Adagia 2301–2400

ΧΑμαιλέοντος εὐμεταβολώτερος, As changeable as a chameleon. The chameleon is recorded among animals that change their colour. Aristotle describes its appearance carefully in the second book of his Nature of Animals. As far as the changing of colour is concerned, he reports as follows:
Its colour changes when it is breathed on. This becomes at one time black, not
unlike the colour of crocodiles, at another pale, like lizards', at yet another a
spotted black such as that of leopards. This sort of change of colour occurs
over the whole body. Even the eyes and tail end up becoming the same colour
as the rest of the body. The animal's movement is sluggish, very much like
that of the tortoise. It turns pale when it is dying. This same colour persists
after death.
That is what Aristotle has to say. Quite compatible with these remarks is what Pliny reports in book 8 chapter 33, with the addition that this animal imitates with its whole body whatever colour it is near, except red and white. The adage therefore can be applied to the man who is a turncoat, or who is inconstant and adopts any appearance to suit the time. Plato says in the Ion: 'But you change into every possible shape, absolutely like Proteus, as you twist back and forth.' In the first book of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle uses the word 'chameleon' to describe the vice of inconstancy.

Εκαστος αὑτοῦ τὸ βδέμα, μήλου γλυκίον ἡγεῖται, Everyone thinks his own fart smells as sweet as apples; there is no one, in other words, to whom his own faults do not seem to be his best qualities. In the Nicomachean Ethics book 9, Aristotle says: 'For most things are not reckoned at the same price by those who possess them and by those who wish to acquire them. For to everyone his own goods, and what he gives, seem to be of great value.' This passage was better suited to the proverb 'What is one's own is beautiful,' but that page has already passed out of my hands. I suspect this proverb about the fart was drawn by Apostolius from the dregs of the common herd, for I have never yet heard of anyone to whom his own fart smelled sweet. It is true that men shrink from other men's excrement and farts more violently than from their own.

Εκ τετριμμὲνης κύλικος πιεῖν, To drink from a cup with a hole in it. This is said of those who cannot contain anything and who cannot manage to keep to themselves the secrets entrusted to them. This one smacks of the common herd too.

Εν ψύλλας δήξει θεὸν ἐπικαλεῖται, He calls on God for a flea bite. Said of those who are as seriously upset by any small thing as they are in a very important matter. It is drawn from a fable found among those of Aesop. A certain individual, distressed by the pain of a flea biting his foot, sat down and called upon Hercules 'defender against evil.' The flea soon hopped off, and he cursed Hercules, who, not having helped when called in such a small peril, seemed unlikely to come for more serious ones. This is similar to what Aristotle says in book 7 of the Nicomachean Ethics concerning those who are excessively timid: 'Like someone who is afraid of everything, even if a mouse makes a noise.' He calls such timidity that 'of a wild animal.'

Anything that is not untainted and not pure the Greeks refer to by the widely used word [greek], a word derived from the fact that people may do one thing openly and conceal another, from to [greek] 'to conceal what is manifest.' Or from [greek] 'to abominate the Chians,' because the Athenians with their extreme hatred of the Chians, if they wish someone ill, have the custom of inscribing his name on a coin, with the letter Chi added; they throw these on the ground and pronounce fearful curses. But the first meaning of [greek] is 'a coin which has copper in it,' and [greek] is 'debasement' or 'means of corruption,' as in Aristophanes: 'He took away much corruption from life.' Also, [greek] is 'to pass something off deceitfully,' and those who lose their natural colour are said to be [greek], because there seems to be beneath the skin some sickness or defect, in the same way that the colour sometimes betrays an alloy in coins. So the word will be appropriate for insincere and feigned friendship, or for the man with smiling face but poisonous heart, or for the man who puts on a show of sanctimoniousness when he lives an impious life. As Pisides, quoted by Suidas, says: 'Anyone who is the author of two entirely different things is insincere,' as the saying goes.
Or it will be appropriate for insincere speech, as Plato says in book 5 of his Laws: 'Again we must consider titles, and which of these is true and which are false.' And again in the same book: 'So that he too should not at times seem false to anyone, but always plain and truthful.' So this word, derived from coins, will acquire proverbial force if applied metaphorically to quite different things. But we mentioned this subject in the proverb [greek] 'Of a bad stamp.'

Οὐδεὶς κακὸς εἴσεται τοῦτο, No wicked person shall know this. Said whenever we mean something that is extraordinary and worth knowing. In the fifth book of the Laws Plato says: 'How good is what is ordained now, bringing order and its trappings to all states, if only they conform; "no one in any way ignorant or wicked will get to know them," as the ancient proverb says, but only one who is experienced, and endowed with virtuous habits.' Similar to this is what the same author writes in the Laches: 'Not every pig will get to know this.' It appears to have arisen from the mysteries of the pagan gods, which only the initiated and the pure were allowed to know.

Plato, in the sixth book of the Laws: 'But as to the walls, Megillus, I indeed would agree with Sparta that we should allow walls that have been razed to the ground to sleep and not wake them up, and for this reason. There is a poetic saying about these matters which is rightly celebrated: "Walls should be of bronze and iron rather than of earth."' It seems to have been used as a proverb, and it has something of the appearance of a riddle. It suggests, however, that it is not in walls that the safety of a city should be placed but in armed men, whose unity, serving as unassailable walls, protects it best of all. Plato, however, is alluding to the Spartan saying that Plutarch mentions. I think, for myself, that Horace too hinted at this when he says: be this our wall of bronze.

Plato in book 10 of the Laws: 'For at present there is no reason why we should prefer brevity to prolixity. [greek] "because nobody is chasing us and forcing us to hurry," as the saying goes.' This proverb remains common even today; when people indicate that one is free to spend longer on any matter, they say, 'Nobody is pushing us.'

Θάλασσα κλύζει πάντα τ᾽ ἀνθρώπων κακὰ, The sea washes away all the ills of men. This is mentioned by Eustathius, commenting on the first book of Homer's Iliad. But it is also found in Euripides' Iphigenia in Tauris. It arose from some such incident as the following: Diogenes Laertius relates that Euripides was a travelling companion of Plato when he went to Egypt. There he was seized by his sickness, epilepsy, if I am not mistaken, and the Egyptian priests cured the man by immersion in the sea. Hence he subsequently composed this verse: 'The sea doth wash away all human ills,' as if the water of the sea cured all ills. Better still, it is thought nowadays that those bitten by a mad dog are relieved of rabies if they are immersed nine times in the sea.

Αδειν τὰ τελαμῶνος, To sing the song of Telamon. A proverb said about words of lamentation, because Telamon wept uncontrollably for his son Ajax, who perished at Troy, and particularly for the way he died. Eustathius, commenting on the verse of Homer which is in the catalogue of ships, 'And Ajax led from Salamis twelve ships,' calls this proverb to mind: 'And what is said in the proverb, "To sing the song of Telamon," from the "slanting" song, which begins: "O son of Telamon, warlike Ajax."' It is very similar to something we have recorded elsewhere: [greek] 'Admetus' dirge' and '[greek] "The Harmodius song.'

Αργεῖα φορὰ, Argive persecution. Usually said of libellers and informers, because the ancients branded the Argives as informers and avid litigants. Eustathius' commentary on the catalogue of ships bears witness to this, quoting the proverb from Pausanias, as does Diogenianus in his Collected Proverbs.

Commenting on the seventh book of the Iliad Eustathius gives a proverb like this: [greek] 'One who is bold before action is most often a coward.' The same author quotes from Epicharmus: 'The coward is completely confident in himself at first, but then flees.' We see it commonly happens that people are very brave and boastful before the danger appears, but when the business demands a man then they have no courage.

Γοργὸν βλέπειν. Sometimes found in Lucian for 'looking with keen eyes.' Taken from the legend of Perseus and the Gorgon. It is thought the word 'Gorgon' comes [greek] 'from anger,' because angry people have a fierce look. Likewise Homer, in the Iliad book 8, speaking of Hector: 'With Gorgon eyes like those of cruel Mars.' [greek] 'To look mad,' we have mentioned elsewhere.

Αἶρε δάκτυλον, Raise your finger. Confess yourself beaten. Because with this signal the one who had been overcome in a fight acknowledged his defeat. Persius in Satire 5: 'Not one point has reason granted you; hold out your finger, and you cannot do it right.' Related to what is mentioned elsewhere: 'Yield the palm.' It was to this, if I am not mistaken, that St Jerome alluded in the Dialogue between a Luciferian and an Orthodox Christian, when he says: 'There! I raise my hand. I yield. You have won.' Athenaeus, in book 6, quotes these verses from Antiphanes about tragic poets:
When they are at a loss for something more to say,
But are completely perplexed about how to continue the play,
They suddenly raise a crane instead of raising their finger.
Cicero seems to have a slightly different usage from this in book 6 of the Verrines: 'The guardians hasten up; uncle Junius raises his finger.' For this appears to be a gesture of approval or the way in which someone declares himself to be a buyer or a hirer. Votes were cast this way, and in auctions whoever wished to be a buyer or a hirer showed it in the same manner.

Βλέπειν γὰρ ἀντικρὺς δόξῃς μ᾽ ἄρην, It will seem plain to you that in me you are looking at Mars. Said of those who offer promptly and vigorously to be helpful, and to be ready to play the role of a Mars. It is in Aristophanes somewhere, but the place escapes me at the moment.

Βοῦς ἐν πόλει, An ox in the city. Said when someone is appointed to a new office. Lysias placed a bronze image of an ox in the citadel in Athens, and this became a joke among the common people, for oxen are useful in the country, not in towns. So it will be applied to those who are elevated beyond their deserts to the highest honours, as when some ignorant fornicator is made a bishop or an abbot.

Βρασίδας μὲν ἀνὴρ ἀγαθὸς, ἁ δὲ λακεδαίμων πολλοὺς ἔχει κάῤῥονας, This Brasidas is indeed a good man, but Sparta has a lot who are better. Against those who reckon that they are not only very distinguished, but the only ones. It comes from an apophthegm, as Plutarch tells us in his 'Sayings of Spartans,' and again in his life of Lycurgus. Very similar to another one, 'Many men called Manius at Aricia.'

Α κισσὸς μετ᾽ ἀνθιστήρια, Ivy after the Anthisteria. When something happens too late. The reason for the name is that in that month many things blossom from the earth. It seems it was the custom in these games to be crowned with ivy. We have spoken of the Anthisteria, that is the Festival of Flora, in the proverb [greek] 'Carians out!' It seems to be what the Romans called the Bacchanalia. The ivy was sacred to Bacchus, whence those who won the ivy in those games were called 'ivy-wearers.' This proverb goes with one we have noted elsewhere: [greek] 'After the feast.'

Ακαδημίηθεν ἥκεις, You come straight out of the Academy. Said of a grave and impassive or learned individual, with reference to the school of Plato - although it could also be turned ironically against someone playing the disdainful philosopher with sombre face. Athenaeus in book 12 indicates rather that it is said of refined people, of excessive elegance, because Plato delighted in such refinements. Similarly, when Antiphanes portrayed the most elegantly dressed philosopher, this same author says: 'But what need is there to say more? It seems to me I see the Academy itself.'

Γέροντα δ᾽ ὀρθοῦν φλαῦρον ὅς νέος πέσοι, It is hard to raise up an old man who fell as a youth. It is not at all easy for old men to unlearn the vices that they learned as boys and that have become ingrained in their whole way of life. Yet in old age too we have to try to be without vices, however ingrained they may be.

[greek] you are keeping something hidden in the ground. Said of someone who does not share or show his gifts. Derived from misers who bury their treasure in the ground. This is what Euclio does in Plautus. Horace has the same in the Epodes:
I shall have saved nothing
That either like miserly Chremes I can bury in the earth,
Or that I can lose like a reckless prodigal.

[greek], The ox is getting old, but there is much work for the ox. Said when someone becomes unfit to do his job because of the weakness of old age. For the ordinary run of wealthy people treat their servants as if they were no more than horses and dogs, or even rather more inhumanely. While they are of some use, they curry favour with them when they have become old, they reject them. This is why it was considered wise for everyone to procure for himself the means to provide for and support his old age in some comfort, so that he would not be obliged to depend on someone else's generosity, for this is despised by everyone. And he should remember that Diogenes, when he was asked what was the greatest calamity in this life, answered: 'An old man destitute.'

'[greek], You are a greedy pig who will pay for the grapes. You will pay a penalty for what you have done; you will pay back what you have taken away, and with interest. It will be applicable when some trifling gain is paid for with a great evil. It arose probably when some rustic threatened his pig with these words as it feasted on bunches of grapes.

In his Problems section 26 problem 47, according to the numbering of Theodorus, Aristotle declares this verse was well known as a proverb:
'[greek] 'When the south wind begins to rise, and the north wind dies down.' This meant weather suitable for favourable navigation. For there is understood [greek] 'it is time to set sail' or [greek] 'good sailing,' because the south wind is less violent when it comes up, but very violent as it ends. The opposite happens with the north wind. And the Philosopher gives the most probable cause of this saying: 'For we lie further towards the north than to the south, and Aquilo blows from the north, Auster from the south. Hence it comes about that the former assails the nearest regions more violently, then moves its violence on to more remote places becoming milder in those closer to its origin. The former, on the contrary, first bears hard on places towards the south, and afterwards, when it has passed on, is more gentle when it reaches us.' One may stretch the proverb further, and quite aptly, when we want to indicate that the time is convenient and right for doing something, so that it fits in with the one which is published somewhere else: 'When it is raining, get on with the grinding.'

[greek], You are invulnerable like Caeneus. Said of those who cannot be hurt. It is stated in the poets' tales that Caeneus, by Neptune's help, could not be injured by any missile. But according to history Caeneus was a certain Thessalian, among the most skilled in fighting, and so skilled that, though he was involved in many battles, he never received a wound. Finally, when he went to the help of the Lapiths against the Centaurs he was taken alone by surprise, overwhelmed by a multitude of enemies, and killed without any bodily wound. And so the Lapiths, finding the unwounded body, spread the rumour that Caeneus had been invulnerable throughout his whole life. It will be quite a graceful comparison to make.

'[greek], This man will benefit if he is rubbed with bitter salt. This used to be said of those who were out of their senses, either because of age or because of wine. Some think the metaphorical use is derived from leather bottles, because their condition is improved if they are washed with salt; the corrosiveness of salt improves the consistency of the hide. In the same way it was the custom to smear people who were ill through drunkenness with salt and oil; this was thought to be a remedy for inebriety. Some prefer to think it is derived from earthenware jars which are impregnated with salt and so contain better the liquid put in them. And indeed the proverb is found in Aristophanes' Clouds.

[greek], This is the justice of the gods, whom great Olympus encloses. Customarily said whenever criminals were punished, as if by the avenging gods themselves. It comes from Homer.

'[greek], But there must be no deliberation before the altar. You should deliberate before you start; discussion during the business itself is too late. Derived from priests who prepare everything for the ritual of sacred observances before they approach the altar. For it was thought to be dangerous if, during the actual ceremony, anything was said or done not according to the rite by priests with a living parent. Cicero explains this in his speech On the Responses of the Augurs: 'What? If the celebration has come to a stop, or if the flute-player has suddenly fallen silent, or if that boy or girl whose mother is alive has not kept their place, or has not kept hold of the chariot, or has dropped the reins, or if the aedile has made a mistake in word or gesture; are the celebrations not done according to the rite?'

[greek], Mars does not fret about his own arms. Things we have become accustomed to and which suit us are easily borne, even if they are very heavy. We fret under things which we find hard to bear. Hence Juvenal says: 'Life has taught them not to fret under the yoke.' So the labour of study, which would kill an athlete, does not trouble the scholar.

[greek], A notable emerald, dark even in daylight. A rebuke customarily hurled at those who absurdly hide themselves just when they should most give an example of virtue. Pliny mentions among the varieties of emeralds some that are said to be 'blind,' because they are rather dark in colour. This fault can be seen most in sunlight, since that intense, delightfully green colour is not changed by the sun, or by shade, or by lamps, or even by liquids. Pliny tells us the same in book 37 chapter 6.

One who is much inclined to fighting battles is called [greek], A fledgling of Mars. Aristophanes in the Birds says: [greek] 'Fledgling of Gradivus. - O fledgling ruler and master.' But he is referring to the cockerel, which is the most pugnacious and warlike of all birds and therefore, being equipped with both crest and claws, sacred to Mars. Or because this bird was formerly a young man who was a favourite of Mars, and who kept watch, when Mars lay with Venus, lest any of the gods should intrude. Then, when the sun rose and the youth was sleeping, Mars was caught in disgrace and in his anger changed the young Gallus into a bird, which still keeps traces of its original nature. Lucian tells this tale in his Cockerel. Diogenes Laertius too recalls the proverb in his life of Diogenes the Cynic.

'[greek], You are trying to sink a bladder full of air. Suitable for one who makes vain efforts, like someone who rebukes the incorrigible, because an inflated bladder, however hard you push it under, springs up again. Derived, it seems, from an oracle pronounced by the Sybil concerning the city of Athens: 'You may have wet the bladder, but no one will be strong enough to sink it.'

[greek], Immovable or unbending to entreaty. Derived from wax, which becomes soft when it is handled. What cannot be liquefied is said to be [greek], so this fits a man who is inexorable.

'[greek], Having set out for the Apaturia, he returns in May. Usually said of those who lingered excessively over some business. In Athens there was a festival called the Apaturia which lasted three days. They called the first day [greek], because the members of the phratry assembled just before nightfall for a banquet. The second day they called [greek], because in it they performed sacred rites for Jove, protector of the Phratrae and Minerva. The third was [greek], because the young boys and girls were enrolled in the clan. Suidas recalls rather a lot things about this festival, but they do not have much to do with the explanation of the proverb.

'[greek], I talk to you about garlic, and you answer with onions. This is very similar to another: [greek] 'Sickles I asked for.' Said when some answer is given that was unrelated to a question, or, on the other hand, when a silly answer is given to a silly question. Garlic and onions are related to each other.

[greek], You thought you were going to be a goldsmith. It is said this was derived from some such occurrence as this. At one time a rumour had become rife among the common people of Athens that on Mount Hymettus were to be seen large pieces of gold which were guarded by the fighting ants they have there. So certain credulous people seized their arms and went out to conquer them. When these people came back to the city, without accomplishing anything and doing all the work for nothing, they were laughed at by the rest of the citizens, who jeered at them: [greek] 'You thought you would be smelting gold.' Eubulus recalls this in a play entitled Glaucus:
We once persuaded some Athenian men
To take arms, assault Mount Hymettos
And bear rations for three days against the ants,
In the belief that small fragments of melted gold
Had appeared.
In the penultimate line there is either an error or something missing; perhaps we should read [greek] 'provisions' for [greek] 'you.' In this way the verse will scan properly: [greek]. In Plato, book 5 of the Republic, we have: 'But what was your Thrasymachus, if he had come as a goldsmith to those who are here now, and not as someone willing to listen to arguments?' And in Aeschines: 'When he withdrew here, it is very clear that he learned to smelt gold rather than do or suffer what was intended for him.' The proverb will be appropriate when someone has conceived great expectations but is disappointed in the outcome. This nearly always happens to those who send men to explore unknown lands, or who pour all they have into alchemical furnaces.

[greek], The rivers of Merrha and Siloam are far apart. About things that are extremely remote from each other. As someone might say, 'There is a big difference between a friend and a flatterer.' Very similar to that other one: [greek] 'The lands of the Mysians and the Phrygians are far apart.' It seems the proverb is modern, and I rather think it was added by Apostolius from patristic literature, since Merrha is the name of the place where Moses made the pestilent and bitter waters fresh and healthy by throwing in wood. But it was to the pool of Siloam that the blind man in the Gospel was sent by Jesus, to recover his sight. From this it appears that salutary waters were very different from the waters of Merrha.

'[greek], For yours are false fires. Said of deterrents and scarecrows, or when the appearance of danger is created artificially, there being none in reality. The metaphor is derived from a military ruse in which, in order to frighten the enemy, fires are lit in a number of places at night, so that it is thought there is a very large army present; these counterfeit fires they call [greek]. It will not have the charm of a proverb unless you apply it metaphorically to people who use a smokescreen of words to frighten someone or trap them in a fraud. Even sailors can sometimes be deceived in this way.

[greek], Bacchus to Psyra. Stephanus and Suidas quote from Cratinus: Taking Bacchus to Psyra,' and again in his Nemesis: 'And you are taking Sparta to Psyra.' This proverb is noted by Ermolao Barbaro too. The adage was used frequently when no one liked the wine set out at a banquet, or of mean preparations. Psyra is a tiny island not far from Chios, on which wine cannot be produced. Strabo too recalls it in book 14. This is the island Homer calls Psyria in book 3 of the Odyssey. In Greek commentaries I have sometimes seen [greek], with a circumflex on the final syllable, but this is incorrect if I am not mistaken.

[greek], O what a head, and it has no brains! Said of those who have a splendid physical appearance but lack intelligence. Derived from a fable which is included in those of Aesop. In the vernacular too they say to stupid and silly people that their heads are devoid of brains.

'[greek], Bacchus is cruel. It was the custom at one time that men were sacrificed live to Bacchus. So the saying is applicable to people who are cruel, or it is appropriate because drunkenness makes people fierce and harsh.

[greek], This shoe was stitched by Histiaeus certainly, but Aristagoras put it on. Diogenianus informs us that this used to be said to rebuke those who craftily shift the blame for their misdeeds onto others. The adage derives from the following story: Histiaeus, an individual from Samos and a friend of Darius, was sent by him to Persia. Staying there for some time, he was seized by a desire to see his homeland again. But finding he could not obtain free passage from the king he wrote to Aristagoras, a nephew by his brother, asking him to induce the Ionians to revolt, the purpose being of course that this would be the occasion for him to be sent away. However, he devised a novel way of sending his letter, which Aulus Gellius recalls in book 17 chapter 9 of the Attic Nights: He shaved off all the hair from the head of a well-trusted slave who had suffered for a long time with an infection of the eyes, as if to cure him, and covered his smooth scalp with writing. In this way he wrote what he wanted. He then kept the man at home until the hair grew back. When the hair had regrown, he sent him to Aristagoras, saying, 'When you reach him, say that my message was that he should shave your head, as I have just done.' The slave went to Aristagoras, according to his orders, and gave him his master's message. Aristagoras, thinking that this was not without reason, shaved the slave's head, read the letter, and, recognizing Histiaeus' intention, drew almost the whole of Ionia into a rebellion. When Darius learned the news that the Ionians had revolted, he summoned Histiaeus to ask whom it was most appropriate to send to Asia Minor to settle matters. The latter persuaded him to send himself as being most suitable for settling the Ionians' revolt. And so, after he had reached Asia Minor and had then fallen under suspicion of the prefect of the Sardians as having been the author of this insurrection, he heard the prefect say this: 'This is the truth of this matter, Histiaeus: it was you who stitched this shoe, and Aristagoras that put it on.' Herodotus recalls the story too in his fifth and sixth books, reporting it as I have told it. And indeed he made it clear that Histiaeus was the source and author of this counsel and that Aristagoras was the one who put it into effect. Then this expression, as often happens, became known to ordinary people because of the novelty of the lie, and it passed into a popular story. It seems to be most applicable whenever one person supports another in crafty and dishonest deliberations and they bring mutual assistance to each other. For giving advice is like stitching the shoe, and making use of the advice and carrying it out is like wearing it.

[greek], Do not take away what you did not put in place. This is quoted by Plato in book 11 of the Laws, apparently from some poet. Laertius reports it among the laws of Solon, having in mind, I think, the prohibition on moving field boundaries fixed by ancestors. It is applicable to thievish people, and to those who ask for repayment of what they have not lent, and likewise to those who demand to be given credit for undertakings they have not fulfilled.

[greek], He's looking for onions. A proverbial joke against those who, according to Persius, 'keep their heads down and their eyes fixed on the ground.' In his 'Table-talk' Plutarch has: 'For this much ridiculed and now proverbial bulb, he says, is protected from lightning not because it is very small, but because it has a power to resist lightning, like the fig tree and the skin of the sea-cow.' Further the proverbial joke which Plutarch alludes to is taken, I think, from the Clouds of Aristophanes, when Strepsiades, entering Socrates' school, expresses wonder at the disciples of Socrates who are all looking at the ground with bent heads. And to someone who answers, "They seek things beneath the earth,' Strepsiades says:
Then it's onions
They are looking for. But don't let anything of that sort
Trouble you, for I have discovered where there are fine big ones.
If anyone wants to link this with what is in the Plutus by the same writer, 'You who have eaten the same onions with me,' I would certainly not have had any great objection. But it refers to needy friends who, as Terence says, 'have born great poverty together.' And there is Persius in his fourth Satire about a mean person, one sparing of expenditure and frugal [who grumbles]:' "I hope it will be all right," as he salts and gnaws on an onion / Still in its skin, while the slaves celebrate a full jar.' There is another joke of this sort about the onion also in Aristophanes, in the Women in Parliament: 'Having devoured a pot of onions.' These are words spoken by an old woman to a young man who was refusing to have intercourse, because he could not take on two women on his own. She says: 'You will, when you have eaten a pot of onions .. .' For Martial too claims that onions are an aphrodisiac: 'You can do nothing but satisfy your hunger with onions.' And Columella in his verse: 'Now from Megara let the fruitful seeds of the hyacinth come.' However, there are many species of bulb, but according to Dioscorides book 2, 'all have a pungency of taste and incite sexual desire with their heat, like the rocket lettuce.' Columella says of this: 'It may, like rocket, rouse sluggish husbands to make love.' Suidas passes on two adages about onions: [greek] 'To eat onions,' and [greek] 'To sniff onions.' We have given these their own place.

In his De moribus Seneca says: 'For, as they say, what is sillier than seeking or accumulating the money for a journey when there is no further to go?' The adage suits greedy old people. This age group generally labours under this vice, that the less time they have to live, the more they become worried about their livelihood. On the other hand, young people are as careless as can be about this concern. In the Elder Cato Cicero says: 'But as for the avarice of old people, I cannot understand what purpose it has. For can there be anything more absurd than to seek more and more provision when less and less of the journey remains?'

To cast to the winds is used to mean 'to forget,' 'to cast out of one's mind.' Servius informs us that it is a proverbial expression. Virgil says in the tenth book of the Aeneid: 'and sees not that the winds carry off his joys.' And elsewhere: 'but the winds scatter all things,' and again: 'Part he granted in his heart, and part he scattered to the flying winds.' Horace, in the Odes, has:
Sadness and fears
I shall confide to wild winds
To carry away to the Cretan sea.
And Ovid:
Have all these things blown away in vain in the wind from the sea?
Are they all born away drowned in the waters of Lethe?
And again:
Know what things you must do, and do not give my words
To the east wind nor to the warm southerly to be borne away.

'[greek], An unbridled mouth, is said of one who speaks impudently and abusively. The figure comes from horses unrestrained by any bridle. In book 3 of the Laws Plato speaks of 'unbridled mouths,' imitating Euripides I think, who writes in the Bacchanals: 'Of unbridled mouths and wicked folly, the end is disaster,' as we have recalled elsewhere. Plutarch, in 'On the Education of Children,' said 'needing a janitor,' as it were. Aristophanes in the Frogs has '[A man] of shameless speech / Having an unbridled, intemperate mouth without a gate.' Julius Pollux informs us that this sort of man is said to be [greek], a term that Euripides uses in the Orestes:
About this time, up comes some man whose mouth
Lacked a door. Mighty in his audacity,
This Argive no Argive was so outrageous
In his compliance to the crowd and his clumsy impudence,
That he threatened with the eloquence of his speech
To topple princes themselves.
This is how Euripides portrays the foolish orator. If only this description did not fit so many preachers - I don't mean the evangelistic ones, but the sycophants and pure flatterers.

'[greek], Both you and I bear the same yoke equally. Said of those who are prone to similar vices or evils. Not unlike 'You are in the same boat,' although this refers more to a common danger. Pliny, somewhere in his Letters, said, 'to bear the yoke equally,' meaning to bear the ups and downs of business equally, a figure drawn from oxen ploughing. Horace seems to be alluding to this in the first book of the Odes:
When the wine-jars
Are drained to the dregs friends scatter,
Too crafty to bear the yoke equally.

[greek], with [greek] understood, The facts themselves will show. When we mean that the truth of what is said is ascertained in the experience and the outcome. Plato uses it in the Theaetetus, for there Socrates says: 'Theaetetus, the fellow who led the way into the river said [greek] "The outcome will show." And so if we pursue this inquiry perhaps the nature of our problem will become apparent; but if we stay here, nothing will be clear.' This seems to be derived from a particular incident. Someone about to wade into a river, to show the way to others who are to follow, is asked if the water is deep, and answers [greek] 'Experience will show.' Marsilio translates this passage of Plato as though the word [greek] 'water' is to be understood, because the word [greek] 'river' comes just before it. Suidas thinks [greek], the fact itself, is to be understood. Aristophanes used the expression in the Lysistrata: 'The facts will soon prove it.' And Pindar in the Nemeans: 'But experience finally shows which of the others he excels.' Close to this is: 'The facts talk' in Lucian's Toxaris. Then there is Aristophanes' expression in the Wasps: 'The fact is manifest, since it shouts aloud for itself.' Imitating this, Marcus Tullius said in one of his orations: 'The whole appearance of the man shouted his malice.'

'[greek], He lets go the brace and runs after the footrope. This applies when someone passes over what matters most and worries about some minor things. The braces are ropes on ships by which the ends of the yardarms are brought round. The 'foot' is what they call the bottom of the rudder. In fact the braces are what are most used in sailing. Suidas quotes the proverb from Hyperides, as does the author of the scholia on Demosthenes, from book 1 of In defence of Chaerephilus on the salt fish.

Βεκκεσέληνος, a proverbial expression for one who is senseless or deranged, possessed, or completely senile. Beccus in the ancient Phrygian language means 'bread,' according to Herodotus book 2, and [greek] means 'moon.' Hence the Arcadians, who wish to be thought the most ancient of all mortals, are said to be [greek] 'pre-selenian,' as if they were older than the moon itself. Apollonius notes this in book 4 of the Argonautica: 'Arcadians who are said to have lived before the moon.' But King Psammitichus claims, using this word as proof, that the Phrygians were the most ancient of all, because some children, who had never heard a human voice, reportedly made the sound 'beccus.' Suidas jokes about this and says there should be no cause for wonder if those fed by a goat imitated the sound of goats, for Herodotus reports this as a fact. Plutarch uses the expression in book 1 of 'On the Lives of Philosophers': 'For when loud-talking Plato says "God made the world in his own image," he smacks of the "Becceselenian" madness, as the writers of the old comedy say.' The proverb comes from Aristophanes' Clouds: 'How, you Cronosreeking dotard, can it be old when the moon was young?' The scholiast reports several things about this expression, if more is perhaps wanted. As for me, I have mentioned what I judged to be enough to explain the adage.

'[greek], The ignorant man who has just put on pants or breeches shows them off to everyone. This is applicable to the man who, because of his inexperience, is entranced by even the most absurd things. For to people inexperienced in the world anything foreign or new seems smart. Some scholars think that anaxyris is the Greek for what in Latin is called bracchae 'breeches' or feminalia, which covered the middle part of the body and the thighs. Bracchae then were a type of barbarian clothing, but particularly of certain Gallic tribes. Hence Gaul is sometimes called Gallia bracchata. But anaxyris was used by the Persians, according to Strabo. And we have seen young patricians from Venice, when they are abroad, who delight in wearing French breeches without any upper garment - which they do not do at home. And it will suit those who fancy themselves because they speak French among Germans, or who show off by using obsolete, obscure, or unusual words. This adage has an air of being added by Apostolius from among modern ones.

'[greek], Minerva's vote. Said of a careful judgment, and the opposite of 'A pig gave judgment.' But it will be more wittily applied if it is said ironically of a man who is stupid and of no judgment.

[greek], To talk through a wall. Said of anyone who does something absurd, either because neither hears the other when there is a wall between, or because this is how lovers talk, as Ovid testifies of Pyramus and Thisbe.

[greek], Time is the best way to kill hunger. A pause brings a cure for many things, and most of all for anger. We even find this interpreted as if the meaning were: 'When the starving man is dead, hunger must necessarily die with him.'

'[greek], You are trying to pour a statue down your throat. Said of some particularly absurd undertaking, which cannot possibly be fulfilled, like trying vainly to crush a very powerful and invincible man. A statue, of course, does not turn to liquid.

'[greek], You lead an unhoped-for life. This is an Attic expression meaning a wonderful life such as one would not even dare to hope for, or in which the spirit is not kept alive by hope, but what is hoped for is really present. It is found in Pindar.

[greek], The big man is a fool, or, as the popular saying has it: 'Tall people lack brains, little ones have too much confidence.' It seems to come from Sophocles, who has these lines in his Ajax the Whipbearer:
For it is not on those
Who present a vast mass of a body,
And a broad back, that one should chiefly depend,
But rather on those who are pre-eminent in wisdom.
It seems that Homer was of the same mind, when he portrayed Tydeus as small in body but energetic, for this is what he says in book 5 of the Iliad: 'Tydeus, aggressive in battle, though small of body.' The same is to be found in an obscene poem: 'More effective was Tydeus who, if you give Homer any credence, / Was a battler by temperament though small of body.' And in Statius: 'Greater valour reigned in a meagre body.'

'[greek], Antiope's sorrow. This used to be said when someone was undeservedly afflicted by misfortunes and was then rescued from their troubles. The adage is drawn from the legend of Antiope who, according to the story, was the daughter of Nycteus. She was defiled by a certain citizen, and her father in great anger sent an order to his brother Lycus to punish her; but he, seeing she was pregnant, took pity on her and spared her. And so she bore Zethus and Amphion, whom Lycus exposed on a mountain. Lycus, however, had a wife called Dirce, who, as soon as she perceived that her husband was in love with Antiope, had her abducted to a mountain and tied to the neck of a bull, with burning torches hanging from the horns, intending to put an end to her with this sort of torture. But people came running at Antiope's cries, peasants in the vicinity and in particular Amphion and Zethus; they recognized their mother, rescued her, and took revenge on Dirce.

[greek], If someone is stronger than you, remember you and he should not meet. Beware of dealing with the powerful; have your dealings with equals. Familiarity with the upper class either makes you slavish and base, or, if you do not know how to flatter, puts you in danger. Life with one's equals is both much more pleasant and much more safe. Pindar says in the Nemeans: 'Beware of joining battle with more powerful men.' This coincides with what we have said elsewhere, 'Away from Jove and from the thunderbolt' and 'Kings have long hands.' Herodotus in the 'Urania' says: 'And kings have power indeed over men and very long arms.' This was more appropriate for the latter proverb, but when the passage in Herodotus came to my notice, the printer had already finished the earlier pages.

[greek], Don't walk without a stick. Do not be unarmed, but always have to hand the means to beat off anyone who may try to harm you. Said to have originated with a certain Cleomenes, a leader of the Athenians. This man went mad, because he was hated by everyone, and would walk about carrying a staff with which to drive off attackers.

Απασαν τὴν οὐσίαν ἠμφίασται, He is dressed with all his wealth. Said of a pauper who, apart from what he wears, has no possessions. In another form, 'homeless and luckless.' This is expressed nowadays too in a popular jest, like this: 'When I jump, all my possessions go up with me.' The saying of Bias the philosopher is well known: I carry all my possessions with me.' And Plautus in the Rope has: 'What I am wearing is the sum of my resources.'

'[greek], An enemy when there is no war. Said of someone who is not provoked by any injury but behaves like an enemy, or who commits hostilities under cover of peace. It will suit particularly those who, without discussing a complaint about an injury with a friend, immediately make an unfriendly attack.

'[greek], Unpropitious days. These used to be called 'days without auspices,' on which no public business could be done. Hence the habit of calling people who were hated and deserved to be abominated [greek]. Lucian is witness to this in his essay against the mistaken critic on the topic of [greek]. Among the Athenians there were seven such days, on which sacrifices were made to the shades of the dead, and which were held for that reason to be inauspicious. Further, the superstition of the ancients led them to believe that certain days of the lunar cycle were of sinister omen, such as the fourth, the fifth and the second of the waning moon, which they also called [greek]. And again, days on which people were condemned to loss of civil rights were [greek]. Finally the days on which some exceptional calamity was mourned were said to be [greek]. Horace says: "The man who planted you did it on an ill-omened day.' Plato recalls these days in book 7 of the Laws when he says that they are not [greek] 'pure,' but calls them [greek], being days of mourning and sacred to the burial of the dead. The term was then used figuratively of men who were to be cursed, men of abominable evil, as this verse shows: 'A man ill-starred, and looking malice from his eyes.' The etymology of the Greek word is the same as the Latin, from [greek]. Suidas, Hesychius and the Etymologist all explain it more or less in this way. Further, we say that contemptible men are sacri 'accursed,' as Horace does: 'The accursed shall be disqualified from giving evidence.' Virgil even uses it figuratively of a mental state: 'The accursed hunger for gold.'

[greek], Old women in their cups. Said of old women who are being indecently wanton. For [greek] means 'drunk'; from this is formed the verb [greek]. In book 11, Athenaeus shows that in several authors cothon is a type of cup; thence may be derived [greek], for 'to get drunk,' and [greek], the state of drunkenness. Hesychius informs us that the Greeks called a drunken man a cothon, just as the Romans say lagena 'a flagon' or uter 'a wineskin.' In the Odes, Horace says of the old woman who was the wife of the poor man Ibycus:
Wool shorn near noble Luceria
Is fit for you, not the music of a cithara,
Nor the purple flower of the rose,
And not for you, old woman, wine jars drained to the dregs.
An old woman dancing has been described elsewhere.

[greek], The old woman smells like a goat. Said of an old woman who is indulging in debauchery, because armpits and other parts smell strongly in those aroused to lust. Horace speaks of the old woman thus:
For I can smell out for myself whether a polyp
Or a great goat lies in your hairy armpits more shrewdly
Than a keen-nosed hound can smell where a sow is hidden.

Γυμνῇ κεφαλῇ, Barefaced. People are said to do things barefaced when they do them openly and without any sense of shame. Those who did something shameful were customarily made to cover their heads with rags. Plautus in the Two Captives: 'These men go from the forum to the pimps barefaced, with their heads uncovered just as they do in court when they pronounce the accused guilty.' And it does not matter whether you read aperto 'uncovered' here or, ironically, operto 'covered,' for the two readings come to the same thing. Cyril used this proverbial tag too, in his commentary on the Gospel of John, and St Chrysostom in his Praise of Babyla the martyr. And in Plato's Phaedrus, Socrates covers his face when he is about to pronounce his invective on love.

This verse from Plautus' Two Captives certainly deserves to be counted as an adage: 'In an evil pass it helps if you face it with courage.' Evil that cannot be avoided is defeated by bearing it with courage. He expresses the same sentiment slightly differently in the Pseudolus: 'Courage in an evil pass halves the evil.'

Γυναικὸς ὄμμα τοῖς ἀκμάζουσιν βέλος, A woman's eye is an arrow to youth in its prime. Virgil says: 'The sight of the female sets him on fire.' And the same author: 'I saw, I was lost, the wild delusion seized me!' We have recorded elsewhere this other one: 'Love is born of a look.'

Δεκάπους σκιὰ ἐστὶ, There is a ten-foot shadow, or 'It's time for dinner.' The ancients reckoned the time of day by the length of the shadow. Lucian in the Cockerel says: 'Observing carefully how many feet long the shadow was.' Formerly those who issued invitations to a meal specified the shadow-length on the sundial at which they wanted the guests to arrive. Likewise those who were invited, to avoid coming too early, asked 'at what mark' people were supposed to come. Moreover the ten-foot shadow was the one most welcome to parasites, creating the hope of a meal, like the abundant smoke spreading from the kitchen. I can see no use for this adage, unless someone wanting to indicate that a man was excessively greedy should say that he particularly likes the ten-foot shadow, or that someone does nothing but watch for the ten-foot shadow, as Aristophanes uses it in the Women in Parliament:
But this would be your concern
When the shadow reached the ten-foot line
To hasten to your rich evening meal.
In book 23 Ammianus reports that among the Persians there was no fixed time for taking food, except for the kings, but that everyone's belly was his own sundial. And in Plautus, if I remember correctly, a certain parasite vents his spleen at those who invented the clock, when the stomach is the best clock. The adage is recorded by Suidas.

Δεύτερος πλοῦς, The next best way to sail. This is what they said when the wind failed and they drove the ship with the oars. For, according to Pausanias, there is a saying 'When you can go with following winds, that is the best way'; he is quoted by Eustathius in his commentary on the Odyssey book 2, where he also mentions the proverb. Aristotle says in book 2 of the Nicomachean Ethics: 'And so when it is difficult to follow the middle path exactly, you will incur the least trouble along the next best way, as they say.' The Philosopher holds that virtue is located in the middle path, but advises us, since this is sometimes difficult to achieve, to move away from it as little as possible. Aristophanes' remark in the Women in Parliament is pertinent here: 'For now we are not driven either by wind or by oar.' The scholiast tells us that sailors resort to oars when they are forsaken by the wind. It is appropriate that, whenever the means which would be most effective are not to hand, we should resort to the nearest means of help. There is a related proverb, which we have recorded elsewhere: 'Second thoughts are better.' John Chrysostom used this in his first homily on Matthew: 'But after we have cast out this state of grace, let us embrace the next best way.' And here the translator Anianus was immediately shipwrecked, as they say, in the harbour itself, when he translated this passage thus: 'But because we drove away this grace from ourselves, let us wish at least for favourable prosperity' - even if, in the copies published by the printers, excusamus is found for excussimus, and expectamus for expetamus. Chrysostom is maintaining at this point that the first and best choice is not to make use of scripture, but that, having fallen from what was best, we should follow the example of sailors, who, when they cannot reach the point they want by a straight course, try nevertheless to continue in that direction either by rowing or by tacking. But ignorance of the proverb led the translator astray, and so for [greek] 'way,' 'course,' he read [greek] 'wealth.' I indicate these points not to expose Anianus, to whose work scholars are indebted, but in order to remove an error. There is extant a poem by Naumachius, a Christian poet I suspect, in which he commends virginity first, and calls marriage the next best way:
But if the common love of life holds you, let me add
What I have learned to practise, how you should
Prudently pursue, as they say, this other way.
Cicero alludes to this in the Perfect Orator. 'But if perhaps someone lacks physical endowment, or outstanding intellectual ability, or if he is less well instructed in cultural studies, let him nevertheless follow the path that he can. For one who is striving for the first place it is no disgrace to stop with the second or third alternatives.' When he wanted an expression for 'maximum speed,' he put the two together in the first Philippic: 'But at that moment I was inflamed with such desire to return that no oars nor any winds could satisfy me.'

Διαγόρας ὁ μήλιος, Diagoras of Melos. A name for the wicked, perfidious, and impious. After the capture of Melos, this man lived in Athens and expressed such contempt for the rites of Athenian sacred observances that he turned many against religion and discouraged them from wanting to be initiated. Worse than this, in his impiety he divulged publicly the occult mysteries that it is sacrilegious to reveal to the uninitiated, mocking them in all sorts of ways. For these acts he was proscribed by the Athenians, who posted the proscription in public on a bronze column, a talent being offered in addition as a reward if anyone killed the man, two talents if anyone brought him back alive. Aristophanes recalls this in the Birds:
If any one of you should kill Diagoras the Melian,
He will carry off a reward of one talent - so too anyone
Who does away with one of the dead tyrants.

There is an expression in Aristides' Pericles that is nothing short of a proverbial figure - namely, that Pericles as an orator excelled everyone else by sixteen feet. He says: 'Saying this man had beaten the Rhetoricians in speaking by sixteen feet, and in his mouth alone dwelt this sort of persuasiveness; everything else was trifling beside this.' So 'sixteen feet' is an expression for 'the greatest distance.' The figure is derived from the race track, and indeed this passage about Pericles is to be found in Eupolis the comic writer, in a comedy entitled Demoi:
This man alone had the mastery by far among men
In rhetoric, outstripping them every time; like a good
And agile runner, sixteen feet of space
He left between himself and other orators.
He was fluent in speaking, and with this fluency
A certain persuasiveness dwelt naturally in his speech.
Aristophanes too alludes to these lines and the next two from Eupolis' Demoi in his Achamians:
He was so moving, and alone among rhetoricians
He left a deep impression in the minds of his hearers.
Cicero in his Brutus says Eupolis wrote that it was as if the goddess sat upon the lips of Pericles. Aristophanes reproached Pericles for excessive eloquence in the same comedy: 'But Olympian Pericles, indignant at this, / Thunders, shakes, stirs up the whole of Greece.' One more point in connection with suadela 'persuasiveness': Ennius, as reported by Cicero in his Elder Cato, repeated the remark that Marcus Cethegus was Suadae medulla 'the marrow, essence of Suadela.' The form of this proverb is not unlike Aristophanes' expression in the Clouds: T shall be said to surpass the men of Greece by a hundred miles.' The adage will sound even more witty if, instead of 'feet,' you say 'parasangs.'

[greek], A rolling stone gathers no moss. Someone who cannot stay in the same place rarely prospers. Even today it is still said in almost as many words. Very similar is that expression of Fabius: 'A plant often moved does not take root.'

[greek], You are singing the Lityerses. Lityerses was a bastard son of king Midas who, when he was living in Celaenae and guests happened to arrive, forced them to reap corn with him, then cut off their heads and wrapped the rest of the body in the sheaves. This same man instituted the singing of a thericos, a summer or harvest song, in honour of Midas, from which we get the proverb that says, Those who do not sing willingly or are forced to sing, sing Lityerses' song. Menander in the Chalcedon: 'Singing the Lityerses from lunch on.' Julius Pollux recalls this legend in his Vocabulary book 4, in the chapter 'On national songs.' But he invented the idea that Lityerses used to strangle those whom he defeated in reaping duels, and that he was slain when he encountered a reaper stronger than himself. According to him too there are certain authors who say he died at the hands of Hercules, and therefore that this song was invented to assuage his father's grief. Lityerses is also mentioned by Theocritus.

[greek], You are calling a Lydian onto the plain. Applicable to a man who provokes someone to something he has long been willing and ready for. The Lydians were particularly noted for their excessive willingness to engage in battle. Herodotus tells us in book 1 that the Lydians were superior in their horsemanship; accordingly Croesus wants the Ionians to attack the Lydians with cavalry. This is closely related to one we have described elsewhere: [greek] 'The horse to the plain.'

Λύχνου ἀρθέντος γυνὴ πᾶσα ἡ αὐτή, When the lamp is removed there's no difference between women. The adage implies there are no women who are not immodest if there is an opportunity for sin without a witness. It is recorded by Apostolius, and used by Plutarch in his 'Precepts on Marriage.'

Λυσικράτης ἕτερος, A second Lysicrates. A certain Lysicrates became a popular legend because he tinted his greying hair with black, so that he would seem still young. Ollus, in Martial, is mocked in this way, because he tints his hair when he cannot tint his beard.

Λυσιστράτου πλοῦτον πλουτεῖς, You are rich with the riches of Lysistratus. A proverb used ironically about people who are exceedingly poor. It originates with some Lysistratus who was a man of extreme poverty.

Μένε βοῦς ποτὲ βοτάνην, Expect grass sometime, ox. To be said when something comes late. For the ox labours in the field, but in the hope of tasting fresh grass sometime. Very closely related to: 'And your harvest is still in the green.'

Μένε γραῦ, ἐμον σε παῖδα φιλήσοντα, Old woman, wait for my son who will love you. For before the boy grows up, she will have died. Related to the preceding one, when hope comes late.

[greek], A mighty mover in a trifling business (for with the addition of the particle the Greek verse will scan). This is appropriate to use against those who acquire wealth for themselves by less than honest means. It derives from a saying of Eudamidas; he was the son of Archidamus and brother of Agis. When a certain musician appeared to have sung well, someone among those present asked Eudamidas what he thought of it and he replied: [greek] 'He's a big charmer in a small affair' - because he reckoned his knowledge of the art was thorough but produced nothing useful. The story is recorded by the paroemiographers, and related by Plutarch in his 'Sayings of Spartans,' except that in the latter we read [greek], because this is the orators' power to charm and move. Not unlike this is what Musonius says in Aulus Gellius book 5 chapter 1 of those who, by the modulation of their voice and the meretricious charm of words excite the fatuous applause of their hearers: 'Know,' he says, 'that it's not a philosopher speaking but a flute player piping.'

[greek], A nearly deaf man had a case against another equally deaf, but the judge was deafer than both - used when there is a dispute between people in every way ridiculous and stupid. There survives a Greek epigram of Nicarchus on this maxim, which Thomas More, in his youth, translated cleverly thus:
The case is on, the defendant was deaf and the plaintiff was deaf,
But the judge himself was more deaf than both.
The plaintiff demands the rent for the house, these five months past;
The defendant claims 'All night my mill-stone has been grinding.'
The judge looks at them and asks 'Why are you disputing?
Is she not the mother of both of you? Look after her both of you.'

'[greek], I taught you to dive and you try to drown me. Applicable to those who pay back good deeds with bad, and turn a benefit received into harm for the very one from whom they received it. It smacks of the dregs.

Ἀντὶ χαρίεντοις ἰατροῦ, κακὸς ποιητὴς καλεῖσθαι ἐπιθυμεῖς, Instead of a fashionable physician, you want to be called a bad poet. Customarily said of one who, not content with the skills of his own profession in which he had a moderate standing, persists in making a profession of other matters in which he is not so practised and therefore not likely to win an equal reputation. A certain Periander, a physician of wide reputation and as learned as the best in this art, turned his attention to poetry and began to write some inept verse. From this a popular joke became a proverb. In his 'Sayings of Spartans' Plutarch attributed this saying to Archidamus son of Agesilaus.

Ἀπὸ κώπης ἐς τὸ βῆμα, From a galley oar to the magistrate's bench. Usually said when someone rises suddenly from the lowest condition to holding an honourable office. I don't think this could be applied to anyone more aptly than to Julius II. For tradition has it that as a youth this man used to row a boat to earn a penny, and yet he was raised from the tow-rope not only to the bench but to the highest summit of mortal affairs. And not content with this summit he expanded greatly the bounds of papal authority, and would have extended them still further if unmerciful death had allowed him to extend his life. Syrianus the commentator of Hermogenes reproaches Demades the orator because, without any knowledge of the art, he rushed into pleading cases: 'He dashes, "With unwashed hands," as they say, from the oar to the bench.'

'[greek], You are spitting at the sky. That is, what you are doing may fall back on your own head. Or, you are speaking against those who can easily harm you. Because anyone who spits against heaven seems in the first place to be showing contempt for the gods themselves; then it happens most often that the spit falls back in his own face. It is quite similar to [greek] 'To kick against the goad.'

[greek], One God and many friends. A proverb that counsels providing oneself with as many friends as possible, because they can be the greatest help after God. Hesiod, however, did not approve of multiplicity of friends or, on the other hand, of inhospitality. I suppose this one too is borrowed from common speech, not from writers.

[greek], If I had cheese, I wouldn't need meat. To be said when someone is content with the least and meanest things. There is a story in Plutarch's 'Sayings of Spartans,' that when a certain Lacedemonian gave an innkeeper some meat to cook and the latter asked for cheese and oil to flavour it, the Lacedemonian said, 'There would be no need for meat if I had cheese.' If anyone prefers butyrum 'butter' in this passage instead of caseum 'cheese,' I shall not dispute with him; for it seems 'butter' is more consistent with 'oil,' even if, with the Italians, even the driest cheese is a condiment.

[greek], You are sticking the goad into an illicit hole. A sarcasm of Sotades against Philadelphus, who, following the example of Jove, married his sister Arsinoe. The king took offence at this remark and inflicted capital punishment on the author. Plutarch recalls this in his treatise 'On the Education of Children.'

[greek], Even if you say nothing you show it by your appearance. The truth and the look on the face confute the liar. Whence that sally of Cicero: 'If you were not lying, you would not speak so.' It seems to have originated from a fable.

[greek], The net catches the mouse. Said of those who are rightly and deservedly caught and worthy of punishment. As if you were to say 'The wolf falls into the trap' or 'A boar in a net.'

'[greek], It is with the same letters that both comedy and tragedy are written. This suits those who know how to make different things from the same material, or those who can vary products that are the same.

[greek], An abyss in front, and wolves behind. When someone is hard pressed on both sides by two great evils, so that whichever he falls into, he is bound to be lost.

'[greek], When one yawns, immediately another yawns too. Applicable whenever, by an example of sin, someone is provoked to a similar deed. This happens by some obscure power of nature, so that anyone who sees someone yawning is forced to yawn himself. The philosophers even try to give an explanation of this. Some emotions are communicated in a similar way. Socrates, in Plato's Charmides, says, 'When Critias heard these things, and had seen me perplexed, just like those who, seeing someone opposite yawning, are seized by the same impulse, so he seemed to me to be constrained by my doubt, so that he too was seized by doubt.' However, the Romans used the word oscitantia for torpor and laziness. Anyone who lives with the idle easily becomes like them. 'We all have a natural inclination away from work' as the comic writer says. The torpedo fish makes people torpid at once by its touch. Plato says, in the Meno: 'You seem to me to be very like the flat torpedo fish, for this always makes anyone who approaches and touches it torpid, and you seem to have done something like this to me so that I am sluggish.'

'[greek], In the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed man is king. Among the uneducated, one who is half-educated is considered very learned. Among beggars, one who has a few pennies is a Croesus. It smacks of the common dregs.

[greek], You are hiding on a threshing floor. Said of one who is involved in business such that he cannot be inconspicuous. Or of one who hides in such a way that he can be seen by everyone, for on a threshing floor there is nowhere to hide.

'[greek], When there is the possibility of fleeing, do not seek a quarrel. Derived from a saying of Alcibiades. When he was summoned from Sicily by the Athenians to answer charges, he refused to go, saying there was no need to go to law if by some means he could get away. To others who suggested, 'Do you not trust your country to judge you?' he replied, 'On the contrary, I would not trust my mother. For I should be afraid that she might in ignorance put a black stone in place of a white one, or that anyone experienced in lawsuits would subscribe to Alcibiades' view [of the law].' The Greeks have the one word [greek] 'to shun a lawsuit' for those who refuse litigation.

'[greek], He sat on the ox's hide, that is, as a suppliant asking for help. An adage originating from a custom native to the Scythians, as Lucian records in the Toxaris. For among those people, if someone was by chance harmed, and had insufficient power to take revenge, he killed an ox, cut the flesh into small pieces and cooked it. He himself sat on the hide of the animal, which was spread out on the ground, with his hands behind his back. This was considered among them to be the strongest sort of supplication. Anyone who wished to give help approached, tasted a portion of the meat, placed his right foot on the animal's hide, and promised that he would do all he could to help. Among the Scythians, such a covenant was held to be most sacred.

[greek], The newcomer drove out the local; the word [greek] 'drove out' is understood. It would have been used when someone of a different profession beats another in his own skill, such as when a theologian shows himself better in grammar than a teacher of grammar. Or when a child who has been taken in or adopted displaces the son from a family, or if some outsider of a soldier should drive out native farmers.