Adagia 3601–3700

[greek], To put loaves in a cold oven. Even today this is said of a person who tries to teach those incapable of learning or gives advice to those disinclined to take it or undertakes some other hopeless task. It is to be found in Herodotus book five, the book entitled Terpsichore. When the shades of the underworld were consulted, Melissa appeared and said that she would not reveal where a sum of money had been hidden, since she herself was cold and naked. For the clothes with which she had been buried had been of no use to her since they had not been burned. She gave credence to what she said by the following revelation: 'Periander put his loaves in an oven when it was cold.' When this puzzling statement was reported, only Periander understood it, since he knew that he had had intercourse with Melissa when she was dead. I think this is enough to explain the sense of the proverb. We can use it in a less indecent and more seemly way.

Hesychius points out that in antiquity those who were about to throw dice were accustomed to address Mercury for good luck, just as 'Here's to good luck,' or 'To Zeus the Deliverer' was said at banquets. I have spoken of these at the appropriate place. The same author points out that when lots were being drawn the first lot was customarily called 'Mercury.' We can use it jokingly whenever we undertake anything new. Those who risk everything are said 'To cast all the dice,' while those who are just beginning some enterprise can be said 'to be drawing Mercury.' In book six, chapter nine, Julius Pollux points out that when the meat of a sacrificial victim was being distributed the first portion was usually called [greek] 'Mercury's lot.'

[greek], Not even Mercury would be believed by anyone if he said this. Strabo in book two says this about a story that is scarcely believable. However, the text of this passage is faulty, as is true of many others in this first edition. Without any doubt [greek] must be read. It will be appropriate to say this of those who have travelled on long and distant journeys and often tell of miraculous happenings. Mercury was regarded as the god of travellers.

In Greek, profit that befalls one unexpectedly was called a [greek] 'A gift of Hermes' from the first offerings for the god that used to be placed on roads and were eaten by travellers. Others prefer to derive it from the piles of stones that were placed as a sacred offering to the god at points where it was not clear which road to take. These cairns are referred to even in the Proverbs of the Hebrews: 'He who throws a stone on Mercury's heap is like the man who gives honour to a fool.' This verse, however, has been translated in different ways in Greek. Some have rendered it in this way: 'He who ties a stone to his sling is like the man who gives honour to a fool.' Instead of [greek] 'Mercury's heap' others give the translation [greek], which is a place set aside for many burials, and take 'stone' in the sense of 'jewel,' not referring to just any rock. There is little difference in translating the original term by 'cemetery' or by 'heap of stones,' for the graves of ordinary people were covered by a pile of stones. Whence Maro's words: 'Ballista is buried, covered under this mountain of stones.' It is foolish to hurl a precious stone into a place of death and dirt. For a jewel does not enhance such a place, but is defiled by it. There is no point in throwing a stone on to a heap of stones, for in a cairn an individual stone serves no particular purpose. If, however, you throw a jewel on to a heap, you are much more foolish. The most perceptive view, however, belonged to those who translated the word in question as 'sling.' For the meaning is that so far from doing what you are supposed to do, your action actually redounds to your misfortune; if you tie a stone to a fool's sling, you have provided the means for him to strike you. The expression is not confined to this custom of heaping up stones. Suidas cites the following without giving the author's name: 'Unlike others, he is not obsessed with [greek] "the love of profit" and does not think he is guiltless if he has bought at a profit something from someone who willingly sold it.' He also reports this saying, again without naming the author: 'Whoever is gentle and kind is a [greek] "a source of profit" to villains.' For the gentleness of upright persons emboldens criminals. He also gives the following, apparently from the Damascan. 'Whoever bumped into me thought that he had come upon a [greek] "a windfall."' For a traveller who is lost takes fresh heart when he finds a cairn of Mercury. Such a cairn is also called [greek] 'a mound or hill of Mercury.' Philostratus in the Sophists calls a treasure that had been discovered in a building a hermaion, and elsewhere uses the term in the sense of a great profit that befalls one fortuitously.

A verse, clearly in anapests, that Julius Pollux gives in book ten from the Fates of Hermippus has the appearance of a proverb: [greek] 'The thread's been spun; now you want a needle.' The meaning is that it is not enough to have begun a task unless you complete it with equal effort. 'You have learned the art, what remains is to practise it.' 'You have learned grammar, dialectic remains.' 'You know the Bible, what remains is to lead a good life.'

Gregory the theologian, in a letter to the sophist Eustochius whom he had attacked: 'And I have not even followed the common proverb [greek] "Although bald," which told me that I ought not to clash head to head with a ram or to stir up a wasps' nest against me; in other words, I ought not to provoke a tongue more ready to curse than to flatter.'
I have spoken elsewhere about not stirring up hornets.

[greek], A silver well. Athenaeus in book eleven points out that in antiquity a huge wine bowl was customarily called 'a silver well,' since wine-ladles were quite small. Even nowadays some take pleasure in draining wine from deep cups and 'in soaking their lips,' as the poet writes; at the same time they say the proverb 'You need a lot of water to soak a beard.' The joke comes from barbers who soak the beard with lots of warm water before shaving it.

[greek], Riding on a wretched ass. Said of those for whom things are not going at all well. Suidas gives this expression, as a proverb, under the entry [greek]. The point of the expression is that those who are successful enjoy riding on fine horses so that they may reach their destination more quickly. It will be quite witty to use it of a man who is unhappily married.

[greek], Garlic in nets. This expression was used to describe cheap provisions. Its origin lies in a common practice of the people of Attica. Whenever they were preparing for a voyage or an expedition, they would buy up garlic, put it in nets, and take it with them. Garlic was also valuable when cities were being besieged, whence the following, quoted without source in Suidas: 'I lose garlic in the siege.' The Thracians in particular like garlic since it is sharp-tasting and they live in a cold country. In fact even today garlic is a favourite of sailors, and country-people like it too, however much it was cursed by Horace. A suitable occasion for the adage will be when someone is about to undertake the study of philosophy and you tell him he must prepare himself for a frugal way of living and for long nights of study and hard toil. Your advice will be 'Garlic in nets!'

[greek], Sybaritic style. Hesychius tells of a Greek called Akopus (a man of Sybaris, I think), who worked extremely hard to acquire a luxuriant and rich style of speaking to match his life-style. This gave rise to a humorous proverb that called an exquisite and highly polished style 'Sybaritic' Such a style is usually not persuasive since 'the language of truth is simple and short.' 'As the man is, so is his talk.' Examples of this are Maecenas and Apuleius; the former lived luxuriously and was effeminate, the latter was an African and a sorcerer. I have spoken of the magnificent splendour of the Sybarites in the proverb 'A Sybaritic table.'

[greek], Riper than a fig. Athenaeus in book two quotes a fragment of Aeschylus in the Phrygians that refers to Hector: 'That fellow was softer than a ripe fig.' It can be said of a man with a very mild disposition or of one who is effeminate or of someone who craves something, like a girl who is itching to marry. Athenaeus adds, from Nicander, that the fruit of this tree appears earlier than any other. Small cuts are also made in the fruit to aid the ripening. When the word is written [greek], with an omicron, it refers to a kind of fig, in my opinion.

St Augustine in his work In Answer to the Letter of Petilianus, at book two, chapter sixty-six, mocks his adversary because he boasted that the sky was filled with the souls of his followers and that the earth blossomed with the memory of their bodies. In his reply he said, 'We certainly see the flowers of the earth issuing from the bodies of that vast number, but, as the saying goes, "A flower is but ash."' The Donatists regarded as martyrs those followers of theirs who had killed themselves or who had called upon others (who did not wish to die) to put them to death. They constantly visited the martyrs' tombs, and this is why Augustine calls the flowers there 'ash.' It seems to have been customarily said of the ephemeral nature of human existence. Today young men are in the bloom of life; tomorrow they will be in their tomb. And according to the prophet 'all flesh is grass.'

Galen, in the book in which he refutes someone called Julian who attacked the Aphorisms of Hippocrates, quotes the following expression as a very common one: [greek] 'There is nothing more stubborn in arguing than a human being.' [greek] 'ceaseless talking' is a vice that does not permit one to know when to stop chattering. It suits those who never admit that they have been defeated in an argument. The stupid and inexperienced suffer very greatly from this vice.

[greek], To share in the madness of the mad. This was said of anyone who modified his own behaviour to match that of others, no matter who they were. Galen used it in book one of On the Natural Faculties: 'Now that we have sufficiently indulged in trifles - not voluntarily, but under compulsion "To take on the madness of the mad," as the proverb says - let us return again to the investigation into urine.'

Those who had an elegant body were said to be [greek] 'Wellbuttocked.' Athenaeus in book twelve relates the origin of the proverb to the following story. Two sisters, the daughters of a countryman, were vying with each other on a public road as to which of them was more beautiful. A young man came up. He was struck by their beauty and pointed this out to his father. He preferred the older sister and fell madly in love with her. When he returned to the city he fell sick and explained the cause of his illness to his younger brother, who went to the countryside and after seeing the girls fell in love with the younger one. The father of the girls betrothed them to the other man's sons. The citizens called the girls 'well-buttocked' because of their outstanding beauty. The girls acquired wealth and this was used to build a temple to Venus who was herself also called 'well-buttocked' after the girls. Athenaeus cites a scazon of Cercidas about them: 'Once there was a well-buttocked pair in Syracuse.' An expression with similar meaning is [greek] 'pale-bottomed men,' as we have related elsewhere, in the proverb [greek] 'Whitebottomed.'

Saint Augustine in book four of Against Cresconius the Grammarian: 'No longer is it a case of "Our wish is only for what is holy," as the old proverb says. Instead, something is holy whenever we wish it and as long as we wish it.' Elsewhere, if I am not mistaken, he cites it as being from Ticonius the Donatist. The expression constitutes half of a dactylic hexameter. Nowadays a class of men who do not measure piety by the rule of Christ but by their own desires hold sway in this world. They want whatever they passionately desire to be regarded as sacred too, marvellously deluding themselves as they indulge in what is by nature most foul. They say that just wearing the belt they do is holy. Why? Because they wish to be regarded as holy with little effort on their part. But they do not wish to live in sobriety and purity, and they are unwilling to endure insults. Why so? Because that is hard and difficult.

Athenaeus in book twelve, speaking of the tomb of Sardanapalus: 'And in death, in the statue on his tomb Sardanapalus shows by his fingers how insignificant human affairs are, [greek] "Worth not even the snap of a finger."' Aristobulus, cited later in the same author, informs us that on the statue that had been placed on the tomb of Sardanapalus the fingers of the right hand had been brought together in the way that we do when we snap them. Both the gesture and the proverb survive up to the present day among our countrymen, when they say, 'I don't give this for it.'

[greek], A prop of leather, Prop of skin. The Greek expression described assistance that was weak and feeble. It is given by Hesychius. Athenaeus book twelve points out that this was said of an extremely lean man called Sannyrion because he was nothing but skin and bone. Also cited in Athenaeus, in book thirteen, is Antiphanes, who criticizes skinny philosophers: Tn the company of sophists who are, in heaven's name, lean, unfed, and nothing but skin and bones.' That is how philosophers were in antiquity; today there are those who 'advertize their virtue by their sullen, downcast countenances.'

Someone who was very fat and had a huge body mass was called a [greek] 'A Tanagran monster,' named after Tanagra, a city in Boeotia that Homer calls [greek] and Lycophron calls Poemandria, located on the coast. The beaching of a huge sea-creature there gave rise to the proverb. The phrase is given by Athenaeus in book twelve.

The scholiast on book four of the Iliad gives this proverb: [greek] .'An envoy is not struck or violated.' The reason for the proverb is that in antiquity heralds were regarded as inviolate. This has come down into international law, so that envoys come and go under a general guarantee of safety, even if they deliver frightening messages, as the fetiales and the patres patrati once did. Nowadays even in the middle of wars no harm is done to those who carry the insignia of an envoy. The proverb can be turned so as to apply to anyone who gives good advice or counsel or harangues an assembly in an unrestrained manner: 'He is an envoy; he is reporting his prince's instructions' or 'He is engaged on state business; it is not right for him to be assaulted.'

[greek], Herculean couches. This was what soft and luxurious couches were called. Athenaeus in book twelve is the source of this. The expression is extremely surprising since the Cynics claim Hercules as their champion, just as today the Carmelites claim the prophet Elijah for themselves. In Athenaeus, however, the aim of the person who says this is to persuade others that Hercules lived a soft and luxurious life, and that the stories about his labours in the poets are pure figments of their imagination. This is how we justify indulging our vices.

Athenaeus in book twelve recounts that when the Scythians were being overwhelmed by many disasters they had the hair of all the peoples they ruled over shaved close. This they did as an amusing frolic. As a result, all other peoples called a shave whose purpose was to arouse shame and mockery 'A Scythian shave.' We read of something similar in Second Kings chapter 10: 'Anon shaved off half the beards of David's servants and cut off the lower part of their garments up to the buttocks,' clearly to cause them shame. This action was the cause of a savage war. The proverb will suit certain persons who have such a cruel disposition that scarcely anyone can have dealings with them without coming away humiliated.

[greek], Thinner than Leotrephides and Thaumantis. Leotrephides was so extraordinarily lean that he provided the comic writers with an opportunity to use their wit. In Athenaeus book twelve the verses of Hermippus that are directed at him are given: They are now sacrificing heifers that are skinnier than Leotrephides and Thaumantis.' The poet Cinesias was also criticized by many writers. He was tall, but so thin that he put on a girdle made of tree-bark to prevent his body bending over. For this reason Aristophanes called him 'linden.' The poet Philetas also gained notoriety; he was so thin that he added lumps of lead to his feet so that the wind would not carry him away. The proverb will suit persons who are puny and very thin. It will be more pleasing if it is applied metaphorically to lack of talent or to a style of speaking that is dry, feeble and insubstantial.

[greek], Take nothing and watch it well. It appears to be said of those who give worthless information, yet tell their listeners to remember it. Galen On the Principles of Plato and Hippocrates in book three: 'For only in this way will I believe that the proverb "Take nothing and watch it well" applies here.' The proverb will suit false and useless teaching.

Even today those who perform trivial services for someone are commonly called [greek] 'Fly-flappers.' Athenaeus in book eleven points out that this had its origin in the luxurious customs of the Persians, who employed fly-repellers at banquets, as is now very common in Italy. The verb [greek] means 'to drive away flies.' The expression will suit even those who love someone so tenderly that they are upset if their beloved suffers even the slightest inconvenience and agrees with what we cited elsewhere from Homer: 'Just as a mother brushes off a fly from her child when he lies quietly in soothing sleep.'

What Athenaeus quotes in book four from the comic writer Posidippus has the appearance of a proverb: [greek] 'More wretched than those who fight in single combat.' For these fight with each other under the cruellest of conditions: one of them must die. The verses are as follows: 'He who has never sailed has never seen any trouble; / We sailors are more wretched than duellists.' In Latin such men were called gladiatores 'gladiators.' They provided the most barbaric of spectacles, but it was a favourite one of the Romans. The expression will have more charm if it is applied metaphorically to a dispute that you are engaged in with the vilest of men, meaning that it is as if you are fighting with a gladiator.

Timon of Phlius in Athenaeus book four: [greek] 'You are a Zeno even when cooking lentils.' Zeno was the founder of the Stoics. He teaches that every action of the wise man is virtuous and that it does not matter what he does. The wise man is still the wise man whether he is engaged in the most trivial or most important activity. It follows from this that we need the wisdom of Zeno to cook lentils properly. Its origin is in an apophthegm reported by Diogenes Laertius. For when Zeno was arguing that everything the wise man did was virtuous, someone laughed at him and rejoined, 'He'll be virtuous then even when he is cooking lentils!' Zeno agreed and approved of the comparison. The proverb can be used in a serious vein when we want to say that a good man is true to himself even in the most insignificant of things or that an outstanding craftsman shows his skill whatever kind of material he is working in.

In Athenaeus book ten the following expression from Chrysippus in his work On the Good is cited: [greek] 'Never eat an olive when you have a nettle in winter-time.' I believe that he is thinking of the plant and not the fish. I see no use for the adage unless we ever want to describe such extreme thrift in someone's diet that no condiment is added even to nettles. He then adds that [greek] is a favourite dish made, as the Greek word indicates, from onions and lentils: [greek] 'Onion and lentil soup. Wonderful! Wonderful!' Nettles have a sharp taste, but are cheaper than oil. He is implying that in the summer months there is no need of either olive oil or nettles. Such a diet would suit those who think that they are like Paul or Antony even though they are more like Sardanapalus in their luxurious fare.

Epicharmus, as quoted in Athenaeus in the passage we have just cited: [greek] 'But the pot has grasped the lentils.' It will suit those who have an insatiable desire for something. It is as if they are born to pursue what they desire, even if they have no opportunity of acquiring it. An earthenware pot is thought to love lentils and to come to them as if of its own accord. This proverb is like those we have given elsewhere - 'The pot picks its own greens,' 'The horse to the plain.'

'He who is not jealous does not love.' Saint Augustine in Against Adimantus at chapter 13 refers to this as a common expression. Even today we say this when we mean that love cannot exist without jealousy. It is true that jealousy springs from strong feelings of love, but it can also be prompted by sheer foolishness. In scripture God is called 'jealous,' because he wishes us to love him alone and does not permit anything to be loved other than himself, unless it is loved because of him.

In Athenaeus book four this trimeter, apparently proverbial, is quoted: [greek] 'May God Lentil and Fortune Lentil seize you.' [greek] means uncooked lentils, [greek] cooked ones, as the Etymologist points out. It will be suitable to use the expression when the same things are being repeated over and over ad nauseam? In Greek daimon means fortune, so that those who are unlucky are called cacodaemones; [greek] means the same, the sole difference being that daemon is masculine and [greek] feminine.

[greek], A plank has been fashioned in all things. It seems to be a half-line from some poet. It means that nothing is so certain that some doubts do not occur, compelling us to consider the situation more carefully. The gospel mentions a plank in the eyes. The Greek work has a double meaning, 'plank' when it is pronounced [greek], or 'opinion' when it is pronounced [greek]. The warning of Socrates, [greek] 'consider carefully,' is well known. Galen cites the expression in On the Differences of Pulses book three. It appears to be drawn from ploughing, which is made difficult because the plough-beam continually meets resistance while the earth is being turned over.

Galen in the work that he wrote about his own books: 'Those, however, who have not learned under teachers but are, as the proverb says, [greek] "Steersmen from a book" seek these things.' The same author in book three of On the Composition of Medicines: 'Like those who are said in the proverb to be "Steersmen from a book."' I have spoken elsewhere about 'Silent teachers.'

Galen against Thrasybulus: 'Those books of theirs that are carried around by [greek] "Those with mangled ears" are wonderful.' If I am not mistaken, he is thinking of boxers who later become doctors and write books, or, more likely, of the books of inexperienced doctors that are read by boxers. These boxers usually have mutilated ears like pigs, black eyes, and their whole face is marked with swellings - all this from the profession they practise. For Galen frequently vents his spleen on athletes. Plato used this adage in the Gorgias, though in what sense it is not quite clear. Socrates said that he heard that since Pericles had been the first to institute payment for public service it was he who had caused the moral decline of the Athenians; they became cowardly and timid, loquacious and greedy. Callicles replies, 'You hear this from those who have mangled ears.' I believe he is thinking of athletes and barbarians, who think that any one who is averse to the savagery of war is a coward. This is an interpretation of mine that I would like to be accepted only until something else is suggested after more detailed consideration. On 'pierced ears' I have spoken elsewhere. It will suit a belligerent man, one who criticizes many people and is criticized in turn by many.

About things that are rarely found Juvenal said, 'Even rarer than a white crow.' Ammianus in an epigram: [greek] 'Sooner will you find a white crow or a winged tortoise.' Galen in book one of On the Natural Faculties, reproaching a certain Lycus since he neither represented accurately the views of Erasistratus nor spoke the truth himself, says, 'Therefore since Lycus clearly neither tells the truth nor follows Erasistratus, he seems to be like a white crow. For this bird cannot mingle even with other crows because of its colour or with pigeons because of its size.' The term will suit a person who always has his own independent way of thinking and is opposed to what is generally believed by all. Some persons are ashamed to agree with anyone on any occasion, thinking that only the opposite of what is said can be true.

Galen On the Natural Faculties in book three: 'As for the others, what I have written will be as useless as "Telling a story to an ass."' In the Collection of Greek Proverbs one finds [greek] 'Someone was telling a story to an ass, and it twitched its ears.' Galen in On the Difference of Pulses book two: 'At this the old man shook his ears like an ass,' meaning, I believe, that he did not agree. I think we have said something about this elsewhere.

'To pick fruit from someone else's tree.' This is said of those who enjoy the fruit of other persons' labours. So Fabius in Livy From the Foundation of the City in book ten. Livy writes, 'Fabius thought it improper that someone else should pick the fruit from under the tree that he had planted.' It is closely related to 'You are reaping another's harvest.'

[greek], To drill a hole in a grain of millet. Said of those who toil over something that is very difficult to accomplish but is totally useless. Galen, in his work On Foreknowledge, says the following when he is criticizing sophists who think that the study of philosophy is quite worthless: 'Rather, they think that this is the most useless of all disciplines, [greek] "like drilling a hole in a grain of millet."' (This is how I think the text should read, although the published editions have [greek].) Millet is a small kind of legume that it would be difficult to drill through, as might be done with pearls. Even if pierced, however, it would be useless. The activity of a man who from a far distance tried to throw millet grains through the eye of a needle was similar.

To bring wool to a fuller's workshop. This is said of those who do something at an inappropriate time, for example, those who entrust a child to a theologian when he still needs to be educated in the basics of grammar. For the fuller's art is not applied to wool in its raw state, but to material that has already been woven. Galen On the Difference of Pulses book two:
Whoever wants to deal with these in a precise manner, ought to be first well
trained in categories. For it is a shrewd saying of Arcesilaus, [greek]
'No one brings wool to a fuller's workshop.' There is a sequence
to be followed in intellectual disciplines, just as there is in the working of
wool.
Diogenes Laertius tells of Arcesilaus when he is talking about the philosophers of the Academy. He was a person who did not usually tolerate those who took up the liberal disciplines at an inappropriate time - for example, if someone ignorant of grammar wished to learn about poetry or rhetoric.

Ammianus Marcellinus in book fourteen:
And as the senses of human beings are wont to be blunted and crushed when
fate lays hands on them, he was spurred on by these allurements to greater
hopes. He left Antioch, on the orders of Melevus, and hurried straight 'From
the smoke into the fire/ as the old proverb has it.
Said of a man who rushed from what was already a dangerous situation into one that brought immediate destruction. From Plautus we have given elsewhere 'Fire follows smoke.'

[greek], Rowers of wine-cups. An expression applied to those who drink continuously, drawing in wine as if pulling on an oar. So Dionysius, nicknamed 'The Brazen/ in his Elegies, as cited in Athenaeus book ten:
Whoever in your crew, Bacchus, draw in the wine,
Mariners of drinking, rowers of wine-cups.
A huge goblet is like a bay, and to empty it such persons use their tongues, as oars are used in rowing; often they are shipwrecked, losing their money as well as their wits.

Those who undertake some task by doing what is very insignificant and has very little relevance to the matter at hand are said [greek] 'To begin with the nails.' So Basil in a letter: 'It is ridiculous to begin with the nails and not rather deal with the actual "heads" of the matter.' The most important part of anything is called its 'head.' We can use this expression when we advise someone to put aside what is trifling and irrelevant and deal with the actual case; or when we advise anyone who wishes to improve the state of his country to begin with the leading men rather than with the low-born. For the latter play little part in ruining a city or in saving it.

In antiquity those who took pleasure in someone else's food were called [greek] 'Flies.' Plautus compares such men to mice that always eat food belonging to someone else. In Athenaeus book six a parasite compares himself to a fly: 'I am a fly, since I love to dine uninvited.' For this insect flies to someone else's food and can scarcely be driven away. Also in Athenaeus, Hegesander records how when Alexander said that he was being bitten by flies (his term for parasites) and was trying to drive them off, Cinesias, one such man who happened to be at hand, said, 'Surely other thirsty flies will assail you all the more once they have tasted your blood.' A fable survives about a hedgehog who wanted to be a fly-repeller for a fox. Plautus in the Merchant used the expression to describe a man who was curious and rushed to be present at everything that was going on:
My father's a fly. Nothing can be done without his knowing of it,
Nothing sacred or profane without his being immediately present there.

Athenaeus in book seven attests that there was an Attic proverb [greek] 'No tiddler for me, it's a worthless fish.' He does not illustrate how the proverb is used, only pointing out that in Epicharmus [greek] is the name of a fish. It seems to get its name from its small size. For huge fish are praised. The expression can be used of a guest who is unwelcome and a nuisance.

[greek], The basket dinner. This was a Greek expression properly used whenever someone prepared his own dinner, put it in a basket and went off to eat it at someone else's house. So Athenaeus in book eight. This custom lasts even today among frugal people, who do not wish to burden themselves or others with any expense. The expression will have more charm if it is applied metaphorically to a man who comes to study under someone, but who can in turn make some appropriate contribution. In this way there will be an exchange of learning.

In Athenaeus in book nine Eubulus is cited as saying that it was the custom for the flautist to be beaten if the cook made a mistake. Philyllius, also in Athenaeus: 'Whenever a cook makes a mistake, [greek] "It's the flautist who gets the beating."' In the same vein, also in Athenaeus, a cook says that he is not reporting some ancient belief, but one that he himself has made up. He then says, 'Not that I want the flautist to get a beating.' The point of this, I think, is that it is not safe to beat cooks, in accordance with a saying that is cited somewhat later in Athenaeus: 'No one has escaped unscathed after wronging a cook.' However, the Greek verse is not free of error.

[greek], To sow curses. This was said of those who laid curses on anyone. It arose from a custom of the Cyprians, who added salt whenever they were sowing barley and cursed those to whom they wished harm. So Hesychius. Pliny tells us that some crops did not have good harvests unless one shouted abuse when they were being sown; when one kind of crop was dug into the ground, the earth was stamped down with the foot and a curse was added, 'May you never come out.' We have spoken elsewhere of 'A Lindian sacrifice.'

[greek], May you be turned into earth and water, meaning 'May you be reduced to nothing and perish.' This hemistich is cited by Hesychius as if it were proverbial. It was taken from the Iliad book seven. It is in these words that Menelaus taunts the Greeks for their cowardice because none dared to take up Hector's challenge of fighting in single combat with him: 'But may you all become water and earth.' Plutarch explains it in his Life of Homer, and Alexander of Aphrodisias, in book one, problem seventy-seven, gives the physical reasons for Homer's words. Everything is created from earth and water and everything returns to these elements. Very similar is what Plutarch quotes from Epicharmus in his 'Consolation to Apollonius': 'Everything was brought together or separated; everything returned whence it came, earth to earth and the soul upward into the air above. What is so terrible about this? Nothing.' He is speaking about death, which is the separation of the body and the soul. In book three of his Tusculan Questions Cicero cites from Euripides:
Earth must be given back to earth, then the life of all must be
Harvested, like the grain. So Necessity commands.
Antiochus writes that Chrysippus agreed with this view, but that Carneades disagreed. The Preacher of the Old Testament uttered the same thought in an enigmatic way. Finally, Aristotle in his Rhetoric book two implies that those who accepted slavery were accustomed to hand over earth and water to their master, as if they were giving up all their rights and transferring them to him. He says, 'Because to give earth and water is to be a slave.'

[greek], Mars is common to all. This expression marked how uncertain and varied the outcome of a war could be. It was taken from Homer, Iliad book eighteen: 'Mars is impartial, and in turn destroys the destroyer.' This saying is mentioned by Aristotle in his Rhetoric book two as being a proverbial expression. Homer, also in the same book: 'Victory falls to one side, then the other.' Titus Livius in book ten of the Punic War: 'Think not only of your resources but also of the power of fortune and of how Mars fights in war on both sides. Each side had weapons and human bodies. In war more than in anything else the outcome does not match resources.' Again in book eight of From the Founding of the City: 'What would he have done if the battle had gone against him, the luck of war being what it is, and with Mars fighting on both sides?' Again in the same book: 'Romans, no envoys' words, no arbitrator will resolve our differences. They will be settled by the Campanian plain, where we must join battle, by our weapons and by Mars who fights on all sides in war.' And elsewhere in the same book: 'There in the councils Numitius, their general, by declaring that Mars who truly fights on all sides in war laid low both armies in equal slaughter,.. .' Again in book seven of From the Founding of the City he says, 'The Samnite war was fought with Mars favouring both sides.' In the same author there is the common phrase 'They left the battle field, with Mars equal' whenever neither side gained victory. Marcus Tullius, in Philippics eleven: 'But though I grant that the outcome of war is uncertain and that Mars fights on both sides, nevertheless we must fight for our freedom even at the risk of our lives.' We touched on this proverb in the adage 'All things do change.' A further point. Mars is called [greek] in Homer. The name comes from [greek], which is thought to mean 'the fortune of war.'

[greek], By the law of hands. This is said when something is done by force and not according to what law prescribes. Aeschines Against Timarchus: 'Those who support oligarchy, who do not favour equality in how the state is governed, must beware of those who destroy the constitution of our country by taking the law into their own hands.' By 'the law of hands' he means violence or martial law. Polybius used it in this sense in his History book one: 'Of all the enemies whom he had conquered, some he killed [greek] "With violent hand." Those captives who were brought to him alive he threw to the beasts.' Again in book two: 'Meanwhile it happened that the consul Gaius died "by the law of hands" while fighting bravely.' I have spoken elsewhere about [greek] 'This is sovereign.' In Plautus a slave threatens to bring a suit 'by hand.'

In Athenaeus book thirteen Hippon, who was given the name [greek] 'godless,' is cited as the author of this verse: 'Nothing is more useless than much learning.' The same line is also quoted from Timon. It will suit those who prefer to learn a lot of things rather than what is useful. The Preacher of the Hebrews expresses the same sentiments: 'He who increases knowledge increases sorrow as well, and in much knowledge there is great vexation.' Hippias, however, was praised for his vast learning.

[greek], To be dragged round in circles. Said of those who have been led around so skilfully that although they think they have accomplished something they have actually accomplished nothing or they fall back into the same position from which they wanted to escape. So Plato in the Charmides: 'You scoundrel, you have been dragging me round in circles without my being aware of it.' Through sophistry an opponent in an argument is led round by a wandering route to admit what he previously denied, or deny what he previously admitted. The metaphor is taken from horses that are led round and brought back to the place from which they earlier recoiled in fear. A similar deceit is practised in speeches called 'labyrinths.' Related to 'You are caught in the same grip.'

The ancients called what was particularly sumptuous in the way of food 'Jove's milk.' Euripides, quoted in Athenaeus book fourteen:
There is succulent cheese and [greek] 'Jove's milk.'
In Athenaeus there is frequent mention of [greek] 'Jove's brain' as an example of sumptuous food. We have talked about this elsewhere. The Persians called extraordinarily luxurious food 'Jove's brain and the king's' because the Persian king customarily gave a special prize if anyone invented a new kind of dish. Clearchus says much the same, as quoted in Athenaeus book twelve, though in quite different words. The ancients seem to have wanted to attribute all that was very special to Jove. So from a satire: 'And you keep these for the ears of Jupiter.'

The ancients called [greek] 'witticisms' that were rather impudent [greek] 'Maesonian quips' from a certain Maeson, a comic actor from Megara, who invented a character that the Greeks called 'Maeson' after him. For he first introduced the characters of a slave and cook to the stage. In fact the ancient Greeks called a cook who was a fellow-citizen a [greek], and one who was a foreigner a 'cicada.' Cooks in comedies are always talkative, especially in Plautus. Philemon attests to this somewhere:
It's not a cook I've taken into my house,
But a male Sphynx. For I swear
I cannot understand anything at all of what he says.
It is similar to 'A testimonial in Hipponax' vein.'

Suidas cites this proverb from the Carthaginian: [greek] 'Need as teacher turns even an ignorant man into a clever one.' Opportunity, experience, and necessity itself stimulate the mind to learn skills. The same sense is given by the Greek aphorism [greek] 'Wisdom has drawn poverty as her lot'; in Aristophanes Poverty boasts that she is the inventor of the arts. In Persius the belly is called 'master of art and bestower of wit.'And, as Quintus Curtius says, 'Necessity is a goad to cowardice.'

[greek], A thorny life. This describes a life that is rough, hard, and primitive, like the one led by those who had acorns in place of cakes. Suidas links this with Attic proverbs that we use to indicate a soft and luxurious life, the opposite of what this one means. He also points out that [greek] 'a life that is no life' (vita non vitalis), one that is miserable and unpleasant, has the same sense. For in Latin vivere 'to live' is sometimes used not just of those who merely breathe but of those who have lives that are full of enjoyment. Conversely, in Greek those who lack the necessities of life are said [greek] 'to be dead.' Aeschines in Against Timarchus: 'Branding such a woman with shame and giving her a life that is no life.' For to live in disgrace is the same as not living. It can be understood to refer to straitened resources as well. The same author in his speech On the Treacherous Embassy: 'I think the rest of my life is not worth living,' in other words, it is miserable and wretched.

[greek], A wild beast assuredly knows another. Aristotle in book one of his Rhetoric gives this proverb as one of those indicating similarity and affinity. It seems to be part of an iambic trimeter, however corrupt it is as quoted by Aristotle. In Greek [greek] means 'beast,' but properly it refers to a wild or harmful one, such as boars, wolves and snakes. Therefore a man who is savage and uncivilized is described as [greek] 'beastlike.' It will be suitable to use when two persons equally wicked come together. Similar to 'Thief knoweth thief and wolf to wolf is known.'

[greek], The order (or exhortation) of a blind man. This means something that is absurd, as when the very man who gives an order does not understand what he is saying. Socrates in Plato, in Theaetetus, criticizes the absurd instructions given by Theaetetus when he tells those who already hold the correct notion of something to agree to this correct notion; he compares Theaetetus' words to an undecipherable message or to a pestle that goes round and round for ever. He thinks they should more correctly be called 'The orders of a blind man': 'But they would more correctly be called the orders of a blind man since to tell us to get hold of what we already have in order to learn what we already know clearly befits a fellow who is utterly blind.' We have given elsewhere Horace's 'Though he is blind who shows youwhere to go' and 'A blind man's watch.'

Ιβύκειος ἵππος, The horse of Ibycus. This seems to have become a humorous proverb, said of those who were forced unwillingly into a dangerous enterprise that was beyond their age and strength to endure. Plato in Parmenides gives the origin of the expression. The poet Ibycus had a horse, an old racing one, worn out by many contests. When it was being hitched to a chariot for a race, it showed great terror, obviously having experienced the danger of such games. When the populace laughed at this, Ibycus stood up and said, The horse is like his master. For I am old and yet still suffer the compulsion of falling in love.' He was comparing himself to his horse, since love affairs were no less unsuited to him because of his age than races were to his horse. For Suidas tells us this too, that Ibycus had a bad reputation for his love of boys. Parmenides uses this comparison when he is complaining that he is an old man but is being forced to explain extremely difficult things. Horace seems to have alluded to this in his Epistles: 'My years are not the same, neither is my mind,' and
If you are wise let loose the horse that is getting old,
Lest he fail at the end amid jeers, straining his flanks for breath.
Perhaps someone will think that I am not unlike the horse of Ibycus while I am being turned on this treadmill of adages. I have spoken elsewhere about 'Ibycus' cranes.'

Εἰς αὔριον τα σπουδαῖα, Serious things are for tomorrow. Plutarch in his Life of Pelopidas says that this expression became proverbial among the Greeks. It originated with Archias, a rich and powerful man, but not a very sober one. At a banquet a letter was brought to him. The bearer advised him to read it immediately since it was concerned with serious matters. Then Archias, quite drunk, laughed and said, 'Serious things are tomorrow's concern.' At the same time he took the letter, placed it under the cushion on which he was sitting and continued with the conversation that he had begun with Phillidas. Even today it is impolite to deal with serious matters at parties. When I was a young man in Holland I heard a story that is not irrelevant to this adage. A certain person at a party was reclining too near the fire, the result being that the bottom of his clothing was being burned. One of the guests noticed this and said, 'I have something to tell you.' Then the other said, 'If it is something sad, I don't want to hear it at a party where everything should be happy and gay.' 'It's not at all something happy.' Then the other said, 'Serious things are for after dinner.' When they had dined in festive spirit, he said, 'Now tell me whatever you want.' The other pointed out to him that the back of his clothing was extensively burned. Thereupon the fellow became angry because he had not been told of this at the time. 'I wished to do so,' the other said, 'but you told me not to: μετὰ δεῖπνον σπουδαῖα "Serious things are for after dinner."'

[greek], To wage war with tunnels. Said of someone who does not act with open force, but with stealth and deceit. On the contrary he who acts openly is said to act with siege-engines. When the power held by Julius Caesar was moving towards open monarchy, Catulus Lutatius, a man of the highest standing among the Romans, rose in the senate and said, 'Caesar is no longer destroying the republic with tunnels, but with war-machines.' Tunnels are built secretly; war-machines - that is, rams, catapults, missilelaunchers - are employed openly. The proverb will have more charm if applied metaphorically to matters of the mind; for example, if someone were to say that evil spirits sometimes attack us with war-machines when they openly frighten us or try to win us over, or that they sometimes assail us by tunnels whenever they use a false display of piety to trick us, creeping up on us unawares.

[greek], There's no rationality in death. Plutarch gives this in his Life of Eumenes. Eumenes was very busy with his responsibilities and had gone to Upper Phrygia, spending the winter at Celaenae. When he discovered that Alcetas, Polemon, and Docimus were determined to fight it out with him for the leadership, he said, 'Death has no rationality.' He was thinking, I believe, that when death hangs over a man a god takes away his planning and reasoning. [greek] seems to comprise half of an iambic verse. Similar to this is what we find in Quintilian, when talking about coniectura. He says:
Moreover, why would Milo have attacked him in that place, in that manner?
(This is a point that is discussed with great detail in his defence.) If reason
did not lead him, was he actually carried away by the impulse of the moment,
having lost his wits? For there is a common saying: Scelera non habere consilia
'Crimes have no rational plan.'

Plutarch in his Life of Pericles recounts that Anaxagoras was of great help to Pericles in governing the state. When the philosopher was worn out by old age and was being neglected by Pericles, who was engrossed in public affairs, he decided to starve himself to death. Pericles learned of this and hurried to the philosopher's house. He tried by pleas and tears to make him give up his plan - more for his own sake than for Anaxagoras'. But Anaxagoras, already on the point of death, said, [greek] 'Pericles, those too who need a lamp pour oil in it.' He was rebuking Pericles for having neglected a friend from whom he had derived great benefit. Those who need a lamp for any purpose at all look after it; they clean it and fill it with oil. Those who need grain spread dung on their land.

[greek], To leap on the belly. Said of someone who devotes all his energy to the question of food and drink. So Plutarch in his Life of Lucullus about that very man: 'Lucullus was not waging war openly or for mere display but, as the saying goes, "He was kicking the enemy in its stomach," doing everything to deprive it of its provisions.' I shall not repeat here how Leonardo Giustiniano translated the passage. There are some whom you overcome only by attacking their stomach. Count Hermann of Neuenahr, distinguished by his learning as much as by his lineage, provided an example of this strategy. He was attacked by a certain Dominican in a preface for supporting Capnion and thereby not living up to the character and piety of his ancestors. He took issue with the defamer, threatening all kinds of things. The Dominican ranted and raved all the more. Finally the count's friends adopted the following plan. They informed the Dominican's college that they would hold the defamer's colleagues to be innocent if it expelled him. If the college did not do so, they intended to hold all responsible, on the grounds that it was with the agreement of them all that the slanderer had dared to act. When this threat was ignored, someone was sent to forbid any member of the order from collecting eggs or cheeses in the region governed by the count or his relatives. The ban was ignored and the monks continued to go about begging for eggs and gathering cheeses. But after the count's servants attacked them and they barely escaped, dissension arose among the college members and the defamer was compelled to agree to the conditions of peace. He signed a declaration that he regarded the count as a learned, noble, and devout man, that he had always thought of him in this way and would always do so in the future. He admitted that he had written what they were alleging (for he could not deny what had appeared in print), but said that what he had written against the count applied only to a man who was degenerate and a supporter of heresy. The result of this was that his signed declaration simply added brazen impudence to his slanderous words. Nevertheless the count, noble-minded and a true Christian, was content with this apology, and I strongly approved. I think that Terence had this idea in mind when he said, 'Punch him in the belly.' For no part of a parasite can be hurt more than his stomach.

The verse of Ennius, cited by M. Tullius in On Duties in book one, ought, I think, to be regarded as a proverb: O domus antiqua, quam dispari domino dominaris. 'O ancient house, what a different master rules you.' This will suit an institution that has deteriorated because of the shortcomings of its current members; for example, a house, a city, an academy, a monastery, or a college that declines from its earlier standards. And yet I suspect that the verse of Ennius has been corrupted in the manuscripts and that one should read O domus Anti, quam dispari domino dominaris 'O house of Antius, what a different master rules you,' so that the line criticizes the successor of Antius. The first syllable of dispari is long by nature, but if you suppress s, as Ennius frequently does, the syllable becomes short and the metre is good. (You may prefer to read And or Anni, whom Lucilius attacks on different occasions, instead of Anti.) An ignorant scribe then thought that Anti quam was one word and changed it to antiqua; another one, not wishing to omit what was in most manuscripts, added quam. Marcus Tullius had this in mind in the second Philippic: 'O wretched house, "With what a different owner." And yet how was such a man the owner? With what a different tenant, then.'

[greek], To pay off both principal and interest. Said of those whose punishment, though delayed, is more severe; or of those who postpone exacting punishment so that they may inflict more serious harm when the opportunity arises. For the interest increases if a loan is extended. Dio in his essay On Distrust:
Wild beasts are often quiet, either when sleeping or when they are filled with
food, but they have not cast off their nature. Similarly these men too have not
done harm on just any occasion, but whenever an opportunity presented itself,
and, as the saying goes, they pay in full both the interest and the principal of
their wickedness.

Those hard pressed by extreme necessity were said 'to have come to a standstill.' Plautus in the Three-shilling Day: 'Oh! How reduced to a standstill he is, the man who owns it' (understand 'farm'), meaning that he is reduced to extreme want. The same author in the Carthaginian:
Just be quiet,
He'll reduce the pimp to a standstill, if he takes them away.
I warrant he'll be done for and not move unam calcem 'one piece.'
But probably one should read unum calcum 'one counter.' Nonius Marcellus tells us that incita means 'want' and he is correct, but this meaning is only metaphorical. For although the word does indeed denote extreme want in these two passages that he adduced from Plautus, incitae does not mean 'want' wherever it occurs. Lucilius seems to have used the form incita in the neuter: 'When that came ad incita "to a standstill" and utter destruction.' Also: 'He chewed him up and ruined him, reducing him to a standstill.' But Isidore in book eighteen used the word in the masculine gender, saying, 'Sometimes counters are moved in order, sometimes at random. Those which cannot be moved at all are called inciti.' The verb cio means 'to move' and so inciti means 'unmoveable,' [greek] in Greek. It is quite clear that the proverb derives from a game of counters in which there were certain lines at which a counter, if forced back to that point, could no longer be moved. The proverb will suit those who are refuted by clear proofs and have nothing to reply - what the dialecticians call 'the utmost point of silence.'

Plutarch in his 'Civil Precepts': 'If your resources are modest and limited for use [greek] "By centre and radius."' He is thinking of resources that are so scant that unless they are disbursed in fixed portions they will not suffice for the necessities of life. For example, some calculate how much their annual income is and reckon how much they can spend each month, each week, and each day. But if a guest arrives or something similar occurs that causes rather more expense, they compensate for this by being thrifty on the following days so that their budget will hold good. The same author informs us in 'On Garrulity' that a reply ought to be circumscribed 'By centre and radius' so that no response should go beyond what the question requires. For some persons reply about several things when asked about one. The metaphor is taken from a circle which is made with a pair of compasses. In the middle the centre is fixed and the distance from here to all points on the circumference is the same. Because of this things that are confined within fixed boundaries are also termed 'circumscribed.'

Roscius was such a successful actor that anyone who was distinguished in any activity was called a Roscius. Marcus Tullius points this out in the Making of an Orator book one: 'And so he had, long reached such excellence that whoever excelled in his own profession was called a Roscius in his own field.' The same author in the Making of an Orator book two:' I often wonder at the shamelessness of those who act when Roscius is in the audience. For who can make even a move on the stage without Roscius seeing his deficiencies?' Again in Brutus: 'A spectator will think that the orator he is listening to is like Roscius on the stage.' This is the famous Roscius with whom Cicero used to have competitions and whom he complimented in the following way, saying that because he had been such an honourable man he alone should never go on stage and that because he was such a distinguished actor he alone deserved to be on stage. Therefore, just as we call someone who is very clever and inventive a Daedalus, one who can endure many toils a Hercules, one who is invincible in debate an Achilles, one who is unsurpassable in critical judgment an Aristarchus, so we use the same trope to call an orator who is outstandingly skilled in pleading cases a Roscius.

[greek], A cup of friendship. This is the name given to the cup at banquets by which friendships are made. This custom continues even now among the Germans who think it most shameful to mention old offences, however grave, once the cup of friendship has been taken. Neither would judges allow a suit for slander in these circumstances. In Plutarch's essay 'On the Fortune of Alexander' the king, who tried to bring a more humane and more just way of life to barbarians by force and to Greeks by public institutions, said, 'Mingling lives, customs, marriages, and ways of living as if in a cup of friendship.' In Plautus a drunk slave thinks that 'it is closest to the gods ... to drink, with pure hand, to the most pleasant of friendships from the cup of pleasure.' Hesychius points out that this cup of friendship is customarily brought out after dinner, when as a sign of friendship everyone drinks the same wine from the same cup. This custom survives even now among us, but it is rarer because of the fear of syphilis, a disease from which many suffer. Asconius Pedianus, commenting on the third speech against Verres, thinks that Marcus Tullius charges Verres with this, that he drank with his friend in Greek fashion. For the common folk think that those who drink copiously and in somewhat excessive measures drink like the Greeks. Asconius himself, however, is inclined to favour a different view, that we should understand 'to drink in Greek fashion' to mean 'to drink undiluted wine.' It was the custom of the Greeks when they poured libations at a banquet to toast the gods first, pouring out a little wine from the cup, then to toast their friends. Whenever they called upon a god or those dear to them by name they drank undiluted wine. This is what Pedianus says for the most part. Some think that this cup is also called the cup to good fortune.

Plutarch in book two of 'On the Fortune of Alexander' declares that the following verse was customarily sung by the Spartans: [greek] 'Sweet singing on the lyre stirs one to deadly steel.' By this they meant that certain tunes on the lyre calm the passions, while others give strength for battle. When Alexander heard Antigenidas playing tunes on the pipe that were called 'chariot tunes,' he was so stirred up that he stood up with his weapons and seized the men sitting closest to him.

[greek], Bathycles' cup. This seems to have been said of those who keep the enjoyment of their wealth to themselves and never give anyone anything. In Plutarch in 'The Banquet of the Seven Sages' a certain Ardalus says this to Aesop: 'Will you never hand over the cup here to us, when you see those men passing it to each other, like Bathycles' cup, but never giving it to anyone else?' Aesop replies to him, 'But this cup is not public property. For it has been standing beside Solon alone for a long time.' In Greek 'Bathycles' means 'of deep glory,' apparently the name of a rich man who lived for himself and drank for himself.

Plutarch cites this iambic verse of Ion as if it were proverbial, arguing that since the moon has weaker rays than the sun it can induce grapes to swell with moisture but cannot ripen them: [greek] 'For the dark-clustered grapes are not ripened by them.' This adage suits those who undertake what they cannot complete because they have insufficient strength. He also quotes this in his essay The Face on the Moon.' It will be more attractive if we say, 'For these do not ripen the darkclustered grapes' when we wish to mean that human accomplishments do not bring happiness. With 'these' we must understand 'rays.'

There was a Greek called Callias who had gobbled up his patrimony in luxury and lust. A popular joke arose about him: [greek] 'Callias is shedding his feathers.' Sometimes this happens to birds either because of disease or because of the time of year, in the way that changes occur also in the coats and fur of quadrupeds. This is why those who have been stripped of their possessions are said to have been 'plucked' and 'sheared.' The verb [greek] is frequently used by Aristophanes in the Birds in a humorous sense.

In Greek a statement must be taken [greek] 'In a broad sense' when some concession should be made to what has been prescribed, especially when there is cause to show consideration; for example, if someone who has promised payment on August 10 gives the money on the following day. Julian in book forty-six of the Pandects, in the chapter entitled 'On performances and releases,' the part beginning 'The principal': 'The principal must ratify it as soon as he has been informed. But this ought to be taken in a broad sense and with some concession as to time.' Ulpian also cites this passage of Julian in the same book, in the chapter entitled 'To hold the matter confirmed,' the part beginning 'For to what purpose.' Again in book thirteen, in the chapter entitled 'On the obligations relating to fixed quantities,' the part beginning 'Under this action,' he says:
Under this action, it is better what Servius says, that the time of condemnation
ought to be considered. If death has ensued, the time of death should be
considered, but understood 'In a broad sense,' according to Celsus. For the
valuation should not focus on the very last minute of life.
Again, in book twenty-two, in the chapter 'On proofs,' the penultimate
part:
And the question is not whether someone remembers on what day or under
what consul the deed was done, but whether the date can be proved in some
way. And the Greeks are accustomed to say 'In a broad sense.'
So much for the Pandects.
However, 'In a broad sense' is not recognized by the citizens of Calais. Ordered to close the city gates at the eleventh hour, they shut them on the first chime of the bell, pushing back those who are outside or those who want to leave, although both groups are very close to the gate. When a punishment is threatened against those who have not paid on the prescribed day, they are saved from catastrophe if they fulfil their pledge within fourteen days. This relates to the need for there to be equity in law.

A mixture of different ingredients that were heaped together at random and in no fixed order was called by the ancients a satyra. The word is clearly derived initially from the wantonness of satyrs who leapt about wildly, now this way, now that. Then it was applied to a kind of food that was put together from different kinds of plants, then to a plate that was laden with different kinds of things and was offered in this form to the gods. It is not unlike that goblet called [greek] in Greek, from the five-fold ingredients, or [greek], from the fact that ingredients are mixed together. We have talked about this above. Festus says that satura or satyra was the name given to food that was seasoned with different kinds of ingredients or to a law that was packed full of many different regulations. The law was customarily passed with the terms 'Do not deduct or annul any part of the whole' (meaning that the whole law had to be kept). He cites Annius Luscus from a speech that he delivered against Tiberius Gracchus: 'The authority that the plebs had given per saturam has been abrogated.' He also cited Caius Laelius from the speech he delivered on his own behalf: 'On the next day his surrender is accepted, but on carefully worded terms, like a lex satura.' A lex satura is explained as one that included many topics, just as Jugurtha's surrender was accepted with many terms laid out: he was to give thirty elephants, cattle, and many horses, as well as a considerable weight of silver. Justinian used this adage in the preface of the Pandects:
And this work was not issued to those reading in their first year following
the order in the edictum perpetuum, but material has been gathered from ev-
erywhere and put together 'as a hodge-podge,' the useful being mixed with
the useless, much the greater amount being devoted to the useless.
In the same way Sallust in the War against Jugurtha: 'His surrender is accepted under terms as complex as a lex satura.' Sallust says this of Jugurtha, and they do not appear in anyone's speech, not was there any Laelius present. Hence the passage in Festus must be lacunose. The words of Laelius have been lost along with Sallust's name.

Some very learned scholars think that what is cited by Ulpian in the Pandects book twelve, in section 13 of the chapter entitled 'On oaths,' near the end, should be regarded as a proverb. He says:
If, regarding a financial matter, anyone swears by the spirit of the emperor
that he ought not to pay, or at least should do so only within a fixed time, and
swears falsely that he ought to pay, or swears that he will pay within a fixed
time and does not pay, it is held by rescript of the emperor and his father
that he should be sent away to be flogged and that above him there should be
displayed a sign with the words [greek] 'Do not rush to swear an
oath.'
This will have the ring of a proverb if one warns someone who has suffered harm, 'Do not rush to swear an oath.'

In addition these formulas drawn from the law became proverbial: Ex syngrapha agere 'To act by the letter of the law,' and Obsignatis tabulis agere 'To act in accordance with sealed writings/ meaning to act 'rigidly and cruelly, but in accordance with what one is bound by.' Cicero in In Defence of Murena: 'Do you continue to deal with the people as if by the letter of the law?' The Latin equivalent of syngrapha is conscriptio 'a writing together,' because the agreement is drawn up by and customarily given to two parties. Syngraphae differ in this respect from tabulae in that the latter are customarily retained by only one party. They differ from a chirographum, tabulae, and codicilli in that these contain only a record of what has been done, while in the syngrapha there is also a clause about the breaking of the agreement. And they are customarily written with the temporary acquiescence of the parties, without the payment having been calculated or without the price having been completely paid. This is very much what Asconius Pedianus says in his commentary on the Third Verrine.

In the Greek epigrams there is cited as a proverb ὑβρις ἔρωτας ἔλυσε 'Scorn (or abuse) breaks up love-affairs/ the point being that love, when slighted, generally turns into anger, and anger turns into hatred. So Phaedria in a comedy: 'She has shut me out; she calls me back. Shall I return? Not even if she begs me.' Similarly Horace:
For if there is anything of a man in Horace
He will not brook you giving night after night to a favoured rival,
And in anger he will seek another mate.
Nor, once certain pain has entered, will his resolve yield to your beauty,
Proven odious on more than one occasion.
In the epigram a lover complains that this common saying is untrue. He himself has been shut out by his girlfriend who has also heaped scorn on him. Although he had sworn that he would not return to her for a whole year, he came back to her the next day at dawn as a suppliant. The verses are as following:
What they say is false, that scorn breaks up love affairs.
For scorn stirs up my love-sickness even more.
Nevertheless, in general, it is true that affection between persons is nourished by mutual assistance, and destroyed by scorn.

'Orators speak without restraint, actors dance with eloquence.' According to Cornelius Tacitus in his Dialogue on Orators this was a common insult directed at orators of his time. In the wantonness of their words, the shallowness of their thoughts and the undisciplined way in which their speeches were organized they spoke like actors; and indeed they boasted that it was praiseworthy and a sign of their glory and genius that their works were chanted and danced to. The wit of the expression lies in this: orators were speaking like actors, which was unseemly for them, while actors took over the orators' style of delivery. The result was that orators spoke worse than they had in the past and actors danced better. Dancing is part of an actor's job, to speak is the orator's and those who do it skilfully are called eloquent. The joke combines two opposites.

[greek], What is beautiful is loved. Among the proverbs relating to those who become friends this one is given in Plato in Lysis:
And I am inclined to think that, in accordance with an old proverb, 'What is
beautiful is loved."
He who loves for his own advantage does not truly love. What is beautiful is loved for its own sake. That is why, when someone asked Aristotle how it was that we took more pleasure in conversing with handsome persons than with ugly ones, he replied that only the blind could ask such a question. Nothing is more beautiful than virtue and therefore nothing can be more loved.

There is a Greek epigram the topic of which goes back to Homer's Iliad book twenty-two, where the Greeks stood around the body of Hector defiling it after he had been killed by Achilles. Every one of them inflicted a wound on the corpse. For this is what we have in Homer:
But the rest of the Greeks ran up and surrounded the corpse
Of Hector, in awe of his outstanding body and appearance,
Yet no one stood by the corpse without stabbing it.
And a little later: 'So someone said, and as he stood by he inflicted a wound.' The epigram reads:
Assail my body with your spears now that I am dead. Even a hare
Dares to attack a dead lion.
I have spoken elsewhere about those who inflict hurt on corpses, wrestle with ghosts, and fight with shadows.

Plato in Theaetetus: 'But apparently, if you reply that it is possible, a verse of Euripides will be relevant: [greek] 'Our tongue will not be refuted, but our mind will be.' The adage will suit those who are refuted by arguments but do not yield. Instead they engage in evasion, fiercely resisting what they know in their hearts.

[greek], To hold tightly in one's fist. So Plato in Theaetetus: Those who think that nothing is real except what that they can hold tightly in their two hands.' He is talking about those who do not think that there is anything in the universe except what is physical and can be perceived by the senses. Actions or processes or other such things that are perceived by the intellect and not with the senses are just empty words in their opinion. Plato thought Diogenes was such a person. Diogenes said that he saw goblets and tables, but did not see the 'goblet-ness' or 'table-ness' that Plato talked about. This was the answer he received: 'To be sure you have eyes with which goblets and tables are seen; you do not have a mind to perceive "goblet-ness" and "table-ness."' Plato says that such unperceptive persons ought to be kept away from the mysteries of philosophy because they are, so to speak, uninitiated. For what is not seen exists more truly than what is seen and we know with more certainty what we infer by reasoning than what we touch with our hands. For the judgment of the senses is deceptive.

[greek], Not firmly. I am surprised that Plato in Theaetetus gave this as a proverb, but perhaps it was because of the rather harsh metaphor that he added, 'as they say.' For Socrates is discussing there those things that are not constant in their own nature, but vary by contact with other elements and by reciprocal motions in such a way that they exist or do not exist. Examples are black and white, or acting on and being acted upon. This is how the passage reads:
And we must think about the other things in the same way, namely, that each
single thing has no being just in itself, as we said before, but that all things
are created in all their variety through union with each other, that is, as a
result of their motion. For we cannot have any firm notion, as they say, of
what is active or passive in any single case.
Aristotle in his Rhetoric in book two says that old men always have some diffidence because of their experience and are never dogmatic about anything, but always add 'perhaps' and 'perchance' or 'nothing is firm.' What is solid is said to be [greek] in Greek, from [greek], meaning 'to fix' or 'to join together.' From this we get [greek], meaning 'solidly' and 'in a fixed fashion.' Accidental properties have some fluidity, while the essential nature of something is immoveable, and the function of those things that are called accidentals depends on other things. For this reason the property of being a father is lost if a man's son should die, since the nature of a father rests on nothing else. In fact in Latin res soli 'things of the soil' are said to be immoveable possessions, and it is from solum 'earth' that what is complete and firm is called 'solid.' (In Oscan solum is used in the sense 'whole.') Juvenal: 'Noble birth is the sole and single virtue.' St Jerome often uses this word in this way. Because it can have this sense Sextus Pompeius Festus thinks that spears that are wholly made of iron are called soliferrea, that a man is called solers if he is skilled in all arts, and that what is done every year is described as solemne. For the same reason we call the earth solum because it is fixed and firm, not moving around like air and water. The opposite of this is what we find in Marcus Tullius in On Definitions of Good and Evil book two: This can be said of the other virtues, the basis of which you place in pleasure alone, which is like water.' The word comes from the Greek [greek] 'whole,' the rough breathing changing into s, thus giving solum.

Plato points out in his Theaetetus that the Spartans had this custom of not compelling anyone to wrestle in the public games but promulgated a law [greek] 'Either leave or strip off.' In Greek those who prepare themselves for competition are said to strip off, because they wrestled naked except for a loin cloth. This is the reason that the very words 'strip off have the force of a proverb whenever they are transferred to mental activities, such as debating or resisting the desires of the flesh. St Chrysostom and St Basil often use the word in this way. It is similar to what we have discussed elsewhere, 'He must either drink or quit.'

The amazing speed of Crison seems to have given rise to a proverb. For this is what Socrates says in Plato's Protagoras, when asked to complete the debate with Protagoras that had been undertaken: 'I would be willing to oblige you if I could do what you ask. But it's as if you are asking me to keep up with Crison of Himera, the famous runner, or run stride for stride with some miler or long-distance runner.' Himera is a city in Sicily, although there is another one with the same name in Africa. Crison was therefore called 'Himeraean.' He was famous for his fast running, comparable, as Pliny tells in book seven, to Philippides, Canistius of Sparta, and Philonides, Alexander the Great's runner. Runners called dolichodromi ran twelve stades at full speed, hemerodromi ran the whole day from morning until nightfall without a rest. (Pliny writes that there was a nine-year-old boy who ran continuously from noon until nightfall.) This is why the Greek poets call the sun [greek]: it completes its course each day, resting, as it were, at night in the abode of Thetis.

[greek], Imitating a curlew. Customarily said of someone hiding and concealing something useful. Suidas cites this scazon from Hipponax: 'And surely, pray tell, the vendor is not concealing a curlew? Also Aristophanes in the Birds:
The hoopoe apparently entered the glade
And hid itself, imitating the curlew.
The scholiast on this passage is in general agreement with Suidas and says that this bird had a healing power; whenever those suffering from jaundice or regius morbus 'the royal disease,' as it is called in Latin, saw it, they were immediately cured. For this reason vendors hid the bird so that a buyer would not be cured before he actually purchased it. He adds that the bird changes colour to match its surroundings. Some, however, think that the cure comes not from seeing the bird, but from eating it. The word can be accented differently; for if you pronounce it with an acute on the final syllable ([greek]) it means the bird, if you put the acute on the penultimate ([greek], diminutive of [greek]), it means whirlpool or a chasm in the earth. The reason [for [greek] 'whirlpool, chasm' being similar to [greek] 'curlew'] is that when water flows into a chasm there is a melodious sound. We have been able to report only so much from what has been carelessly heaped together by Suidas. The comic writer also mentions this bird in the same play: 'The curlews brought water into the air from below.' The scholiast adds that the bird was given its name because it liked to frequent whirlpools. In Plato in Gorgias Socrates enticed Callinices into admitting that a blessed life did not rest on abundance of possessions but on perpetual influx - for the man who is full or is not thirsty has the life of a stone rather than of a man, since he feels neither discomfort not pleasure. He adds the following: 'You mean the life of a charadrion, not of a corpse or of a stone.' Marsilio translates the word as 'bird' although Socrates seems to be thinking of a chasm which is never filled, even if water runs into it unceasingly. Unless perhaps the curlew is one of the greedy birds like the sea-mew and gets its name from charadra 'chasm.'

Socrates in Plato's Gorgias says the following: 'We should pursue and practise temperance, while fleeing from intemperance [greek] "As fast as our feet can carry us."' If these words are not used literally with reference to corporeal things, they gain the status of a proverb, one that relates to speed. What the feet are to the body, the emotions, with which we long for or shun something, are to the mind.

[greek], Like a pitcher. Said of the way someone speaks when he can contribute nothing of his own to a discussion because of his inexperience but spouts what he has heard from others.A spring produces its own water, a pitcher is dry unless you have poured something into it. Persons who lack learning get filled through their ears. Socrates in Plato's Phaedrus: 'I thought up nothing of these things by myself, I admit, since I am aware of my own ignorance. All that is left to say, therefore, is that, like a pitcher, I have been filled through my ears with someone else's streams.'

[greek], As a wolf loves sheep. Of a person who pretends to love for his own advantage (for this is commonly called love' although in fact it is hatred). When a young man pursues a young girl to rob her of her chastity, an incomparable treasure, to expose her to disgraceful gossip instead of her enjoying a good name, to make her hated by her parents, friends and all good persons, and finally to deprive her of a sound state of mind, the most valuable possession of all - tell me, is there a worse thing that enemies could do to each other? Socrates cites a verse in the Phaedrus as if it were in popular use:
As wolves love sheep, so a lover madly loves his boy.
Maro:
The savage lioness pursues the wolf, the wolf itself the goat,
The sportive goat searches for the flowering clover.
And Horace:
I do not pursue you to mangle you
Like a fierce tigress or an African lion.

[greek], Reared on ships. Said of a person who lacked any experience of anything and had no knowledge of social behaviour or of common moral standards. For generally sailors often become like the element they are familiar with because they live remote from contact with civilized men. So Plato in his Phaedrus: 'Or don't you think that he will think that he is listening to men brought up somewhere on ships.' Plautus in the Casket Comedy calls uncivilized behaviour 'sea-like,' or rather this is what he calls unpredictable behaviour, because the sea ebbs and flows in alternating tides:
So does Love mock me in my demented state, puts me to flight, hounds me,
comes after me, snatches me, holds me, throws me, bestows largesse, does not
give what he gives, tricks me. What he has just advised he advises against, he
advocates what he advises against. He makes trial of me like the sea, to such
an extent does he break my lover's heart.

[greek], What is useful is good, while what is harmful is disgraceful. Plato in book five of the Republic cites this as if it were a common saying: 'For this is and will be a most noble saying, what is useful is virtuous, what is harmful is disgraceful.' He is discussing there the question of women being called to perform all the tasks that men do, provided they are found to be as useful as men to the state. He wants them, therefore, to be stripped naked as guardians of the state and, if they seem suitable, to exercise publicly alongside males. He is extremely contemptuous of those who laugh at women whose sole purpose in being naked is the public good. Marcus Tullius also considers it arguable whether it is shameful for an upstanding citizen to dance naked in the forum if the state can be saved by such dancing. But the general populace inverts this view, saying that whatever is useful is good, although philosophers think that only what is good is useful.

Socrates in Plato in the Republic book six said that those who are failing without hope of recovery [greek] 'Are extinguished more quickly than Heraclitus' sun.' Heraclitus thought that the sun was shaped like a skiff and that it suffered an eclipse whenever its interior faced upwards, but it became bright again after turning over. Xenophanes gave a rather similar silly explanation of the sun. He thought that it perished when it set and that when it rose again the sun was a newly created one. But old men can never be rejuvenated to the level of having the strength they had in their youth. Horace seems to have alluded to this in his Odes: 'The moon quickly replenishes its heavenly losses; / We when we set .. .'

[greek], Barbaric filth. This is used in the sense of great mental torpidity in Plato in the Republic book two. There he is praising dialectic, which alone stimulates a mind that is immersed in ignorance and raises it from holding trivial beliefs to attaining a solid knowledge of the truth. He says, 'And it is quite true that dialectic gradually draws out the soul's eye that is immersed in barbaric filth and lifts it up.' The word barbarus seems to come from borboros 'filth' as a mark of contempt.

[greek], Not from oak or rock. Used when we want to indicate that something consists of spiritual qualities and not of physical material. For example, ordinary people mean by 'city' the walls and houses constructed from stones and timber, by 'church' the structure put together from similar material, when in fact a city consists of the character of its inhabitants and a church is the consensus of souls in true religion. Plato in the Republic book eight: 'Or do you think that states are made somehow from oak or from rock and not rather from the character of those who live in them?'

[greek], To put on a curb-chain. Said of those who curb a wild disposition with some means of control. A metaphor taken from high-spirited horses. Plato in On the Laws book three: 'Your third saviour saw that the rulers were still being extravagant, noisy and unruly, and so he imposed on them, like a curb-chain, the power of the ephors.' He is speaking of the state of Sparta in which five ephors were appointed to modify the power of the kings. The curb-chain is a small circular chain attached to the bridle, and because of this the word is sometimes used also in the sense of 'bridle.' But perhaps the expression was an allusion to bulls being led around by an iron ring attached to their nostrils. Whence the proverb, 'To lead one by the nose,' which we have talked about elsewhere.

Plato in On the Laws book four reports the following as if it were a very common utterance: 'God embraces the whole universe, that is, the beginning, middle, and end.' For from God comes the beginning, the growth, and the complete creation of all that exists. 'Let us say to them, "Sirs, God to be sure, as the old proverb says, holds the beginning, end, and middle of all that exists, and moves straight through the cycle of nature."'

[greek], An Orphic life. In On the Laws book six Plato says that this is a life free of sin, one that is untouched by luxury and undefiled by food with blood in it. For Orpheus seems to have established such a way of living. Not only did humans not defile the altars of the gods with the blood of beasts, they also forbore from eating the flesh of any animal. Instead, they sacrificed with cakes and grain sprinkled with honey, and they themselves did not eat anything else. These are Plato's words: 'But your ancestors at that time had "An Orphic life," as the saying goes.' Orpheus seems to have attempted in Thrace what Pythagoras tried in Ionia and Numa in Rome.

[greek], White speech. This was a Greek expression for speech that is clear and easily understood, from the colour that has the greatest light of all. Therefore those who express their thoughts quite clearly are said [greek] [greek] 'to speak more brightly,' that is [greek] 'more clearly,' and a voice that easily reaches the ears of an audience is called a [greek] 'a bright voice.' There are metaphors such as the one in this expression that draw from a closely related field, as when those who understand something are said 'to feel' or 'to see,' those who remember something are said 'to retain,' those who are suspicious are said 'to get a whiff,' those who err are said 'to be blind.' The metaphors are drawn from a very closely related field whena function of the eyes is transferred to the ears, as in this one.