Footnotes
- [[182]] Perhaps the Spanish form of this proverb is still better: La mentira tiene cortas las piernas; for the lie does go, though not far. Compare the French: La vérité, comme l’huile, vient au dessus.
- [[183]] La verdad es hija de Dios.
- [[184]] Vox populi, vox Dei.
- [[185]] Tant vaut l’homme, tant vaut sa terre.
- [[186]] Κοινὰ τὰ τῶν φίλων.
- [[187]] Le bruit est si fort, qu’on n’entend pas Dieu tonner.
- [[188]] Εἷς ἀνὴρ, οὐδεὶς ἀνήρ.
- [[189]] Sensus est nihil egregium præstari posse ab uno homine, omni auxilio destituto.
- [[190]] Χαλεπὰ τὰ καλά.
- [[191]] The deepening of a proverb’s use among Christian nations as compared with earlier applications of the same may be illustrated by an example, which however, as not being directly theological, and thus not bearing immediately upon the matter in hand, I shall prefer to append in a note. An old Greek and Latin proverb, A great city, a great solitude, (Magna civitas, magna solitudo,) seems to have dwelt merely on the outside of things, and to have meant no more than this, namely, that a city ambitiously laid out and upon a large scheme would with difficulty find inhabitants sufficient, would wear an appearance of emptiness and desolation; as there used to be a jest about Washington, that strangers would sometimes imagine themselves deep in the woods, when indeed they were in the centre of the city. But with deeper cravings of the human heart after love and affection, the proverb was claimed in an higher sense. We may take in proof these striking words of De Quincey, which are the more striking that neither they nor the context contain any direct reference to the proverb: “No man,” he says, “ever was left to himself for the first time in the streets, as yet unknown, of London, but he must have felt saddened and mortified, perhaps terrified, by the sense of desertion and utter loneliness which belongs to his situation. No loneliness can be like that which weighs upon the heart in the centre of faces never ending, without voice or utterance for him; eyes innumerable that have ‘no speculation’ in their orbs which he can understand; and hurrying figures of men and women weaving to and fro, with no apparent purposes intelligible to a stranger, seeming like a masque of maniacs, or a pageant of shadowy illusions.” A direct reference to the proverb is to be found in some affecting words of Lord Bacon, who glosses and explains it exactly in this sense;—“For a crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love.”
- [[192]] Chi ha l’amor nel petto, ha lo sprone a i fianchi.—Amor regge senza legge. (Cf. Rom. xiii. 9, 10.)—Amor regge il suo regno senza spada.—Amor non conosce travaglio. (Cf. Gen. xxix. 20, 30.)—Di tutte le arti maestro è amore.—Di tutto condimento è amore.
- [[193]] Evangelios pequeños.
- [[194]] Der Weg zum Himmel geht durch Kreuzdorn. Compare the medieval obverse of the same: Via Crucis, via lucis.
- [[195]] No hiere Dios con dos manos.
- [[196]] Paz y paciencia, y muerte con penitencia.
- [[197]] Memoirs of Margaret Fuller, vol. 3, p. 266. In respect of words like these, wrung out from moments of agony, and not the abiding convictions of the utterer, may we not venture to hope that our own proverb, For mad words deaf ears, is often graciously true, even in the very courts of heaven?
- [[198]] Wenn Gott ein Ding verdreufst, so verdreufst es auch bald die Menschen.
- [[199]] The following have all a right to be termed Christian proverbs: Chi non vuol servir ad un solo Signor, à molti ha da servir;—E padron del mondo chi lo disprezza, schiavo chi lo apprezza;—Quando Dios quiere, con todos vientos llueve.
- [[200]] Perimus licitis.
- [[201]] Non quam late sed quam læte habites, refert.—Mas vale un pedazo de pan con amor, que gallinas con dolor.
- [[202]] Quien siembra abrojos, no ande descalzo. Compare the Latin: Si vultur es, cadaver expecta; and the French: Maudissons sont feuilles; qui les seme, il les recueille.
- [[203]] No se mou la fulla, que Deu no ha vulla. This is one of the proverbs of which the peculiar grace and charm nearly disappears in the rendering.
- [[204]] Quien à dos señores ha de servir, al uno ha de mentir.
- [[205]] Verum mihi videtur illud: Dives aut iniquus, aut iniqui hæres. Out of a sense of the same, as I take it, the striking Italian proverb had its rise: Mai diventò fiume grande, chi non v’entrasse acqua torbida.
- [[206]] Πολλοί τοι ναρθηκοφόροι, παῦροι δέ τε βάκχοι.
- [[207]] The fact which this proverb proclaims, of a great gulf existing between what men profess and what they are, is one too frequently repeating itself and thrusting itself on the notice of all, not to have found its utterance in an infinite variety of forms, although none perhaps so deep and poetical as this. Thus there is another Greek line, fairly represented by this Latin:
- Qui tauros stimulent multi, sed rarus arator;
- and there is the classical Roman proverb: Non omnes qui habent citharam, sunt citharœdi; and the medieval rhyming verse:
- Non est venator quivis per cornua flator;
- and this Eastern word: Hast thou mounted the pulpit, thou art not therefore a preacher; with many more.
- [[208]] Qui me amat, amat et canem meum. (In Fest. S. Mich. Serm. 1, § 3.)
- [[209]] Libera me ab homine malo, a meipso.
- [[210]] Ὀψὲ Θεῶν ἀλέουσι μύλοι, ἀλέουσι δὲ λεπτά. We may compare the Latin: Habet Deus suas horas, et moras; and the Spanish: Dios no se queja, mas lo suyo no lo deja.
- [[211]] Dii laneos habent pedes.
- [[212]] Life, vol. i. p. 312.
- [[213]] Wo der Teufel nicht hin mag kommen, da send er seinen Boten hin.
- [[214]] La farina del diavolo se ne và in semola.
[APPENDIX.]
ON THE METRICAL LATIN PROVERBS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. (See p. [29].)
I have not seen anywhere brought together a collection of these medieval proverbs cast into the form of a rhyming hexameter. Erasmus, though he often illustrates the proverbs of the ancient world by those of the new, does not quote, as far as I am aware, through the whole of his enormous collection, a single one of these which occupy a middle place between the two; a fact which in its way is curiously illustrative of the degree to which the attention of the great Humanists at the revival of learning was exclusively directed to the classical literature of Greece and Rome. Yet proverbs in this form exist in considerable number; being of very various degrees of merit, as will be seen from the following selection; in which some are keen and piquant enough, while others are of very subordinate value; those which seemed to me utterly valueless—and they were not few—I have excluded altogether. The reader familiar with proverbs will detect correspondents to very many of them, besides the few which I have quoted, in one modern language or another, often in many.
Accipe, sume, cape, tria sunt gratissima Papæ.
Let me observe here, once for all, that the lengthening of the final syllable in capê, is not to be set down to the ignorance or carelessness of the writer; but in the theory of the medieval hexameter, the unavoidable stress or pause on the first syllable of the third foot was counted sufficient to lengthen the shortest syllable in that position.
Ad secreta poli curas extendere noli.
Ægro sanato, frustra dices, Numerato.
Amphora sub veste raro portatur honeste.
Ante Dei vultum nihil unquam restat inultum.
Ante molam primus qui venit, non molat imus.
A rule of natural equity: Prior tempore, prior jure;—First come, first serve.—“Whoso first cometh to the mill, first grint.”—Chaucer.
Arbor naturam dat fructibus atque figuram.
Arbor ut ex fructu, sic nequam noscitur actu.
Ars compensabit quod vis tibi magna negabit.
Artem natura superat sine vi, sine curâ.
Aspera vox, Ite, sed vox est blanda, Venite.
An allusion to Matt. xxv. 34, 41.
Cari rixantur, rixantes conciliantur.
Carius est carum, si prægustatur amarum.
Casus dementis correctio fit sapientis.
Catus sæpe satur cum capto mure jocatur.
Cautus homo cavit, si quem natura notavit.
Conjugium sine prole, dies veluti sine sole.
Contra vim mortis non herbula crescit in hortis.
Cui puer assuescit, major dimittere nescit.
The same appears also in a pentameter, and under an Horatian image: Quod nova testa capit, inveterata sapit.
Cui sunt multa bona, huic dantur plurima dona.
Cum jocus est verus, jocus est malus atque severus.
So the Spanish: Malas son las burlas verdaderas.
Curvum se præbet quod in uncum crescere debet.
Curia Romana non quærit ovem sine lanâ.
Dat bene, dat multum, qui dat cum munere vultum.
“He that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.” (Rom. xii. 8.) Cf. Ecclus. xxxv. 9; Seneca, De Benef., i. 1.
Deficit ambobus qui vult servire duobus.
Dormit secure, cui non est functio curæ.
Far from court, far from care.
Ebibe vas totum, si vis cognoscere potum.
Est facies testis, quales intrinsecus estis.
Est nulli certum cui pugna velit dare sertum.
Ex linguâ stultâ veniunt incommoda multa.
Ex minimo crescit, sed non cito fama quiescit.
Fœmina ridendo flendo fallitque canendo.
Frangitur ira gravis, cum fit responsio suavis.
Fures in lite pandunt abscondita vitæ.
So in Spanish: Riñen las comadres, y dicense las verdades.
Furtivus potus plenus dulcedine totus.
Hoc retine verbum, frangit Deus omne superbum.
Illa mihi patria est, ubi pascor, non ubi nascor.
Impedit omne forum defectus denariorum.
In vestimentis non stat sapientia mentis.
In vili veste nemo tractatur honeste.
The Russians have a worthier proverb: A man’s reception is according to his coat; his dismissal according to his sense.
Linguam frænare plus est quam castra domare.
Lingua susurronis est pejor felle draconis.
Musca, canes, mimi veniunt ad fercula primi.
Mus salit in stratum, cum scit non adfore catum.
Ne credas undam, placidam non esse profundam.
Nil cito mutabis, donec meliora parabis.
Nobilitas morum plus ornat quam genitorum.
Non colit arva bene, qui semen mandat arenæ.
Non est in mundo dives qui dicit, Abundo.
Non habet anguillam, per caudam qui tenet illam.
Non stat securus, qui protinus est ruiturus.
Non vult scire satur quid jejunus patiatur.
Omnibus est nomen, sed idem non omnibus omen.
In a world of absolute truth, every name would be the exact utterance of the thing or person that bore it; but in our world not every Irenæus is peaceable, nor every Blanche a blonde. Vigilantius ought rather, according to Jerome, to have been named Dormitantius; and Antiochus Epiphanes, (the Illustrious,) was for the Jews Antiochus Epimanes, (the Insane.)
Parvis imbutus tentabis grandia tutus.
Pelle sub agninâ latitat mens sæpe lupina.
Per multum, Cras, Cras, omnis consumitur ætas.
Prodigus est natus de parco patre creatus.
Quando tumet venter, produntur facta latenter.
Qui bene vult fari, debet bene præmeditari.
Quidquid agit mundus, monachus vult esse secundus.
Qui petit alta nimis, retro lapsus ponitur imis.
Qui pingit florem non pingit floris odorem.
Qui se non noscat, vicini jurgia poscat.
Quisquis amat luscam, luscam putat esse venustam.
Quisquis amat ranam, ranam putat esse Dianam.
Quod raro cernit oculi lux, cor cito spernit.
Quo minime reris, de gurgite pisce frueris.
Quos vult sors ditat, et quos vult sub pede tritat.
Res satis est nota, plus fœtent stercora mota.
Scribatur portis, Meretrix est janua mortis.
Sepes calcatur, quâ pronior esse putatur.
Si curiam curas, pariet tibi curia curas.
Si nequeas plures, vel te solummodo cures.
Si non morderis, cane quid latrante vereris?
Stare diu nescit, quod non aliquando quiescit.
Subtrahe ligna focis, flammam restinguere si vis.
Sunt asini multi solum bino pede fulti.
Sus magis in cœno gaudet quam fonte sereno.
Tam male nil cusum, quod nullum prosit in usum.
Totâ equidem novi plus testâ pars valet ovi.
Ultra posse viri non vult Deus ulla requiri.
Verba satis celant mores, eademque revelant.
Vos inopes nostis, quis amicus quisve sit hostis.
Vulpes vult fraudem, lupus agnum, fœmina laudem.
Add to these a few of the same description, but unrhymed:
Catus amat pisces, sed non vult tingere plantam.
It is with this proverb, which is almost of all languages, that Lady Macbeth taunts her husband, as one—
“Letting, I dare not, wait upon, I would,
Like the poor cat i’ the adage.”—Act I. Scene 7.
Cochlea consiliis, in factis esto volucris.
Dat Deus omne bonum, sed non per cornua taurum.
The Chinese say: Even the ripest fruit does not drop into one’s mouth; and another Latin: Non volat in buccas assa columba tuas.
Ense cadunt multi, perimit sed crapula plures.
Furfure se miscens porcorum dentibus estur.
With a slight variation the Italian: Chi si fa fango, il porco lo calpesta.
Ipsa dies quandoque parens, quandoque noverca.
Invidus haud eadem semper quatit ostia Dæmon.
Mirari, non rimari, sapientia vera est.
Nomina si nescis, perit et cognitio rerum.
Non stillant omnes quas cernis in aëre nubes.
Non venit ad silvam, qui cuncta rubeta veretur.
Occurrit cuicunque Deus, paucique salutant.
Pro ratione Deus dispertit frigora vestis.
Quod rarum carum; vilescit quotidianum.
Sermones blandi non radunt ora loquentis.
Stultorum calami carbones, mœnia chartæ.
So the French: Muraille blanche, papier des sots.
Add further a few which occupy two lines:
Argue consultum, te diliget; argue stultum,
Avertet vultum, nec te dimittet inultum.
Balnea cornici non prosunt, nec meretrici;
Nec meretrix munda, nec cornix alba fit undâ.
Dives eram dudum; fecerunt me tria nudum;
Alea, vina, Venus; tribus his sum factus egenus.
Quando mulcetur villanus, pejor habetur;
Ungentem pungit, pungentem rusticus ungit.
Latin medieval ones in the same spirit abound: among others this detestable one with its curious triple rhyme: Rustica gens est optima flens, et pessima ridens.
Si bene barbatum faceret sua barba beatum,
Nullus in hoc circo queat esse beatior hirco.
Si quâ sede sedes, et sit tibi commoda sedes,
Illâ sede sede, nec ab illâ sede recede.
Hoc scio pro certo, quod si cum stercore certo,
Vinco seu vincor, semper ego maculor.
Multum deliro, si cuique placere requiro;
Omnia qui potuit, hâc sine dote fuit.
Permutant mores homines, cum dantur honores;
Corde stat inflato pauper, honore dato.
THE END.
LONDON:
SAVILL AND EDWARDS, PRINTERS,
CHANDOS STREET.