mars and Venus. But on two conditions: before he could touch his wife, he must serve as her slave for a whole year, and at the wedding the marriage-song was to be sung by the Muses and by any of the gods who might have given Harmonia a wedding-gift. Such is the account in Eustathius. I myself suppose this to have been the original source of the adage, however much it may have been twisted later to other purposes. That the Thebans in old days were devoted to music is well attested. In support, there is an anecdote of Alcibiades who, when they expressed surprise that he neglected the study of music, condemned the lyre on the ground that it imitated the human voice, the plectrum because it gave one the expression and attitude of a slave instead of a free man, and the flute for two reasons, because it distorts a man's face so much that his own friends cannot recognise him and prevents a man from using his own voice, thus depriving him of the power of speech. After which he added: 'Playing and singing are all right for the Thebans, who cannot speak.'

[greek], Grapes ripen cluster against cluster. This proverb can have various uses. One is, when the parties in some piece of business wish to appear equal and to carry the same amount of weight, so that neither has to give way. Another, when we wish to convey that there is need for reciprocal action, so that it comes very close to one I have recorded elsewhere: One hand washes another. Or it can be when we wish to say that everyone ends by resembling those with whom he has been familiar. It is a result of familiarity that neighbours share common faults, as that iambic line bears witness which the scholiast on Pindar cites from Aristarchus: 'Live next to a cripple and you will learn to limp.' Though I recall quoting this in another place (in fact, on the adage Si juxta claudum); but having found a reading somewhat different from the earlier one, I decided to take the opportunity and refer to it once more. The adage is a metaphor drawn from bunches of grapes which, when juxtaposed, both give and receive ripeness by a sort of mutual exchange. This is alluded to in that line of Juvenal: 'And one bunch of grapes catches the blight from the sight of another.' The adage is listed by Suidas.

[greek], To kill an ox. People were proverbially said to do this whose expenditure was on an expansive and magnificent scale; for to slaughter oxen is the prerogative of rich men, or rather, of kings. Aristophanes in the Plutus: And now my master is indoors, killing fat oxen.' And they use bouthysia, slaughter of oxen, for elaborate feasts.

[greek], Oxen waiting for harvest-time, was used customarily when a man undertook some laborious task in hopes of great rewards. Some put it in the form [greek], An ox towards harvest, leaving us to supply 'looks' or some such verb. Taken from the fact that at harvest-time oxen get a greater reward for their labour, because while threshing they can feed as they go along, and are supplied more generously with fodder. When, on the other hand, they plough the land in spring or in winter, the work of ploughing is made all the more laborious, because there is no immediate gain to lighten it.

[greek], An ox of the Homolottians, was used of a man distracted and as it were torn in pieces by a mass of business. It can also be applied to subject-matter, if for instance a man were to subdivide a topic too minutely, so that he seemed to shred it and pull it to pieces rather than to subdivide it. Zenodotus records that the Homolottians divide an ox into very small pieces before they make a treaty. That this was the practice among the Scythians we learn from Lucian in his Toxaris.

[greek], An ox at the heap, is used of those who live for luxury and display, and who are very well off and spend money at leisure; or, as Suidas says, of those who having ample resources within easy reach, are not allowed to enjoy the advantages which they possess. He thinks the image is taken from oxen treading out the grain, who have their mouths muzzled (for this is some men's practice), and are not allowed to eat any of the wheat which they are threshing, so that it is like the familiar Tantalus, thirsty though surrounded by water. Julius Pollux has something of the sort in book seven, of slaves toiling at the mill, who had a circular device fitted round their necks to prevent them from lifting their hands to their mouths. This was done to prevent them from eating any flour. The device was called a pausikapê or kardopeion because it stopped them eating. What the Jews did not do to oxen, they did to human beings.

[greek], All men must either act tragedies or go mad. Customarily said of those who are always in a sort of chill stupor, and can neither be sincerely happy nor whole-heartedly miserable. We must also remember that the basis of tragedy is violent emotion, so that to act tragedies might well seem allied to insanity. And so Lucian, in the essay he called How History Should Be Written, tells how the people of Abdera, when Archelaus the tragic actor gave a recital from the tragedies of Euripides, suffered an epidemic attack of fever, succeeded a week later by insanity, so that they all repeated some lines from Archelaus' Andromeda at the top of their voices. Plato, however, attributes a kind of sacred madness to all poets, and Aristotle in the Problems speaks of a certain Maracus, a Syracusan, who was supposed to write better poetry when he was out of his mind. That line in Horace looks in the same direction: 'Add verses now, that is, add oil to fire.' It is clearly related to one I have recorded in another place: 'Eat, or don't eat, your turtle; you must choose.' This iambic line is cited by Athenaeus from Terpsion, the teacher of Archestratus; I have recorded it in another place.

[greek], Keep the dancer of hornpipes away from the oar. The lesson of this adage is that one should not disturb with noise or unnecessary interruption those who are otherwise occupied on serious business; if, for example, one were to bring musicians to play to someone busy with the cares of state or recite love-poetry to a man in peril of his life. For a mothon is a kind of dance, indecent, suitable only for slaves, and uproarious. The Spartans give the name mothônas to their home-bred slaves, or to those who instruct the children of freeborn citizens, called by the Athenians oikotribes. Hence it came to be an abusive name for worthless low-bred fellows. Others think that a mothon was some man who danced and drank too much. Some believe the Athenians were called mothônes, because they had conquered them and forced them to work as slaves. Such are the frivolous suggestions of Greek schoolmasters on the word mothon. Julius Pollux in book four tells us that mothon is a vulgar sailors' dance. And from this I am really prepared to think that the proverb took its rise; we should take it to mean 'Away with the mothon that began with the oar.'

'[greek], With ears pricked up, is recorded by Diogenianus as a proverb. It is suitable for those who listen thirstily and greedily to what is being said or wait for what is coming. The image is taken from animals, of which the majority have a habit of pricking their ears if they hear some distant sound; for man is the only animal provided by nature with ears that will not move. Pliny tells us that it is characteristic of deer to be exceptionally sensitive to sound when they prick up their ears, and exceptionally deaf when they lower them. Aristotle too, in book nine of his On the Nature of Animals, says that deer never fail to detect a trap as long as their ears are pricked up, because their hearing is then exceptionally keen, but that when they lower their ears, they are easily taken. Terence in the Andria: 'Prick your ears up, Pamphilus.' And Virgil: They stand by with ears pricked up.' Propertius in book three: 'Commence your story from the first beginnings, / And I will drink it in with eager ears.' We might regard as the opposite of this that expression in Horace: 'I lay my ears down like a sulky ass, / That feels a load too heavy on its back.'

[greek], Colophon gold. Zenodotus shows that this was applied to highly refined gold, because the gold produced in Colophon was normally of high quality, and for this he cites Aristophanes in his Cocalus and Herodotus, who both call highly refined gold, 'out-and-out' as the ancients used to say, 'Colophon gold.' This will gain in point if diverted to something quite different, high integrity of character, for instance, or an exceptional and outstanding intellect.

[greek], The deaths of a donkey (we must supply 'he describes'), was used of people who told long foolish and ridiculous stories, a lengthy narrative, for example, of the perils undergone by a donkey in the manner of Homer describing the perils of Ulysses. Apuleius in his Metamorphoses clearly narrates 'the deaths of a donkey.' The adage is recorded by Suidas.

[greek], An ass can stand the rain. Suidas cites Cephisodorus in his Amazons: You make fun of me; but like an ass, I can stand a rain of words.' This shows that it was used of those who were quite unmoved by execrations, like the ass, whose skin is so tough that it hardly feels the stick and so does not notice the rain.

The man who says something which raises someone's spirits and removes his fears is said to have sprinkled him with water. It is borrowed from those who in a fainting fit (the Greek for which is leipothymia) are restored to consciousness by sprinkling their faces with water. Plautus in the Bacchides: 'Hurrah! You've sprinkled me with water.' And again in the Truculentus: You've sprinkled me with water; I've regained my spirits.' Terence puts it more simply: 'You've restored me to life.'

Αρκαδίην μ᾽ αἰτεῖς, You ask me for Arcadia. Diogenianus shows that this proverb can be used in two ways, for it applies to someone who asks to be given something big, or something useless. Whence it is taken he does not say (as is almost habitual with him); but Herodotus in his first book makes pretty clear that it arises from an oracle: 'You ask me for Arcadia: you ask me for something big, and I will not give you anything.' Cicero touches on this proverb in book 4 of his Letters to Atticus: 'You give me the task of controlling a certain person. [This is] Arcadia; but I will not fail to do all I can.'

Αρκάδας μιμούμενοι, Doing as the Arcadians do. Zenodotus indicates that this is applied to those who work for others not for themselves. Plato writes to Peisander that he is doing as the Arcadians do, because, being poor, he handed over the comedies he himself had written to be published by others. This adage derives from the fact that the Arcadians, who were the most warlike of the Greeks in the old days, never defeated any enemy when under their own control and in their own name, but often did so when bringing help to others. Hence it appeared to be their destiny to win victories always for others, never for themselves.

Απὸ πέντε ἅλλασθαι ἐς κῦμα, To leap from five rocks into the waves. This is commonly used by those who can no longer endure their present misfortunes, and threaten that they would rather plunge into any disaster than go on as they are. It is of course close to one I have recorded elsewhere: Choose your tree and hang yourself. This is alluded to by the shepherd in Virgil: 'I'll cast myself headlong from the airy mountain's far-seen top into the waves. Take this as your last present from a dying man.'

Υδωρ παραῤῥέει, Water pours through, or pours past. Zenodotus and Suidas tell us that this was customarily used of a man who never refused any task, and promised to complete whatever might be entrusted to him, being so ready to undertake anything that he would not hesitate to board a leaking ship, making light of the water pouring in, because it is the nature of water to pour in and out.

Αετὸς οὐ θηρευει τὰς μυίας, An eagle does not go after flies. The greatest men neglect some questions of detail. A lofty mind despises things of no account. Or, the greatest scholars sometimes make slips on some insignificant points, and those who are busied in great affairs turn a blind eye to certain trivialities. The adage is also expressed without a negative, ἀετὸς μυίας θηρεύε, An eagle hunting flies, when the great concern themselves with the very small. Not unlike this is a phrase used by Gregory the Theologian in a letter to Eudoxius the professor of rhetoric: 'An eagle like you should not be content to hold first place among the jackdaws.'

'[greek], You need artificial fertilization. Suidas thinks this appropriate for an effeminate and unfruitful character. Some refer it to those who cannot retain what good things they do possess. The adage was used by Hermippus in his Men of War. The following explanation of it is offered by Suidas and Zenodotus. In the marisca, which is the fruit of the wild fig-tree, there grows, they say, a small worm called in Greek psên. The country folk collect a quantity of these and hang them from the branches of the cultivated fig, that its fruit may not fall off unripe before its time; for the worms crawl into them at once through crevices, and thus the cultivated figs ripen. Theophrastus, On Plants book two, thinks that these fig-gnats are born from the seeds of the wild fig, because after their emergence there are no seeds left; and as a rule, when they emerge, they leave a wing or a foot behind in the fruit. But there is more in that same passage about the principle of fertilization, if anyone wishes to learn. He gives much the same account in his Causes of Plants, book 2 chapter 12, and so do Pliny in book 15 chapter 19 and Aristotle in book 5 of the Nature of Animals. Thus it was that a tree to which this aid to ripening had not been applied was called anerinastos, not yet fertilized from the wild tree, and this was then transferred to a useless person, from whom nothing good was to be expected. The word is a compound of the negative alpha-prefix and erineos, the wild fig, and hence gets the sense we may render by incaprificatus, unfertilized.

To break treaties like the Parians '[greek], They have broken treaties like the Parians, was applied to those who repented of an undertaking and withdrew from some agreement they had entered into. It arose from a historical event. On one occasion when the Parians were hard-pressed in a war against Thebes, they asked the Thebans to bring the war to an end, saying they would hand over the city to them. On this understanding the Thebans withdrew; but meanwhile the Parians had been shown hopes of help from some source or other, and they tore up their agreement and resumed war with Thebes. Hence the invention of this verb in a proverbial sense, [greek], to tear up treaties as the Parians did. The proverb is also mentioned by Stephanus under the word Faros, and the authority he quotes is Ephorus, except for variations in the story. Militiades, he says, was pressing the Parians very hard, and talks had already begun about the surrender of the city, when a forest near Myconos caught fire from natural causes. The Parians, suspecting that it was the admiral of king Dates' fleet who had started the fire to give them a signal, abandoned their agreement, and refused to hand over their city. Aemilius in his life of Miltiades agrees. Paros, like Myconos, is one of the Cyclades.

[greek], Water out of a pool into the sea; we must supply You pour. Resembles [greek], The clod and the field. Ovid in his love-poems: 'Why add pond-water to the deep blue sea?' Related to one I have listed elsewhere: To carry wood to the forest, and To pour oil on the fire.

'[greek], Big enough to load a waggon, was a proverbial expression for things that were large and splendid. The meaning is exactly what plaustralia, worthy of a waggon, would convey in Latin, things that might seem to make a proper waggon load. Hence they applied the phrase to words, in the same way that Horace speaks of 'words one and a half feet long.' An example of this would be that line in the Wasps of Aristophanes: [greek]. Plautus too in the Curculio has a soldier whose name is Therapontigonoplatagidorus, with which the money-lender says he has often had to fill four of his wax tablets in order to find room for it in his accounts. There is a humorous couplet in existence by a certain author on a man called Hermes who was fond of using foot-and-a-half words of this kind:
Gaudet honorificabilitudinitatibus Hermes,
Consuetudinibus, sollicitudinibus.
Athenaeus in book ten, after recording the Thessalians' ancient reputation for greed, called their dinners hamaxiaiai, as big as waggons, or kapanikai, chariot-sized, and cites a line from the Tagenistae of Aristophanes: 'How do the dinners of Thessalians compare with those of Lydians?' and again: "Thessalian dinners are far more chariot-sized;' for Thessalians call chariots kapanai. Again in book seven he says that at Sicyon many conger-eels are caught of such a size that they are all a porter can carry, and some are so big that they fill a cart. The word [greek] is also used for 'very large,' either from the talent, because the Aeginetan talent was heavier than the others, or from the bundles of travelling salesmen, containing assorted merchandise, which Hesychius tells us was called in Greek [greek]; for that is how it is written, with an acute accent on the third syllable from the end. Those who sold these bundles of goods were called aiginopôlai. He adds that there was also a very large silver coin in Greece called an aiginaion.

[greek], To mow the moss, was customarily said of anyone who was cruelly treated when still young and not yet ready for it, or when some advantage was brought to an end before the right moment had come. The image is drawn from men who mow a field as soon as ever the grass has begun to grow, and do not allow the herbage to mature. For mnion is 'moss,' and becomes amnion by the addition of a single letter, as in astachys for stachys.

[greek], It rains sausages. A proverbial expression for a time of miraculous plenty, a humorous formula that survives among the uneducated even in our own day. For [greek] is the Greek for entrails of a certain kind, which can be minced and made into sausages, a sort of food which seems to have become a regular joke in comedy, so that worthless and contemptible people are proverbially described as sausage-sellers. This is close to that other adage, A hail of drachmas.

[greek], 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.

'[greek], 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.

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

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 'Pile on a hundred chains, / Your cursed Proteus will slip through them all.' Drawn from birds or mice kept in captivity.

[greek], I knead, or mix, 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, especially in his essay On Salaried Posts: 'Having never, even in a dream, eaten your fill of white bread.' And St Jerome 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, 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 Aristotle 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, 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 passage 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, there is a description of an Attic dinner is which loaves are mentioned which were 'as white as snow.'

[greek], You marry 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 linon, the word for flax, in the sense of bond. Leukôlenos in Homer is an epithet of Juno, from her white arms. Recorded by Diogenianus.

[greek], 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, On Pyrrha's head. Also to another, 'Would that such parties might befall my foes.' Athenaeus 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 Apuleius alluded in the Ass, when he imagines Psyche as sent by Venus to the wild rams.

[greek], 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.

[greek], 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. 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. But Stephanus' explanation seems to me more likely.

[greek], 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: 'Like 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.

'[greek], 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 wind, for each separate nation usually swears by its own gods. Or it is an oath not taken spontaneously but imposed by force; or one that is taken voluntarily and without compulsion, if we believe Suidas and the Etymologicum. For there are three kinds of oath, one called in Greek epômoton, another called katômoton, and a third called epakton. Hesychius, 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.'

[greek], As prickly 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.

[greek], 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.'

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 court (actually four and forty times), he was always cleared by the verdict of the jury.

'[greek], 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.

'[greek], 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 eyes 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. Persius 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.

'[greek], 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.

[greek], 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.

[greek], 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 Stephanus tells us. This is mentioned by Apollonius 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.
Plutarch 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 scholiast on Theocritus cites the following line from Sophocles: Athos 'darkens the surface of the Lemnian sea.'

Τὴν παρέουσαν ἄμελγε, τί τὸν φεύγοντα διώκεις;, Milk the one that's handy; why pursue him that runs away? is a proverbial hexameter line, the lesson of 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.

Τί πρὸς τὸν ἑρμῆν;, 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.

Τί τοὺς ἀχαιοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ πύργου κρίνετε;, 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. Aristides 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.'

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

[greek], 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.

[greek], 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.
I 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, 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. Plautus 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, -
I 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. This is related to one I have discussed elsewhere: Sickles I asked for.

[greek], 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.'

[greek], 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.

[greek], 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. 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.

[greek], Even rocks will be made to crumble by the lapse of time. Nothing in nature is more durable than rock, yet rocks too are consumed by the long passage of the years. This is no doubt what the poets are thinking of when they imagine that Saturn is a god of time and devoured the stones that were given him instead of Jove. Ovid in book four of his Letters from Pontus: Drops hollow stones, and rings with use decay; Hard-pressed in earth, curved ploughshares wear away.