[Donatus in his “Life of Virgil” quotes the famous line: “Sic vos non vobis nidificatis aves.” Hesiod says of drones: “ἀλλότριον κάματον σφετέρην ἑς γαστερ᾽ ἀμῶνται = Into their own bellies they scrape together the labour of others.” The Talmud says: “One says grace and another eats”; the New Testament: “One soweth, another reapeth.” Henry V. is reported to have said: “Shall I beat the bush and another take the bird?” when it was proposed to him to give up the Duke of Orleans to the Burgundians.]
*À tout oiseau son nid est beau = Home is home, be it ever so homely. (See [Chez].)
“Aux petits des oiseaux il donne leur pâture” = He that sends mouths sends meat.
[Racine, Athalie, ii. 7.]
À vue d’oiseau = A bird’s-eye view.
À vol d’oiseau = As the crow flies.
Oisiveté
*“L’oisiveté est la mère de tous les vices” = “For Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.”—Watts, Divine Songs, xx. (See [Fille].)
[Collé, La Partie de Chasse de Henri IV., iii. 1. Also: Négligence mène déchéance = Idle men tempt the devil.]