Familiar Quotations A Collection Of Passages Phrases And Prover
Chapter 35
[683-3] Hakewill translated this from the "Theatrum Vitae Humanae," vol. iii.
[684-1] Altered by Johnson (1783),--
Between the stirrup and the ground, I mercy ask'd; I mercy found.
[685-1] I shall light a candle of understanding in thine heart, which shall not be put out.--_2 Esdras xiv. 25._
[685-2] The oft-quoted lines,--
A painted vest Prince Voltiger had on, Which from a naked Pict his grandsire won,
have been ascribed to Blackmore, but suppressed in the later editions of his poems.
[685-3] HUME: _History of England, vol. i. chap. xvii. note 8._
[686-1] The same proverb existed in German:--
So Adam reutte, und Eva span, Wer war da ein eddelman?
AGRICOLA: _Proverbs. No. 254._
[686-2] See Swift, page 293.
[686-3] A quarto tract printed in London in 1642, p. 3. This is called "Old Tarlton's Song."
[686-4] As early as 1691, Benjamin Harris, of Boston, advertised as in press the second impression of the New England Primer. The oldest copy known to be extant is 1737.
[687-1] It is said that in the earliest edition of the New England Primer this prayer is given as above, which is copied from the reprint of 1777. In the edition of 1784 it is altered to "Now I lay me down to sleep." In the edition of 1814 the second line of the prayer reads, "I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep."
[687-2] The true date of his death is Feb. 4, 1555.
[687-3] Robert Stephen Hawker incorporated these lines into "The Song of the Western Men," written by him in 1825. It was praised by Sir Walter Scott and Macaulay under the impression that it was the ancient song. It has been a popular proverb throughout Cornwall ever since the imprisonment by James II. of the seven bishops,--one of them Sir Jonathan Trelawny.
[688-1] It was printed for the second time, in London, 1714.
[688-2] In the Preface to Mr. Nichols's work on Autographs, among other albums noticed by him as being in the British Museum is that of David Krieg, with James Bobart's autograph (Dec. 8, 1697) and the verses,--
_Virtus sui gloria._ "Think that day lost whose descending sun Views from thy hand no noble action done."
Bobart died about 1726. He was a son of the celebrated botanist of that name. The verses are given as an early instance of their use.
[688-3] This is found in Staniford's "Art of Reading," third edition, p. 27 (Boston, 1803).
[688-4] See Burke, page 412.
[688-5] See Choate, page 588.
[688-6] See Clarendon, page 255.
[690-1] These lines having been incorrectly printed in a London publication, we have been favoured by the author with an authentic copy of them.--_Wheeler's Magazine, vol. i. p. 244._ (Winchester, England, 1828.)
[690-2] This poem entire may be found in Rossiter Johnson's "Famous Single and Fugitive Poems."
TRANSLATIONS.
PILPAY (OR BIDPAI.)[691-1]
We ought to do our neighbour all the good we can. If you do good, good will be done to you; but if you do evil, the same will be measured back to you again.[691-2]
_Dabschelim and Pilpay. Chap. i._
It has been the providence of Nature to give this creature [the cat] nine lives instead of one.[691-3]
_The Greedy and Ambitious Cat. Fable iii._
There is no gathering the rose without being pricked by the thorns.[691-4]
_The Two Travellers. Chap. ii. Fable vi._
Wise men say that there are three sorts of persons who are wholly deprived of judgment,--they who are ambitious of preferments in the courts of princes; they who make use of poison to show their skill in curing it; and they who intrust women with their secrets.
_The Two Travellers. Chap. ii. Fable vi._
Men are used as they use others.
_The King who became Just. Fable ix._
What is bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh.[691-5]
_The Two Fishermen. Fable xiv._
Guilty consciences always make people cowards.[691-6]
_The Prince and his Minister. Chap. iii. Fable iii._
Whoever . . . prefers the service of princes before his duty to his Creator, will be sure, early or late, to repent in vain.
_The Prince and his Minister. Chap. iii. Fable iii._
There are some who bear a grudge even to those that do them good.
_A Religious Doctor. Fable vi._
There was once, in a remote part of the East, a man who was altogether void of knowledge and experience, yet presumed to call himself a physician.
_The Ignorant Physician. Fable viii._
He that plants thorns must never expect to gather roses.[692-1]
_The Ignorant Physician. Fable viii._
Honest men esteem and value nothing so much in this world as a real friend. Such a one is as it were another self, to whom we impart our most secret thoughts, who partakes of our joy, and comforts us in our affliction; add to this, that his company is an everlasting pleasure to us.
_Choice of Friends. Chap. iv._
That possession was the strongest tenure of the law.[692-2]
_The Cat and the two Birds. Chap. v. Fable iv._
FOOTNOTES:
[691-1] Pilpay is supposed to have been a Brahmin gymnosophist, and to have lived several centuries before Christ. The earliest form in which his Fables appear is in the Pancha-tantra and Hitopadesa of the Sanskrit. The first translation was into the Pehlvi language, and thence into the Arabic, about the seventh century. The first English translation appeared in 1570.
[691-2] And with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.--_Matthew vii. 2._
[691-3] See Heywood, page 16.
[691-4] See Herrick, page 203.
[691-5] See Heywood, page 19.
[691-6] See Shakespeare, page 136.
[692-1] See Butler, page 214.
[692-2] See Cibber, page 296.
HESIOD. _Circa_ 720 (?) B. C.
(_Translation by J. Banks, M. A., with a few alterations._[692-3])
We know to tell many fictions like to truths, and we know, when we will, to speak what is true.
_The Theogony. Line 27._
On the tongue of such an one they shed a honeyed dew,[692-4] and from his lips drop gentle words.
_The Theogony. Line 82._
Night, having Sleep, the brother of Death.[692-5]
_The Theogony. Line 754._
From whose eyelids also as they gazed dropped love.[693-1]
_The Theogony. Line 910._
Both potter is jealous of potter and craftsman of craftsman; and poor man has a grudge against poor man, and poet against poet.[693-2]
_Works and Days. Line 25._
Fools! they know not how much half exceeds the whole.[693-3]
_Works and Days. Line 40._
For full indeed is earth of woes, and full the sea; and in the day as well as night diseases unbidden haunt mankind, silently bearing ills to men, for all-wise Zeus hath taken from them their voice. So utterly impossible is it to escape the will of Zeus.
_Works and Days. Line 101._
They died, as if o'ercome by sleep.
_Works and Days. Line 116._
Oft hath even a whole city reaped the evil fruit of a bad man.[693-4]
_Works and Days. Line 240._
For himself doth a man work evil in working evils for another.
_Works and Days. Line 265._
Badness, look you, you may choose easily in a heap: level is the path, and right near it dwells. But before Virtue the immortal gods have put the sweat of man's brow; and long and steep is the way to it, and rugged at the first.
_Works and Days. Line 287._
This man, I say, is most perfect who shall have understood everything for himself, after having devised what may be best afterward and unto the end.
_Works and Days. Line 293._
Let it please thee to keep in order a moderate-sized farm, that so thy garners may be full of fruits in their season.
_Works and Days. Line 304._
Invite the man that loves thee to a feast, but let alone thine enemy.
_Work and Days. Line 342._
A bad neighbour is as great a misfortune as a good one is a great blessing.
_Works and Days. Line 346._
Gain not base gains; base gains are the same as losses.
_Works and Days. Line 353._
If thou shouldst lay up even a little upon a little, and shouldst do this often, soon would even this become great.
_Works and Days. Line 360._
At the beginning of the cask and at the end take thy fill, but be saving in the middle; for at the bottom saving comes too late. Let the price fixed with a friend be sufficient, and even dealing with a brother call in witnesses, but laughingly.
_Works and Days. Line 366._
Diligence increaseth the fruit of toil. A dilatory man wrestles with losses.
_Works and Days. Line 412._
The morn, look you, furthers a man on his road, and furthers him too in his work.
_Works and Days. Line 579._
Observe moderation. In all, the fitting season is best.
_Works and Days. Line 694._
Neither make thy friend equal to a brother; but if thou shalt have made him so, be not the first to do him wrong.
_Works and Days. Line 707._
FOOTNOTES:
[692-3] Bohn's Classical Library.
[692-4] See Coleridge, page 500.
[692-5] See Shelley, page 567.
[693-1] See Milton, page 246.
[693-2] See Gay, page 349.
[693-3] Pittacus said that half was more than the whole.--DIOGENES LAERTIUS: _Pittacus, ii._
[693-4] One man's wickedness may easily become all men's curse.--PUBLIUS SYRUS: _Maxim 463._
THEOGNIS. 570(?)-490(?) B. C.
Wine is wont to show the mind of man.
_Maxims. Line 500._
No one goes to Hades with all his immense wealth.[694-1]
_Maxims. Line 725._
FOOTNOTES:
[694-1] For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away, his glory shall not descend after him.--_Psalm xlix. 17._
[These selections from the most famous gnomic sayings of the great tragic writers of Greece--AEschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides--are chiefly from the fragments and not from their complete plays. The numbers of the fragments refer to the edition of Nauck. They are selected and translated by M. H. Morgan, Ph. D., of Harvard University.]
AESCHYLUS. 525-456 B. C.
I would far rather be ignorant than wise in the foreboding of evil.[695-1]
_Suppliants, 453._
"Honour thy father and thy mother" stands written among the three laws of most revered righteousness.[695-2]
_Suppliants, 707._
Words are the physicians of a mind diseased.[695-3]
_Prometheus, 378._
Time as he grows old teaches many lessons.
_Prometheus, 981._
God's mouth knows not to utter falsehood, but he will perform each word.[695-4]
_Prometheus, 1032._
Learning is ever in the freshness of its youth, even for the old.[695-5]
_Agamemnon, 584._
Few men have the natural strength to honour a friend's success without envy. . . . I well know that mirror of friendship, shadow of a shade.
_Agamemnon, 832._
Exiles feed on hope.
_Agamemnon, 1668._
Success is man's god.
_Choephorae, 59._
So in the Libyan fable it is told That once an eagle, stricken with a dart, Said, when he saw the fashion of the shaft, "With our own feathers, not by others' hands, Are we now smitten."[696-1]
_Frag. 135_ (trans. by Plumptre).
Of all the gods, Death only craves not gifts: Nor sacrifice, nor yet drink-offering poured Avails; no altars hath he, nor is soothed By hymns of praise. From him alone of all The powers of heaven Persuasion holds aloof.
_Frag. 146_ (trans. by Plumptre).
O Death the Healer, scorn thou not, I pray, To come to me: of cureless ills thou art The one physician. Pain lays not its touch Upon a corpse.
_Frag. 250_ (trans. by Plumptre).
A prosperous fool is a grievous burden.
_Frag. 383._
Bronze is the mirror of the form; wine, of the heart.
_Frag. 384._
It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath.
_Frag. 385._
FOOTNOTES:
[695-1] See Gray, page 382.
[695-2] The three great laws ascribed to Triptolemus are referred to,--namely, to honour parents; to worship the gods with the fruits of the earth; to hurt no living creature. The first two laws are also ascribed to the centaur Cheiron.
[695-3] Apt words have power to suage The tumours of a troubl'd mind.
MILTON: _Samson Agonistes._
[695-4] God is not a man that he should lie; . . . hath he said, and shall he not do it?--_Numbers xxiii. 19._
[695-5] See Shakespeare, page 64.
[696-1] See Waller, page 219.
SOPHOCLES. 496-406 B. C.
Think not that thy word and thine alone must be right.
_Antigone, 706._
Death is not the worst evil, but rather when we wish to die and cannot.
_Electra, 1007._
There is an ancient saying, famous among men, that thou shouldst not judge fully of a man's life before he dieth, whether it should be called blest or wretched.[696-2]
_Trachiniae, 1._
In a just cause the weak o'ercome the strong.[696-3]
_OEdipus Coloneus, 880._
A lie never lives to be old.
_Acrisius. Frag. 59._
Nobody loves life like an old man.
_Acrisius. Frag. 63._
A short saying oft contains much wisdom.[697-1]
_Aletes. Frag. 99._
Do nothing secretly; for Time sees and hears all things, and discloses all.
_Hipponous. Frag. 280._
It is better not to live at all than to live disgraced.
_Peleus. Frag. 445._
War loves to seek its victims in the young.
_Scyrii. Frag. 507._
If it were possible to heal sorrow by weeping and to raise the dead with tears, gold were less prized than grief.
_Scyrii. Frag. 510._
Children are the anchors that hold a mother to life.
_Phaedra. Frag. 619._
The truth is always the strongest argument.
_Phaedra. Frag. 737._
The dice of Zeus fall ever luckily.
_Phaedra. Frag. 809._
Fortune is not on the side of the faint-hearted.
_Phaedra. Frag. 842._
No oath too binding for a lover.
_Phaedra. Frag. 848._
Thoughts are mightier than strength of hand.
_Phaedra. Frag. 854._
A wise player ought to accept his throws and score them, not bewail his luck.
_Phaedra. Frag. 862._
If I am Sophocles, I am not mad; and if I am mad, I am not Sophocles.
_Vit. Anon. p. 64_ (Plumptre's Trans.).
FOOTNOTES:
[696-2] The saying "Call no man happy before he dies" was ascribed to Solon. Herodotus, i. 32.
[696-3] See Marlowe, page 40.
[697-1] See Shakespeare, page 133.
EURIPIDES. 484-406 B. C.
Old men's prayers for death are lying prayers, in which they abuse old age and long extent of life. But when death draws near, not one is willing to die, and age no longer is a burden to them.
_Alcestis. 669._
The gifts of a bad man bring no good with them.
_Medea. 618._
Moderation, the noblest gift of Heaven.
_Medea. 636._
I know, indeed, the evil of that I purpose; but my inclination gets the better of my judgment.[698-1]
_Medea. 1078._
There is in the worst of fortune the best of chances for a happy change.[698-2]
_Iphigenia in Tauris. 721._
Slowly but surely withal moveth the might of the gods.[698-3]
_Bacchae. 882._
Thou didst bring me forth for all the Greeks in common, not for thyself alone.
_Iphigenia in Aulis. 1386._
Slight not what 's near through aiming at what 's far.[698-4]
_Rhesus. 482._
The company of just and righteous men is better than wealth and a rich estate.
_AEgeus. Frag. 7._
A bad beginning makes a bad ending.
_AEolus. Frag. 32._
Time will explain it all. He is a talker, and needs no questioning before he speaks.
_AEolus. Frag. 38._
Waste not fresh tears over old griefs.
_Alexander. Frag. 44._
The nobly born must nobly meet his fate.[698-5]
_Alcmene. Frag. 100._
Woman is woman's natural ally.
_Alope. Frag. 109._
Man's best possession is a sympathetic wife.
_Antigone. Frag. 164._
Ignorance of one's misfortunes is clear gain.[698-6]
_Antiope. Frag. 204._
Try first thyself, and after call in God; For to the worker God himself lends aid.[699-1]
_Hippolytus. Frag. 435._
Second thoughts are ever wiser.[699-2]
_Hippolytus. Frag. 436._
Toil, says the proverb, is the sire of fame.
_Licymnius. Frag. 477._
Cowards do not count in battle; they are there, but not in it.
_Meleager. Frag. 523._
A woman should be good for everything at home, but abroad good for nothing.
_Meleager. Frag. 525._
Silver and gold are not the only coin; virtue too passes current all over the world.
_OEdipus. Frag. 546._
When good men die their goodness does not perish, But lives though they are gone. As for the bad, All that was theirs dies and is buried with them.
_Temenidae. Frag. 734._
Every man is like the company he is wont to keep.
_Phoenix. Frag. 809._
Who knows but life be that which men call death,[699-3] And death what men call life?
_Phrixus. Frag. 830._
Whoso neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead for the future.
_Phrixus. Frag. 927._
The gods visit the sins of the fathers upon the children.
_Phrixus. Frag. 970._
FOOTNOTES:
[698-1] See Shakespeare, page 60. Also Garth, page 295.
[698-2] The darkest hour is that before the dawn.--HAZLITT: _English Proverbs._
[698-3] See Herbert, page 206.
[698-4] See Heywood, page 15.
[698-5] Noblesse oblige.--BOHN: _Foreign Proverbs._
[698-6] See Davenant, page 217.
[699-1] See Herbert, page 206.
[699-2] See Henry, page 283.
[699-3] See Diogenes Laertius, page 766.
MIMNERMUS (TRAGEDIAN).
We are all clever enough at envying a famous man while he is yet alive, and at praising him when he is dead.
_Frag. 1._
HIPPOCRATES. 460-359 B. C.
Life is short and the art long.[700-1]
_Aphorism i._
Extreme remedies are very appropriate for extreme diseases.[700-2]
_Aphorism i._
FOOTNOTES:
[700-1] See Chaucer, page 6.
[700-2] See Shakespeare, page 141.
For a desperate disease a desperate cure.--MONTAIGNE: _Chap. iii. The Custom of the Isle of Cea._
DIONYSIUS THE ELDER. 430-367 B. C.
Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent.
_Frag. 6._
PLAUTUS. 254(?)-184 B. C.
(_Translated by Henry Thomas Riley, B. A., with a few variations. The references are to the text of Ritschl's second edition._[700-3])
What is yours is mine, and all mine is yours.[700-4]
_Trinummus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 48._ (_329._)
Not by years but by disposition is wisdom acquired.
_Trinummus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 88._ (_367._)
These things are not for the best, nor as I think they ought to be; but still they are better than that which is downright bad.
_Trinummus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 111._ (_392._)
He whom the gods favour dies in youth.[700-5]
_Bacchides. Act iv. Sc. 7, 18._ (_816._)
You are seeking a knot in a bulrush.[701-1]
_Menaechmi. Act ii. Sc. 1, 22._ (_247._)
In the one hand he is carrying a stone, while he shows the bread in the other.[701-2]
_Aulularia. Act ii. Sc. 2, 18._ (_195._)
I had a regular battle with the dunghill-cock.
_Aulularia. Act iii. Sc. 4, 13._ (_472._)
It was not for nothing that the raven was just now croaking on my left hand.[701-3]
_Aulularia. Act iv. Sc. 3, 1._ (_624._)
There are occasions when it is undoubtedly better to incur loss than to make gain.
_Captivi. Act ii. Sc. 2, 77._ (_327._)
Patience is the best remedy for every trouble.[701-4]
_Rudens. Act ii. Sc. 5, 71._
If you are wise, be wise; keep what goods the gods provide you.
_Rudens. Act iv. Sc. 7, 3._ (_1229._)
Consider the little mouse, how sagacious an animal it is which never entrusts its life to one hole only.[701-5]
_Truculentus. Act iv. Sc. 4, 15._ (_868._)
Nothing is there more friendly to a man than a friend in need.[701-6]
_Epidicus. Act iii. Sc. 3, 44._ (_425._)
Things which you do not hope happen more frequently than things which you do hope.[701-7]
_Mostellaria. Act i. Sc. 3, 40._ (_197._)
To blow and swallow at the same moment is not easy.
_Mostellaria. Act iii. Sc. 2, 104._ (_791._)
Each man reaps on his own farm.
_Mostellaria. Act iii. Sc. 2, 112._ (_799._)
FOOTNOTES:
[700-3] Bohn's Classical Library.
[700-4] See Shakespeare, page 50.
[700-5] See Wordsworth, page 479.
[701-1] A proverbial expression implying a desire to create doubts and difficulties where there really were none. It occurs in Terence, the "Andria," act v. sc. 4, 38; also in Ennius, "Saturae," 46.
[701-2] What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?--_Matthew vii. 9._
[701-3] See Gay, page 349.
[701-4] Patience is a remedy for every sorrow.--PUBLIUS SYRUS: _Maxim 170._
[701-5] See Chaucer, page 4.
[701-6] A friend in need is a friend indeed.--HAZLITT: _English Proverbs._
[701-7] The unexpected always happens.--_A common proverb._
TERENCE. 185-159 B. C.
(_From the translation of Henry Thomas Riley, B. A., with occasional corrections. The references are to the text of Umpfenbach._[702-1])
Do not they bring it to pass by knowing that they know nothing at all?
_Andria. The Prologue. 17._
Of surpassing beauty and in the bloom of youth.
_Andria. Act i. Sc. 1, 45._ (_72._)
Hence these tears.
_Andria. Act i. Sc. 1, 99._ (_126._)
That is a true proverb which is wont to be commonly quoted, that "all had rather it were well for themselves than for another."
_Andria. Act ii. Sc. 5, 15._ (_426._)
The quarrels of lovers are the renewal of love.[702-2]
_Andria. Act iii. Sc. 3, 23._ (_555._)
Look you, I am the most concerned in my own interests.[702-3]
_Andria. Act iv. Sc. 1, 12._ (_636._)
In fine, nothing is said now that has not been said before.
_Eunuchus. The Prologue. 41._
It is up with you; all is over; you are ruined.
_Eunuchus. Act i. Sc. 1, 9._ (_54._)
If I could believe that this was said sincerely, I could put up with anything.
_Eunuchus. Act i. Sc. 2, 96._ (_176._)
Immortal gods! how much does one man excel another! What a difference there is between a wise person and a fool!
_Eunuchus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 1._ (_232._)
I have everything, yet have nothing; and although I possess nothing, still of nothing am I in want.[702-4]
_Eunuchus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 12._ (_243._)
There are vicissitudes in all things.
_Eunuchus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 45._ (_276._)
The very flower of youth.
_Eunuchus. Act ii. Sc. 3, 28._ (_319._)
I did not care one straw.
_Eunuchus. Act iii. Sc. 1, 21._ (_411._)
Jupiter, now assuredly is the time when I could readily consent to be slain,[703-1] lest life should sully this ecstasy with some disaster.
_Eunuchus. Act iii. Sc. 5, 2._ (_550._)
This and a great deal more like it I have had to put up with.
_Eunuchus. Act iv. Sc. 6, 8._ (_746._)
Take care and say this with presence of mind.[703-2]
_Eunuchus. Act iv. Sc. 6, 31._ (_769._)
It behooves a prudent person to make trial of everything before arms.
_Eunuchus. Act iv. Sc. 7, 19._ (_789._)
I know the disposition of women: when you will, they won't; when you won't, they set their hearts upon you of their own inclination.
_Eunuchus. Act iv. Sc. 7, 42._ (_812._)
I took to my heels as fast as I could.
_Eunuchus. Act v. Sc. 2, 5._ (_844._)
Many a time, . . . from a bad beginning great friendships have sprung up.
_Eunuchus. Act v. Sc. 2, 34._ (_873._)
I only wish I may see your head stroked down with a slipper.[703-3]
_Eunuchus. Act v. Sc. 7, 4._ (_1028._)
I am a man, and nothing that concerns a man do I deem a matter of indifference to me.[703-4]
_Heautontimoroumenos. Act i. Sc. 1, 25._ (_77._)
This is a wise maxim, "to take warning from others of what may be to your own advantage."
_Heautontimoroumenos. Act i. Sc. 2, 36._ (_210._)
That saying which I hear commonly repeated,--that time assuages sorrow.
_Heautontimoroumenos. Act iii. Sc. 1, 12._ (_421._)
Really, you have seen the old age of an eagle,[704-1] as the saying is.
_Heautontimoroumenos. Act iii. Sc. 2, 9._ (_520._)
Many a time a man cannot be such as he would be, if circumstances do not admit of it.
_Heautontimoroumenos. Act iv. Sc. 1, 53._ (_666._)
Nothing is so difficult but that it may be found out by seeking.
_Heautontimoroumenos. Act iv. Sc. 2, 8._ (_675._)
What now if the sky were to fall?[704-2]
_Heautontimoroumenos. Act iv. Sc. 3, 41._ (_719._)
Rigorous law is often rigorous injustice.[704-3]
_Heautontimoroumenos. Act iv. Sc. 5, 48._ (_796._)
There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it with reluctance.
_Heautontimoroumenos. Act iv. Sc. 6, 1._ (_805._)
How many things, both just and unjust, are sanctioned by custom!
_Heautontimoroumenos. Act iv. Sc. 7, 11._ (_839._)
Fortune helps the brave.[704-4]
_Phormio. Act i. Sc. 4, 25._ (_203._)
It is the duty of all persons, when affairs are the most prosperous,[704-5] then in especial to reflect within themselves in what way they are to endure adversity.
_Phormio. Act ii. Sc. 1, 11._ (_241._)
As many men, so many minds; every one his own way.
_Phormio. Act ii. Sc. 4, 14._ (_454._)
As the saying is, I have got a wolf by the ears.[705-1]
_Phormio. Act iii. Sc. 2, 21._ (_506._)
I bid him look into the lives of men as though into a mirror, and from others to take an example for himself.
_Adelphoe. Act iii. Sc. 3, 61._ (_415._)
According as the man is, so must you humour him.
_Adelphoe. Act iii. Sc. 3, 77._ (_431._)
It is a maxim of old that among themselves all things are common to friends.[705-2]
_Adelphoe. Act v. Sc. 3, 18._ (_803._)
What comes from this quarter, set it down as so much gain.
_Adelphoe. Act v. Sc. 3, 30._ (_816._)
It is the common vice of all, in old age, to be too intent upon our interests.[705-3]
_Adelphoe. Act v. Sc. 8, 30._ (_953._)
FOOTNOTES:
[702-1] Bonn's Classical Library.
[702-2] See Edwards, page 21.
[702-3] Equivalent to our sayings, "Charity begins at home;" "Take care of Number One."
[702-4] See Wotton, page 174.
[703-1] If it were now to die, 'T were now to be most happy.
SHAKESPEARE: _Othello, act ii. sc. 1._
[703-2] Literally, "with a present mind,"--equivalent to Caesar's _praesentia animi_ (De Bello Gallico, v. 43, 4).
[703-3] According to Lucian, there was a story that Omphale used to beat Hercules with her slipper or sandal.
[703-4] Cicero quotes this passage in De Officiis, i. 30.
[704-1] This was a proverbial expression, signifying a hale and vigorous old age.
[704-2] See Heywood, page 11.
Some ambassadors from the Celtae, being asked by Alexander what in the world they dreaded most, answered, that they feared lest the sky should fall upon them.--ARRIANUS: _lib. i. 4._
[704-3] Extreme law, extreme injustice, is now become a stale proverb in discourse.--CICERO: _De Officiis, i. 33._
Une extreme justice est souvent une injure (Extreme justice is often injustice).--RACINE: _Freres Ennemies, act iv. sc. 3._
Mais l'extreme justice est une extreme injure.--VOLTAIRE: _OEdipus, act iii. sc. 3._
[704-4] Pliny the Younger says (book vi. letter xvi.) that Pliny the Elder said this during the eruption of Vesuvius: "Fortune favours the brave."
[704-5] CICERO: _Tusculan Questions, book iii. 30._
[705-1] A proverbial expression, which, according to Suetonius, was frequently in the mouth of Tiberius Caesar.
[705-2] All things are in common among friends.--DIOGENES LAERTIUS: _Diogenes, vi._
[705-3] Cicero quotes this passage (Tusculan Questions, book iii.), and the maxim was a favourite one with the Stoic philosophers.
CICERO. 106-43 B. C.
For as lack of adornment is said to become some women, so this subtle oration, though without embellishment, gives delight.[705-4]
_De Oratore. 78._
Thus in the beginning the world was so made that certain signs come before certain events.[705-5]
_De Divinatione. i. 118._
He is never less at leisure than when at leisure.[705-6]
_De Officiis. iii. 1._
While the sick man has life there is hope.[705-7]
_Epistolarum ad Atticum. ix. 10, 4._
FOOTNOTES:
[705-4] See Thomson, page 356.
[705-5] See Coleridge, page 504.
[705-6] See Rogers, page 455.
[705-7] See Gay, page 349.
LUCRETIUS. 95-55 B. C.
Continual dropping wears away a stone.[706-1]
_De Rerum Natura. i. 313._
What is food to one man may be fierce poison to others.[706-2]
_De Rerum Natura. iv. 637._
In the midst of the fountain of wit there arises something bitter, which stings in the very flowers.[706-3]
_De Rerum Natura. iv. 1133._
FOOTNOTES:
[706-1] See Lyly, page 32.
[706-2] See Beaumont and Fletcher, page 199.
[706-3] See Byron, page 540.
HORACE. 65-8 B. C.
Brave men were living before Agamemnon.[706-4]
_Odes. iv. 9, 25._
In peace, as a wise man, he should make suitable preparation for war.[706-5]
_Satires, ii. 2._ (_111._)
You may see me, fat and shining, with well-cared-for hide, . . . a hog from Epicurus's herd.[706-6]
_Satires, ii. 4, 15._
What the discordant harmony of circumstances would and could effect.[706-7]
_Epistles, i. 12, 19._
If you wish me to weep, you yourself must feel grief.[706-8]
_Ars Poetica. 102._
The mountains will be in labour; an absurd mouse will be born.[706-9]
_Ars Poetica. 139._
Even the worthy Homer sometimes nods.[706-10]
_Ars Poetica. 359._
FOOTNOTES:
[706-4] See Byron, page 555.
[706-5] See Washington, page 425.
[706-6] See Mason, page 393.
[706-7] See Burke, page 409.
[706-8] See Churchill, page 412.
[706-9] A mountain was in labour, sending forth dreadful groans, and there was in the region the highest expectation. After all, it brought forth a mouse.--PHAEDRUS: _Fables, iv. 22, 1._
The old proverb was now made good: "The mountain had brought forth a mouse."--PLUTARCH: _Life of Agesilaus II._
[706-10] See Pope, page 323.
OVID. 43 B. C.-18 A. D.
They come to see; they come that they themselves may be seen.[707-1]
_The Art of Love. i. 99._
Nothing is stronger than custom.
_The Art of Love. ii. 345._
Then the omnipotent Father with his thunder made Olympus tremble, and from Ossa hurled Pelion.[707-2]
_Metamorphoses. i._
It is the mind that makes the man, and our vigour is in our immortal soul.[707-3]
_Metamorphoses. xiii._
The mind, conscious of rectitude, laughed to scorn the falsehood of report.[707-4]
_Fasti. iv. 311._
FOOTNOTES:
[707-1] See Chaucer, page 3.
[707-2] See Pope, page 344.
I would have you call to mind the strength of the ancient giants, that undertook to lay the high mountain Pelion on the top of Ossa, and set among those the shady Olympus.--RABELAIS: _Works, book iv. chap. xxxviii._
[707-3] See Watts, page 303.
[707-4] And the mind conscious of virtue may bring to thee suitable rewards.--VIRGIL: _AEneid, i. 604._
OF UNKNOWN AUTHORSHIP.
Love thyself, and many will hate thee.
_Frag. 146._
Practice in time becomes second nature.[707-5]
_Frag. 227._
When God is planning ruin for a man, He first deprives him of his reason.[707-6]
_Frag. 379._
When I am dead let fire destroy the world; It matters not to me, for I am safe.
_Frag. 430._
Toil does not come to help the idle.
_Frag. 440._
FOOTNOTES:
[707-5] Custom is almost a second nature.--PLUTARCH: _Rules for the Preservation of Health, 18._
[707-6] See Dryden, page 269.
This may have been the original of the well known (but probably post-classical) line, "Quem Jupiter vult perdere, dementat prius." Publius Syrus has, "Stultum facit fortuna quem vult perdere."
PUBLIUS SYRUS.[708-1] 42 B. C.
(_Translation by Darius Lyman. The numbers are those of the translator._)
As men, we are all equal in the presence of death.
_Maxim 1._
To do two things at once is to do neither.
_Maxim 7._
We are interested in others when they are interested in us.[708-2]
_Maxim 16._
Every one excels in something in which another fails.
_Maxim 17._
The anger of lovers renews the strength of love.[708-3]
_Maxim 24._
A god could hardly love and be wise.[708-4]
_Maxim 25._
The loss which is unknown is no loss at all.[708-5]
_Maxim 38._
He sleeps well who knows not that he sleeps ill.
_Maxim 77._
A good reputation is more valuable than money.[708-6]
_Maxim 108._
It is well to moor your bark with two anchors.
_Maxim 119._
Learn to see in another's calamity the ills which you should avoid.[708-7]
_Maxim 120._
An agreeable companion on a journey is as good as a carriage.
_Maxim 143._
Society in shipwreck is a comfort to all.[708-8]
_Maxim 144._
Many receive advice, few profit by it.
_Maxim 149._
Patience is a remedy for every sorrow.[709-1]
_Maxim 170._
While we stop to think, we often miss our opportunity.
_Maxim 185._
Whatever you can lose, you should reckon of no account.
_Maxim 191._
Even a single hair casts its shadow.
_Maxim 228._
It is sometimes expedient to forget who we are.
_Maxim 233._
We may with advantage at times forget what we know.
_Maxim 234._
You should hammer your iron when it is glowing hot.[709-2]
_Maxim 262._
What is left when honour is lost?
_Maxim 265._
A fair exterior is a silent recommendation.
_Maxim 267._
Fortune is not satisfied with inflicting one calamity.
_Maxim 274._
When Fortune is on our side, popular favour bears her company.
_Maxim 275._
When Fortune flatters, she does it to betray.
_Maxim 277._
Fortune is like glass,--the brighter the glitter, the more easily broken.
_Maxim 280._
It is more easy to get a favour from fortune than to keep it.
_Maxim 282._
His own character is the arbiter of every one's fortune.[709-3]
_Maxim 283._
There are some remedies worse than the disease.[709-4]
_Maxim 301._
Powerful indeed is the empire of habit.[709-5]
_Maxim 305._
Amid a multitude of projects, no plan is devised.[709-6]
_Maxim 319._
It is easy for men to talk one thing and think another.
_Maxim 322._
When two do the same thing, it is not the same thing after all.
_Maxim 338._
A cock has great influence on his own dunghill.[710-1]
_Maxim 357._
Any one can hold the helm when the sea is calm.[710-2]
_Maxim 358._
No tears are shed when an enemy dies.
_Maxim 376._
The bow too tensely strung is easily broken.
_Maxim 388._
Treat your friend as if he might become an enemy.
_Maxim 401._
No pleasure endures unseasoned by variety.[710-3]
_Maxim 406._
The judge is condemned when the criminal is acquitted.[710-4]
_Maxim 407._
Practice is the best of all instructors.[710-5]
_Maxim 439._
He who is bent on doing evil can never want occasion.
_Maxim 459._
One man's wickedness may easily become all men's curse.
_Maxim 463._
Never find your delight in another's misfortune.
_Maxim 467._
It is a bad plan that admits of no modification.
_Maxim 469._
It is better to have a little than nothing.
_Maxim 484._
It is an unhappy lot which finds no enemies.
_Maxim 499._
The fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself.[711-1]
_Maxim 511._
A rolling stone gathers no moss.[711-2]
_Maxim 524._
Never promise more than you can perform.
_Maxim 528._
A wise man never refuses anything to necessity.[711-3]
_Maxim 540._
No one should be judge in his own cause.[711-4]
_Maxim 545._
Necessity knows no law except to conquer.[711-5]
_Maxim 553._
Nothing can be done at once hastily and prudently.[711-6]
_Maxim 557._
We desire nothing so much as what we ought not to have.
_Maxim 559._
It is only the ignorant who despise education.
_Maxim 571._
Do not turn back when you are just at the goal.[711-7]
_Maxim 580._
It is not every question that deserves an answer.
_Maxim 581._
No man is happy who does not think himself so.[711-8]
_Maxim 584._
Never thrust your own sickle into another's corn.[711-9]
_Maxim 593._
You cannot put the same shoe on every foot.
_Maxim 596._
He bids fair to grow wise who has discovered that he is not so.
_Maxim 598._
A guilty conscience never feels secure.[712-1]
_Maxim 617._
Every day should be passed as if it were to be our last.[712-2]
_Maxim 633._
Familiarity breeds contempt.[712-3]
_Maxim 640._
Money alone sets all the world in motion.
_Maxim 656._
He who has plenty of pepper will pepper his cabbage.
_Maxim 673._
You should go to a pear-tree for pears, not to an elm.[712-4]
_Maxim 674._
It is a very hard undertaking to seek to please everybody.
_Maxim 675._
We should provide in peace what we need in war.[712-5]
_Maxim 709._
Look for a tough wedge for a tough log.
_Maxim 723._
How happy the life unembarrassed by the cares of business!
_Maxim 725._
They who plough the sea do not carry the winds in their hands.[712-6]
_Maxim 759._
He gets through too late who goes too fast.
_Maxim 767._
In every enterprise consider where you would come out.[712-7]
_Maxim 777._
It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity.
_Maxim 780._
The highest condition takes rise in the lowest.
_Maxim 781._
It matters not what you are thought to be, but what you are.
_Maxim 785._
No one knows what he can do till he tries.
_Maxim 786._
The next day is never so good as the day before.
_Maxim 815._
He is truly wise who gains wisdom from another's mishap.
_Maxim 825._
Good health and good sense are two of life's greatest blessings.
_Maxim 827._
It matters not how long you live, but how well.
_Maxim 829._
It is vain to look for a defence against lightning.[713-1]
_Maxim 835._
No good man ever grew rich all at once.[713-2]
_Maxim 837._
Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it.[713-3]
_Maxim 847._
It is better to learn late than never.[713-4]
_Maxim 864._
Better be ignorant of a matter than half know it.[713-5]
_Maxim 865._
Better use medicines at the outset than at the last moment.
_Maxim 866._
Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them.
_Maxim 872._
Whom Fortune wishes to destroy she first makes mad.[713-6]
_Maxim 911._
Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage.
_Maxim 914._
He knows not when to be silent who knows not when to speak.
_Maxim 930._
You need not hang up the ivy-branch over the wine that will sell.[714-1]
_Maxim 968._
It is a consolation to the wretched to have companions in misery.[714-2]
_Maxim 995._
Unless degree is preserved, the first place is safe for no one.[714-3]
_Maxim 1042._
Confession of our faults is the next thing to innocency.
_Maxim 1060._
I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.[714-4]
_Maxim 1070._
Keep the golden mean[714-5] between saying too much and too little.
_Maxim 1072._
Speech is a mirror of the soul: as a man speaks, so is he.
_Maxim 1073._
FOOTNOTES:
[708-1] Commonly called Publius, but spelled Publilius by Pliny (Natural History, 35, sect. 199).
[708-2] We always like those who admire us.--ROCHEFOUCAULD: _Maxim 294._
[708-3] See Edwards, page 21.
[708-4] It is impossible to love and be wise.--BACON: _Of Love_ (quoted).
[708-5] See Shakespeare, page 154.
[708-6] A good name is better than riches.--CERVANTES: _Don Quixote, part ii. book ii. chap. xxxiii._
[708-7] The best plan is, as the common proverb has it, to profit by the folly of others.--PLINY: _Natural History, book xviii. sect. 31._
[708-8] See Maxim 995.
[709-1] See Plautus, page 701.
[709-2] See Heywood, page 10.
[709-3] See Bacon, page 167.
[709-4] See Bacon, page 165.
Marius said, "I see the cure is not worth the pain."--PLUTARCH: _Life of Caius Marius._
[709-5] Habit is second nature.--MONTAIGNE: _Essays, book iii. chap. x._
[709-6] He that hath many irons in the fire, some of them will cool.--HAZLITT: _English Proverbs._
[710-1] See Heywood, page 14.
[710-2] The sea being smooth, How many shallow bauble boats dare sail Upon her patient breast.
SHAKESPEARE: _Troilus and Cressida, act i. sc. 3._
[710-3] See Cowper, page 419.
[710-4] Judex damnatur cum nocens absolvitur,--the motto adopted for the "Edinburgh Review."
[710-5] Practice makes perfect.--_Proverb._
[711-1] See Shakespeare, page 48.
[711-2] See Heywood, page 14.
[711-3] Yet do I hold that mortal foolish who strives against the stress of necessity.--EURIPIDES: _Hercules Furens, line 281._
[711-4] It is not permitted to the most equitable of men to be a judge in his own cause.--PASCAL: _Thoughts, chap. iv. 1._
[711-5] See Milton, page 232.
[711-6] See Chaucer, page 3.
[711-7] When men are arrived at the goal, they should not turn back.--PLUTARCH: _Of the Training of Children._
[711-8] No man can enjoy happiness without thinking that he enjoys it.--JOHNSON: _The Rambler, p. 150._
[711-9] Did thrust as now in others' corn his sickle.--DU BARTAS: _Divine Weekes and Workes, part ii. Second Weeke._
Not presuming to put my sickle in another man's corn.--NICHOLAS YONGE: _Musica Transalpini. Epistle Dedicatory. 1588._
[712-1] See Shakespeare, page 136.
[712-2] Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in life as though it were thy last.--MARCUS AURELIUS: _Meditations, ii. 5._
[712-3] See Shakespeare, page 45.
[712-4] You may as well expect pears from an elm.--CERVANTES: _Don Quixote, part ii. book ii. chap. xl._
[712-5] See Washington, page 425.
[712-6] The pilot cannot mitigate the billows or calm the winds.--PLUTARCH: _Of the Tranquillity of the Mind._
[712-7] In every affair consider what precedes and what follows, and then undertake it.--EPICTETUS: _That everything is to be undertaken with circumspection, chap. xv._
[713-1] Syrus was not a contemporary of Franklin.
[713-2] No just man ever became rich all at once.--MENANDER: _Fragment._
[713-3] See Butler, page 213.
[713-4] See Shakespeare, page 64.
[713-5] See Bacon, page 166.
[713-6] See Dryden, page 269.
[714-1] See Shakespeare, page 72.
[714-2] See Maxim 144.
[714-3] See Shakespeare, page 102.
[714-4] Simonides said "that he never repented that he held his tongue, but often that he had spoken."--PLUTARCH: _Rules for the Preservation of Health._
SENECA. 8 B. C.-65 A. D.
Not lost, but gone before.[714-6]
_Epistolae. 63, 16._
Whom they have injured they also hate.[714-7]
_De Ira. ii. 33._
Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.[714-8]
_De Providentia. 5, 9._
There is no great genius without a tincture of madness.[714-9]
_De Tranquillitate Animi. 17._
Do you seek Alcides' equal? None is, except himself.[714-10]
_Hercules Furens. i. 1, 84._
Successful and fortunate crime is called virtue.[715-1]
_Hercules Furens. 255._
A good man possesses a kingdom.[715-2]
_Thyestes. 380._
I do not distinguish by the eye, but by the mind, which is the proper judge of the man.[715-3]
_On a Happy Life. 2._ (_L' Estrange's Abstract, Chap. i._)
FOOTNOTES:
[714-5] See Cowper, page 424.
[714-6] See Rogers, page 455.
[714-7] See Dryden, page 275.
[714-8] See Beaumont and Fletcher, page 197.
[714-9] See Dryden, page 267.
[714-10] See Theobald, page 352.
[715-1] See Harrington, page 39.
[715-2] See Dyer, page 22.
[715-3] See Watts, page 303.
PHAEDRUS. 8 A. D.
(_Translation by H. T. Riley, B. A._[715-4])
Submit to the present evil, lest a greater one befall you.
_Book i. Fable 2, 31._
He who covets what belongs to another deservedly loses his own.
_Book i. Fable 4, 1._
That it is unwise to be heedless ourselves while we are giving advice to others, I will show in a few lines.
_Book i. Fable 9, 1._
Whoever has even once become notorious by base fraud, even if he speaks the truth, gains no belief.
_Book i. Fable 10, 1._
By this story [The Fox and the Raven] it is shown how much ingenuity avails, and how wisdom is always an overmatch for strength.
_Book i. Fable 13, 13._
No one returns with good-will to the place which has done him a mischief.
_Book i. Fable 18, 1._
It has been related that dogs drink at the river Nile running along, that they may not be seized by the crocodiles.[715-5]
_Book i. Fable 25, 3._
Every one is bound to bear patiently the results of his own example.
_Book i. Fable 26, 12._
Come of it what may, as Sinon said.
_Book iii. The Prologue, 27._
Things are not always what they seem.[716-1]
_Book iv. Fable 2, 5._
Jupiter has loaded us with a couple of wallets: the one, filled with our own vices, he has placed at our backs; the other, heavy with those of others, he has hung before.[716-2]
_Book iv. Fable 10, 1._
A mountain was in labour, sending forth dreadful groans, and there was in the region the highest expectation. After all, it brought forth a mouse.[716-3]
_Book iv. Fable 23, 1._
A fly bit the bare pate of a bald man, who in endeavouring to crush it gave himself a hard slap. Then said the fly jeeringly, "You wanted to revenge the sting of a tiny insect with death; what will you do to yourself, who have added insult to injury?"
_Book v. Fable 3, 1._
"I knew that before you were born." Let him who would instruct a wiser man consider this as said to himself.
_Book v. Fable 9, 4._
FOOTNOTES:
[715-4] Bohn's Classical Library.
[715-5] Pliny in his "Natural History," book viii. sect. 148, and AElian in his "Various Histories" relate the same fact as to the dogs drinking from the Nile. "To treat a thing as the dogs do the Nile" was a common proverb with the ancients, signifying to do it superficially.
[716-1] See Longfellow, page 612.
[716-2] Also alluded to by Horace, Satires, ii. 3, 299; Catullus, 22, 21; and Persius, 4, 24.
[716-3] See Horace, page 706.
PLINY THE ELDER. 23-79 A. D.
(_Translation by J. Bostock, M. D., and H. T. Riley, B. A., with slight alterations._[716-4])
In comparing various authors with one another, I have discovered that some of the gravest and latest writers have transcribed, word for word, from former works, without making acknowledgment.
_Natural History. Book i. Dedication, Sect. 22._
The world, and whatever that be which we call the heavens, by the vault of which all things are enclosed, we must conceive to be a deity, to be eternal, without bounds, neither created nor subject at any time to destruction. To inquire what is beyond it is no concern of man; nor can the human mind form any conjecture concerning it.
_Natural History. Book ii. Sect. 1._
It is ridiculous to suppose that the great head of things, whatever it be, pays any regard to human affairs.
_Natural History. Book ii. Sect. 20._
Everything is soothed by oil, and this is the reason why divers send out small quantities of it from their mouths, because it smooths every part which is rough.[717-1]
_Natural History. Book ii. Sect. 234._
It is far from easy to determine whether she [Nature] has proved to him a kind parent or a merciless stepmother.[717-2]
_Natural History. Book vii. Sect. 1._
Man alone at the very moment of his birth, cast naked upon the naked earth, does she abandon to cries and lamentations.[717-3]
_Natural History. Book vii. Sect. 2._
To laugh, if but for an instant only, has never been granted to man before the fortieth day from his birth, and then it is looked upon as a miracle of precocity.[718-1]
_Natural History, Book vii. Sect. 2._
Man is the only one that knows nothing, that can learn nothing without being taught. He can neither speak nor walk nor eat, and in short he can do nothing at the prompting of nature only, but weep.[718-2]
_Natural History, Book vii. Sect. 4._
With man, most of his misfortunes are occasioned by man.[718-3]
_Natural History, Book vii. Sect. 5._
Indeed, what is there that does not appear marvellous when it comes to our knowledge for the first time?[718-4] How many things, too, are looked upon as quite impossible until they have been actually effected?
_Natural History, Book vii. Sect. 6._
The human features and countenance, although composed of but some ten parts or little more, are so fashioned that among so many thousands of men there are no two in existence who cannot be distinguished from one another.[718-5]
_Natural History, Book vii. Sect. 8._
All men possess in their bodies a poison which acts upon serpents; and the human saliva, it is said, makes them take to flight, as though they had been touched with boiling water. The same substance, it is said, destroys them the moment it enters their throat.[718-6]
_Natural History, Book vii. Sect. 15._
It has been observed that the height of a man from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot is equal to the distance between the tips of the middle fingers of the two hands when extended in a straight line.
_Natural History. Book vii. Sect. 77._
When a building is about to fall down, all the mice desert it.[719-1]
_Natural History. Book viii. Sect. 103._
Bears when first born are shapeless masses of white flesh a little larger than mice, their claws alone being prominent. The mother then licks them gradually into proper shape.[719-2]
_Natural History. Book viii. Sect. 126._
It is asserted that the dogs keep running when they drink at the Nile, for fear of becoming a prey to the voracity of the crocodile.[719-3]
_Natural History. Book viii. Sect. 148._
It has become quite a common proverb that in wine there is truth.[719-4]
_Natural History. Book xiv. Sect. 141._
Cincinnatus was ploughing his four jugera of land upon the Vaticanian Hill,--the same that are still known as the Quintian Meadows,--when the messenger brought him the dictatorship, finding him, the tradition says, stripped to the work.
_Natural History. Book xviii. Sect. 20._
The agricultural population, says Cato, produces the bravest men, the most valiant soldiers, and a class of citizens the least given of all to evil designs. . . . A bad bargain is always a ground for repentance.
_Natural History. Book xviii. Sect. 26._
The best plan is, as the common proverb has it, to profit by the folly of others.[720-1]
_Natural History. Book xviii. Sect. 31._
Always act in such a way as to secure the love of your neighbour.[720-2]
_Natural History. Book xviii. Sect. 44._
It is a maxim universally agreed upon in agriculture, that nothing must be done too late; and again, that everything must be done at its proper season; while there is a third precept which reminds us that opportunities lost can never be regained.
_Natural History. Book xviii. Sect. 44._
The bird of passage known to us as the cuckoo.
_Natural History. Book xviii. Sect. 249._
Let not things, because they are common, enjoy for that the less share of our consideration.
_Natural History. Book xix. Sect. 59._
Why is it that we entertain the belief that for every purpose odd numbers are the most effectual?[720-3]
_Natural History. Book xxviii. Sect. 23._
It was a custom with Apelles, to which he most tenaciously adhered, never to let any day pass, however busy he might be, without exercising himself by tracing some outline or other,--a practice which has now passed into a proverb.[720-4] It was also a practice with him, when he had completed a work, to exhibit it to the view of the passers-by in his studio, while he himself, concealed behind the picture, would listen to the criticisms. . . . Under these circumstances, they say that he was censured by a shoemaker for having represented the shoes with one latchet too few. The next day, the shoemaker, quite proud at seeing the former error corrected, thanks to his advice, began to criticise the leg; upon which Apelles, full of indignation, popped his head out and reminded him that a shoemaker should give no opinion beyond the shoes,[721-1]--a piece of advice which has equally passed into a proverbial saying.
_Natural History. Book xxxv. Sect. 84._
FOOTNOTES:
[716-4] Bohn's Classical Library.
[717-1] Why does pouring oil on the sea make it clear and calm? Is it for that the winds, slipping the smooth oil, have no force, nor cause any waves?--PLUTARCH: _Natural Questions, ix._
The venerable Bede relates that Bishop Adain (A. D. 651) gave to a company about to take a journey by sea "some holy oil, saying, 'I know that when you go abroad you will meet with a storm and contrary wind; but do you remember to cast this oil I give you into the sea, and the wind shall cease immediately.'"--_Ecclesiastical History, book iii. chap. xiv._
In Sparks's edition of Franklin's Works, vol. vi. p. 354, there are letters between Franklin, Brownrigg, and Parish on the stilling of waves by means of oil.
[717-2] To man the earth seems altogether No more a mother, but a step-dame rather.
DU BARTAS: _Divine Weekes and Workes, first week, third day._
[717-3] He is born naked, and falls a whining at the first.--BURTON: _Anatomy of Melancholy, part i. sect. 2, mem. 3, subsect. 10._
And when I was born I drew in the common air, and fell upon the earth, which is of like nature; and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do.--_The Wisdom of Solomon, vii. 3._
It was the custom among the ancients to place the new-born child upon the ground immediately after its birth.
[718-1] This term of forty days is mentioned by Aristotle in his Natural History, as also by some modern physiologists.
[718-2] See Tennyson, page 632.
[718-3] See Burns, page 446.
[718-4] Omne ignotum pro magnifico (Everything that is unknown is taken to be grand).--TACITUS: _Agricola_, 30.
[718-5] See Sir Thomas Browne, page 218.
[718-6] Madame d'Abrantes relates that when Bonaparte was in Cairo he sent for a serpent-detecter (Psylli) to remove two serpents that had been seen in his house. He having enticed one of them from his hiding-place, caught it in one hand, just below the jaw-bone, in such a manner as to oblige the mouth to open, when spitting into it, the effect was like magic: the reptile appeared struck with instant death.--_Memoirs, vol. i. chap. lix._
[719-1] This is alluded to by Cicero in his letters to Atticus, and is mentioned by AElian (Animated Nature, book vi. chap. 41). It is like our proverb, "Rats leave a sinking ship."
[719-2] See Burton, page 186.
Not unlike the bear which bringeth forth In the end of thirty dayes a shapeless birth; But after licking, it in shape she drawes, And by degrees she fashions out the pawes, The head, and neck, and finally doth bring To a perfect beast that first deformed thing.
DU BARTAS: _Divine Weekes and Workes, first week, first day._
[719-3] See Phaedrus, page 715.
[719-4] See Shakespeare, page 152.
[720-1] See Publius Syrus, page 708.
[720-2] A maxim of Cato.
[720-3] See Shakespeare, page 46. Also Lover, page 583.
Numero deus impare gaudet (The god delights in odd numbers).--VIRGIL: _Eclogae, 8, 75._
[720-4] Nulla dies abeat, quin linea ducta supersit.--ERASMUS.
The form generally quoted, "Nulla dies sine linea" (No day without a line), is not attested.
[721-1] Ne supra crepidam sutor judicaret (Let not a shoemaker judge above his shoe).
QUINTILIAN. 42-118 A. D.
We give to necessity the praise of virtue.[721-2]
_Institutiones Oratoriae, i. 8, 14._
A liar should have a good memory.[721-3]
_Institutiones Oratoriae, iv. 2, 91._
Vain hopes are often like the dreams of those who wake.[721-4]
_Institutiones Oratoriae, vi. 2, 30._
Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.[721-5]
_Institutiones Oratoriae, x. 7, 21._
FOOTNOTES:
[721-2] See Chaucer, page 3.
[721-3] See Sidney, page 264.
[721-4] See Prior, page 288.
[721-5] See Pope, page 332.
JUVENAL. 47-138 A. D.
No man ever became extremely wicked all at once.[721-6]
_Satire ii. 83._
Grammarian, orator, geometrician; painter, gymnastic teacher, physician; fortune-teller, rope-dancer, conjuror,--he knew everything.[721-7]
_Satire iii. 76._
Nobility is the one only virtue.[721-8]
_Satire viii. 20._
FOOTNOTES:
[721-6] See Beaumont and Fletcher, page 197.
[721-7] See Dryden, page 268.
[721-8] See Percy, page 406.
MARTIAL. 40-102 A. D.
I do not love thee, Sabidius, nor can I say why; this only I can say, I do not love thee.[722-1]
_Epigram i. 32._
The good man prolongs his life; to be able to enjoy one's past life is to live twice.[722-2]
_Epigram x. 23, 7._
The bee enclosed and through the amber shown Seems buried in the juice which was his own.[722-3]
_Book iv. 32._
Neither fear, nor wish for, your last day.[722-4]
_Book x. 47, 13._
FOOTNOTES:
[722-1] See Brown, page 286.
[722-2] See Pope, page 336.
[722-3] See Bacon, page 168.
[722-4] See Milton, page 240.
PLUTARCH. 46(?)-120(?) A. D.
(_From Dryden's translation of Plutarch's Lives, corrected and revised by A. H. Clough._)
As geographers, Sosius, crowd into the edges of their maps parts of the world which they do not know about, adding notes in the margin to the effect that beyond this lies nothing but sandy deserts full of wild beasts, and unapproachable bogs.[722-5]
_Life of Theseus._
From Themistocles began the saying, "He is a second Hercules."
_Life of Theseus._
The most perfect soul, says Heraclitus, is a dry light, which flies out of the body as lightning breaks from a cloud.
_Life of Romulus._
Anacharsis coming to Athens, knocked at Solon's door, and told him that he, being a stranger, was come to be his guest, and contract a friendship with him; and Solon replying, "It is better to make friends at home," Anacharsis replied, "Then you that are at home make friendship with me."
_Life of Solon._
Themistocles said that he certainly could not make use of any stringed instrument; could only, were a small and obscure city put into his hands, make it great and glorious.
_Life of Themistocles._
Eurybiades lifting up his staff as if he were going to strike, Themistocles said, "Strike, if you will; but hear."[723-1]
_Life of Themistocles._
Themistocles said to Antiphales, "Time, young man, has taught us both a lesson."
_Life of Themistocles._
Laughing at his own son, who got his mother, and by his mother's means his father also, to indulge him, he told him that he had the most power of any one in Greece: "For the Athenians command the rest of Greece, I command the Athenians, your mother commands me, and you command your mother."[723-2]
_Life of Themistocles._
"You speak truth," said Themistocles; "I should never have been famous if I had been of Seriphus;[723-3] nor you, had you been of Athens."
_Life of Themistocles._
Themistocles said that a man's discourse was like to a rich Persian carpet, the beautiful figures and patterns of which can be shown only by spreading and extending it out; when it is contracted and folded up, they are obscured and lost.[723-4]
_Life of Themistocles._
When he was in great prosperity, and courted by many, seeing himself splendidly served at his table, he turned to his children and said: "Children, we had been undone, if we had not been undone."
_Life of Themistocles._
Moral good is a practical stimulus; it is no sooner seen than it inspires an impulse to practise.
_Life of Pericles._
For ease and speed in doing a thing do not give the work lasting solidity or exactness of beauty.[724-1]
_Life of Pericles._
So very difficult a matter is it to trace and find out the truth of anything by history.
_Life of Pericles._
Be ruled by time, the wisest counsellor of all.
_Life of Pericles._
To conduct great matters and never commit a fault is above the force of human nature.
_Life of Fabius._
Menenius Agrippa concluded at length with the celebrated fable: "It once happened that all the other members of a man mutinied against the stomach, which they accused as the only idle, uncontributing part in the whole body, while the rest were put to hardships and the expense of much labour to supply and minister to its appetites."
_Life of Coriolanus._
Knowledge of divine things for the most part, as Heraclitus says, is lost to us by incredulity.
_Life of Coriolanus._
A Roman divorced from his wife, being highly blamed by his friends, who demanded, "Was she not chaste? Was she not fair? Was she not fruitful?" holding out his shoe, asked them whether it was not new and well made. "Yet," added he, "none of you can tell where it pinches me."
_Life of AEmilius Paulus._
The saying of old Antigonus, who when he was to fight at Andros, and one told him, "The enemy's ships are more than ours," replied, "For how many then wilt thou reckon me?"[725-1]
_Life of Pelopidas._
Archimedes had stated, that given the force, any given weight might be moved; and even boasted that if there were another earth, by going into it he could remove this.
_Life of Marcellus._
It is a difficult task, O citizens, to make speeches to the belly, which has no ears.[725-2]
_Life of Marcus Cato._
Cato used to assert that wise men profited more by fools than fools by wise men; for that wise men avoided the faults of fools, but that fools would not imitate the good examples of wise men.
_Life of Marcus Cato._
He said that in his whole life he most repented of three things: one was that he had trusted a secret to a woman; another, that he went by water when he might have gone by land; the third, that he had remained one whole day without doing any business of moment.
_Life of Marcus Cato._
Marius said, "I see the cure is not worth the pain."[725-3]
_Life of Caius Marius._
Extraordinary rains pretty generally fall after great battles.[725-4]
_Life of Caius Marius._
Lysander said that the law spoke too softly to be heard in such a noise of war.
_Life of Caius Marius._
As it is in the proverb, played Cretan against Cretan.[725-5]
_Life of Lysander._
Did you not know, then, that to-day Lucullus sups with Lucullus?
_Life of Lucullus._
It is no great wonder if in long process of time, while fortune takes her course hither and thither, numerous coincidences should spontaneously occur. If the number and variety of subjects to be wrought upon be infinite, it is all the more easy for fortune, with such an abundance of material, to effect this similarity of results.[726-1]
_Life of Sertorius._
Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little.
_Life of Sertorius._
Agesilaus being invited once to hear a man who admirably imitated the nightingale, he declined, saying he had heard the nightingale itself.[726-2]
_Life of Agesilaus II._
It is circumstance and proper measure that give an action its character, and make it either good or bad.
_Life of Agesilaus II._
The old proverb was now made good, "the mountain had brought forth a mouse."[726-3]
_Life of Agesilaus II._
Pompey bade Sylla recollect that more worshipped the rising than the setting sun.[726-4]
_Life of Pompey._
When some were saying that if Caesar should march against the city they could not see what forces there were to resist him, Pompey replied with a smile, bidding them be in no concern, "for whenever I stamp my foot in any part of Italy there will rise up forces enough in an instant, both horse and foot."
_Life of Pompey._
The most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men.
_Life of Alexander._
Whenever Alexander heard Philip had taken any town of importance, or won any signal victory, instead of rejoicing at it altogether, he would tell his companions that his father would anticipate everything, and leave him and them no opportunities of performing great and illustrious actions.[727-1]
_Life of Alexander._
Alexander said, "I assure you I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion."
_Life of Alexander._
When Alexander asked Diogenes whether he wanted anything, "Yes," said he, "I would have you stand from between me and the sun."
_Life of Alexander._
When asked why he parted with his wife, Caesar replied, "I wished my wife to be not so much as suspected."[727-2]
_Life of Caesar._
For my part, I had rather be the first man among these fellows than the second man in Rome.[727-3]
_Life of Caesar._
Using the proverb frequently in their mouths who enter upon dangerous and bold attempts, "The die is cast," he took the river.[727-4]
_Life of Caesar._
"And this," said Caesar, "you know, young man, is more disagreeable for me to say than to do."[728-1]
_Life of Caesar._
Go on, my friend, and fear nothing; you carry Caesar and his fortunes in your boat.[728-2]
_Life of Caesar._
Caesar said to the soothsayer, "The ides of March are come;" who answered him calmly, "Yes, they are come, but they are not past."[728-3]
_Life of Caesar._
Even a nod from a person who is esteemed is of more force than a thousand arguments or studied sentences from others.
_Life of Phocion._
Demosthenes told Phocion, "The Athenians will kill you some day when they once are in a rage." "And you," said he, "if they are once in their senses."[728-4]
_Life of Phocion._
Pythias once, scoffing at Demosthenes, said that his arguments smelt of the lamp.
_Life of Demosthenes._
Demosthenes overcame and rendered more distinct his inarticulate and stammering pronunciation by speaking with pebbles in his mouth.
_Life of Demosthenes._
In his house he had a large looking-glass, before which he would stand and go through his exercises.
_Life of Demosthenes._
Cicero called Aristotle a river of flowing gold, and said of Plato's Dialogues, that if Jupiter were to speak, it would be in language like theirs.
_Life of Cicero._
(_From Plutarch's Morals. Translated by several hands; corrected and revised by W. W. Goodwin, Ph.D., Harvard University._)
For water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow.[728-5]
_Of the Training of Children._
It is a true proverb, that if you live with a lame man you will learn to halt.
_Of the Training of Children._
The very spring and root of honesty and virtue lie in the felicity of lighting on good education.
_Of the Training of Children._
It is indeed a desirable thing to be well descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors.
_Of the Training of Children._
According to the proverb, the best things are the most difficult.
_Of the Training of Children._
To sing the same tune, as the saying is, is in everything cloying and offensive; but men are generally pleased with variety.
_Of the Training of Children._
Children are to be won to follow liberal studies by exhortations and rational motives, and on no account to be forced thereto by whipping.
_Of the Training of Children._
Nothing made the horse so fat as the king's eye.
_Of the Training of Children._
Democritus said, words are but the shadows of actions.
_Of the Training of Children._
'T is a wise saying, Drive on your own track.
_Of the Training of Children._
It is a point of wisdom to be silent when occasion requires, and better than to speak, though never so well.
_Of the Training of Children._
Eat not thy heart; which forbids to afflict our souls, and waste them with vexatious cares.[729-1]
_Of the Training of Children._
Abstain from beans; that is, keep out of public offices, for anciently the choice of the officers of state was made by beans.
_Of the Training of Children._
When men are arrived at the goal, they should not turn back.[729-2]
_Of the Training of Children._
The whole life of man is but a point of time; let us enjoy it, therefore, while it lasts, and not spend it to no purpose.
_Of the Training of Children._
An old doting fool, with one foot already in the grave.[729-3]
_Of the Training of Children._
Xenophanes said, "I confess myself the greatest coward in the world, for I dare not do an ill thing."
_Of Bashfulness._
One made the observation of the people of Asia that they were all slaves to one man, merely because they could not pronounce that syllable No.
_Of Bashfulness._
Euripides was wont to say, "Silence is an answer to a wise man."
_Of Bashfulness._
Zeno first started that doctrine that knavery is the best defence against a knave.[730-1]
_Of Bashfulness._
Alexander wept when he heard from Anaxarchus that there was an infinite number of worlds; and his friends asking him if any accident had befallen him, he returns this answer: "Do you not think it a matter worthy of lamentation that when there is such a vast multitude of them, we have not yet conquered one?"
_On the Tranquillity of the Mind._
Like the man who threw a stone at a bitch, but hit his step-mother, on which he exclaimed, "Not so bad!"
_On the Tranquillity of the Mind._
Pittacus said, "Every one of you hath his particular plague, and my wife is mine; and he is very happy who hath this only."
_On the Tranquillity of the Mind._
He was a man, which, as Plato saith, is a very inconstant creature.[730-2]
_On the Tranquillity of the Mind._
The pilot cannot mitigate the billows or calm the winds.[730-3]
_On the Tranquillity of the Mind._
I, for my own part, had much rather people should say of me that there neither is nor ever was such a man as Plutarch, than that they should say, "Plutarch is an unsteady, fickle, froward, vindictive, and touchy fellow."
_Of Superstition._
Scilurus on his death-bed, being about to leave fourscore sons surviving, offered a bundle of darts to each of them, and bade them break them. When all refused, drawing out one by one, he easily broke them,--thus teaching them that if they held together, they would continue strong; but if they fell out and were divided, they would become weak.
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders._[731-1] _Scilurus._
Dionysius the Elder, being asked whether he was at leisure, he replied, "God forbid that it should ever befall me!"
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Dionysius._
A prating barber asked Archelaus how he would be trimmed. He answered, "In silence."
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Archelaus._
When Philip had news brought him of divers and eminent successes in one day, "O Fortune!" said he, "for all these so great kindnesses do me some small mischief."
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Philip._
There were two brothers called Both and Either; perceiving Either was a good, understanding, busy fellow, and Both a silly fellow and good for little, Philip said, "Either is both, and Both is neither."
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Philip._
Philip being arbitrator betwixt two wicked persons, he commanded one to fly out of Macedonia and the other to pursue him.
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Philip._
Being about to pitch his camp in a likely place, and hearing there was no hay to be had for the cattle, "What a life," said he, "is ours, since we must live according to the convenience of asses!"
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Philip._
"These Macedonians," said he, "are a rude and clownish people, that call a spade a spade."[731-2]
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Philip._
He made one of Antipater's recommendation a judge; and perceiving afterwards that his hair and beard were coloured, he removed him, saying, "I could not think one that was faithless in his hair could be trusty in his deeds."
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Philip._
Being nimble and light-footed, his father encouraged him to run in the Olympic race. "Yes," said he, "if there were any kings there to run with me."
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Alexander._
When Darius offered him ten thousand talents, and to divide Asia equally with him, "I would accept it," said Parmenio, "were I Alexander." "And so truly would I," said Alexander, "if I were Parmenio." But he answered Darius that the earth could not bear two suns, nor Asia two kings.
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Alexander._
When he was wounded with an arrow in the ankle, and many ran to him that were wont to call him a god, he said smiling, "That is blood, as you see, and not, as Homer saith, 'such humour as distils from blessed gods.'"
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Alexander._
Aristodemus, a friend of Antigonus, supposed to be a cook's son, advised him to moderate his gifts and expenses. "Thy words," said he, "Aristodemus, smell of the apron."
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Antigonus I._
Thrasyllus the Cynic begged a drachm of Antigonus. "That," said he, "is too little for a king to give." "Why, then," said the other, "give me a talent." "And that," said he, "is too much for a Cynic (or, for a dog) to receive."
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Antigonus I._
Antagoras the poet was boiling a conger, and Antigonus, coming behind him as he was stirring his skillet, said, "Do you think, Antagoras, that Homer boiled congers when he wrote the deeds of Agamemnon?" Antagoras replied, "Do you think, O king, that Agamemnon, when he did such exploits, was a peeping in his army to see who boiled congers?"
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Antigonus I._
Pyrrhus said, "If I should overcome the Romans in another fight, I were undone."
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Pyrrhus._
Themistocles being asked whether he would rather be Achilles or Homer, said, "Which would you rather be,--a conqueror in the Olympic games, or the crier that proclaims who are conquerors?"
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Themistocles._
He preferred an honest man that wooed his daughter, before a rich man. "I would rather," said Themistocles, "have a man that wants money than money that wants a man."
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Themistocles._
Alcibiades had a very handsome dog, that cost him seven thousand drachmas; and he cut off his tail, "that," said he, "the Athenians may have this story to tell of me, and may concern themselves no further with me."
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Alcibiades._
Being summoned by the Athenians out of Sicily to plead for his life, Alcibiades absconded, saying that that criminal was a fool who studied a defence when he might fly for it.
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Alcibiades._
Lamachus chid a captain for a fault; and when he had said he would do so no more, "Sir," said he, "in war there is no room for a second miscarriage." Said one to Iphicrates, "What are ye afraid of?" "Of all speeches," said he, "none is so dishonourable for a general as 'I should not have thought of it.'"
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Iphicrates._
To Harmodius, descended from the ancient Harmodius, when he reviled Iphicrates [a shoemaker's son] for his mean birth, "My nobility," said he, "begins in me, but yours ends in you."[733-1]
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Iphicrates._
Once when Phocion had delivered an opinion which pleased the people, . . . he turned to his friend and said, "Have I not unawares spoken some mischievous thing or other?"
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Phocion._
Phocion compared the speeches of Leosthenes to cypress-trees. "They are tall," said he, "and comely, but bear no fruit."
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Phocion._
Lycurgus the Lacedaemonian brought long hair into fashion among his countrymen, saying that it rendered those that were handsome more beautiful, and those that were deformed more terrible. To one that advised him to set up a democracy in Sparta, "Pray," said Lycurgus, "do you first set up a democracy in your own house."
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Lycurgus._
King Agis said, "The Lacedaemonians are not wont to ask how many, but where the enemy are."
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Agis._
Lysander said, "Where the lion's skin will not reach, it must be pieced with the fox's."[734-1]
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Lysander._
To one that promised to give him hardy cocks that would die fighting, "Prithee," said Cleomenes, "give me cocks that will kill fighting."
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Cleomenes._
When Eudaemonidas heard a philosopher arguing that only a wise man can be a good general, "This is a wonderful speech," said he; "but he that saith it never heard the sound of trumpets."
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Eudaemonidas._
A soldier told Pelopidas, "We are fallen among the enemies." Said he, "How are we fallen among them more than they among us?"
_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders. Pelopidas._
Cato the elder wondered how that city was preserved wherein a fish was sold for more than an ox.
_Roman Apophthegms. Cato the Elder._
Cato instigated the magistrates to punish all offenders, saying that they that did not prevent crimes when they might, encouraged them.[734-2] Of young men, he liked them that blushed better than those who looked pale.
_Roman Apophthegms. Cato the Elder._
Cato requested old men not to add the disgrace of wickedness to old age, which was accompanied with many other evils.
_Roman Apophthegms. Cato the Elder._
He said they that were serious in ridiculous matters would be ridiculous in serious affairs.
_Roman Apophthegms. Cato the Elder._
Cicero said loud-bawling orators were driven by their weakness to noise, as lame men to take horse.
_Roman Apophthegms. Cicero._
After the battle in Pharsalia, when Pompey was fled, one Nonius said they had seven eagles left still, and advised to try what they would do. "Your advice," said Cicero, "were good if we were to fight jackdaws."
_Roman Apophthegms. Cicero._
After he routed Pharnaces Ponticus at the first assault, he wrote thus to his friends: "I came, I saw, I conquered."[735-1]
_Roman Apophthegms. Caesar._
As Caesar was at supper the discourse was of death,--which sort was the best. "That," said he, "which is unexpected."
_Roman Apophthegms. Caesar._
As Athenodorus was taking his leave of Caesar, "Remember," said he, "Caesar, whenever you are angry, to say or do nothing before you have repeated the four-and-twenty letters to yourself."
_Roman Apophthegms. Caesar Augustus._
"Young men," said Caesar, "hear an old man to whom old men hearkened when he was young."
_Roman Apophthegms. Caesar Augustus._
Remember what Simonides said,--that he never repented that he had held his tongue, but often that he had spoken.[735-2]
_Rules for the Preservation of Health. 7._
Custom is almost a second nature.[735-3]
_Rules for the Preservation of Health. 18._
Epaminondas is reported wittily to have said of a good man that died about the time of the battle of Leuctra, "How came he to have so much leisure as to die, when there was so much stirring?"
_Rules for the Preservation of Health. 25._
Have in readiness this saying of Solon, "But we will not give up our virtue in exchange for their wealth."
_How to profit by our Enemies._
Socrates thought that if all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap, whence every one must take an equal portion, most persons would be contented to take their own and depart.
_Consolation to Apollonius._
Diogenes the Cynic, when a little before his death he fell into a slumber, and his physician rousing him out of it asked him whether anything ailed him, wisely answered, "Nothing, sir; only one brother anticipates another,--Sleep before Death."
_Consolation to Apollonius._
About Pontus there are some creatures of such an extempore being that the whole term of their life is confined within the space of a day; for they are brought forth in the morning, are in the prime of their existence at noon, grow old at night, and then die.
_Consolation to Apollonius._
The measure of a man's life is the well spending of it, and not the length.
_Consolation to Apollonius._
For many, as Cranton tells us, and those very wise men, not now but long ago, have deplored the condition of human nature, esteeming life a punishment, and to be born a man the highest pitch of calamity; this, Aristotle tells us, Silenus declared when he was brought captive to Midas.
_Consolation to Apollonius._
There are two sentences inscribed upon the Delphic oracle, hugely accommodated to the usages of man's life: "Know thyself,"[736-1] and "Nothing too much;" and upon these all other precepts depend.
_Consolation to Apollonius._
To one commending an orator for his skill in amplifying petty matters, Agesilaus said, "I do not think that shoemaker a good workman that makes a great shoe for a little foot."
_Laconic Apophthegms. Of Agesilaus the Great._
"I will show," said Agesilaus, "that it is not the places that grace men, but men the places."
_Laconic Apophthegms. Of Agesilaus the Great._
When one asked him what boys should learn, "That," said he, "which they shall use when men."
_Laconic Apophthegms. Of Agesilaus the Great._
Agesilaus was very fond of his children; and it is reported that once toying with them he got astride upon a reed as upon a horse, and rode about the room; and being seen by one of his friends, he desired him not to speak of it till he had children of his own.
_Laconic Apophthegms. Of Agesilaus the Great._
When Demaratus was asked whether he held his tongue because he was a fool or for want of words, he replied, "A fool cannot hold his tongue."
_Laconic Apophthegms. Of Demaratus._
Lysander, when Dionysius sent him two gowns, and bade him choose which he would carry to his daughter, said, "She can choose best," and so took both away with him.
_Laconic Apophthegms. Of Lysander._
A physician, after he had felt the pulse of Pausanias, and considered his constitution, saying, "He ails nothing," "It is because, sir," he replied, "I use none of your physic."
_Laconic Apophthegms. Of Pausanias the Son of Phistoanax._
And when the physician said, "Sir, you are an old man," "That happens," replied Pausanias, "because you never were my doctor."
_Laconic Apophthegms. Of Pausanias the Son of Phistoanax._
When one told Plistarchus that a notorious railer spoke well of him, "I 'll lay my life," said he, "somebody hath told him I am dead, for he can speak well of no man living."
_Laconic Apophthegms. Of Plistarchus._
Anacharsis said a man's felicity consists not in the outward and visible favours and blessings of Fortune, but in the inward and unseen perfections and riches of the mind.
_The Banquet of the Seven Wise Men. 11._
Said Periander, "Hesiod might as well have kept his breath to cool his pottage."[738-1]
_The Banquet of the Seven Wise Men. 14._
Socrates said, "Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live."[738-2]
_How a Young Man ought to hear Poems. 4._
And Archimedes, as he was washing, thought of a manner of computing the proportion of gold in King Hiero's crown by seeing the water flowing over the bathing-stool. He leaped up as one possessed or inspired, crying, "I have found it! Eureka!"
_Pleasure not attainable according to Epicurus. 11._
Said Scopas of Thessaly, "We rich men count our felicity and happiness to lie in these superfluities, and not in those necessary things."[738-3]
_Of the Love of Wealth._
That proverbial saying, "Ill news goes quick and far."
_Of Inquisitiveness._
A traveller at Sparta, standing long upon one leg, said to a Lacedaemonian, "I do not believe you can do as much." "True," said he, "but every goose can."
_Remarkable Speeches._
Spintharus, speaking in commendation of Epaminondas, says he scarce ever met with any man who knew more and spoke less.
_Of Hearing. 6._
It is a thing of no great difficulty to raise objections against another man's oration,--nay, it is a very easy matter; but to produce a better in its place is a work extremely troublesome.
_Of Hearing. 6._
Antiphanes said merrily, that in a certain city the cold was so intense that words were congealed as soon as spoken, but that after some time they thawed and became audible; so that the words spoken in winter were articulated next summer.[739-1]
_Of Man's Progress in Virtue._
As those persons who despair of ever being rich make little account of small expenses, thinking that little added to a little will never make any great sum.
_Of Man's Progress in Virtue._
What is bigger than an elephant? But this also is become man's plaything, and a spectacle at public solemnities; and it learns to skip, dance, and kneel.
_Of Fortune._
No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune.
_Of Fortune._
Alexander was wont to say, "Were I not Alexander, I would be Diogenes."
_Of the Fortune or Virtue of Alexander the Great._
When the candles are out all women are fair.[739-2]
_Conjugal Precepts._
Like watermen, who look astern while they row the boat ahead.[739-3]
_Whether 't was rightfully said, Live Concealed._
Socrates said he was not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.[739-4]
_Of Banishment._
Anaximander says that men were first produced in fishes, and when they were grown up and able to help themselves were thrown up, and so lived upon the land.
_Symposiacs. Book. viii. Question viii._
Athenodorus says hydrophobia, or water-dread, was first discovered in the time of Asclepiades.
_Symposiacs. Book. viii. Question ix._
Let us not wonder if something happens which never was before, or if something doth not appear among us with which the ancients were acquainted.
_Symposiacs. Book viii. Question ix._
Why does pouring oil on the sea make it clear and calm? Is it for that the winds, slipping the smooth oil, have no force, nor cause any waves?[740-1]
The great god Pan is dead.[740-2]
_Why the Oracles cease to give Answers._
I am whatever was, or is, or will be; and my veil no mortal ever took up.[740-3]
_Of Isis and Osiris._
When Hermodotus in his poems described Antigonus as the son of Helios, "My valet-de-chambre," said he, "is not aware of this."[740-4]
_Of Isis and Osiris._
There is no debt with so much prejudice put off as that of justice.
_Of those whom God is slow to punish._
It is a difficult thing for a man to resist the natural necessity of mortal passions.
_Of those whom God is slow to punish._
He is a fool who lets slip a bird in the hand for a bird in the bush.[740-5]
_Of Garrulity._
We are more sensible of what is done against custom than against Nature.
_Of Eating of Flesh. Tract 1._
When Demosthenes was asked what was the first part of oratory, he answered, "Action;" and which was the second, he replied, "Action;" and which was the third, he still answered, "Action."
_Lives of the Ten Orators._
Xenophon says that there is no sound more pleasing than one's own praises.
_Whether an Aged Man ought to meddle in State Affairs._
Lampis, the sea commander, being asked how he got his wealth, answered, "My greatest estate I gained easily enough, but the smaller slowly and with much labour."
_Whether an Aged Man ought to meddle in State Affairs._
The general himself ought to be such a one as can at the same time see both forward and backward.
_Whether an Aged Man ought to meddle in State Affairs._
Statesmen are not only liable to give an account of what they say or do in public, but there is a busy inquiry made into their very meals, beds, marriages, and every other sportive or serious action.
_Political Precepts._
Leo Byzantius said, "What would you do, if you saw my wife, who scarce reaches up to my knees? . . . Yet," went he on, "as little as we are, when we fall out with each other, the city of Byzantium is not big enough to hold us."
_Political Precepts._
Cato said, "I had rather men should ask why my statue is not set up, than why it is."
_Political Precepts._
It was the saying of Bion, that though the boys throw stones at frogs in sport, yet the frogs do not die in sport but in earnest.[741-1]
_Which are the most crafty, Water or Land Animals? 7._
Both Empedocles and Heraclitus held it for a truth that man could not be altogether cleared from injustice in dealing with beasts as he now does.
_Which are the most crafty, Water or Land Animals? 7._
For to err in opinion, though it be not the part of wise men, is at least human.[742-1]
_Against Colotes._
Simonides calls painting silent poetry, and poetry speaking painting.
_Whether the Athenians were more Warlike or Learned. 3._
As Meander says, "For our mind is God;" and as Heraclitus, "Man's genius is a deity."
_Platonic Questions. i._
Pythagoras, when he was asked what time was, answered that it was the soul of this world.
_Platonic Questions. viii. 4._
FOOTNOTES:
[722-5] See Swift, page 289.
[723-1] "Strike," said he, "but hear me."--_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders._ (_Themistocles._)
[723-2] Diophantus, the young son of Themistocles, made his boast often and in many companies, that whatsoever pleased him pleased also all Athens; for whatever he liked, his mother liked; and whatever his mother liked, Themistocles liked; and whatever Themistocles liked, all the Athenians liked.--_Of the Training of Children._
When the son of Themistocles was a little saucy toward his mother, he said that this boy had more power than all the Grecians; for the Athenians governed Greece, he the Athenians, his wife him, and his son his wife.--_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders._ (_Themistocles._)
[723-3] An obscure island.
[723-4] Themistocles said speech was like to tapestry; and like it, when it was spread it showed its figures, but when it was folded up, hid and spoiled them.--_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders._ (_Themistocles._)
[724-1] See Chaucer, page 3.
[725-1] The pilot telling Antigonus the enemy outnumbered him in ships, he said, "But how many ships do you reckon my presence to be worth?" _Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders._ (_Antigonus II._)
[725-2] The belly has no ears, nor is it to be filled with fair words.--RABELAIS: _book iv. chap. lxvii._
[725-3] See Bacon, page 165.
[725-4] This has been observed in modern times, and attributed to the effect of gunpowder.
[725-5] Or cheat against cheat. The Cretans were famous as liars.
[726-1] 'T is one and the same Nature that rolls on her course, and whoever has sufficiently considered the present state of things might certainly conclude as to both the future and the past.--MONTAIGNE: _Essays, book ii. chap. xii. Apology for Raimond Sebond._
I shall be content if those shall pronounce my History useful who desire to give a view of events as they did really happen, and as they are very likely, in accordance with human nature, to repeat themselves at some future time,--if not exactly the same, yet very similar.--THUCYDIDES: _Historia, i. 2, 2._
What is this day supported by precedents will hereafter become a precedent.--_Ibid., Annals, xi. 24._
[726-2] Agesilaus being exhorted to hear one that imitated the voice of a nightingale, "I have often," said he, "heard nightingales themselves."--_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders._ (_Agesilaus._)
[726-3] See Horace, page 706.
[726-4] See Garrick, page 387.
He [Tiberius] upbraided Macro in no obscure and indirect terms "with forsaking the setting sun and turning to the rising."--TACITUS: _Annals, book iv. c. 47, 20._
[727-1] While Alexander was a boy, Philip had great success in his affairs, at which he did not rejoice, but told the children that were brought up with him, "My father will leave me nothing to do."--_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders._ (_Alexander._)
[727-2] Caesar's wife ought to be free from suspicion.--_Roman Apophthegms._ (_Caesar._)
[727-3] I had rather be the first in this town than second in Rome.--_Ibid._
[727-4] He passed the river Rubicon, saying, "Let every die be thrown."--_Ibid._
[728-1] Caesar said to Metellus, "This, young man, is harder for me to say than do."--_Roman Apophthegms._ (_Caesar._)
[728-2] Trust Fortune, and know that you carry Caesar.--_Ibid._
[728-3] See Shakespeare, page 112.
[728-4] Demosthenes the orator told Phocion, "If the Athenians should be mad, they would kill you." "Like enough," said he,--"me if they were mad, but you if they were wise."--_Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders._ (_Phocion._)
[728-5] See Lyly, page 32.
[729-1] See Spenser, page 30.
[729-2] See Publius Syrus, page 711.
[729-3] See Beaumont and Fletcher, page 198.
[730-1] Set a thief to catch a thief.--BOHN: _A Hand-book of Proverbs._
[730-2] Man in sooth is a marvellous, vain, fickle, and unstable subject.--MONTAIGNE: _Works, book i. chap. i. That Men by various Ways arrive at the same End._
[730-3] See Publius Syrus, page 712.
[731-1] Rejected by some critics as not a genuine work of Plutarch.--EMERSON.
[731-2] Ta syka syka, ten skaphen de skaphen onomazon.--ARISTOPHANES, as quoted in Lucian, Quom. Hist. sit conscrib. 41.
Brought up like a rude Macedon, and taught to call a spade a spade.--GOSSON: _Ephemerides of Phialo_ (1579).
[733-1] I am my own ancestor.--JUNOT, DUC D'ABRANTES (when asked as to his ancestry).
[734-1] Lysander said, "When the lion's skin cannot prevail, a little of the fox's must be used."--_Laconic Apophthegms._ (_Lysander._)
[734-2] Pardon one offence, and you encourage the commission of many.--PUBLIUS SYRUS: _Maxim 750._
[735-1] Veni, vidi, vici.
[735-2] See Publius Syrus, page 714.
[735-3] See "Of Unknown Authorship," page 707. Also Publius Syrus, page 709.
[736-1] See Pope, page 317.
Plutarch ascribes this saying to Plato. It is also ascribed to Pythagoras, Chilo, Thales, Cleobulus, Bias, and Socrates; also to Phemone, a mythical Greek poetess of the ante-Homeric period. Juvenal (Satire xi. 27) says that this precept descended from heaven.
[738-1] Spare your breath to cool your porridge.--RABELAIS: _Works, book v. chap. xxviii._
[738-2] See Fielding, page 363.
He used to say that other men lived to eat, but that he ate to live.--DIOGENES LAERTIUS: _Socrates, xiv._
[738-3] See Holmes, page 637.
[739-1] In the "Adventures of Baron Munchausen" (Rudolphe Erich Raspe), stories gathered from various sources, is found the story of sound being frozen for a time in a post-horn, which when thawed gave a variety of tunes. A somewhat similar account is found in Rabelais, book iv. chaps. lv. lvi., referring to Antiphanes.
[739-2] See Heywood, page 11.
[739-3] See Burton, page 186.
[739-4] See Garrison, page 605.
[740-1] See Pliny, page 717.
[740-2] See Mrs. Browning, page 621.
Plutarch relates (Isis and Osiris) that a ship well laden with passengers drove with the tide near the Isles of Paxi, when a loud voice was heard by most of the passengers calling unto one Thanus. The voice then said aloud to him, "When you are arrived at Palodes, take care to make it known that the great god Pan is dead."
[740-3] I am the things that are, and those that are to be, and those that have been. No one ever lifted my skirts; the fruit which I bore was the sun.--PROCLUS: _On Plato's Timaeus, p. 30 D._ (Inscription in the temple of Neith at Sais, in Egypt.)
[740-4] No man is a hero to his valet-de-chambre.--MARSHAL CATINAT (1637-1712).
Few men have been admired by their domestics.--MONTAIGNE: _Essays,