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 \\E UNIVERS/A vvlOS-ANCElfj>
 
 PROVERBS, 
 
 CHIEFLY TAKEN FROM THE 
 . > . 
 
 ADAGIA OF ERASMUS, 
 
 WITH EXPLANATIONS; 
 
 .AX I) rURTIIEK ILLUSTRATED BY CORRESPONDING 
 EXAMPLES FROM THE 
 
 SPANISH, ITALIAN, FRENCH & ENGLISH 
 LANGUAGES. 
 
 i 
 BY ROBERT BLAND, M.D. F.S.A. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED FOR T. EGERTON, MILITARY LIBRARY, 
 WHITEHALL. 
 
 1814.
 
 London: Printed by C. RowortU, 
 Bell-yaru, Temple-bar^
 
 Stack 
 
 TO 
 
 ^ofo^ 3| 
 JAMES BINDLEY, ESQ. F. s. A. 
 
 COMMISSIONER OF STAMPS. 
 
 AS this Work is indebted to your revisal for 
 much of its correctness, permit me to present 
 to you, in its amended form, what you have 
 so indulgently supported when its imperfec- 
 tions were more numerous. Whether I con- 
 sider you as a friend, whom I most esteem, 
 or as a scholar best acquainted with this my 
 favourite subject, I feel equally happy in an 
 opportunity of thus publicly subscribing 
 myself 
 
 Your obliged 
 
 and obedient Servant, 
 
 ROBERT BLAND. 
 
 Leicester Square, London, 
 January 1st, 1814. 
 
 2028670 ,
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE greater part of the Proverbs contained 
 in these volumes, are taken from the edition 
 of the Adaffia, published by Henry Stevens in 
 the year 1550, in folio; but in the explication 
 of them, it was found to be not unfrequently 
 expedient, to deviate from the plan followed, 
 and from the explanations given in that cele- 
 brated publication. The reason for this will 
 best appear, by giving a short history of that 
 work, and by relating some peculiarities in 
 the life of the author. 
 
 Erasmus, who contributed largely to the 
 restoration of letters in Europe, bestowed no 
 small portion of labour in collecting together, 
 and explaining the proverbs which he found 
 scattered in the early Greek and Roman 
 writers. The first edition of his collection 
 A 3 was
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 was published at Paris, in the year 1500, 
 Erasmus being then thirty-three years of age. 
 As the work was received with avidity, it M'as 
 frequently reprinted in the life time of the 
 author, and each time with additions, until 
 the number of the proverbs exceeded four 
 thousand. 
 
 The credit the work then obtained, has 
 never been diminished ; it still stands unri- 
 valled, and has been the medium through 
 which the greater part of the adages have 
 been introduced into almost every country in 
 Europe. But though they have by this means 
 been introduced into this, and other countries, 
 and many of them so incorporated, as to be 
 in as frequent use, as those that arfe natives, 
 yet they are no where, as far as I know, ac- 
 companied with commentaries, or explanations, 
 similar to those given by Erasmus, although 
 such explanations seem necessary to make 
 them generally understood. 
 
 The brevity and conciseness of proverbs, 
 in which their excellence in a great measure 
 consists, renders them often obscure, and of 
 difficult comprehension, " Siquidem/' Eras- 
 mus
 
 PREFACE. V 
 
 mus says, " Aclagia, ceu gemmul, quod mi- 
 nuta sint, fallunt nonnunquam venantis ocu- 
 los, ni acrius intendas," the latent sense of 
 them, like small sparks of diamonds, not un- 
 frequently escaping the sight, if not diligently 
 sought for, and even when found, he goes on 
 to say, they are of themselves of little beauty, 
 or lustre, deriving the principal part of their 
 value from the manner of setting or using 
 them. 
 
 The method that seems to have been fol- 
 lowed by Erasmus, in making this collection, 
 was to note every adage he met with in the 
 course of his studies, and as the same sentence 
 occurred in different authors, to observe the 
 sense in which it was used by each of them. 
 He was hence enabled to enrich his work with 
 quotations from many of the earliest Greek 
 and Roman writers, and if not to refer each 
 of the adages to its original author, at the 
 least to name the earliest book in which it 
 occurred. Of these quotations, though many 
 of them are of exquisite beauty, and curiosity, 
 but a sparing use has been made in the present 
 collection, the places of them being more 
 A 4 usually
 
 Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 usually supplied by passages from later writers. 
 Similar proverbs are also here frequently given 
 in the Spanish, Italian, French, and English 
 languages. 
 
 It has been before observed, that Erasmus 
 contributed largely to the revival of letters, 
 
 O / * 
 
 but- he was no less assisting in promoting the 
 reformation in religion, \vhich began in his 
 time. The influence the clergy had obtained 
 over the minds of the laity, had made them 
 rich and powerful, which producing their 
 usual effects, idleness and voluptuousness, 
 a very large portion of them had become 
 openly dissolute and profligate. Against these 
 vices, Erasmus was perpetually declaiming, 
 not sparing the higher orders in the church, 
 who were, perhaps, the first in vice, as in 
 dignity. In his humorous and satvrical de- 
 
 35 . ~ 
 
 clamation, Glorias Encomium, or the Praise 
 of Folly ; in his dialogues, and letters, and in 
 his prefaces to his editions of the Works of 
 the Fathers, he lets no opportunity pass, of 
 exposing and censuring the debaucheries and 
 crimes of the monks and the clergy. In the 
 work, the subject of the present dissertation, 
 
 wherever
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 wherever the sense of the adage would bear it, 
 similar strictures are abundantly scattered. 
 
 By these censures so frequently passed on 
 the conduct of the clergy, the minds of the 
 people were prepared to receive the more 
 serious and heavy charges, preferred against 
 them by Luther, of having corrupted and 
 perverted the Scriptures. Hence it was cur- 
 rently said, " that Erasmus laid the egg, con- 
 taining the germ of the Reformation, and 
 Luther hatched it." This gave great offence, 
 and may be reckoned among the reasons why 
 though his works were universally read and 
 admired, and procured him the patronage of 
 persons of the highest rank, who were lavish 
 in their professions of friendship, and fre- 
 quently sent him presents, as testimonies of 
 their attachment, yet he could never obtain 
 from them such preferment, as would make 
 him independent. It must be confessed, as 
 he intimates in one of his letters to his friend 
 Barbirius, that he was of too open a dispo- 
 sition, and apt to give offence by speaking 
 too freely. " Et ut ingenue, quod verum est 
 tfitear," he says, "sum natura propensior ad 
 
 jocos,
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 jocos, quam fortasse deceat, et linguae libe- 
 rioris, quam nonnunquam expediat." 
 
 The enmity these strictures had excited, 
 remained long after his death, " and the di- 
 vines had influence enough with Pope Paul the 
 fourth," Jortin tells us, " to have the Book of 
 Adages condemned. But the Fathers of the 
 Council of Trent, taking into consideration 
 the usefulness of the work, ordered Paul us 
 Manutius to revise it, and strike out every 
 thing that was offensive." This garbled edi- 
 tion was printed at Florence, in 1575, without 
 the name of the author.* Fortunately, the 
 original work had been too often printed, and 
 was too generally disseminated to be by this 
 means suppressed. 
 
 With the censures, however, on the monks 
 and clergy, and with various other strictures, 
 alluding to circumstances which have long 
 ceased to exist, we have no concern. The 
 places of them are here supplied by reflections 
 and observations of a more general nature, 
 and better adapted to the present times. 
 
 * A copy of this edition was sold in the sale of the late 
 Duke of Roxborough's library, in May 1S12, lor .1 -18-0. 
 
 Having
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 Having given this account of the sources 
 whence the adages here treated are taken, it 
 may not be thought improper to add some 
 general observations on the nature of prover- 
 bial sentences. A proverb may be defined, a 
 short figurative expression or sentence, cur- 
 rently used, commending or reproving the 
 person or thing to which it is applied, and 
 often containing some moral precept, or rule, 
 for our conduct in life. Loose as this defini- 
 tion may appear to be, it is not sufficiently so 
 to embrace every form of speech that has been 
 admitted by Erasmus, and our countryman 
 Ray, as proverbs. A few examples may make 
 this more intelligible. A proverb frequently 
 consists with them in a simple comparison. 
 Of this kind are, ' As tall as the monument," 
 "As swift as Achilles," "As crafty as Ulysses," 
 " As cunning as a fox." All that is required in 
 forming this species of adage is, that the per- 
 son or thing used as a comparison be generally 
 known, or reputed ^to possess the property 
 attributed to it. Of another kind, as proceed- 
 ing from observations on the diversities in 
 the dispositions and tempers of men, are 
 
 " Quot
 
 Xll PREFACE. 
 
 " Quot homines tot sentential," many men, 
 many minds. " Parva leves capiunt animos," 
 " Light minds are pleased with trifles," and 
 " Suus cuique mos est." Each man has his 
 peculiarities or manners, by which, in fact, 
 they are not less distinguished from others, 
 than by their faces and figures. Of a higher 
 kind are those containing some moral precept, 
 or rule, for our conduct in life, as, "Feras non 
 culpes quod vitari non potest," what can't be 
 cured must be endured." " Homini ne fidas, 
 nisi cum quo modium salis absumpseris," trust 
 no man until you have eaten a peck of salt 
 with him ; that is, until you have known him 
 so long, that you might have eaten a peck of 
 salt with him. " Mus non fidit uni antro,'' 
 the mouse does not trust to a single passage 
 by which it may escape, if attacked. No 
 man should engage all his property, or so 
 much as might materially injure him, if it 
 should be lost in one vessel, or on a single 
 project; "he should take care to have two 
 strings to his bow." These specimens may be 
 sufficient to shew the nature of proverbial 
 phrases, and in some degree, the kind of elu- 
 cidation here attempted. 
 
 As
 
 PREFACE, Xllt 
 
 As the source whence the adages are taken 
 is shewn to be ample, it may be thought that 
 a much larger collection might have been 
 given than is here produced ; " At boni vena- 
 tons est plures feras capere, non omnes," a 
 good sportsman is not expected to take alt the 
 game he may start. It might not have been 
 difficult, perhaps, had that been thought ex- 
 pedient, to have considerably increased the 
 number ; but short as this collection may ap- 
 pear, there will be found in it, under various 
 heads, observations applying to all the ordi- 
 nary occurrences and situations in life; which 
 will be the more readily listened to, it may be 
 expected, as they contain the sentiments 
 transmitted clown to us from the earliest ages 
 of the most celebrated sages and philosophers. 
 Should it be urged, that many of the observa- 
 tions are such as would occur to every well 
 educated and sensible man, let those to whom 
 they are superfluous pass them over, they 
 were not written for them ; " those who are 
 well need not a physician, but those who are 
 sick :" yet even to them it may not be a matter 
 of total indifference to learn that so many of 
 
 the
 
 XIV PREFACE. 
 
 the adages and forms of speech in daily use 
 among us are derived from the Grecians, and 
 that the origin of them may be traced back 
 
 CJ v 
 
 for two thousand and more years. But should 
 they reject them altogether, the work may 
 still have its utility : the young and inexpe- 
 rienced may find in it that information, which 
 those more advanced in life cannot, or ought 
 not, to want; it may lead them to consult the 
 books from which the quotations are taken, 
 many of them not commonly put into their 
 hands, and to pay more attention than is 
 usually done to the languages of modern 
 Europe, which will be equally pleasant and 
 bene6cial ; and from the present posture of 
 affairs, it may be expected that the countries 
 where they are spoken will be soon opened to 
 us : and though the mass of the people in 
 one of those countries have shewn themselves, 
 in the course of the dreadful revolution that 
 has taken place there, to be so frivolous, in- 
 significant, and mischievous as to promise 
 little advantage from mixing too intimately 
 with them, yet there are not wanting a suffi- 
 cient number of intelligent persons among 
 
 them
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 them to make a communication with them 
 desirable. It may be hoped also that the 
 misery they have for so many years suffered, 
 may have the effect of producing an alteration 
 in their character. No symptom however of 
 such a change, it should be observed, has yet 
 appeared, notwithstanding the losses their 
 country has sustained and the degradation of 
 their ruler: a circumstance which should be 
 well noted here, and prove a caution to our 
 people from flocking over to that country, 
 should the door be again, for a short time, 
 opened, as they did on a former occasion, to 
 their own destruction and to the disgrace of 
 our national character. It should also, and 
 will, it may be expected, lead our people of 
 all ranks to have so much respect for them- 
 selves and regard for the honour of their 
 country, as to shew no slavish servility to. 
 their envoys and ambassadors, that we may 
 not again be insulted with the humiliating 
 spectacle of British subjects harnessed to the 
 chariot of aliens, and I doubt, I must say, of 
 enemies to the country. Had such a scene 
 been acted at Greece or Rome, the parties 
 
 would
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 would never again have been acknowledged 
 as citizens ; they would have been banished, 
 perhaps sold as slaves, or even forfeited their 
 lives. 
 
 Thus far I have endeavoured to shew the 
 reader what he is to expect in these volumes; 
 it may not be so easy, perhaps, satisfactorily 
 to explain, why I have undertaken what seems 
 so alien to my profession ; 
 
 " Tantumne ab re tua est otii tibi, 
 
 Aliena ut cures, ea quae nihil ad te attinent ? ;> 
 
 Have I so much leisure, it may be asked, 
 from my own employment, that I should en- 
 gage in a business which might so much more 
 properly be handled by those whose peculiar 
 duty it is to give lessons in morality ? and yet 
 this may not, on consideration, be deemed 
 totally averse to the business of the physi- 
 cian ; for as many diseases, almost all of the 
 chronic kind, are brought on and perpetuated 
 by irregularity of living and over indulgence 
 of our passions, should any persons on read- 
 ing what is here said on those subjects, con- 
 taining the opinions of the earliest and best 
 writers, be led to correct their vicious habits, 
 
 one
 
 PREFACE. XVI 
 
 one source of those maladies would be cut off, 
 and they would become both less frequent 
 and less fatal. 
 
 It may not be improper, before concluding 
 this address, to apprise the reader, that a de- 
 sign of this kind was once in the contemplation 
 of Dr. Johnson, as appears by the list of works 
 he had proposed undertaking, given by Mr. 
 Boswell at the end of his life. In what man- 
 ner it would have been executed by him can- 
 not be conjectured, doubtless in a way supe- 
 rior to that in which it is treated here; and had 
 it been accomplished, it would have superseded 
 the present attempt : that a writer of his emi- 
 nence had even entertained the idea of 
 such a work, must be thought to give an ad- 
 ditional degree of credit to the design itself. 
 
 No attempt has been made, it will be ob- 
 served, to arrange the proverbs in classes, or 
 even to place them alphabetically. Their 
 number was found to be too inconsiderable 
 for classification ; and as an Index is given, 
 the reader will be enabled to find what he 
 looks for as readily as if they had been placed 
 in alphabetical order. 
 
 b
 
 PROVERBS, 
 
 8$c. $c. #c. 
 
 Amicorum communia omnia. 
 
 AMONG friends all things should be in com- 
 mon. Erasmus thought he could not begin 
 his Collection better than with this apo- 
 thegm, which is of great antiquity, and much 
 celebrated, and for the same reason it is here 
 placed first. Nothing is so frequent in our 
 mouths, nor is any thing less common than 
 such a conjunction of minds as deserves the 
 name of Friendship. " When a friend asks, 
 there is no to-morrow," for he is another self. 
 " Ne ay major espejo, que el amigo viejo." 
 Like a glass he will discover to you your own 
 defects ; and " mas vale buen amigo, que 
 pariente primo," a good friend is better than 
 a near relation. A man, the Italians say, 
 without friends is like a body without a soul. 
 
 */ 
 
 " Chi si trova senz' amici, e come un corpo 
 senz' anima." The French, by a very delicate 
 B phrase, >
 
 ( 2 ) 
 
 phrase, denominate friendship love that is 
 without wings, " L'amitie" est 1'amour sans 
 ailes," meaning that it should be a permanent 
 affection, and not easily to be obliterated. 
 " Ova d'un ora, pane d'un di, vino d'un 
 anno, amico di trenta," that is, eggs of an 
 hour, bread of a day, wine of a year, but a 
 friend of thirty years is best; and " Azeyte, 
 y vino, y amigo antiguo," oil, wine, and 
 friends improve by age. Friendship, Mon- 
 taigne says, " unlike to love, which is 
 weakened by fruition, grows up, thrives, and 
 increases by enjoyment; and being of itself 
 spiritual, the soul is reformed by the practice 
 of it." And according to Sallust, " Idem 
 velle et nolle, ea demum firma amicitia est," 
 to have the same desires and dislikes, to love 
 or hate the same persons, is the surest test of 
 friendship. But instances of such exalted 
 friendship, if they do exist, are very rare. 
 " Tantum ego fucorum, tantum perfidiae in 
 hominum arnicitiis reperio, non in his modo 
 vulgaribus, verurn his quoque quas Pyladeas 
 vocant, ut mihi jam non libeat novarum peri- 
 culum facere" I find so much dissembling, 
 
 says
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 says the good Erasmus, so much perfidy 
 among friends, not only those between whom 
 there subsists only a slight intimacy, but those 
 connected, as it would seem, by the strongest 
 ties of affection, that I have altogether given 
 up the search after such a phenomenon. The 
 same writer, at a more advanced stage of his 
 life, and as the result of long experience, says, 
 " Quin in totum, e6 degenerarunt hominum, 
 mores, ut hodie, cygnus niger, aut corvus al- 
 bus, minus rarus sit avis, quam fidelisamicus." 
 In short, men are become so degenerate, (a 
 complaint that has been made in every age,) 
 that a black swan, or a white crow, are not so 
 rarely to be met with as a faithful friend. 
 And another writer says, " We talk of friend- 
 ship as of a thing that is known, and as we 
 talk of ghosts but who has seen either the one 
 or the other !" " Friendship," Lord Verulam 
 says, " easeth the heart and cleareth the un- 
 derstanding, making clear day in both; partly 
 by giving the purest counsel, apart from our 
 interest and prepossessions, and partly by al- 
 lowing opportunity to discourse; and by that 
 discourse to clear the mind, to recollect the 
 B 2 thoughts,
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 thoughts, to see how they look in words; 
 whereby men attain that highest wisdom, 
 which Dionysius, the Areopagite, saith ' is the 
 daughter of reflection.'" Spenser gives a beau- 
 tiful description of three kinds of affection, to 
 women, to our offspring, and to our friend, 
 and gives the preference to the latter. 
 
 ' For natural affection soon doth cess. 
 And quenched is with Cupid's greater flame ; 
 But faithful friendship doth them both suppress, 
 And them with mastering discipline doth tame, 
 Through thoughts aspiring to eternal fame. 
 For as the soul doth rule the earthly mass, 
 And all the service of the body frame, 
 So love of soul doth love of body pass, 
 No less than purest gold surmounts the meanest brass." 
 
 Ne gustdris quibus nigra est Cauda. 
 
 It is not known who was the Author of 
 this enigmatical sentence, prohibiting to eat 
 what has a black tail ; that which is sweet to 
 the taste, but leaves a sense of bitterness when 
 swallowed. The interpretation seems to be, 
 hold no intimate connection with persons of 
 bad fame, nor do any thing of which you 
 
 may repent on reflection. 
 
 Ne
 
 Ne cumis Dextram injeceris. 
 
 Offer not your hand to any one with whom 
 you may casually associate. This is in fact 
 only an extension of the sense of the first 
 apothegm, by which we were admonished 
 not lightly, or unadvisedly, to admit any one 
 to an intimacy, " for with your hand you 
 should give your heart." " Deligas enim 
 tantum quern diligas," you should chuse as 
 friends only such persons as are worthy of 
 your love, and when you have found such, as 
 Polonius advises his son Laertes, 
 
 " Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel," 
 
 for " amicus est magis necessarius quam ignis 
 et aqua," a friend is more necessary to us than 
 fire and water, without which, we know, we 
 cannot even exist. From a want of making 
 
 O 
 
 this selection, and of being well acquainted 
 with the characters of the persons whom we 
 admit to this intimacy, arises the frequent 
 complaint of the perfidy of friends. " Qui 
 sibi amicus est, scito hunc amicum omnibus 
 esse," he who is a friend to himself is a friend 
 B 3 to
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 to every one to whom he professes to be so. 
 If tli is apothegm of Seneca should not be 
 admitted to its full extent, it will at the least 
 be allowed, that he who is not a friend to him- 
 self, should not be expected to be a friend to 
 any one besides. For how should a man be 
 a friend to strangers, who neglects what is 
 necessary for the comfortable subsistence of 
 himself and family ? In short, to be a friend 
 it is necessary that a man should shew him- 
 self to be a reasonable and a good moral man, 
 fulfilling his duty to God, to his country, and 
 to himself. Such a man, to adopt the lan- 
 guage of Montaigne, " is truly of the cabinet 
 council of the Muses, and has attajned to the 
 height of human wisdom." If these rules in 
 the choice of our friends be followed, few per- 
 sons will have reason to complain of their 
 faithlessness. If it should be said that such 
 characters are rare, it then follows, that there 
 are but few persons with whom we should 
 enter into that close intimacy which is desig- 
 nated by the term friendship. 
 
 Cor
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 Cor ne edito. 
 
 Let not care corrode and gnaw your heart, 
 lest you should fall into a state of despon- 
 dency, and to avenge some disappointment or 
 trouble, throw away all the blessings you en- 
 joy, and with them your life. To this pur- 
 port the Psalmist, " Fret not thyself, lest thou 
 be moved to do evil." " Por mucho madru- 
 gar, no aman6ce mas aina." The Spaniards 
 say, early rising makes it not day the sooner, 
 or too much anxiety and care will not enable 
 you the sooner to obtain your point; and the 
 Italians, " cento carre di pensieri, non paga- 
 ranno un' oncia di debito," an hundred cart- 
 loads of care will not pay an ounce of debt. 
 " Cura facit canos," care brings gray hairs, 
 and " care," we say, " killed the cat." But 
 who is without care, or can escape its fangs ! 
 " Man that is born of a woman is of short con- 
 tinuance, and full of trouble; all his days are 
 sorrow, and his travels grief, his heart also 
 taketh not rest in the night." And " you 
 may as soon," Burton says, " separate weight 
 from lead, heat from fire, moistness from wa- 
 B 4 ter,
 
 ( 8 ) 
 
 ter, and brightness from the sun, as misery, 
 discontent, care, calamity, and danger from 
 man." Such being the state of man, and as 
 we are assured, " that it is as natural for him 
 to suffer, as for sparks to fly upwards," we 
 should bear our afflictions with patience, by 
 which alone the heaviest of them will be in 
 some degree softened, and appeased. " Si 
 gravis brevis, si longus levis." If the pain be 
 very severe, it cannot last ; if it be moderate 
 and of longer duration, it may be borne. 
 " Nullum est malum majus, quam non posse 
 ferre malum,'' no greater misfortune can 
 happen to us, than not to be able to bear 
 misfortune. 
 
 Ignem ne Gladio fodito. 
 
 Do not stir the fire with a sword, do not 
 irritate an angry person; rather endeavour to 
 sooth and appease him, and take some more 
 convenient opportunity for reproof. When 
 no longer under the influence of passion, he 
 may hear and be benefited by your remon- 
 Strances. 
 
 A Fabis
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 A Fabis abstineto. 
 
 Abstain from beans, was an admonition of 
 Pythagoras to his followers; meaning by that 
 to exhort them not to interfere in the election 
 of magistrates, in which, it should seem, there 
 was the same heat and contention, the same 
 violence and confusion as too often occur 
 among us, when persons are elected to places 
 of honour, or profit. The electors among the 
 Athenians were used to poll, or give their 
 suffrages, by putting beans, instead of white 
 or black stones as on other occasions, into a 
 vase placed for the purpose. Pythagoras also 
 admonishes, " when the wind rises, to worship 
 the echo," that is in times of tumult and dis- 
 sension, to retire into the country, the seat of 
 the echo. 
 
 Arctum Aniilum ne gestato. 
 
 Do not wear a ring, or a shoe, we say, that 
 is too tight, which may impede you in walk- 
 ing, or in any other actions. Metaphorically, 
 do not by imprudence waste your property, 
 
 and
 
 and contract debts, which will lead to the loss 
 of your liberty; neither pay so much defe- 
 rence to the opinions of others, as to embrace 
 them implicitly, without first submitting them 
 to a careful examination. Persons who are 
 so tractable are said " to be led by the nose," 
 and of such, artful men do not fail to take 
 advantage. Also, be not ready to bind your- 
 selves by vows, or oaths, to do, or to refrain 
 from any act If the thing be proper in it- 
 self, you will have sufficient incentive to do 
 it, without laying such obligations or restric- 
 tions upon yourself; the necessity for which 
 can only arise from imbecility, or inconstancy 
 of mind, which you should rather endeavour 
 to cure than to indulge. 
 
 Tollenti Onus auxiliare, de.ponenti mquaquam. 
 
 Assist those who are willing to receive in- 
 struction, and aid those who endeavour, but 
 have not strength, to bear the load that is im- 
 posed on them. First put thy shoulder to the 
 wheel, and should thy utmost exertions prove 
 
 inef-
 
 ( 11 ) 
 
 ineffectual, then call upon the Gods, and they 
 will help thee. 
 " But they 're not wishings, or base womanish prayers 
 
 Can draw their aid, but vigilance, counsel, action, 
 
 Which they will be ashamed to forsake. 
 
 Tis sloth they hate, and cowardice." 
 
 " A quien madruga, Dios le ayoucla," the 
 Spaniards say, God assists those who rise early 
 in the morning, that is, those who are indus- 
 trious ; and the French to the same purport, 
 " Aide toi et Dieu t'aidera," help yourself and 
 God will help you. " Industry," we say, " is 
 Fortune's right hand, and frugality her left." 
 
 Qua uncis sunt un^uibus ne nutrias. 
 
 Q 
 
 Do not feed, or take under your roof ani- 
 mals of ferocious and savage dispositions, that 
 have sharp and crooked claws. Do not che- 
 rish a snake in your hosom, or enter into 
 friendship with crafty and deceitful persons. 
 " Otez un vilain du gibet, il vou's y mettra," 
 save a thief from the gallows, and he will cut 
 your throat. " Cria el cuervo, y sacarte ha 
 Jos ojos," breed up a crow and he will tear out 
 
 your
 
 your eyes. Ingratitude and the unyielding 
 bent of nature were typified by the Greeks 
 under the elegant representation of a goat 
 giving suck to the whelp of a wolf, with a 
 subscription, which has been thus rendered. 
 
 " A wolf reluctant with my milk I feed, 
 Obedient to a cruel master's will; 
 By him I nourish'd, soon condemned to bleed, 
 For stubborn nature will be nature still." 
 
 We may add two familiar lines to these, 
 
 " The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long, 
 That she had her head bit off by her young." 
 
 Cibum in Matellam ne immittas. 
 
 * 
 
 " Cast not the children's provision to the 
 dogs." Talk not on moral or religious sub- 
 jects before persons of loose manners, who 
 are disposed to ridicule every thing that is 
 
 grave and serious; neither enter into araru- 
 
 , ' , . . 
 
 ments with persons who are obstinate, or ig- 
 norant; who are either incapable of under- 
 standing, or predetermined not to adopt what 
 you advise. 
 
 Ad
 
 ( 13 ) 
 
 Ad Finem ubi perveneris, ne veils reverti. 
 
 When you have nearly completed any bu- 
 siness in which you are engaged, do not 
 through weariness, or inconstancy, leave it 
 unfinished, but persist to the end ; else all the 
 time, labour, and expense that have been be- 
 stowed upon the work, will be lost, and you 
 will lose your character likewise ; or when 
 you perceive yourself about to die, with pa- 
 tience and courage submit to your fate, and 
 do not weakly and foolishly wish for an ex- 
 tension of your life, in the vain hope that you 
 should live more rationally. " Hell," we say, 
 " is full of good meanings and wishes." 
 
 " O mihi praeteritos referat, si Jupiter annos !" 
 
 You knew that the term of your life was un- 
 certain, and should long since have entered 
 on the course you now propose to beg-in, but 
 which, if the opportunity were given, you 
 would probably neglect as heretofore. 
 
 Adversus
 
 Adversus solem ne loquitor. 
 
 Arguing against what is clear and self-evi- 
 dent, is the same as denying that the sun 
 shines at mid-clay. 
 
 Hirundinem sub eodem tecto ne habeas. 
 
 Take not a swallow under your roof, he 
 only pays his visit in the spring, but when 
 winter, the time of difficulty and hardships, 
 approaches, he is gone. Entertain no one as 
 a friend who seeks only his own advantage by 
 the intimacy he solicits. The proverb is also 
 supposed to intimate that we should not ad- 
 mit chatterers to a familiarity with us, who 
 will be sure to divulge whatsoever they may see 
 or hear in our houses. " Percontatorem fugito, 
 nam garrulus idem est." The swallow only 
 comes, it is said, for his own purpose, and 
 having produced and brought up its young, 
 leaves us, without making any beneficial re- 
 turn for the entertainment it has received. 
 Though it is probable that by devouring my- 
 riads of insects, which would have destroyed 
 
 our
 
 ( 15 ) 
 
 our fruit, they pay us abundantly for the sub- 
 sistence afforded them. 
 
 In Anulo Deifguram nc gestato. 
 
 Do not wear the figure or image of the 
 Deity in a ring: that is, do not introduce the 
 name of the Deity in your frivolous and idle 
 conversation, or call upon him to attest the 
 truth of any assertions, except such as are of 
 a grave and serious nature; still less make it 
 the subject of your senseless and impertinent 
 oaths. 
 
 Non bene imperat, nisi qui paruerit imperio. 
 
 Men are rarely fit to command, who have 
 not been accustomed to obey. Children 
 brought up too indulgently neither become 
 agreeable companions, nor good masters. Ac- 
 customed to find every one bending to their 
 humours, and to have all their wishes grati- 
 fied, they are ill qualified to mix with the 
 world, and to encounter the thousand cross 
 
 acci-
 
 accidents, which every one, whatever may be 
 their rank, will be sure to meet with. Every 
 opposition to their will irritates, and every 
 accident appals them. One of the strongest 
 arguments in favour of our public schools is, 
 that boys must there obey, before they are 
 allowed to command. The proverb also in- 
 timates, that no one is fit to govern others, 
 who has not obtained a command over his 
 own passions and affections. 
 
 Inter Malleum et Incudem. 
 
 I am between the hammer and .the anvil, 
 I am so surrounded with evils, that I see no 
 way of escaping, may be said by any one who 
 has so involved and entangled himself in a 
 business, that he must be a loser, whether he 
 goes on or retreats. 
 
 Res in Car dine est. 
 
 The business is on the hinge : it is in that 
 state that it must now, one way or the other, 
 
 be
 
 ( 17 ) 
 
 be soon terminated, alluding to a door, which, 
 hanging on its hinges, may be shut or opened 
 by a very slight impulse. We also say the 
 business hinges (turns) on such a circum- 
 stance ; if that be made out, it will end suc- 
 cessfully, if not it will fail. 
 
 Res indicabit. 
 
 It will be shewn by the event: we shall 
 thence learn whether what has been stated be 
 the real truth. 
 
 Novacula in Cot em. 
 
 " He has met with his match ;" the person 
 he attacked has proved too strong for him, 
 and " he is come off second best," as the 
 razor, instead of injuring the stone, was itself 
 destroyed. 
 
 " et fragili quaerens illidere dentem, 
 
 Offendet solido." 
 
 Or as the viper, who, attempting to gnaw a 
 file which he had found, wounded his own 
 mouth, but left the file unhurt. 
 
 c Sero
 
 ( is ; 
 
 Sero sapiunt Phryges. 
 
 The Trojans became wise too late ; they 
 only came to their senses, when their city was 
 on the eve of being taken. Exhausted by a 
 war of ten years, they then began to consult 
 about restoring Helen, on whose account the 
 contest had been undertaken. The adage is 
 applied to persons, who do not see the advan- 
 tage of any measure or precaution until it is 
 too late to adopt it, and is similar to, " when 
 the steed is stolen, we shut the stable door," 
 and to the following of the Italians, and the 
 French, " Serrar la stalla quando s' ban per- 
 duti i buovi." "II est terns de fermer 1'^table 
 quand les chevaux en sont alleV' 
 
 Malo accepto stultus sapit. 
 
 " Experience is the mistress of fools," and 
 "the burnt child," M'e say, "dreads the fire." 
 Some men are only to be made cautious by 
 their own experience, they must suffer before 
 they will be wary. 
 
 - Piscator
 
 ( 19 ) 
 
 Piscator ictus sapiet. 
 
 A fisherman, putting his hand hastily into 
 his net, M'as wounded by the thorns on the 
 backs of some of the fish; being thus caught, 
 he said, I shall now become wiser : which is 
 said to have given rise to the adage. "Bought 
 wit," we say, "is best;" it will certainly be more 
 likely to be remembered, than that which is 
 obtained without suffering some kind of loss 
 or inconvenience. Hence also we say, " wit 
 once bought, is worth twice taught." "El 
 hombre mancebo, perdiendo gana seso," by 
 losses and disappointment young men acquire 
 knowledge. 
 
 Manus manumfricat. 
 
 " Una mano lava la otra." " One good 
 turn deserves another." But this phrase is 
 more commonly applied where two persons 
 bespatter each other with fulsome and un- 
 deserved compliments. " Scratch my breech, 
 and I will claw your elbow." 
 
 Ne sus Minervam. 
 
 Persons pretending to instruct those who 
 
 are qualified to be their masters, or to inform 
 
 c 2 others
 
 ( 20 ) 
 
 others in matters of which they are themselves 
 ignorant, fall under the censure of this adage; 
 their conduct being as ridiculous as would be 
 that of a sow who should presume to attempt 
 to teach wisdom. Our clowns, not very de- 
 licately, tell you, " not to teach your gran- 
 dames to suck eggs," for, " a bove majori 
 discit arare minor," the young ox learns to 
 plow from the elder, not the elder from the 
 young, and "El Diablo saba mucho," the 
 Spaniards say, "porque es viejo," the devil 
 knows a great deal, for he is old. 
 
 Irwitd Minervd- 
 
 Cutting against the grain. When any one 
 attempts what he is totally unqualified for, he 
 may be said to be labouring without the 
 assistance of Minerva, the reputed goddess 
 of wisdom, " natura repugnante, " against 
 nature. " Quam quisque ndrit artem, in hac 
 se exerceat," let every one confine himself to 
 the art in which he has been instructed, or 
 which he has particularly studied. "In 
 casa del Moro no babies Algaravia." Do not 
 
 speak
 
 ( 21 ) 
 
 speak Arabic in the house of a Moor, lest, 
 instead of gaining credit, you only expose 
 your ignorance. 
 
 Ne Sutor ultra crepidam. 
 
 "The shoemaker should not go beyond his 
 last." Men should not attempt what they 
 are neither by education nor genius qualified 
 to perform, nor discourse on matters they do 
 not understand; they will be listened to with 
 no more attention than would be given to a 
 blind man discoursing on colours. " Cada 
 qual liable* en lo que sabe," let every one 
 talk of what he understands. A shoemaker 
 having suggested to Apelles an error in the 
 form of a shoe he had painted, the artist, 
 readily taking the hint, altered the picture in 
 that part. But when the same shoemaker was 
 proceeding to recommend alterations in the 
 form and disposition of the limbs of the figure, 
 he received the rebuke, \vhich thence be- 
 came proverbial, "The shoemaker should not 
 meddle beyond his last. " " Defienda me 
 Dios de my." God defend me from myself, 
 c 3 the
 
 ( 22 ) 
 
 the Spaniards say, make me to know what i s 
 my proper state and condition. 
 
 Par Pari referre. 
 
 "Tal por tal," like for like, or "One 
 good turn deserves another." If this has 
 in all ages been esteemed a duty, in our 
 commerce with persons who are indifferent 
 to us, we are in a particular manner called 
 upon to observe it, in our conduct to our 
 parents, and to make the best return in 
 our power, for their care in nourishing and 
 supporting us in our infancy ; for imbuing 
 our minds with good principles; for cultivat- 
 ing and improving our understandings, and 
 thereby enabling us to support ourselves in a 
 mature age, and to fill with credit that rank, 
 or situation in life, in which we .may happen 
 to be placed. The vine dresser, whom King 
 Henry the Fourth of France is said to have 
 met with in his rambles, seems to have un- 
 derstood and practised this duty, in a me- 
 ritorious manner. " Having said, lie earned 
 forty sous a day, the king demanded in what 
 manner he disposed of the money. He 
 
 divided
 
 ( 23 ) 
 
 divided his earnings, he told the monarch, 
 into four parts. With the first he nourished 
 himself; with the second he paid his debts; 
 the third he laid out at interest, and the 
 fourth he threw away. This not being in- 
 telligible, the king desired an explanation. 
 You observe, Sir, says the man, that I begin 
 with applying the first part to my own main- 
 tenance, with the second I support my parents 
 who nourished me, when I was incapable of 
 supporting myself, and so pay my debt of 
 gratitude; with the third I maintain my 
 children, who may at some future time be 
 called upon to return the like service to me ; 
 this part therefore is laid out at interest ; 
 the fourth is paid in taxes, which, though 
 intended for the service of the king, is prin- 
 cipally swallowed up by the collectors, and 
 therefore may be said to be thrown away." 
 
 Something similar to the reasoning of this 
 good man, is contained in the following enig- 
 matical epitaph, which was inscribed on the 
 tombstone of Robert of Doncaster. 
 
 " What I gave, that I have ; 
 What I spent, that I had ; 
 What I left, that I lost." 
 
 c 4 By
 
 ( 24 ) 
 
 By prudence in the distribution of his 
 benevolence, by giving only to good and 
 deserving persons, he procured to himself 
 friends, on whose advice and assistance he 
 might depend, whenever occasion should re- 
 quire it ; and by expending only what he 
 could conveniently spare, and laying it out 
 on such things as administered to his comfort, 
 he enjoyed, and therefore had what he ex- 
 pended ; but what he left, not being enjoyed 
 by himself, nor going, perhaps, to persons of 
 his choice, or being used in the manner he 
 would have preferred, that portion might be 
 truly said to be lost. 
 
 In Vado esse. In Portu navigare. 
 
 The ship has escaped the threatened danger 
 and is arrived safely in port. The adage is 
 applied to any one who has overcome some 
 difficulty, with which he had been oppressed, 
 and from which there seemed little chance of 
 his being able to escape. 
 
 \ 
 
 Toto
 
 ( 25 ) 
 
 Toto Ccelo errare. 
 
 " To shoot beyond the mark," to be entirely 
 out in our conjecture, or opinion, on any 
 business; to mistake the meaning of any 
 passage in a work, or of what had been said, 
 were typified by the ancients, by this and 
 similar phrases, meaning, You are as far from 
 the right, as the east is from the west. 
 
 Turdus ipse sibi malum cacat. 
 
 " The Thrush when he defiles the bough, 
 Sows for himself the seeds of woe." 
 
 Men of over communicative dispositions, 
 who divulge what may by their adversaries 
 be turned to their disadvantage, may be com- 
 pared to the thrush, who is said to sow, with 
 his excrements, the seeds of the misletoe on 
 which it feeds. From the bark of the misletoe 
 bird-lime is made, with which the thrush, as 
 well as other birds, are not unfrequently taken. 
 The eagle that had been shot, was doubly dis- 
 tressed on discerning that the arrow which 
 inflicted the wound, was winged with a feather 
 of his own.
 
 ( 26 ) 
 
 Suojumento malum accersere. 
 
 He hath brought this mischief upon himself. 
 "He hath pulled an old house about his ears." 
 Why would he interfere in a business in which 
 he had no concern ? He should have remem- 
 bered that, " He that meddleth with strife 
 that doth not belong to him, is like one that 
 taketh a mad dog by the ear." 
 
 Comix Scorpium rapuit. 
 The crow seizing on a scorpion, and think- 
 ing he had got a delicate morsel, was stung to 
 death. The adage is applicable to persons, 
 who, meditating mischief to others, find the 
 evil recoil upon themselves with redoubled 
 force. 
 
 Irritare Crabones. 
 
 " You have brought a nest of hornets about 
 your ears," may be applied to persons who 
 have engaged in dispute with men of greater 
 rank or power than themselves ; or who have 
 undertaken any business beyond their ability 
 to execute, and from which they cannot ex- 
 tricate
 
 ( 27 ) 
 
 tricate themselves without loss. To the same 
 purport is 
 
 Leonem stimulas. 
 
 Why awake the lion who may tear you in 
 pieces ? and the following 
 
 Malum bene conditum ne moveris. 
 
 When you have escaped an injury, or when 
 any dispute or contest in which you were en- 
 gaged is compromised, and settled, do nothing 
 that may revive it, you may not come off a 
 second time so well. " Non destare il can 
 che dorme," the Italians say, do not wake a 
 sleeping dog. And the French, 
 
 " N'as tu pas tort, de reveiller le chat qui 
 dort?" were you not wrong to wake the cat 
 that was sleeping? or, " Quando la mala ven- 
 tura se duerme, nadie la despierte," when 
 sorrow is asleep, do not wake it." 
 
 Bonis, vel mails Avibus. 
 
 With good or evil omens. You began the 
 business under favourable, or unfavourable 
 auspices, or under a fortunate or unfortunate 
 star. The Greeks and Romans frequently 
 
 formed
 
 ( 28 ) 
 
 formed their opinion of the success of any 
 enterprize in which they were about to engage, 
 from the flight, or from the chattering, or 
 singing of birds. The Augur, whose office it 
 was to expound to the people the meaning of 
 the omens, is supposed to have derived the 
 name, or title of the office, from avis gar- 
 ritus, the chattering of birds. Our country- 
 man, Churchill, has ridiculed this superstition 
 with much humour. 
 
 " Among the Romans not a bird, 
 Without a prophecy was heajrd ; 
 Fortunes of empires ofitimes hung 
 On the magician magpye's tongue, 
 And every crow was to the state, 
 A sure interpreter of fate. 
 Prophets embodied in a college, 
 (Time out of mind your seats of knowledge,) 
 Infallible accounts would keep, 
 When it was best to watch or sleep, 
 To eat, or drink, to go, or stay, 
 And when to fight, or run away, 
 When matters were for action ripe, 
 By l&oking at a double tripe; 
 When emperors would live or die, 
 They in an asses skull could spy; 
 When generals would their stations keep, 
 Orturn their backs in hearts of sheep." THEGHOST. 
 
 Some
 
 ( 29 ; 
 
 Some vestiges of this superstition are still 
 to be found in this country, and many of our 
 fanners' wives would be disconcerted at hear- 
 ing the croaking of a raven, at the moment 
 they were setting out on a journey, whether 
 of business, or of pleasure. The following 
 lines from Walker's Epictetus are introduced, 
 to shew that though the vulgar, in the early 
 ages, might believe in these fooleries, yet there 
 were not wanting then, as well as now, persons 
 who were able to ridicule and despise them. 
 
 *' The direful raven's, or the night owl's voice, 
 Frightens the neighbourhood with boding noise - r 
 While each believes the knowing bird portends 
 Sure death, or to himself, or friends ; 
 Though all that the nocturnal prophet knows, 
 Is want of food, which he by whooting shews." 
 
 Epictetus is supposed to have lived in the 
 time of the Emperor Nero, more than 1700 
 years ago. 
 
 Noctua volavit. 
 
 An owl flew by us, it is a fortunate omen, 
 our project will succeed, or we shall hear 
 good news from our friends. The raven, on 
 
 the
 
 ( 30 ) 
 
 the contrary, was considered as a bird of ill 
 omen, and its appearance was supposed to 
 predict evil. 
 
 " That raven on yon left hand oak, 
 Curse on his ill foreboding croak, 
 Bodes me no good." 
 
 The owl was in a particular manner reve- 
 renced by the Athenians, as it was the favoured 
 bird of Minerva, their patroness. When Pe- 
 ricles was haranguing his men on board one 
 of his vessels, who had mutinied, an owl, flying 
 by on the right hand, is said to have settled 
 on the mast of the ship, .and the men observ- 
 ing the omen were immediately pacified, and 
 came into his opinion. 
 
 The phrase, noctua volavit, was also some- 
 times used to intimate that any advantage 
 obtained was procured by bribery, by giving 
 money on which the figure of an owl was 
 impressed, such coin being common among 
 the Athenians. 
 
 Quartd Luna nati. 
 
 Born in the fourth moon. Persons who 
 were peculiarly unfortunate, scarcely any 
 
 thing
 
 ( 31 ) 
 
 thing succeeding to their minds, were said to 
 be born in the fourth moon, that being the 
 month in which Hercules was born, whose 
 labours, though beneficial to the world, were 
 productive of little advantage to himself. 
 The Spaniards say, " En hora mala nace, 
 quien mala fama cobra," he was born under 
 an unlucky planet, or in an evil hour, who 
 gets an ill name. The contrary to this, but 
 equally the child of superstition, is 
 
 Alba GalllncE Films. 
 
 " Hijo de la Gallina blanca." 
 
 Born of a white hen. This was said of 
 persons who were extremely fortunate; who 
 were successful in whatever they undertook; 
 " who were born," as we say, " with a silver 
 spoon in their mouth." The following is 
 related by Suetonius, as giving origin to this 
 adage. When Livia, the wife of Augustus 
 Cssar, was at one of her country seats, an 
 eagle flying over the place, dropped a white 
 hen, holding a sprig of laurel in its beak, into 
 her lap. The empress was so pleased with the 
 adventure, that she ordered the hen to be 
 taken care of, and the laurel to be set in the 
 
 garden-
 
 ( 32 ) 
 
 garden. The hen, we are told, proved un- 
 usually prolific, and the laurel was equally 
 thrifty ; and as there was thought to be some- 
 thing supernatural in its preservation, branches 
 from it continued long to be used by succeed- 
 ing emperors, in their triumphs. " En hora 
 buena nace, quien buena fama cobra." He 
 that gets a good name, was born under a 
 fortunate planet, or in a lucky hour. 
 
 Laureum baculum gesto. 
 
 I am always armed with a sprig of laurel, 
 was said by persons who had unexpectedly 
 escaped from any threatened danger. The 
 laurel was thought by the ancients to be an 
 antidote against poison, and to afford security 
 against lightning. On account of these sup- 
 posed properties, Tiberius Ceesar is said to 
 have constantly worn a branch of laurel 
 around his head. Laurel water was prescribed 
 by the ancient physicians, in the cure of those 
 fits to which children are subjected. It was, 
 therefore, until within a very few years, always 
 found in the shops of the apothecaries. Later 
 
 experience
 
 < 33 ) 
 
 experience has shewn, that the distilled water 
 of the laurel leaf, when strongly impregnated, 
 is a powerful and deadly poison. It was with 
 this preparation that Captain Donellan killed 
 Sir Theodosius Baughton. The opinion of 
 the power of the laurel in preserving against 
 lightning, rests on no better foundation than 
 that of its efficacy in preventing the effects of 
 poison, or in curing epilepsy. 
 
 A horse-shoe nailed on the threshold of the 
 door, was supposed by the common people in 
 this country, to preserve the house from the 
 effects of witchcraft, and it is still in repute 
 among our sailors, who nail a horse-shoe to 
 the mast, with a view of preserving the vessel 
 from such evil influence. 
 
 Fcsnum habet in Cornu, longefuge. 
 
 Fly from that man, he has hay on his horns. 
 This is said of persons of morose, quarrelsome, 
 and malevolent dispositions, with whom it is 
 dangerous to associate; alluding to the custom 
 of fixing whisps of hay to the horns of vicious 
 oxen. " Hie est niger, hunc tu, Romane, ca- 
 D veto.'"
 
 ( 34 ) 
 
 veto." This is a dangerous fellow, beware of 
 him. 
 
 Polypi mentem obtine. 
 
 Imitate the polypus. Change your plan 
 of living according to circumstances, accom- 
 modate yourself to the dispositions of the 
 persons with whom you are to live, or to form 
 any intimate connection. " Become all things 
 to all men." Brutus, that he might escape the 
 malignancy of Tarquin, who had destroyed his 
 father, and his brother, assumed the character 
 of idiotcy, whence he obtained his name. His 
 stratagem succeeded, no mischief being to be 
 apprehended, as Tarquin supposed, from so 
 degraded a being. He was therefore suffered 
 to live, and in time became principally instru- 
 mental in freeing his country from the tyranny 
 of the Tarquins, and in laying the foundation 
 of a popular form of government, which con- 
 tinued upwards of 700 years. The proverb 
 took its rise from a supposed power of the 
 polypus of assuming the colour of any sub- 
 stance to which it adheres. When pursued 
 
 it
 
 ( 35 ) 
 
 it clings to the rocks, and taking the same 
 colour, often escapes unnoticed. 
 
 Multaz Regum Aures atque. Oculi. 
 
 "An nescis longas Regibus esse Manus ?" 
 
 " Kings," we say, " have long arms," they 
 have also many eyes and ears, that is, they use 
 the ministry of their many servants and de- 
 pendents, hoth to discover what is done that 
 may be prejudicial to their interest, and to 
 punish the delinquents, whose crimes may hy 
 these means have been detected, though seated 
 at the extremities of their dominions. Hence 
 we say, by way of caution, to persons speak- 
 ing too freely, on subjects that may give 
 offence, do you not know that " Les murs ont 
 des oreilles?" "Walls have ears." This senti- 
 ment is beautifully expressed in the Eccle- 
 siastes " Curse not the king, no not in thy 
 thought, and curse not the rich, in thy bed- 
 chamber, for a bird of the air shall carry thy 
 voice, and that which hath wings, shall tell 
 the matter." 
 
 The number of spies and emissaries em- 
 ployed by Midas, king of Phrygia, who was a 
 D 2 cruel
 
 ( 36 ) 
 
 cruel tyrant, gave occasion to the fable of 
 that prince's having asses ears. Antoninus 
 Caracalla, a monster in wickedness, and 
 therefore full of suspicion, not only was 
 frequent in his application to augurs, and 
 soothsayers, in the hope that by their means 
 he might discover whether any designs were 
 hatching against his life, but he made it a 
 serious complaint against Providence, that he 
 was not endowed with the faculty of hearing 
 with his own ears, whatever was said of him : 
 so impotent is the influence of wealth or 
 minence, in imparting happiness to the pos- 
 sessor, unless, like Titus, he employs them in 
 cliff using blessings among the people. " Paredes 
 tienen oyclos," et "Tras pared, ni tras seto no 
 digas tu secreto." Walls haVe ears, and behind 
 a wall or a hedge do not tell a secret. 
 
 Malo N~odo mains qu&re.ndus Cuneus. 
 A tough and harsh knot, is not to be at- 
 tempted to be cut by a fine tool ; it can only 
 be overcome by the application of a strong 
 wedge. Great difficulties or diseases are not 
 ordinarily subdued, but by powerful remedies, 
 
 which
 
 ( 37 ) 
 
 which may not be applied, perhaps, without 
 some degree of clanger. The adage also in- 
 timates, that in repelling injuries, we may use 
 weapons, or means, similar to those with which 
 we have been attacked. Craft and cunning 
 may therefore be properly had recourse to, in 
 opposing the machinations of the malevolent, 
 and unjust. A horse perceiving that a lion 
 was endeavouring by pretending to be skilful 
 in medicine to entice him into his power, in 
 order to destroy him, asked him to look at a 
 swelling which he affected to have in his foot, 
 and the lion preparing to examine the part, 
 the horse gave him so violent a stroke with 
 his heels, as laid him sprawling on the ground- 
 The adage also means, that a lesser evil is 
 sometimes obliterated by a greater, and one 
 passion or affection of the rnind by another. 
 
 " Even as one heat another heat expels, 
 
 Or as one nail by strength drives out another, 
 So the remembrance of my former love, 
 Is by another object quite forgotten." 
 
 Oleum Camino addere. 
 " Jetter de 1'huile sur le feu," to add fuel 
 to the fire; irritating instead of appeasing the 
 D 3 enraged
 
 ( 38 ) 
 
 enraged passions. Giving wine to young 
 persons, whose blood is ordinarily too hot, is 
 "adding fuel to the fire." 
 
 Ululas Athenas portas. 
 The owl was a favoured bird among the 
 Athenians, and so abounded, that sending 
 owls to Athens, was like " carrying water to 
 the sea," or, "coals to Newcastle." It was, 
 according to the Spanish phrase, " Vender 
 miel al Colmenaro," offering honey to one 
 who had bee-hives ; " Croesi pecuniar ter 
 unciam addere," or adding a farthing to the 
 wealth of Croesus, esteemed in his time, the 
 richest monarch in the world. The adage is 
 also applicable to persons telling as news what 
 is generally known, or offering to instruct 
 any one in arts, with which he is well ac- 
 quainted. Making presents to the rich, and 
 'neglecting friends or relations, to whom such 
 assistance might be beneficial, are acts falling 
 also under the censure of this proverb. 
 
 Suum cuique pulchrum. 
 M*e each of us think, that whatever we 
 
 possess,
 
 ( 39 ) 
 
 possess, whether children, horses, dogs, houses, 
 or any other things, are better than those of 
 our neighbours, " all our geese are swans." 
 Or, as a common adage has it, " Every crow 
 thinks her own bird fair." This disposition, 
 when not carried to excess, is rather to be 
 encouraged than reproved, as tending to make 
 us contented and happy, in our situations; 
 indulged too much, it occasions our becoming 
 dupes to sycophants and flatterers. None fall 
 so easily under the influence of this prejudice, 
 as poets, orators, and artisans, who are gene- 
 rally as much enamoured with their own pro- 
 ductions, as lovers are with the charms of their 
 mistresses. "Nemo unquam, neque poeta, 
 neque orator fuit, qui quenquam meliorem se 
 arbitraretur," there never was poet, or orator, 
 Cicero says, who thought any other superior 
 to himself in his art, nor any lover who did 
 not find more beauty in his mistress than in 
 any other woman. 
 
 Patrice. Fumus Igni alieno luculentior. 
 Even the smoke of our own chimney shines 
 brighter than the fire of a stranger's, for 
 D 4 "Home
 
 ( 40 ) 
 
 c; Home is home, though ever so homely." 
 " Bos alienus subinde prospectat foras," the 
 strange ox frequently looks to the door, ready 
 to return to the home, whence he has been 
 lately taken ; and we know that dogs can 
 scarcely, by any kindness, be prevented from 
 returning to the houses of their old masters. 
 " Chaque oiseau trouve son nid bien," the 
 French say; and the Italians, "Adogniuccello, 
 il suo nido e bello," every bird prefers his 
 own nest. 
 
 As a comparatively small portion only of 
 mankind can inhabit the temperate regions of 
 the earth, or can acquire a larger portion of 
 the goods of fortune, than are necessary for 
 their subsistence, if this disposition to be 
 contented with, and even to give a prefer- 
 ence to our native soil, and our home, had 
 not been implanted in us by Providence, 
 the misery and distress, already so abundant 
 in the world, would have been greatly in- 
 creased. But we often carry this affection 
 too far, and are thence led, not only to prefer 
 our own possessions, as was noticed under the 
 last adage, but to think too cheaply of, or 
 
 even
 
 C 41 ) 
 
 even to despise those of our neighbours. 
 This sort of prejudice is most seen in neigh- 
 bouring countries, and cannot be better illus- 
 trated than by adverting to the contemptuous 
 expressions used by the common people of 
 this country when speaking of France, which, 
 though one of the most fertile countries in 
 the world, they seem to think that it scarcely 
 produces sufficient for the sustenance of its 
 inhabitants. This amor patrise is well de- 
 scribed by Goldsmith in the following lines 
 in his Traveller. 
 
 " The shuddering tenant of the frigid zone, 
 Boldly proclaims the happiest spot his own. 
 Extols the treasures of his stormy seas, 
 And his long night of revelry and ease. 
 The naked savage panting at the line, 
 Boasts of his golden sands, and palmy wine, 
 Basks in the glare, or stems the tepid wave, 
 And thanks his Gods for all the good they gave,, 
 Nor less the patriot's boast, where'er we roam, 
 His first, best country ever is at home." 
 
 The reader may not be displeased at seeing 
 the following on the same subject. 
 
 " Cling to your home, if there the meanest shed, 
 Yield but a hearth and shelter to your head, 
 
 And
 
 ( 42 ) 
 
 And some poor plot, with fruitage scantly stored, 
 Be all that Heaven allots you for your board ; 
 Unsavoured bread, and herbs that scattered grow, 
 Wild on the river's brink, or mountain's brow ; 
 Yet e'en this c-heerless mansion shall provide, 
 More heart's repose, than all the world beside." 
 
 Tales and Poems bij the. Rev. R. BLAND, p. 81. 
 
 Frons Occipitio prior. 
 
 By this enigmatical expression, that the 
 forehead in which the eyes are placed, pre- 
 cedes the hind-head ; the ancients meant to 
 shew, that all business may be expected to be 
 best performed, if attended to by the persons 
 who are to be benefited by it. A philosopher 
 being asked by his neighbour, what would 
 best fatten his horse ? answered " the eyes of 
 its master," as his presence would make his 
 fields most fertile and productive, the foot of 
 the owner being the best manure for his land. 
 "Quando en casa no esta el gato, estiendese 
 el raton," that is, "When the cat is away, the 
 mice will play." T. Livius, on the same sub- 
 ject, says, "Non satis feliciter solere procedere, 
 quse oculis agas alienis," that business is not 
 
 likely
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 likely to go on well, which is committed to 
 the management of strangers. The Italians, 
 French, and Spaniards, as well as ourselves, 
 have adopted the answer given by the philo- 
 sopher, among their proverbs, viz. " L'occhio 
 del Padrone, ingrassa il cavallo." It. " L'ceil 
 du maitre engraisse le cheval." Fr. "Elojo 
 del amo engorda el caballo."Sp. that is, "The 
 eye of the master makes the horse fat." A 
 lusty man riding on a lean and sorry jade, 
 being asked how it happened that he looked 
 so well, and his horse so ill, said, it was because 
 he provided for himself, but his servant had 
 the care of the beast. 
 
 The word "prior" in the adage, is used in 
 the sense of potior, or melior, better. 
 
 JEqualis lEqualem delect at, and 
 Simile gaudet simili. 
 
 "Like to like." Hence we see persons of 
 similar dispositions, habits, and years, and 
 pursuing the same studies, usually congre- 
 gating together, as most able to assist each 
 other in their pursuits. " Ogni simile appe- 
 
 tisce
 
 ( 44 ) 
 
 tisce il suo simile," every man endeavours 
 to associate with those who are like himself. 
 "Chacun aime son semblable," Fr. and which 
 is nearly the same, " Cada uno busca a su 
 semejante." Sp. The contrary to this is, 
 
 Fig u I us Figitlo invidet, Faber Fabro. 
 
 " Two of a trade can never agree," each 
 of them fearing to be excelled by his rival. 
 This passion might be turned to their mutual 
 advantage, if they should be thence induced 
 to labour to excel each other in their art. It 
 would then become, " Cos ingeniorum," a 
 whetstone to their wit. But it more often 
 expends itself in envying and endeavouring 
 to depress their rivals. 
 
 " The potter hates another of the trade, 
 If by his hands a finer dish is made; 
 The smith, his brother smith with scorn doth treaf, 
 If he his iron strikes with brisker heat." 
 
 " Etiam mendicus mendico invidet." 
 " It is one beggar's woe, 
 
 To see another by the door go." 
 
 The passion is found also among animals, 
 " Canes socium in culina nullum amant," or 
 11 Una dooms non alit.duos canes," the dog 
 
 will
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 will have no companion in the kitchen, anH" 
 "Monscum monte non miscebitur," two proud 
 and haughty persons are seldom found toagree. 
 
 Principium Dimidium totius, or 
 Dimidium Facti, qui bene cepit, habet. 
 
 " A work well begun is half clone," which 
 has also been adopted by the Spaniards, the 
 Italians, and the French. " Buen principio la 
 mitad es hecho." Sp. "Chi ben commencia a 
 la meta dell' opra finito." It. " II est bien 
 avanc6, qui a bien commence*," he has made 
 good progress in a business, who has begun it 
 well. We often find great reluctance, and 
 have much difficulty, in bringing ourselves 
 to set about a business, but being once en- 
 gaged in it, we usually then go on with plea- 
 sure, feeling ourselves interested in carrying 
 it on to its completion. In morals, an earnest 
 desire to be good, is in a great measure the 
 means of becoming good. 
 
 Satius est Initiis mederi quam F'mi. 
 "A stitch in time saves nine." The most 
 serious diseases, if taken in time, might often 
 
 be cured. 
 
 " Principiis
 
 ( 46' ) 
 
 " Principiis obsta, sero medicina paratur, 
 Quum mala per longas invaluere moras," 
 
 oppose the disease in the beginning, for 
 medicine will be applied too late, when it 
 has taken deep root, and fixed itself in the 
 constitution. To the same purport are, "Sero 
 clypeum post vulnera," it is too late to have 
 recourse to your shield, after you are wounded. 
 " La casa quemada, acudis con el agua," the 
 Spaniards say, " When the house is burnt, 
 you then bring water.'' Evil dispositions in 
 children, are also to be corrected before they 
 become habits. "Qui bien aime, bien chatie," 
 or "Spare the rod, and spoil the child.'' 
 
 Fortes Fortuna adjwcat. 
 
 l< Fortune assists the brave," " sed multo 
 majus ratio," Cicero adds, but reason or con- 
 sideration, is still more to be depended on ; 
 therefore, " antequam incipias consulto, et 
 ubi consulueris, facto opus est," that is r 
 think before you act, but having well con- 
 sidered, and formed your plan, go on re- 
 solutely to the end. To design well, and to 
 persevere with vigour in the road we have 
 
 chalked
 
 { 47 ) 
 
 chalked out for ourselves, is the almost cer- 
 tain way to attain our object. " At in rebus 
 arcluis," but in great and sudden difficulties, 
 a bold and courageous effort will frequently 
 succeed, where reason or deliberation could 
 give no assistance, for "non est apucl aram 
 consultandum," when the enemy is within the 
 walls, it is too late for consultation. 
 
 " When dangers urge he that is slow, 
 Takes from himself, and adds to his foe.'' 
 
 And, " Quien no se aventura, no ha ventura," 
 " nothing venture nothing have." The pro- 
 verb has been pretty generally adopted. "A 
 los osados ayuda la fortuna," the Spaniards 
 say ; and the French " La Fortune aide aux 
 audacieux." Which being the same as the 
 Latin, need not to be explained. 
 
 Cum Lawis luctari. 
 
 Contending with, or reproaching the dead, 
 which was held to be a great opprobrium, or 
 scandal among the ancients. It was " vellere 
 barbam leoni mortuo," taking a dead lion by 
 the beard. "De mortuis nil nisi bonum," 
 
 that
 
 ( 48 ) 
 
 that is, of the dead, record only what will 
 tend to their honour, has therefore passed into 
 a proverb, agreeably to which is the Italian 
 adage, " Non dir die il vero de vivi, 6 non 
 parlar che bene de morti," speak only what 
 is true of the living, and what is honourable 
 of the dead. But the dead can receive no 
 harm, and the world may be benefited by 
 publishing their errors. In Egypt persons 
 were appointed, we are told, whose office it 
 was, to examine into the conduct of their 
 deceased sovereigns; if it had been such as 
 had been beneficial to the kingdom, the 
 warmest tribute of praise was paid to their 
 memories; if bad, their conduct was censured 
 and their memory reprobated, to serve as a 
 warning to their successors. 
 
 Taurum toilet qui vitulum sustulerit, or 
 
 tollere Taurum, 
 
 Qua tulerit Vitulum, ilia potest. 
 
 " Who has been used to carry a calf, may 
 in time carry an ox." The adage is said to 
 have taken its rise from the story of a woman 
 
 who
 
 ( 49 ) 
 
 who took delight in nursing and carrying 
 about with her a calf, and as the animal grew, 
 her strength so increased, that she was able to 
 carry it when it became an ox. Or, as Eras- 
 mus conjectures, from the story of Milo the 
 Crotonian, who was said, with great ease to 
 take up an ox, and carry it on his shoulders ; 
 but who perished miserably, " Wedged in the 
 oak which he strove to rend." It may be 
 used to shew the force of habit or custom, and 
 its influence both on our mental and bodily 
 powers, which may by use be increased to 
 an almost incredible degree. Also to shew 
 the necessity of checking and eradicating the 
 first germs of vice in children, as, if they be 
 suffered to fix themselves, they will in time 
 become too powerful to be subdued. 
 
 " Nimia Familiar it as par it Contemptum.^ 
 
 " Familiaritc- engendre mcpris." 
 
 " Familiarity breeds contempt." " E tribus 
 
 optimis rebus," Plutarch says, " tres pessimas 
 
 oriuntur," from three excellent endowments, 
 
 three of the worst of our affections are pro- 
 
 E dnced.
 
 duced. Truth begets hatred, familiarity con- 
 tempt, and success envy. The contrary to this 
 may be, 
 
 Omne ignotum pro magn'ifico est. 
 We are apt rather to extol those persons 
 whom we know only by report, but with 
 whose merit, or real characters, we are not 
 acquainted. " A prophet is not without ho- 
 nour," we are told, "save in his own country." 
 Great men should not associate too familiarly 
 with the world, ever more ready to blazon their 
 defects, which reduce them to their own stan- 
 dard, than to admire those talents and qualities 
 which they are incapable of imitating. To 
 posterity they must look for justice, which 
 never fails paying to their genius and abilities, 
 the homage that had been refused them by 
 their own age and country. " Suum cuique 
 decus posteritas rependet." Posterity will 
 give to every one the portion of commenda- 
 tion, to which he was entitled by his merit. 
 Or the adage may be thus interpreted : 'What 
 is mentioned in the gross often fills the mind 
 with surprise, which in detail would excite no 
 emotion. If we should say of any man that 
 
 he
 
 he ordinarily walked between two and three 
 thousand miles in a year, the account would 
 seem to be exaggerated ; but if we should say, 
 he walked six or seven miles in a day, which 
 would amount to the same number of miles in 
 the year, no surprize would be excited. 
 
 Mandrabuli more Res succedit, 
 
 Was used to be said of any business not 
 going on according to expectation ; or from 
 persons indulging hopes of advantage from ill- 
 concerted or ill- matured projects, not likely 
 to be successful; but rather " ad morem Man- 
 drabuli," to become every day worse. It may 
 be applied to those " who expect that age will 
 perform the promises of youth; and that the 
 deficiencies of the present day will be supplied 
 by the morrow:" but who will most likely be 
 disappointed. 
 
 Who Mandrabulus was is not known, but 
 it is recorded of him, that having found a 
 considerable treasure, in the fulness of his 
 heart he presented at the altar of Juno a 
 golden ram, meaning to make a similar offer- 
 E 2 ing
 
 ing every year ; but repenting, as it would 
 seem, of his liberality, the next year he offered 
 only a ram of silver ; and the following year, 
 one of brass ; and hence, that is, from the 
 gift offered at the shrine of the goddess, having 
 been thus every year lessened in its value, 
 proceeds the proverb. 
 
 Maturbfias senex, si diu velis esse senex. 
 
 " Old young and old long." " Quien 
 quisiere ser mucho tiempo viejo, comiencelo 
 presto." The Spaniards say, you must begin 
 to be old, that is, you must leave off the irre- 
 gularities of youth betimes, if you wish to 
 enjoy a long and healthy old age : for " quas 
 peccamus juvenes, ea luimus senes," young 
 men's knocks, old men feel," and " Senem 
 juventus pigra, mendicum creat," youth pass- 
 ed in idleness produces usually an old age of 
 want and beggary. The French almost in the 
 same words say, " Jeunesse oiseuse, vieillesse 
 disetteuse." The pleasures of the senses too 
 much indulged, or too long persisted in, lay 
 the foundation of diseases, which either cut 
 
 off
 
 ( 53 ) 
 
 off life prematurely, or make the evening of 
 our days miserable. 
 
 " Si quieres vivir sano, haz te viejo temprano." 
 
 Senis mutarc Linguam. 
 
 It is difficult for persons advanced in years 
 to acquire a new language. The rigid and 
 unyielding muscles of aged persons, render 
 them as unfit for pronouncing a language to 
 which they have not been accustomed, as the 
 limbs of a cripple are for dancing. But the 
 sentiment may be extended further, as they 
 would be scarcely less successful in attempting 
 the acquisition of any new art or science ; 
 such acquisition requiring a greater degree of 
 vigour, than they can be supposed to have re- 
 tained. The province of the ancient, if their 
 time has been well employed, is rather to in- 
 struct others, than to hunt after new sources 
 of knowledge. Plutarch says, " that the life 
 of a vestal virgin was divided into three por- 
 tions ; in the first of which she learned the 
 duties of her profession, in the second she 
 practised them, and in the third she taught 
 E 3 them
 
 them to others." This is no bad model for per- 
 sons in every situation of life. The proverb 
 may be applied to persons attempting anything 
 for which they are peculiarly disqualified. 
 
 Homo longus raro sapiens, and 
 A metis longus. 
 
 Tall men are rarely found to be wise. 
 The Spaniards say, " El grande de cuerpo, no 
 es muy hombre.'' That is, the robust man i s 
 rarely a great man ; and the Scotch, " fat 
 paunches bode lean pates/' Livy seems also 
 to patronise the opinion, " men of great sta- 
 ture and bulk," he says, " appear more for- 
 midable, than they are found to be on trial." 
 His observation, however, may be supposed to 
 relate rather to their courage or bodily strength, 
 than to their genius or understanding. " Sir 
 Francis Bacon being asked by King James, 
 what he thought of the French ambassador ; 
 he answered, that he was a tall proper man. 
 I, his Majesty replied, but what think you 
 of his head -piece ? is he proper for the office 
 of ambassador ? Sir, said Bacon, tall men are 
 
 like
 
 like houses of four or five stories, wherein 
 commonly the uppermost room is worst fur- 
 nished." And Burton says, that " commonly 
 your vast bodies and fine features are sottish, 
 dull, and heavy spirits." Yet, notwithstanding 
 this coincidence of opinion, of these different 
 countries and persons, and the suffrages of 
 others might perhaps be joined ; the observa- 
 tion will be found to be much oftener contra- 
 dicted than confirmed; and almost every one's 
 experience will tell him, that wit and judg- 
 ment are promiscuously distributed, and fall 
 as often to the lot of the tall and the robust 
 as to those of an opposite stature and bulk. 
 
 Mustelam habes. 
 
 You have a weasel in your house, was said 
 to persons with whom every thing turned out 
 unfortunate and perverse. To meet a weasel 
 was considered by the ancients as ominous, 
 and portending some misfortune about to hap- 
 pen. Among huntsmen in this country, Eras- 
 mus tells us, it was in his time deemed an ill 
 omen, if any one named a weasel when they 
 E 4 were
 
 ( 56 ) 
 
 were setting off for their sport. Theophrastus, 
 in his description of the character of a super- 
 stitious man, says; " If a weasel crosses the 
 road he stops short, be his business never so 
 pressing, and will not stir a foot till somebody 
 else has gone before him and broke the omen; 
 or till he himself has weakened the prodigy by 
 throwing three stones." 
 
 E multis Palcis, pauliim Fructus collegi. 
 
 " Much straw, but little grain." With 
 much labour I have obtained but small profit; 
 or, from a long and laboured discourse, but 
 little information. " Assai romor et poco 
 lana." " Great cry but little wool, as the 
 devil said when he sheared his hogs." This 
 adage takes it rise from a scene in one of the 
 Misteries, a kind of dramatic amusement very 
 popular before the use of plays; in which the 
 devil is introduced shearing one of those ani- 
 mals, which continued making a most fright- 
 ful noise during the operation, to the^ great 
 diversion of the audience, 
 
 mf 
 
 Extra
 
 ( 57 ) 
 
 Extra Lutum Peeks hales. 
 
 You have been fortunate in getting out of 
 that difficulty, or that you did not engage in 
 a business, which, however promising it might 
 appear, could not but have involved you in 
 much trouble. Literally it means, in drawing 
 your feet out of the mud. 
 
 Ex Umbra in Solem. 
 
 You have explained that difficult passage, 
 and rendered clear and luminous, what was 
 before obscure and difficult. 
 
 Ex uno omnia specta. 
 
 From one act, or circumstance, you will 
 readily judge what is the real character or 
 disposition of the man. This may to a cer- 
 tain degree be admitted as a test; as, if a man 
 be detected in any deliberate act of villany, 
 where there has been an evident design to 
 defraud or injure another, we may without 
 hesitation pronounce the party to be a bad 
 man : but the converse of this, may not be 
 
 so
 
 ( 58 ) 
 
 so surely depended on, and we may not with 
 safety, from one single act of charity, or 
 kindness, pronounce the party to be a good 
 man, or trust him as such. So also, if a man 
 from walking over Bagshot Heath, should 
 take upon him to determine the state of this 
 country, as to its fertility, and should de- 
 scribe it as in general barren and inhospitable, 
 or from being deceived by an individual, with 
 whom he had been engaged in business, should 
 determine that the inhabitants are faithless, 
 and not to be trusted, it is evident, that in 
 both cases, he would be found to have passed 
 
 a rash and precipitate judgment. 
 
 / 
 
 Ad Consilium ne accesseris, antequam voceris. 
 
 " Speak when you are spoken to, and come 
 when you are called for. 5 ' Advice should not, 
 generally speaking, be offered until it is re- 
 quired, for, "proffered service stinks." But if 
 we see one, in whose welfare we feel ourselves 
 interested, about to engage in a connection, 
 or business, by which he is likely to be in- 
 jured, it becomes then the part of a friend to 
 
 interfere,
 
 ( 59 ) 
 
 interfere, and admonish him of his danger, 
 though his opinion should not have been 
 asked, or even though caution has been used, 
 to keep the circumstance from his knowledge. 
 Still the task is far from being grateful. 
 " Le mauvais metier," Guy Patin says, " que 
 celui de censeur; on ne gagne a 1'exercer que 
 la haine de ceux qu'on reprend, et on ne cor- 
 rige personne," it is a bad business that of 
 a censor, he is sure to incur the hatred of 
 those he reproves, without having the pleasure 
 of finding them improved by his advice. "Ne 
 prendre conseil que de sa tete," that is, "Take 
 counsel only of your own thoughts," the 
 French say, but this is in some degree con- 
 tradicted by the following : " Un fou avise 
 bien un sage," even a fool may suggest what 
 may deserve the attention of a wise man; we 
 should therefore listen to advice, let it come 
 from what quarter it will, for "Al buen consejo 
 no se halla precio," good advice is inestimable. 
 
 Et meum Tclum Cuspidem habet acuminatum. 
 
 Even my dart has also a point, and is ca- 
 pable
 
 ( 60 ) 
 
 pable of inflicting a wound, though it may 
 not pierce so deep as yours. I would willingly 
 avoid contest, but if you will continue to 
 molest me, I will not suffer alone, but will 
 take caVe you shall feel a part of the evil. 
 Agreeably to this sentiment also, is the Scot- 
 tish Order of the Thistle, framed, with its 
 motto " Nemo me impune lacessit." 
 
 Barbte ten us Sapient cs. 
 
 Philosophers even to the beard. Oh, he is 
 a wise man, you may see it by his beard, may 
 be applied ironically to persons of grave and 
 serious manners, who wish to pass themselves 
 off for men of more learning, or knowledge, 
 than they really possess. As the beard is not 
 completely formed until the age of manhood, 
 it has always been considered as an emblem 
 of wisdom. " II est terns d'etre sage, quand 
 on a la barbe au menton," it is time to be 
 wise now that you have a beard on your chin; 
 and, "Hombre de barba," with the Spaniards, 
 means a man of knowledge, or intelligence. 
 " Diga barba que haga," let your beard advise 
 
 you
 
 you what is befitting you to do, and "a poca 
 barba, poca virguenza," little beard, little 
 shame, or modesty. " Quixadas sin barbas no 
 inerecen ser honradas," chins without beards 
 deserve no honour. " Fa ire la barbe," among 
 the French, means to deceive, or impose on 
 any one, by superior address or cunning; also, 
 to excel in wisdom and sagacity. Among 
 the Persians, and perhaps generally in the 
 east, the beard is held in great reverence, and 
 to speak of it slightingly or disrespectfully, 
 would be resented, and for a stranger to vio- 
 late it, by touching it, would probably be 
 avenged by instant death. 
 
 JYb;z est ejusdem et multa, et opportuna dicere. 
 
 It is not easy for any one to talk a great 
 deal, and altogether to the purpose. " A 
 mucho hablar, mucho errar," talk much, and 
 err much. " No diga la langua par do pague 
 la cabeza," " the tongue talks at the head's 
 cost," and " eating little, and speaking little, 
 can never do harm." "He that speaks doth 
 sow, but he that is silent reaps." " En boca 
 
 cerrada,
 
 cerrada, no entra moscha," flies do not enter 
 the mouth that is shut, and " Fous sont sages, 
 quand ils se taisent," fools are wise, or may 
 be so reputed, when they are silent. 
 
 Aut Regem aut Fatuum nasci oportuit. 
 
 A man should either be born a king or an 
 idiot, he should be at the top r or at the 
 bottom of the wheel of fortune ; at the least, 
 there are men so ambitious, of such high and 
 daring spirits, that they will venture every 
 thing, their fortunes, and their lives, to attain 
 to the highest rank in their country. They 
 will be, "aut Caesar, aut nullus," either kings 
 or beggars. " O rico, o pinjada," rich, or 
 hanged, "neck, or nothing." Milton makes 
 Lucifer say, 
 
 " To reign is worth ambition, though in hell. 
 Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven." 
 
 But the adage seems to have a special refer- 
 ence to the respect usually paid to idiots. 
 In Turkey, and in other parts of the east, 
 they were held in such veneration, that it was 
 thought to be no less than a sin to oppose, or 
 
 control
 
 ( 63 ) 
 
 control them in any thing they were disposed 
 to do. They had therefore equal liberty with 
 kings, who say and do whatever they please. 
 To a late period, it was usual with the nobles, 
 in this, as well as in other countries of Europe, 
 to entertain in their houses a fool, for their 
 diversion, who often took the liberty of re- 
 proving their masters for their follies, and in 
 much freer language than any other persons 
 were permitted to use. When Jaques, in "As 
 you like it," proposed putting on a fool's coat, 
 he says, 
 
 " I must have liberty 
 
 Withal, as large a charter as the wind, 
 
 To blow on whom I please ; for so fools have." 
 
 May it be added, what is currently said, 
 "Fools are fortunate." They also may be 
 said to be happy, as they neither anticipate 
 evil, nor even feeLthe full pressure of it when 
 present. " Dieu aide a trois sortes de per- 
 sonnes, aux fous, aux enfans, et auxivrognes," 
 God protects three sorts of persons, fools, 
 infants, and drunkards, the latter rarely fall- 
 ing, it is said, into any danger, even when 
 full of drink. The French also say, " Tte 
 
 de
 
 ( 64 ) 
 
 cle fou ne blanchit jamais," the head of the 
 fool never becomes grey, which is probably 
 not better founded than the former obser- 
 vation. 
 
 Minutula Pluvia Imbrem parit. 
 
 Many small drops make a shower. " Goutte 
 a goutte la mer s'egoute," the sea itself 
 may be emptied by drops. " Petit a. petit 
 1'oiseau fait son nid," by little and little the 
 bird makes his nest, and "many a little 
 makes a mickle." By the accumulation of 
 small sums, large fortunes may frequently be 
 made. " Poco 6 spesso empie il borsetto," 
 little and often fills the purse. Therefore the 
 proverb says, "Take care of your pence, 
 your shillings and your pounds will take 
 care of themselves. '\ The adage also admo- 
 nishes, not to disregard slight evils, they may 
 increase to a considerable magnitude; or small 
 expenses, for if there be many of them, though 
 each of them singly may be insignificant, to- 
 gether they will make a formidable sum. Of 
 the same tendency is, 
 
 Gutta
 
 ( 65 ) 
 
 Gutta cavat Lapidem. 
 
 By the constant trickling of water, the solid 
 stone becomes excavated. This should en- 
 courage us to perseverance in industry, to 
 which few things are impossible. " Mad ruga y 
 veras, trabaja y auras," rise betimes and you 
 will see, labour assiduously and you will have. 
 
 " Oft little add to little, and the amount 
 
 Will swell, heaped atoms thus produce a mount." 
 
 Hum ausculta, cui quatuor sunt Aures. 
 
 Listen to him who has four ears. It is not 
 known what gave birth to this adage, but it 
 is understood, as advising to attend to old 
 and experienced persons, who are slow in 
 judging, who are more ready to hear than to 
 speak; or, as the English proverb has it, "who 
 have wide ears and short tongues." 
 
 " He that hears much, and speaks not at all, 
 
 Shall be welcome in parlour, in kitchen and hall/' 
 
 " Oi, voye, et te taise, 
 
 Si tu veux vivre en pais." 
 
 That is, if you wish to live quietly, hear, see, 
 
 F and
 
 ( 66 ) 
 
 and be silent ; which is taken probably from 
 the following monkish line. 
 
 " Audi, vide, tace, si vis vivere in pace." 
 A similar sense has, "prospectandum vetulo 
 latrante cane," when the old dog barks, or 
 opens, then attend. 
 
 Adfelicem inflectere Parietem. 
 
 When a vessel, in sailing, inclines too much 
 to one side, the passengers usually crowd to 
 the other, where seems to be the greatest 
 safety, and when fortune ceases to smile on 
 any one, or he is found to be sinking, it is 
 then that his friends usually leave him, and 
 fly to others who are more successful. Though 
 such conduct cannot but* be condemned by 
 all ingenuous persons, yet on the other hand, 
 we should not so connect ourselves with the 
 fortunes of those who are falling, as to make 
 our own ruin inevitable with theirs. 1' Juvare 
 arnicos rebus afflictis decet." We should in- 
 deed assist our friends in their misfortunes, 
 but not at the hazard of the destruction of 
 ourselves arid families, otherwise we should 
 
 subject
 
 subject ourselves to the censure implied in. 
 the following, " Alienos agros irrigas, tuis 
 sitientibus," while watering the fields of our 
 neighbour, we leave our own to be parched 
 with drought. " Harto es necio y loco, quien 
 vacia su cuerpo, por inchir el de otro," he is 
 foolish and mad enough, who empties his own 
 purse to fill that of another. 
 
 Manumnonverterim, Digitum 
 
 Are Latin phrases used to express the most 
 perfect supineness and indifference on any 
 subject, and which we have adopted : " I 
 would not give a turn of my hand, or hold 
 out a finger to obtain it," or, "I value not a 
 straw what such a person may say of me," or, 
 " there is not the turn of a straw difference 
 between them." 
 
 Emere malo, quam rogare. 
 
 I had rather buy what I want, than ask 
 any one for it. To an ingenuous mind, it is a 
 hard thing to be obliged to say, I beg; he had 
 
 F 2 rathe r
 
 ( 68 ) 
 
 rather purchase what he stands in need of, 
 with his own money, or if he has not money, 
 with the labour of his own hands. " Neque 
 enim levi mercede emit, qui precatur," he 
 pays no small price for a favour, who buys it 
 by intreaties. " If I had money," Socrates 
 said, "I would this morning have bought 
 myself a coat." Though the money was im- 
 mediately supplied by his friend, yet it came, 
 Seneca observes, too late. It was a shame 
 that such a man should have been reduced to 
 the necessity of asking for it. 
 
 Ubi amid, ibi opes. 
 
 Where there are friends, there is wealth, or, 
 in the usual acceptation of the proverb, It 
 is better to have friends without money, than 
 money without friends. "Aquelles son ricos, 
 que tienen amigos," they are rich who have 
 friends. To be possessed of friends, is doubt- 
 less valuable, as they may stand us in stead 
 in our troubles ; but in the ordinary occur- 
 rences of life, money may be depended on 
 with more certainty, as it will purchase us 
 
 both
 
 ( 69 ) 
 
 both conveniences and friends. " Las nece- 
 dades del rico, por sentencias passan en el 
 mundo," even the foolish sayings of the rich, 
 pass in the world as oracles. We may there- 
 fore more truly say, " Ubi opes, ibi amici," 
 he that has wealth has friends ; " Vulgus 
 amicitias utilitate probat," for friends are 
 commonly esteemed only in proportion to the 
 advantages they are able to procure us. 
 
 "Hood an ass with reverend purple, 
 So you can hide his two ambitious ears, 
 And he shall pass for a cathedral doctor." Volpone. 
 
 Thus aulicum. 
 
 Court incense. The splendid promises of 
 courtiers, like the odoriferous vapour of. 
 frankincense, please the Qenses for a time, 
 but they are both of them light and volatile, 
 and leave no beneficial effects behind them. 
 
 Contra Stimulum calces. 
 
 1 You are kicking against the pricks," may 
 
 be said to persons, who, impatient under any 
 
 affliction or injury, by attempting to avenge 
 
 F 3 themselves,
 
 ( 70 ) 
 
 themselves, increase their misfortune ; or who 
 contend with persons capable of inflicting a 
 much severer punishment, than that which 
 they are suffering. "Paul, Paul, why per- 
 secutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick 
 against the pricks." The adage takes its rise 
 from the custom of goading oxen, to make 
 them go forward, with sticks, having sharp 
 points. If they are restive and push back- 
 wards, they force the points of the sticks into 
 their flesh. 
 
 Nullus sum. 
 
 I am undone, lost beyond all possibility of 
 redemption, was the exclamation of Davus, 
 when he found that he had, by his schemes, 
 precipitated his master into the very engage- 
 ment he was employed, and actually meant to 
 extricate him from. 
 
 Nee Obolum habet, unde Restim emat. . 
 
 He has not a penny left to buy an halter. 
 He has no property, " ne in pelle quidem," 
 
 not
 
 ( .71 ) 
 
 not even in his skin. " Ne obolus quiclem 
 relictus est," he has totally dissipated and 
 wasted his property, not a morsel, or the 
 smallest particle of it remains. " He is as poor 
 as a church mouse." 
 
 " Beg," Gratiano says to Shylock, " that 
 thou may est have leave to hang thyself; 
 
 " And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state, 
 Thou hast not left the value of a cord ; 
 Therefore thou must be hanged at the state's charge." 
 
 " No le alcaca la sal al agua," " he is so poor," 
 the Spaniards say, " that he hath not salt 
 enough to season his water." Xenophon, in 
 his dialogues, makes one of the interlocutors 
 say, " he had not so much land as would 
 furnish dust for the body of a wrestler." 
 
 De Land caprinA. 
 
 Disputing about what is of no value, about 
 goat's wool, which can be turned to no profit, 
 and half the disputes in the world are of as 
 little importance; at the least, the subjects of 
 them are rarely of half the value of the trouble 
 and expense incurred in the contest. Of the 
 F 4 same
 
 ( 72 ) 
 
 same kind are, " De fumo disceptare," vel 
 " deasini umbra." Plutarch tells a ludicrous 
 story, as giving origin to the latter adage. 
 Demosthenes observing, that the judges before 
 whom he was pleading, paid no attention to 
 what he was saying, but were discoursing on 
 matters that had no relation to the subject 
 before them, said to them, "If you will lend 
 your attention a little, I have now a story to 
 relate that will amuse you." Finding they 
 were turned to him, he said, "A certain 
 young man hired an ass, to carry provision to 
 a neighbouring town, but the day proving to 
 be very hot, and there being no place on the 
 road affording shelter, he stopped the ass, and 
 sat himself down on one side of him, so as to 
 be shaded by the ass from the sun. On this, 
 the driver insisted on his getting up, aHeging 
 that he had hired the ass to carry his load, 
 not to afford him a shade. The man, on the 
 other hand, contended, that having hired the 
 ass for the journey, he had a right to use him 
 as a screen from the sun, as well as to carry 
 his goods ; besides, he added, the goods on 
 the back of the ass, which were his, afforded 
 
 more
 
 ( 73 ) 
 
 more than half the shade; and so long a dis- 
 pute ensued, which came at length to blows." 
 Demosthenes, perceiving the judges were now 
 fully intent on listening to his story, sud- 
 denly broke off, and descending from the 
 rostrum, proceeded to walk out of the court. 
 The judges calling to him to finish his story, 
 " I perceive you are ready enough," he said, 
 " to listen to a ridiculous story about the 
 shadow of an ass, but when I was pleading 
 the cause of a man, accused of a crime affect- 
 ing his life, you had not leisure to pay it the 
 necessary attention, to enable you to be mas- 
 ters of the subject on which you were to 
 decide." A story in many respects similar to 
 this, is related of Dr. Elmar, who was Bishop 
 of London in the time of Queen Elizabeth. 
 In the course of a sermon he was preaching 
 in his parish church, before he had attained 
 to the dignity of a bishopric, finding his 
 auditory careless and inattentive, he read, 
 with great solemnity, a passage from a Hebrew 
 book he happened to have with him. This 
 drawing the attention of the congregation, he 
 reproved them for their inconsistency in lis- 
 tening
 
 ( 74 ) 
 
 tening to him when reading a language they 
 did not understand, and neglecting or refus- 
 ing to hear him, when explaining to them in 
 their own language, doctrines, which they 
 were materially interested to know and un- 
 derstand. 
 
 Talpd ccKcior. 
 
 Blinder than a mole. The ancients thought 
 moles had no eyes, but they have two small 
 eyes, affording them so much sight, as to en- 
 able them to know when they have emerged 
 through the earth, and they no sooner per- 
 ceive the light, than they return into their 
 burrows, where alone they can be safe. This 
 proverb is applied to persons who are exceed- 
 ingly slow in conceiving, or understanding 
 what is said to them ; also to persons search- 
 ing for what lays immediately before them. 
 " If it was a bear," we say, " it would bite 
 you." To the same purport is 
 
 Leberide c&cior. 
 
 By the leberis, the Latins meant the dry 
 and cast skin of a serpent, or of any other 
 
 animal,
 
 ( 75 ) 
 
 animal, accustomed to change its coat, in 
 which the apertures for the eyes only remain. 
 With us, it is usual, in censuring the same 
 defect, to say, " He is as blind as a beetle." 
 " We are all of us used to be Argus's abroad, 
 but moles at home," but how much better 
 would it be to correct an error in ourselves, 
 than to find an hundred in our neighbours. 
 
 PecunicE, obediunt omnla. 
 
 " Money masters all things." All things 
 obey, or are subservient to money, it is there- 
 fore the principal object of our attention. 
 " Sine me vocari pessimum, ut dives vocer," 
 call the what you will, so you do but admit 
 me to be rich. " Nemo an bonus : an dives 
 omnes qua3rimus." When about to treat 
 with or enter into business with any one, 
 we do not so much inquire whether he is a 
 good, as whether he is a rich man ; " Nee 
 quare et unde ? quid habeat, tantum rogant," 
 nor by what means he acquired his money, 
 but only how much he actually possesses. 
 " Gifts," we say, " break through stone walls," 
 
 for
 
 ( 76 ) 
 
 for what virtue is proof against a bribe ? " He 
 that has money in his purse, cannot want a 
 head for his shoulders." That is, he will never 
 want persons to advise, assist, and defend him. 
 " I d-iiiari fan correre i cavallo," " it is mo- 
 ney that makes the mare to go." " For dinero 
 buy hi el perro," the dog dances for money ; 
 and l< Quien dinaro tiene, hazo lo que quiere," 
 he that has money may have what he pleases. 
 " Plate sin with gold, and the strong arm 
 of justice cannot reach it; clothe it in rags, a 
 pigmy straw will pierce it." Volpone, in the 
 comedy of that name, addressing his gold, 
 says 
 
 " Such are thy beauties, and our loves, dear saint, 
 Riches ! thou dumb god, that giv'st all men tongues ; 
 That canst do naught, and yet mak'st men do all things ; 
 The price of souls ; even hell, with thee to boot, 
 Is made worth heaven. Thou art virtue, fame, 
 Honour, and all things else. Who can get thee, 
 He shall be noble, valiant, honest, wise." 
 
 On the other hand, we are told, that Fortune 
 makes those whom she most favours fools; 
 " Fortuna nimium quern favet, stultum facit," 
 and " Ubi mens plurima, ibi minima fortuna/' 
 
 those
 
 ( 77 ) 
 
 those who abound in knowledge are usually 
 most deficient in money. It has a ^ s been ob- 
 served, that riches excite envy, and often ex- 
 pose the possessors of it to danger : the storm 
 passes over the shrub, but tears up the oak by 
 its roots. " God help the rich/' we say, " the 
 poor can beg." 
 
 " Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator," 
 
 the thief who makes the rich man to tremble, 
 excites no alarm in the breast of the beggar ; 
 he has nothing to lose. 
 
 " Hence, robbers hence, to yonder wealthier door, 
 Unenvied poverty protects the poor. 
 
 " Non esse cupidum, pecunia est, non esse 
 emacem, vectigal est," not to be covetous, to 
 desire riches, is wealth ; not to be extravagant 
 or expensive, is an estate. Hence poverty 
 has been called, the harbour of peace and se^ 
 curity, where undisturbed sleep and undissem- 
 bled joys do dwell. " Fidelius rident tugu- 
 ria," the laughter of the cottage is more 
 hearty and sincere than that of the court: 
 great \vealth therefore conduces but little to 
 happiness : and " as he who has health is 
 
 young;
 
 ( 78 ) 
 
 young; so be who owes nothing is rich." 
 "Dantur quidem bonis, ne quis mala estimet; 
 malis autem, ne quis nimis bona," riches are 
 given to the good, St. Austin says, that they 
 mav not be esteemed an evil ; to the bad, that 
 
 */ 
 
 they may not be too highly valued. 
 
 Omnium horarum homo. 
 
 A companion for all hours or seasons. 
 This may be said of persons of versatile and 
 easy dispositions, who can accommodate them- 
 selves to all circumstances, whether of festivity 
 or of trouble ; who with the grave can be seri- 
 ous, with the gay cheerful ; and who are 
 equally fit to conduct matters of business or 
 of pleasure: such a man, we are told, was the 
 philosopher Aristippus. 
 
 " Omnis Aristippum decuit color.'' 
 
 Every thing became him, by which enviable 
 qualities, he was always a favoured guest at all 
 tables and in all companies. 
 
 Veritatis
 
 (" 79 ) 
 
 Veritatis simplex est oratio. 
 
 Truth needs not the ornament of many 
 words, it is most lovely then when least 
 adorned. There are circumstances, however, 
 in which art may honestly be used ; when we 
 have any afflicting news to communicate, it is 
 often necessary to prepare the mind for its re- 
 ception by some general observations : or 
 when we would persuade a person to do what 
 we know to be unpleasant, but which we be- 
 lieve would be ultimately to his advantage; 
 or would recal him from courses or connec- 
 tions, we believe to be injurious to his fame or 
 fortune. In these cases a blunt declaration of 
 our intentions would defeat the proposed end, 
 and we must have recourse to a little art and 
 management to engage the attention of the 
 persons whom we wish to persuade. The pro- 
 verb is opposed to those who. by a multiplicity 
 of words, endeavour to obscure the truth, and 
 to induce those they converse with to enter- 
 tain opinions very different to what they 
 would have formed, if the story had been told 
 in a plain and simple manner. Two architects 
 
 having
 
 ( 80 ) 
 
 having offered themselves as candidates to 
 erect a public building at Athens, the one de- 
 scribed in a florid and ostentatious manner, 
 all the parts of the building, and with what 
 ornaments he would complete it ; when he had 
 finished, the other only said, " My lords, 
 what this man has said, I will do." He was 
 elected. 
 
 Injuries sprcta cxolescunt, si irascaris 
 ^ agnita videntur. 
 
 Injuries that are slighted and suffered to 
 pass unnoticed, are soon forgotten; by resent- 
 ing them, unless you are able to punish the 
 agressor, you acknowledge yourself to be 
 hurt, and so afford a triumph to the person 
 who gave the affront. " Deridet, sed non 
 derideor," he laugheth, but I am not laugh- 
 ed at. " The wise man passeth by an injury, 
 but anger resteth in the bosom of a fool. 
 
 Omnes sibi melius esse malunt quam alteri* 
 
 We all of us wish better to ourselves than 
 to others. Though a friend is said to be ano- 
 ther
 
 ( 81 ) 
 
 ther self, yet what affects our own safety, is 
 doubtless to be attended to before the con- 
 cerns of any other person, for " proximus 
 egomet mihi," I am my own nearest relation ; 
 and " Charity begins at home." " Tunica pal- 
 lio propior est." " Near is my shirt," we say, 
 " but nearer is my skin." To the same purport, 
 and nearly in the same words are, " Ma che- 
 mise m'est plus proche que ma robe." Fr. 
 " Tocca piu la camisa ch' il gippone." It. 
 " Mas cerca esta la camisa, que el sayo," thajt 
 is, my shirt is nearer than my coat. 
 
 Extra Telorum Jactum. 
 
 Beyond bow-shot, or the reach of darts. 
 " Out of harm's way." " Out of debt, out of 
 clanger." Be concerned in no disputes, and 
 neither say nor do any thing of which an ad- 
 vantage may be taken, is the direction of pru- 
 dence; but from the mixed nature of human 
 affairs, not to be completely followed, but by 
 those who live only for themselves. Let 
 those, however, who neglect this caution be 
 sure that they have resolution enough to bear, 
 
 * or
 
 ( 82 ) 
 
 or strength sufficient to overcome the difficul- 
 ties they may have brought upon themselves by 
 their imprudence. Socrates being asked, who 
 was the wisest man, answered " he who offends 
 the least." 
 
 Non cuivis homini contingit adire Cormthum. 
 
 It is not the fortune of every man to be 
 able to go to Corinth. This city, from its 
 commerce, and from the great concourse of 
 strangers accustomed to visit it, became the 
 
 o 
 
 most wealthy, and in time, the most volup- 
 tuous city in the world ; it was also cele- 
 brated for its numerous and splendid temples, 
 baths, theatres, and other exquisitely rich and 
 beautiful public buildings, and unfortunately 
 not less so for its debaucheries. It was, there- 
 fore, only suitable to the circumstances of the 
 rich to visit a place so dissipated and expen- 
 sive. Corinth gave its name to the fourth 
 order of architecture, which was invented and 
 first employed in the public buildings there, 
 and to a metallic composition, Corinthian 
 brass, which was very beautiful and durable, 
 
 but
 
 ( 83 ) 
 
 but of which there are no vestiges remaining. 
 The proverb may be aptly used to deter per- 
 sons from entering on pursuits, or engaging in 
 projects much beyond their faculties or powers 
 to carry into execution. 
 
 Fenestram, vel Januam aperire, 
 May be said when any one has incautiously 
 given information which may be turned to 
 the disadvantage of themselves or their friends. 
 Do you see what consequences may follow, 
 what mischief may ensue ? you have opened a 
 door to a thousand evils. 
 
 Ovem Lupo commisisti. 
 
 " Entregar las ovejas al lobo," you have 
 trusted the sheep to the care of the wolf, the 
 geese to the keeping of the fox. This may 
 be said of a parent who has left his children 
 in the hands of rapacious guardians, who will 
 fleece them of their property, not husband and 
 preserve it : a misfortune which happened to 
 Erasmus, When in conversation we have dis- 
 G 2 closed
 
 ( 84 ) 
 
 closed any thing to those who should not have 
 known it, and who will be enabled to injure 
 persons whom they wish to oppress ; it may 
 be said, you have now put him in the power of 
 his enemy ; " you have given the wolf the 
 weather to keep." 
 
 Nulla Dies sine L'mea. 
 
 No day without a line, was the advice and 
 the practice of Apelles. No one must expect 
 to be perfect in any art, without incessant 
 care and diligence; therefore, 
 
 " Nulla dies abeat, quin linea ducta supersit," 
 
 no day should be suffered to pass, without leav- 
 ing some memorial of itself. " Diem perdidi," 
 " I have lost a day," was the exclamation of 
 the Emperor Titus, finding, on a review of 
 what had been performed, that he had relieved 
 no distressed person, nor done any act deserv- 
 ing recollection in the course of the day. 
 
 Manibus, Pedibusque. 
 
 With the utmost exertion of our hands and 
 
 feet,
 
 ( 85 ) 
 
 feet, or " with tooth and nail," as we say. 
 " Nervis omnibus," " straining every nerve," 
 exerting our utmost power or ability to effect 
 the purpose; " Remis velisque," pushing it on 
 with oars and sails ; " Omnem movere lapi- 
 dem," " leaving no stone unturned," to dis- 
 cover what we are in search of, are forms of 
 speech used by the Romans, which have been 
 adopted by us, and are therefore here ad- 
 mitted ; as may be also " Toto pectore," with 
 our whole soul, loving or hating any one. 
 These are all, and indeed many more similar 
 expressions, treated of by Erasmus as distinct 
 proverbs ; but it was thought to be better to 
 bring them together here, in this manner. 
 
 It may not be amiss, once for all, to observe, 
 that I have not confined myself to the sense 
 given by Erasmus to many of the adages. 
 As I have frequently passed over very long 
 disquisitions, when they appeared to me not 
 suitable to the present state of literature, or of 
 the times ; so on the other hand, I have some- 
 times expatiated largely, where he has given 
 the exposition in two or three lines. Another 
 considerable difference is, that here are intro- 
 G 3 duced
 
 ( 86 ) 
 
 duced many corresponding adages, in the 
 French, Italian," Spanish, and English lan- 
 guages, none of which are to be found in his 
 book. It is singular, Jortin remarks, that 
 though Erasmus spent a large part of his time 
 in France, Italy, and England, it does not ap- 
 pear that he was ever able to converse in any 
 of those languages; or perhaps to read the pro- 
 ductions of any of the writers in those coun- 
 tries, excepting such as were written in Latin ; 
 which, as a language in general use, appears 
 to have been adopted by most of the literati 
 down to his time ; excepting perhaps by the 
 Italians, whose language had attained a higher 
 degree of polish and perfection than any of 
 the others. 
 
 Sub ornni Lapide Scorpius clormit. 
 
 We should believe that under every stone 
 a scorpion may be lodged, which seems to be 
 the sense of the adage ; and it is intended to 
 admonish us in all business to act with deli- 
 beration and caution, that we may not involve 
 
 ourselves
 
 ( 87 ) 
 
 ourselves in troubles and dangers; particularly 
 we should set a guard over our tongues and 
 not be too communicative, lest we should 
 instruct others in any plans we may have 
 formed for the advancement of our affairs, 
 who may thence be enabled to become our 
 rivals, and prevent the completion of our de- 
 signs : or by speaking too freely of the con- 
 cerns of others excite enmities which mav be 
 
 / 
 
 productive of consequences still more mis- 
 chievous. " Volto sciolto," the Italians say, " i 
 pensiert stretti," be free and open in your coun- 
 tenance and address, but cautious and reserved 
 in your communications. There are many other 
 similar cautions ; " Latet anguis in herba," 
 there is a snake in the grass, take care how 
 you tread. " Debaxo de la miel, ay hiel," 
 under the honey you may find gall. " Paredes 
 tien oydos :" and " tras pared, ni tras seto, no 
 digas tu secreto." tc Walls have ears," be cau- 
 tious what you say; and " little pitchers have 
 long ears." Children, even when playing about 
 you, are often more attentive to what you are 
 saying, than to their own amusement. " Dizen 
 los ninos en el solejar, lo que oyen a sus pa- 
 G 4 dres
 
 v 
 
 ( 38 ) 
 
 dres en el bogar," they tell when abroad, \vhat 
 they hear their parents saying by the fireside. 
 In the countries where scorpions breed, they 
 are frequently found lying under stones, as 
 worms are in this country ; any one therefore 
 incautiously removing a stone, under which 
 one of these venemous reptiles may happen to 
 lie, will be in danger of being stung by the 
 enraged animal, whence the proverb. 
 
 Asinum sub frceno currere doces. 
 Teaching an ass to obey the rein, which the 
 ancients thought to be nearly as difficult as 
 u to wash a black-a-moor white," or to do any 
 other impossible thing, " Labour in vain." 
 Though I think it is not now found to be 
 so difficult, and those animals are made to 
 serve for many useful purposes. The adage 
 is used by Horace, and with much elegance, 
 in his first Satire. 
 
 " At si cognates nullo natura labore 
 
 Quos tibi dat, retinere veils, servareque amicos; 
 Infelix operam perclas ; ut si quis asellum 
 In campo doceat parentem currere frcenis." 
 
 Put if you expect to obtain the affection of 
 
 your
 
 ( 89 ) 
 
 your relations, or to preserve the esteem of 
 your friends, without making any return for 
 their kindness, you will find yourself, wretch 
 that you are, miserably deceived, as he would 
 be, who should attempt to teach an ass to be 
 obedient to the rein. 
 
 Annosam Arborem transplantare. 
 
 Persons quitting a business or profession in 
 which they have been long engaged, and had 
 been successful, and attempting some new 
 employment, are as little likely to succeed, as a 
 tree is to flourish, when removed from the soil 
 in which it had been long fixed. 
 
 Aranearum Telas texere. 
 
 Weaving of cobwebs, which persons are 
 said to do, who waste their time and money 
 in frivolous pursuits ; in procuring what will 
 be of no use when obtained : in collecting 
 
 * O 
 
 butterflies, cockle-shells, &c. " et stultus 
 labor est ineptiarum," and such like fooleries. 
 Laws also, which by the great are easily 
 
 evaded,
 
 ( 90 ) 
 
 evaded, and which seem only made to entrap 
 the poor, are, by common consent, called cob- 
 web contrivances. They were so called by 
 Anarcharsis "They catch," he said, "small 
 flies, but wasps and hornets break them with 
 impunity." 
 
 " Hence little villains oft submit to fate, 
 
 That great ones may enjoy the world in state." 
 
 Sat pulchra, si sat bona. 
 
 " Fair enough, if good enough, " for 
 "handsome is, who handsome does," and 
 "sat cito si sat bene," "soon enough, if 
 well enough," are proverbs of all ages, and all 
 countries, and need no explanation. " Her- 
 mosa es por cierto, la que es buena de su 
 cuerpo," the woman who is modest is suffi- 
 ciently handsome. 
 
 Harence mandas Semina. In Aqua vel in Saxis 
 semen tern fads. 
 
 Sowing your grain among stones, where 
 they cannot take root, in the water, or on 
 
 sand.
 
 ( 91 ) 
 
 sand. " In aqua scribis, in harena sedificas," 
 writing on water, or building on sand, with 
 many others, are phrases used by the Romans, 
 and are applicable to persons bestowing much 
 labour in effecting what is impossible to be 
 done, or heaping favours upon an ungrateful 
 person, from whom no return can be expected. 
 " Can the ^Ethiopian change his skin, or the 
 leopard his spots ?" 
 
 Later em lavas. 
 
 It is like washing bricks, which the more 
 you scour them, the more muddy they become: 
 meaning bricks made of clay, and not burnt, 
 but dried in the sun ; such as were used in 
 the East, and probably are so now, or " Laver 
 la te"te d'un ane," by which the French de- 
 signate such unavailing attempts. The pro- 
 verb may also be applied to persons, endea- 
 vouring by fictitious ornaments to make any 
 thing appear more beautiful and valuable than 
 it is, or by rhetorical flourishes to give a false 
 colour to any action. 
 
 Surdo
 
 ( 92 ) 
 
 Surdo can is. 
 
 You are preaching to the deaf; to prepos- 
 sessed and prejudiced ears; to persons so be- 
 sotted and addicted to their vices, that they 
 will not listen to you, though your advice he 
 most suitable to them, and such as they can- 
 not reject, but to their manifest disadvantage. 
 " They are like to the deaf adder, which 
 stoppeth her ears, and refuseth to hear the 
 voice of the charmer, charm he never so 
 wisely." As the following narrative seems to 
 give an ingenious explanation of this passage 
 in the Psalms, it is here added. "There is a 
 kind of snake in India," Mr. Forbes says, in 
 his Oriental Memoirs, lately published, " which 
 is called the dancing snake. They are carried 
 in baskets throughout Hindostan, and procure 
 a maintenance for a set of people, who play a 
 few simple notes on the flute, with which the 
 snakes seem much delighted, and keep time 
 by a graceful motion of the head, erecting 
 about half their length from the ground, and 
 following the music with gentle curves, like 
 the undulating lines of a swan's neck. It is a 
 well attested fact, that when a house is in- 
 fested
 
 ( 93 ) 
 
 fested with these snakes, and some others of 
 the coluber genus, which destroy poultry, and 
 small domestic animals, as also by the larger 
 serpents of the boa tribe, the musicians are 
 sent for, who, by playing on a flageolet, find 
 out their hiding places, and charm them to 
 destruction ; for no sooner do the snakes hear 
 the music, than they come from their retreat, 
 and are easily taken. I imagine," Mr. Forbes 
 says, " that these musical snakes were known 
 in Palestine, from the Psalmist comparing the 
 ungodly to ' the deaf adder, which stoppeth 
 her ears, and refuseth to hear the voice of the 
 charmer, charm he never so wisely.' When 
 the music ceaseth, the snakes appear motion- 
 less, but if not immediately covered up in the 
 basket, the spectators are liable to fatal acci- 
 dents. Among my drawings is that of a cobra 
 de capello, which danced for an hour on the 
 table, while I painted it, during which I fre- 
 quently handled it, to observe the beauty of 
 the spots, and especially the spectacles on the 
 hood, not doubting but that its venemous 
 fangs had been previously extracted. But the 
 next morning I was informed by my servant,, 
 
 that
 
 that while purchasing some fruit, lie observed 
 the man who had been with me the preceding 
 evening, entertaining the country people, who 
 were sitting on the ground around him, with 
 his dancing snakes, when the animal that I 
 
 O ' 
 
 had so often handled, darted suddenly at the 
 throat of a young woman, and inflicted a 
 wound, of which she died in about half an 
 hour." 
 
 Delph'mum nature doces, vel Aquilam volare. 
 
 Affecting to give information to persons on 
 subjects they are better acquainted with than 
 ourselves, is like teaching birds to fly, or fishes 
 to swim. 
 
 Malta cadant inter Calicem, supremaque Labra. 
 
 " Entre la bouche, et le verre, 
 Le vin souvent tombe a terre." 
 
 " Many things happen between the cup and 
 the lip," was the saying of a servant to his 
 master, whom he saw anxiously tending a 
 vine, from which he promised himself an abun- 
 dant produce of excellent liquor, of which, 
 
 however,
 
 ( 95 ) 
 
 however, he was not permitted to partake ; 
 for, at the moment he was about to taste the 
 wine, the reward, as he thought, of his labour, 
 he was told that a boar had broke into his 
 vineyard, and was destroying his trees ; run- 
 ning hastily to drive away the beast, it turned 
 upon him, and killed him. We are hence 
 taught, not to be too sanguine in our hopes 
 of success, even in our best concerted projects, 
 it too often happening that they fail in pro- 
 ducing the intended advantages. " De la mano 
 a la boca, se pierde la sopa," is the same sen- 
 timent in Spanish. The adage may also be 
 -explained, as admonishing us " to take time 
 by the forelock," that is. not to let a present 
 opportunity, or advantage, to pass by, a similar 
 one may not again occur. " Strike, therefore, 
 while the iron is hot," and 
 
 " He that will not when he may, 
 When he will he shall have nay." 
 
 Incidis in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim. 
 
 Attempting to escape the rocks of Scylla, 
 we are ingulphed in the whirlpool of Cha- 
 ry bdis.
 
 ( 96 ) 
 
 rybclis. The two opposite coasts of the strait 
 dividing Sicily and Italy, were anciently called 
 by these names, and as they were steep and 
 rocky, they appeared so formidable, and per- 
 haps occasioned so many ships to be wrecked, 
 that Homer makes Ulysses describe them as 
 two terrible monsters, that stood ready to 
 destroy any vessels that came within their 
 reach. All possible endeavours were therefore 
 used by mariners, to keep their ships in the 
 middle of the strait. The proverb is applied 
 to persons who, attempting to avoid one evil, 
 fall into another more grievous and insupport- 
 able ; who, attempting to rescue a part of their 
 property which they see in danger, lose both 
 their property and their lives. " It is falling,'" 
 \ve say, " out of the fryingpan into the fire," 
 in which form the proverb has been adopted 
 by the French, the Italians, and the Spanish. 
 " Sauter de la poile, et se jetter dans les 
 braises." " Cader d'alla padella nelle bragie." 
 " Saltar de la sarten, y caer en las brasas," 
 but of two evils we should choose the least. 
 " Meglio 6 dar la lana, che la pecora," better 
 lose the wool than the sheep. 
 
 The
 
 The adage is used by Philip Gualtier, a 
 Flemish writer of the thirteenth century, in a 
 poem celebrating the conquests of Alexander 
 the Great. The lines are an apostrophe, ad- 
 dressed to Darius, who, flying from Alexander^ 
 fell into the hands of Bessus, one of his gene- 
 rals. 
 
 "Quo tendis inertem, 
 
 Rex periture, fugam ? nescis, lieu, perdite ! nescia 
 Quern fugias; hostes incurris, d'um fugis hostera. 
 Incidis in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim." 
 
 Menagiana, vol. 3. p. 130. 
 
 Whither, O unfortunate prince, do you bend 
 your unavailing flight ? you know not, alas, 
 from whom you are flying; attempting to 
 avoid one enemy, you fall into the hands of 
 another, more savage and destructive. Endea- 
 vouring to escape Chary bclis, you are wrecked 
 en the rocks of Scylla. 
 
 Flamma Fumo est proximo,. 
 
 If there were no fire, there could be no 
 smoke. " Common fame is seldom to blame." 
 All that we have heard may not be true, but 
 so much could not have been said, if there 
 
 H were
 
 ( 98 ) 
 
 were no foundation. We should avoid the 
 first approach to vice, or danger; though small 
 at first, it may increase to an alarming magni- 
 tude. The smoke may soon be succeeded by 
 flame. He who would keep his morals un- 
 tainted, must not associate familiarly with the 
 debauched and wicked. 
 
 " Vice is a monster of such frightful mien, 
 As to be hated needs but to be seen ; 
 But seen too oft, familiar with her face, 
 We first admire, next pity, then embrace." 
 
 The fox, when he first saw a lion, ran from 
 him in great terror, but meeting one a second, 
 and then a third time, he had courage enough 
 to approach, and salute him. The Spaniards 
 and the French use the proverb somewhat 
 differently. " Cerca le anda el humo, tras 
 la llama," and " II n'y a point de feu sans 
 fume"e/' where there is fire, there will be some 
 smoke; that is, where any foul action has been 
 committed, it will by some outlet or other 
 escape, and become known, "Murder will 
 out," we say.
 
 ( 99 ) 
 
 Paupertas Sapientiam sortita est, 
 
 " La P overt a e la Madre chile Invenxione" 
 
 " Necessity is the Mother of Invention." 
 
 " Magister artis ingeniique largitor venter," 
 venter, or the stomach, is the master of all 
 art, and bestower of genius and invention. 
 " Hunger," we therefore say, " will break 
 through stone walls." "The stomach," Rabelais 
 says, " only speaks by signs, but those signs 
 are more readily obeyed by every one, than 
 the statutes of senates, or the commands of 
 monarchs." To answer is useless, for " El 
 vientre ayuno, no oye ninguno," " the stomach 
 has no ears." 
 
 Persons who have no property but what is 
 procured by their industry, on which they 
 may subsist, will endeavour more diligently 
 to improve their understandings, than those 
 who, being amply endowed, find every thing 
 provided to their hands, without labour. 
 " Crosses are ladders that do lead to heaven." 
 Consonant to which the French say, " V r ent 
 au visage rend un homme sage," wind in a 
 man's face, that is, adversity, or trouble, makes 
 ii 2 .him
 
 him wise; and, "a pobrcza no ay verguenca," 
 poverty has no shame, that is-, want makes 
 men bold, and to descend to means, for their 
 subsistence, which, in better circumstances, 
 they would be ashamed to have recourse to* 
 This, more than all o^ther considerations, 
 should induce every one "Messe tenus propria 
 vivere," to live within their means, "to let 
 their purse be their master." 
 
 Bis Pueri Senes. 
 
 Ancient persons are twice children, or as 
 we say, " Once a man, and twice a child." 
 Age ordinarily induces a degree of imbecility, 
 both in the mind and body, resembling child- 
 hood. Persons in a very advanced age become 
 feeble and impotent, their legs tremble, oblig- 
 ing them to support themselves with a stick ; 
 their hands shake, so that they are unable to 
 cut their food, and at length of even carrying 
 it to their mouths. They become toothless, 
 and are obliged, like children, to be fed with 
 spoon-meats; their eyes become weak, incapa- 
 citating them from reading, and their organs 
 
 of
 
 ( 101 ) 
 
 of hearing dull and obtuse, so that they can 
 no longer take a part in conversation. These 
 two sources of information heing cut off, the 
 mind, no longer solicited by the surrounding 
 objects, or excited by the acquisition of new 
 materials, becomes languid and inert ; the 
 traces of the knowledge it had acquired, be- 
 come faint, and are at length nearly oblite- 
 rated, and thus is induced a complete second 
 childhood, "and mere oblivion, sans teeth, 
 sans eyes, sans taste, sans every thing." 
 
 " Ubi jam validis quassatum est viribus aevi 
 Corpus, et obtusis cecitlerunt viribus artus, 
 Claudicat ingenium, delirat linguaque mensque." 
 
 LUCRET. Lib.\\l. lin. 452. 
 " When age prevails, 
 
 And the quick vigour of each member fails, 
 The mind's brisk powers decrease, and waste apace, 
 And grave and reverend folly takes the place." 
 
 Trans, by CKEECII. 
 
 Crambe bis posita, Mors. 
 By frequent repetition, even the most plea- 
 sant and agreeable story tires, and at length 
 nauseates, as do also the most favourite viands. 
 The particular plant called Crambe by the 
 H 3 ancients
 
 ( 102 ) 
 
 ancients is not now known. It was thought 
 to have the power of preventing the inebriat- 
 ing effects of wine, and hence we are told, a 
 portion of it, previously baked, was usually 
 taken by the /Egyptians, and some other 
 nations, before sitting down to their tables, 
 that they might indulge more freely in drink- 
 ing; but twice baked, or too often taken, it ex^ 
 cited nausea and disgust, whence the proverb. 
 
 "Occidit miseros crambe repetita magistros." JUVENAL, 
 
 To hear the same lesson, so oft repeated, is 
 the death of us poor masters. 
 
 Manum de tabula. 
 
 Desist, leave off correcting and amending, 
 "Nimia cura detent magis quam emendat," 
 too much care may injure instead of improving 
 your work. " You should therefore let well 
 alone." Apelles, seeing Protogenes with too 
 much care and anxiety, labouring to give a 
 complete finishing to a picture, which he had 
 already made extremely beautiful, fearful lest 
 by such frequent touching, and retouching, 
 
 he
 
 C 103 ) 
 
 he should diminish, instead of heightening its 
 value, cried out " manum cle tabula." The 
 adage is of extensive application, being refer- 
 able to every kind of work, among others, to 
 this of explaining proverbs, which too much 
 labour, instead of elucidating, may render 
 obscure. 
 
 Veterem Injuriamferendo, invitas novam. 
 
 By quietly bearing, and putting up with 
 one affront, we often lay ourselves open to 
 fresh insults. Though humanity and tender- 
 ness towards our neighbours and associates, 
 and a disposition to overlook slight offences, 
 is highly commendable, and is becoming the 
 frailty of our nature; yet too great facility in 
 this point, is not only improper, but may in, 
 the end be highly injurious, even to the parties 
 whose offence we have overlooked. JEsop has 
 given us in one of his fables a story, which 
 may serve to illustrate this adage. " A boy 
 out of idleness and wantonness, throwing 
 stones at, and otherwise insulting him, he 
 had recourse, at first," he says, " to intreaties 
 
 n4 to
 
 ( 104 } 
 
 to induce him to desist: these failing, he gave 
 him a small piece of money, all, he told the 
 boy, he could spare ; at the same time he 
 shewed him a more wealthy person, who was 
 coining that way, and advised him to throw 
 stones at him, from whom he might expect a 
 much larger reward. The boy followed his 
 advice, but the rich man, instead of in treating, 
 or bribing him to desist, ordered his servants 
 to take him before a magistrate, by whom he 
 was severely punished. " Socrates, indeed, 
 seemed to be of a different opinion, when he 
 said, " If an ass kicks me, shall I strike him 
 again?" but this forbearance must not be car- 
 ried too far, for, according to the Italian pro- 
 verb, " Che pecora si fa, il lupo la mangia," 
 and the French, " Qui se fait brebis, le loup 
 le mange," that is, he that makes himself a 
 sheep, shall be eaten by the wolf. If a strange 
 dog, going along the street, claps his tail 
 between his 1 legs, and runs away, every cur 
 will snap at him ; but, if he turns upon them, 
 and gives a counter snarl, they will let him go 
 on without further molestation. 
 
 Ansam
 
 ( 105 ) 
 
 Ansam qucerere. 
 
 Seeking a handle or opportunity for break- 
 ing an agreement into which any one may 
 have improvidently entered, or an occasion 
 for quarrelling ; and to persons of a litigious 
 disposition, very trifling causes M 7 511 afford han- 
 dle sufficient for the purpose. The phrase is 
 used by us in as many ways, as it was formerly 
 among the Romans. You know the temper 
 of the man, be careful that you give him no 
 handle, no ground for cavilling, though that 
 may be difficult, as a man so disposed, will 
 make a handle of any thing. " When we 
 have determined to beat a dog, the first hedge 
 we come to will furnish us with a stick for 
 the purpose." 
 
 Oleum et operam perdere. 
 
 Losing both oil and labour, which those 
 were said to do, who had employed much 
 time, labour, study, and expense, in endea- 
 vouring to attain an object, without being 
 able to effect their purpose. Those who con- 
 tended at the public games among the an- 
 cients,
 
 ( 106 ) 
 
 cients, were used to anoint their limbs with 
 oil, previous to their entering on the contest ; 
 if they were conquered therefore they lost 
 both oil and labour ; as those did who failed 
 in the acquisition of knowledge, their re- 
 searches being principally carried on by the 
 light of a lamp; whence the adage, which the 
 following story may serve further to illustrate: 
 " A man having a suit at law, sent to the 
 judge as a present a vessel of oil; his antago- 
 nist, that he might be even with him, sent a 
 well fatted pig, which turned the scale in his 
 favour and gained him the cause : the first 
 man complaining and reminding the judge of 
 the present he had sent him ; true, said the 
 judge, but a great hog burst into the room 
 and overturned the vessel, and so both the oil 
 and labour were lost." 
 
 Mortuum Jlagellas. 
 
 It is flogging a dead man, or one who re- 
 gards your censures as little as do the dead, 
 may be said to any one reproving a person 
 
 who
 
 ( 107 ) 
 
 who is incorrigibly wicked, and who has lost 
 all sense of shame or decency : or by persons 
 charged with the commission of crimes of 
 which they know themselves to be innocent. 
 
 Nocumentum, Docitmentum. 
 
 " Trouble teaches." Adopted probably for 
 its jingle, like " harm watch, harm catch ;" and 
 many more in our language, and like them 
 containing an useful precept. The sense is, 
 that it is the part of wisdom or prudence to 
 profit by our mischances: those who have been 
 plundered by servants or defrauded by bad 
 customers, become more cautious in securing 
 their property, and in inquiring more diligent- 
 ly into the character of the persons to whom 
 they give credit, that they are not wasteful 
 and extravagant spendthrifts, inattentive to 
 business, or persons of depraved morals. A 
 merchant who had suffered much in this way 
 determined at length that he would give no 
 credit, he therefore put out a sign representing 
 a fire in which were a number of account 
 
 books
 
 ( 108 ) 
 
 books burning; when any one wanted credit, 
 he told them it was impossible he could give 
 it, his books being burnt. Trouble ajso and 
 distress leads us to reflect upon our past con- 
 duct, and to reform what is amiss. " Periissem 
 nisi periissem," if I had not suffered, I had 
 been undone. " If thou be in woe, sorrow, 
 want, pain, or distress, remember that God 
 chastiseth them whom he loveth, and that 
 they that so\v in tears shall reap in joy. As 
 the furnace proveth the potter's vessel, so doth 
 trouble and vexation try men's thoughts." 
 " Ecce spectaculum Deo dignum, vir fortis 
 mala fortuna compositus," behold a spectacle 
 worthy of God, a good man contending with 
 adversity. 
 
 Nuces relinquere, 
 
 Abandon or throw away your nuts : that is, 
 leave off childish amusements, and addict your- 
 self to employments that are more manly and 
 better suited to your age and present situa- 
 tion in life. The adage is said to be derived 
 
 from
 
 ( 109 ) 
 
 from the bridegroom scattering nuts when 
 leading his spouse to the temple; intimating 
 that he now purposed to give up boyish 
 sports, among which playing with nuts, was 
 not unfrequent. Those who did not do so, 
 were said " redire ad nuces," or " nuces repe- 
 tere," to return to their playthings, to be- 
 come children again. 
 
 sum, non CEdipus. 
 
 I am Davus, not CEdipus; that is, I am a 
 man of plain understanding and no conjuror, 
 or wizard, may be said to persons speaking 
 enigmatically or more finely than the subject 
 requires : or whom we do not wish to under- 
 stand, or would oblige to be more explicit than 
 they are inclined or intend to be. CEdipus was 
 famed, we are told, for expounding the riddle 
 of the Sphinx, which no one before him had 
 been able to explain. 
 
 Ex Harend Funiculum nectis. 
 
 It is like making a rope of sand ; labouring 
 
 to
 
 ( HO ) 
 
 to do what can by no art be effected ; this may 
 be said to persons bringing together in the way 
 of argument, things not having the least co- 
 herence or connection. It is like attempting 
 " jungere vulpes," to yoke foxes; or u mulgere 
 hircum," to milk a he-goat. 
 
 Latum Unguem. 
 
 There's not the breadth of a nail, or of a 
 straw, or of a hair, of difference between them, 
 and yet even for that trifle, they keep up the 
 contention and with no small degree of acri- 
 mony. 
 
 " But in the way of bargain, mark ye me, 
 I'll cavil on the ninth part of a hair!" Henry IV. 
 
 Non tarn Ovum Ovo simile. 
 
 He is as like his brother as one egg is to 
 another. The Latins have numerous adages 
 of this kind, consisting of a simple compari- 
 son : it \vas thought right to transplant a few 
 of them here, particularly such as have cor- 
 respondent phrases in our language. 
 
 Magis
 
 ( in ) 
 
 Magis mutus quam Pisces. 
 
 " Muet comme un poisson," as mute as a 
 fish. The opposite to this is 
 
 Turtura loquacior. 
 
 More loquacious than the turtle-dove. We 
 say, perhaps more pertinently, to great chat- 
 terers, " you prate like a parrot or a magpye," 
 which are still more famed for garrulity, than 
 the turtle-dove, " Quse tamen, non ore tan- 
 turn, sed etiam postica corporis parte clamare 
 fertur." 
 
 OU(E Amicitia. 
 
 Friends to the table. Persons attached to 
 the fortune, not to the beauty or dispositions 
 of their mistresses or friends, were so called. 
 
 " Te putat ille SUJE captum nidore culinse, 
 Nee mate conjectat." JUVENAL. 
 
 He thinks you are more attracted by the smell 
 of his kitchen, than by affection to his person 
 or regard to his interest, and is not mistaken. 
 " Fervet olla, vivit amicitia," for such friend- 
 ship
 
 ship only lasts while the pot continues ttf 
 boil. 
 
 " Amigo del buen tiempo, mudase con ei viento," 
 those who are only friends to your good for-* 
 tune, change with the wind. Young men of 
 fortune have abundance of such friends, who 
 are very ready in assisting to disburthen them 
 of their wealth ; when that is effected, they 
 become more shy in their attendance, and at 
 length leave them to reflect at their leisure on 
 
 O 
 
 the folly of their conduct. 
 
 " If Fortune wrap thee warm, 
 
 Then friends about thee swarm, 
 
 Like bees about a honey-pot : 
 
 But, if dame Fortune frown, 
 
 And cast thee fairly down, 
 By Jove thou may'st lie there and rot." 
 
 Nat Lee is said to have diverted himself with 
 singing this song when in Bethlehem. The 
 sentiment is not ill expressed by our homely 
 proverb, " no longer pipe, no longer dance." 
 
 Multa novit Fitlpes, sed Felis unum magnum. 
 
 A fox bragging of the number of tricks 
 
 and
 
 ( US ) 
 
 and shifts he occasionally used to escape tile 
 hounds, a cat that was present, observed that 
 she had hut one, which was to climb up the 
 nearest tree or building, and that being com- 
 pletely effectual was of more value than all 
 the stratagems of the fo^ which did not al- 
 ways preserve him from the huntsmen. The 
 proverb teaches that it is better to rely on 
 the advice of one sensible friend, than to have 
 recourse to many whose contrary and discor- 
 dant opinions would be more likely to perplex 
 and confound, than to teach us how to escape 
 from our difficulties. When also we would 
 convince or persuade, it is better ordinarily 
 to depend on one powerful argument, than to 
 use a variety of petty ones ; as " too many 
 cooks," are said, to " spoil the broth." Against 
 this tenet, however, we have several apo- 
 thegms equally accredited, as " vis unita for- 
 tior," the united power of many agents is 
 stronger than that of one ; which is probably 
 as true applied to the understanding as to 
 bodily strength ; so " quae non prosunt sin- 
 gula, juncta juvant," though each argument 
 may be individually weak, yet a number of 
 
 i them
 
 them made to bear upon the same point 
 may be successful. Solomon tells us also, 
 that " in the multitude of counsel there 13 
 safety." 
 
 Ars varia Vulpi, ast una Echino maxima. 
 
 The hedge-hog, for so Erasmus understands 
 it, though the echinus is properly a marine 
 animal, escapes its enemies by rolling itself 
 up in the form of a ball, covered with sharp 
 spines or thorns which they dare not take 
 hold of. The adage admits the same expla- 
 nation as the last. 
 
 Auribus Lupum teneo. 
 
 I have taken a wolf by the ears, whom I 
 can with difficulty hold, and dare not let go 
 lest he tear me in pieces. It may be said 
 when any one has so entangled himself in 
 a business, that he can neither go on with 
 it satisfactorily, nor give it up without suffer, 
 ing considerable damage : or by one engaged 
 
 to
 
 to a mistress, whom lie is afraid to marry on 
 account of her ill-humour, and from the vio- 
 lence of his affection he is incapable of leaving. 
 Macbeth, after the murder of Banquo, and 
 before he had given himself to the unlawful 
 commerce with supernatural agents, says, 
 
 " I am in blood 
 
 Stept in so far, that should I wade no more, 
 Returning were as tedious as go o'er/' 
 
 To the same mode of reasoning we owe half 
 the robberies and murders that are committed 
 every year. Martial's description of a captious 
 but extremely agreeable character may serve 
 as a further illustration of this adage : 
 
 " Difficilis, facilis, jucundus, acerbus es idem, 
 Nee tecum possum vivere, nee sine te," 
 
 which has thus been translated, 
 
 " In all thy humours whether grave or mellow, 
 Thou 'rt such a touchy, testy, pleasant fellow, 
 Hast so much wit, and mirth, and spleen about thee. 
 That there's no living with thee nor without thee." 
 
 Those who go to law may be said to hold a 
 
 wolf by the ears, or they are like sheep taking 
 
 shelter under a hedge of thorns, whence they 
 
 will not escape without losing the half of their 
 
 i 2 fleeces.
 
 fleeces. Formerly a large estate was conveyed 
 away by a piece of parchment that would not 
 hold twenty short lines, which is now hardly 
 done with twenty skins. This multiplying of 
 words is pretended to be done for greater 
 security, but has the contrary effect, " certa 
 sunt paucis," certainty, or freedom from 
 doubt is found where there are fewest words. 
 
 Ne Hercules quidem adversus duos. 
 
 Even Hercules could not contend success- 
 fully against two, equally strong as himself. 
 " Two to one are odds at football," may be 
 said by any one who has been censured for 
 not doing what, circumstanced as he was, it 
 was impossible he should perform. The adage 
 may with equal propriety be applied to the 
 exertions of the mind ; where much has been 
 done well, small errors should not be censured 
 with asperity. A great philosopher should 
 not be expected to be also a poet, or a man 
 skilled in one art, to be equally expert in 
 another. The same sentiment is contained in 
 
 Units
 
 Unus Fir, nullus Vir. 
 
 From one man unaided by advice, or other 
 assistance, no great exertion, or the perform- 
 ance of no very difficult, or intricate business 
 should be expected. " Two heads are better 
 than one, or why do folks marry ?" 
 
 Nihil ad Versum. 
 
 This is not to the purpose, said when a per- 
 son, attempting to explain any thing, wanders 
 from the subject, which he leaves more per- 
 plexed than when he began. The adage is 
 supposed to have taken its rise from the per- 
 formers on the stage attempting to represent, 
 by gesticulation, the sense of the part recited, 
 in the manner, perhaps, of our pantomime. 
 Failing in the attempt, this adage, " Nihil ad 
 versum," was applied ; intimating that the 
 action did not correspond with the sense, or 
 meaning of the verse. Or it may refer to the 
 oracles, which were not unfrequently delivered 
 in verse, when the event was not consonant 
 to the prediction. 
 
 i 3 Nihil
 
 Nihil ad Fides, 
 
 Was used to be applied to persons, whose 
 manners and conversation, or whose precepts 
 and mode of living were not consistent, and 
 who, not very gracefully, tell us, " We should 
 <Jo as they say, not as they do." 
 
 Asinus in Unguent o> 
 
 May be said of a clown living in the midst 
 of delicacies he knows not how to use or 
 enjoy ; or affecting the company of men of 
 letters, whose conversation he is incapable of 
 understanding. Such things suiting him as ill 
 as perfumes do an ass. " No es la miel para 
 la boca del asno," honey is not fit for the 
 mouth of an ass. " Chantez a. 1'ane, il vous 
 fera des pets." 
 
 Asinus inter Simias. 
 
 The ass has fallen into the company of 
 apes, was said when a man of mild and easy 
 manners, and of weak understanding, was 
 een associating with petulant and illnatured 
 
 persons,
 
 ( "9 ) 
 
 persons, who insulted, and turned him to 
 ridicule. Such wanton petulance is well re- 
 proved by the following : 
 
 " Set not thy foot to make the blind to fall, 
 Nor wilfully offend thy weaker brother ; 
 Nor wound the dead with the tongue's bitter gall, 
 Neither rejoice thou in the fall of other." 
 
 Of the same kind is " Noctua inter cornices," 
 the owl is among ravens, there being the same 
 dissimilarity between them, as between the 
 ass and the ape. 
 
 _ 
 
 Alii sementemfaciunt, alii metent. 
 
 One man labours and another reaps the pro- 
 fit, or one man commits the crime but another 
 suffers the punishment. " II bat le buisson 
 sans prendre 1'oisillon." " One man beats the 
 bush, and another catches the bird." This 
 proverb was used, we are told, by Henry the 
 Fifth, at the siege of Orleans. When the 
 citizens would have delivered the town to the 
 Duke of Burgundy, who was in the English 
 
 C3 v * O 
 
 camp, the king said, " Shall I beat the bush, 
 
 and another take the bird ?" no such matter. 
 
 i 4 These
 
 ( 120 ) 
 
 These words did so offend the Duke of Bur- 
 gundy, that he made a peace with the French, 
 and withdrew his force from the English. 
 " Uno levanta la caza, y otro la mata," one 
 man starts the game, and another kills it. 
 
 Aliam quercum excute. 
 
 Go shake some other tree, you have reaped 
 sufficient profit, or taken fruit enough from 
 this. The adage may be used by persons who 
 have been liberal in assisting any one who still 
 continues to solicit them: Go to some other 
 friend, I have done my part. It may also be 
 used in the way of admonishing any one to 
 cease exerting himself in any course or busi- 
 ness from which lie has already gained all 
 the advantage it is likely to produce, or to 
 change or dismiss an instructor from whom 
 
 o 
 
 he has learned all that he is capable of teach- 
 ing. 
 
 In the early ages of the world, when acorns 
 formed a material part of our sustenance, 
 there were persons who made it their business 
 to collect them. When one of these was seen 
 
 looking
 
 looking up to a tree, those who observed him 
 would say, " Aliam quercum excute," go to 
 some other tree, this has been stripped before, 
 which being often repeated, came at length to 
 be used as a proverb. 
 
 Pliny tells us that even in his time, many 
 nations made the acorn a part of their diet, 
 not having been instructea in the method of 
 cultivating wheat, or other grain, and Erasmus 
 says that acorns were considered by the Span- 
 iards as a dainty, and were served up as a part 
 of the dessert, in which manner we find them 
 introduced by the goatherds in Don Quixote. 
 
 Fucumjacere. 
 
 " Hazer lo bianco negro, y lo negro bianco." 
 To make white black, and black white. 
 
 To deceive with false pretences, or to mis- 
 represent any matter, and make it appear 
 different to what it is, was called painting or 
 discolouring the subject; and as a species of 
 fucus was anciently used as a dye, persons so 
 disguising what they treated of, were said 
 " fucum facere," to give a false colour to it. 
 The phrase was also applied to women paint- 
 ing
 
 ( 122 ) 
 
 ing their faces, and making themselves more 
 fair than nature intended them, whence we 
 learn that this practice was as usual and 
 fashionable among the Greeks and Romans, 
 as it is now among our own fair country- 
 women. " Visage farde " among the French 
 means a painted, dissembled, or false c 
 tenance. 
 
 Album Calculum adders. 
 
 To approve, to put in a white stone. In 
 popular assemblies among the ancients, the 
 persons who had a right to vote, had a white 
 and a black stone given them. If they agreed 
 to the proposition, or absolved the person 
 accused of any crime, they put the white 
 stone into the urn ; if they disapproved of the 
 proposal, or thought the person accused guil- 
 ty, the black one. Hence it is now usual to 
 say, when a person who has been proposed as 
 a member of any of our societies, is rejected, 
 that " he was black balled," though, as it 
 often happens, neither black nor white balls 
 were used in the ballot. 
 
 " Mos
 
 ( 123 ) 
 
 if Mos erat antiquis niveis atrisque capillis, 
 JJis daranare reos, illis absolvere culpa." OVID, 
 
 Creta vet Carbone notare. 
 
 To make a white or a black line, with 
 chalk, or with charcoal, against the name of 
 any one, was in like manner used to denote 
 approbation, or disapproval of his conduct. 
 Persius, addressing his friend Plotius Macrinus 
 on his birthday, says, 
 
 " Hunc, Macrine, diem numera meliore capillo, 
 Qui tibi labentes apponit candido annos." 
 
 ft Let this auspicious morning be expressed, 
 With a white stone, distinguished from the rest; 
 White as thy fame, and as thy honor clear ; 
 And let new joys attend on thy new added year." 
 
 Stylum verfcre. 
 
 To change or correct the style or language. 
 The ancients used tables covered with a coat 
 of wax, on which they wrote with a style, a 
 piece of iron, sharp, or pointed at the end, with 
 which they made the letters, and blunt or flat 
 
 at
 
 ( 124 ) 
 
 at the other end, which they used for ob- 
 literating, or rubbing out what they had 
 written, either when they purposed making 
 any alteration, or to employ the table for 
 other writings. By a good or bad style, they 
 meant therefore at first, simply to denote the 
 quality of the instrument with which they 
 wrote. The term was afterwards applied me- 
 taphorically to the language, in which sense 
 it is now used. 
 
 The reader may not be displeased, as not 
 alien to the subject, at seeing the following 
 short account of the different substances that 
 were employed for writing on, before the art 
 of making paper from linen rags was discover- 
 ed. Among the earliest we find tables of 
 wood made smooth, and covered with wax, as 
 has been noted above. But as what was 
 written on wax might easily be defaced, leaves 
 of the papyrus, a species of flag, which grew 
 in great abundance in the marshes of Egypt, 
 were dryed, and by a particular process pre- 
 pared for the purpose. On these the letters 
 were engraved with an instrument similar to 
 that made use of to write on wax. Leaves so 
 
 prepared
 
 ( 125 ) 
 
 prepared were called charta, from a city of 
 Tyre of that name, near which they were also 
 found. Though the practice of using the 
 papyrus has been discontinued for many ages, 
 yet the terms folia leaves, and charta paper, 
 derived from it, are still retained. As in 
 writing a treatise, a great number of these 
 leaves were required, they were connected, 
 and kept together by making a hole, and 
 passing a string through each of them. With 
 the same string, passed several times around 
 them, they were confined to prevent their 
 separating, and being injured or lost, when no 
 one was reading, or using them, and thence, 
 Pancirollus thinks, a bundle of them obtained 
 the name of volumen, or a volume. Another 
 article used for the purpose, was the inner 
 bark of certain trees. This was prepared by 
 beating it, and then incorporating it with a 
 solution of gum arable. As the inner bark of 
 trees is called liber, the volumes, or books, 
 were thence called libri, a name they still re- 
 tain. Vellum, the last substance to be men- 
 tioned, is said to owe its origin to the follow- 
 
 ^ 
 
 ing circumstance : Eumenes, king of Per- 
 
 gamus,
 
 gamus, being' desirous of forming- a library* 
 that should equal or exceed in number of 
 volumes, the famed library at Alexandria, 
 Ptolemy, with a view of rendering his design 
 abortive, prohibited the exportation of the 
 papyrus. This exciting the industry of some 
 artists in the court of Eumenes, they con- 
 trived a method of preparing the skins of 
 sheep for the purpose, and it was called 
 vellum, from vellus a skin, and parchment, 
 from Pergamus, the place where the art of pre- 
 paring it was discovered, or if not discovered, 
 it was there improved, and first brought into 
 general use. 
 
 Umbram suam metuere. 
 
 lie is afraid of his own shadow, said of per* 
 sons \viio are so childishly timid, that they 
 cannot be prevailed on to undertake the 
 easiest, and most obviously useful business, 
 fearing lest it should fail. To such subjects, 
 and to such as live in a state of constant 
 alarm, fearing almost impossible accidents, 
 the following is also applicable. 
 
 Quid
 
 ( 127 ) 
 
 Quid si Cesium ruat ! 
 
 What if the sky should fall ! " When the 
 sky falls," we say jocularly, " then we may 
 catch larks." 
 
 Funem abrumpere, nimium fendendo. 
 
 The chord stretched too tight will break, 
 and the mind kept too long, and too intensely 
 meditating on one subject, loses its spring 
 and becomes feeble. 
 
 " Cito rumpas arcum, semper si tensimi habueris, 
 At si laxaris, cum voles, utilis erit." 
 
 The mind must be occasionally relieved 
 from its studies by amusement, to enable it to 
 recover its strength, af?d render it fit for fur- 
 ther exertion. The adage also admonishes, 
 that we should not make too frequent appli- 
 cation for assistance, to persons of liberal 
 dispositions, who have already done as much 
 as was convenient, or proper, that " we should 
 not spur a willing horse." 
 
 Quicgidd
 
 Quicquid in Buccam, vel in Linguam t-enerit, 
 
 ojfundere. 
 
 " He says whatever comes uppermost," or 
 into his mind, but, " habla la boca, con qua 
 paga la coca," " the tongue speaks at the 
 head's cost." This is said of careless and 
 inconsiderate persons, who think they shew 
 their bravery by saying whatever they please, 
 regardless whom they may offend ; but the 
 Spaniard again says, " hablar sin pensar, es 
 tirar sin encarar," " speaking without think- 
 ing, is shooting without taking aim," and 
 he who says all he has a mind to say, must 
 expect to be told what he has no mind to 
 hear. In a more honorable way, the adage 
 applies to persons of integrity, who are inge- 
 nuous, and open, and in all concerns of busi- 
 ness, will speak the truth. But even from 
 such it is not always well received. 
 
 " Whoever speaks with plain sincerity, 
 Is eyed by Fortune with a look askant; 
 While some low fawning sycophant 
 Wears every day a new attire, 
 The friends of verity 
 Go naked as the goddess they adrhire." 
 
 Ctir*
 
 ( 129 ) 
 
 Citra Pulverem, vel citra Laborem. 
 
 Obtaining one's end without labour, or 
 meeting with success far beyond our endea- 
 vours. The adage was applied to fortunate 
 persons, who were more prosperous than might 
 have been expected from the little care and 
 attention they paid to their business. " Citra 
 arationem, citraque sementem," their lands 
 proving productive, though but little cul- 
 tivated. 
 
 There are men, with whom every scheme 
 or project in which they are engaged succeed, 
 though they are not remarkable either for 
 diligence or capacity. Such men are said, 
 according to a familiar English proverb, " to 
 be born with a silver spoon in their mouths." 
 And " give a man luck," we say, " and throw 
 him into the sea." From the not un frequent 
 occurrences of such events, arises also the 
 saying, " E meglio esser fortunato chesavio," 
 " It is better to be born fortunate than wise ;" 
 also, " Gutta fortune pras dolio sapientiie," 
 the sense of which the French give in the fol- 
 lowing, " Mieux vaut une once de fortune, 
 
 K qu'une
 
 ( 130 ) 
 
 qiftme iivre de sagesse," an ounce of good 
 fortune is better than a pound of wisdom. 
 The proverb, " citra pulverem," without dust, 
 seems to have taken its rise from the custom 
 of sprinkling the bodies of wrestlers with 
 dust, having first anointed them with oil. 
 This was done with the view of stopping the 
 pores, to prevent their being exhausted by 
 perspiring too profusely. Antisthenes, one of 
 the speakers in the Dialogue called the Ban- 
 quet, of Xenophon, says, in allusion to this 
 custom, " he might have as much land, per- 
 haps, as would furnish a sufficiency of dust, 
 to cover the body of a wrestler." Sir Francis 
 Bacon, among his expedients for prolonging 
 life, recommends taking daily small doses of 
 nitre, to retard the circulation of the blood, 
 and anointing the body with oil, to moderate 
 the perspiration. Hist. Vitas et Mortis. 
 
 Lydius Lapis, sive Heradius Lapis. 
 
 A stone so called from Heraclea a city in 
 Lydia, from whence it was brought. It was 
 
 used
 
 used to try pieces of metal, with the view of 
 discovering whether they were gold, or silver, 
 or what portion of those precious metals were 
 contained in them, and the adage may be 
 applied, metaphorically, to persons of acute 
 sense, and sound judgment,- who are able to 
 solve difficult, and intricate problems, or 
 questions. 
 
 Ad Amussim. 
 
 Made exactly by rule; said of any piece of 
 work that is perfectly and correctly finished, 
 or of a literary composition, in which the 
 subject is judiciously and accurately treated. 
 
 A d Unguem. 
 
 Perfectly smooth, and polished. The phrase 
 takes its rise from the workmen's passing their 
 nail over a piece of work, to find if any in- 
 equalities remain. 
 
 Incudi redder e. 
 
 Returned to the anvil, may be applied to 
 K 2 any
 
 ( 132 ) 
 
 any work that is re-considered, and carefully 
 corrected and improved. 
 
 Indignus qui illl Matellam porrigat. 
 
 This is used where there is a very great 
 difference in the qualities and dispositions of 
 the persons compared, and means, that the 
 one is not fit to take off the shoes, or perform 
 the meanest offices for the other. 
 
 " Dispeream bi tu Pyladi prsestare matellam, 
 Dignus es, aut porcos pascere Pirithoi." 
 
 May I die, if you are worthy to be employed 
 in feeding his hogs, or even in services more 
 sordid and humiliating. 
 
 etiam est Holitor valde opportuna lo- 
 quutus. 
 
 Even the opinion of a clown may be at- 
 tended to with advantage. "Sa?pe est etiam 
 sub pallio sordido sapientia," for wisdom not 
 unfrequently exists under a squalid garment. 
 " Tierra negra buen pan lleva," black land 
 produces white bread, and " Debaxo de una 
 mala capa, hay buen bebedo," under an old 
 
 and
 
 ( 133 ) 
 
 and tattered cloak, there may be a good 
 drinker, that is, a man of understanding. The 
 Spaniards say, when an old man, and with 
 them old and wise seem to be synonymous, 
 ceases to drink, he will soon cease to live. 
 "Quando el viejo no puede beber, la huessa le 
 pueden hazer," and " Quixadas sin barbas, no 
 merecen ser honradas," chins without beards 
 deserve no honour, which is only clue to age. 
 Scepe etiam stultus fuit opportuna loquutus, 
 as Erasmus corrects the adage, that is, Even a 
 fool may frequently give good advice, which 
 means no more, than that as a liar may some- 
 times speak the truth, so may a fool utter a 
 wise sentence. Rabelais had perhaps an eye 
 to this adage, when he made Panurge take 
 the advice of a fool on the subject of his 
 marriage. 
 
 Leonem Larva terres. 
 
 Would you frighten a lion with a vizor or 
 
 mask, may be said to weak and simple persons, 
 
 attempting by noise and blustering, to terrify 
 
 and alarm those who are greatly their superiors 
 
 *3 in
 
 ( 134 ) 
 
 in strength and courage. " Do you think I 
 M'as born in a wood to be scared by an owl ?" 
 
 " Demens! qui nimbos et non imitabile fulmen, 
 .Ere, et cornipedum cursu simularat equurum." 
 
 Senseless man ! who could strive to imitate 
 the storms and inimitable thunder of Jupiter, 
 with the clatter of brazen cymbals, and the 
 tramp of horses. 
 
 Salem et Mensam ne pr&tereas. 
 You must not neglect those who have been 
 entertained at your table, or with whom you 
 have eaten salt. This being contrary to the 
 laws of hospitality. Salt, from its power of pre- 
 serving bodies from putrefaction, was thought 
 to have something in it of a divine nature, 
 and was thence adopted as a symbol of per- 
 petuity, and made use of as a mean to conci- 
 liate friendship. In Ezra, we read, " we are 
 salted with the salt of the palace," meaning, 
 we are there nourished and supported ; and 
 our Saviour calls his disciples " the salt of the 
 earth," sent to preserve it, or to cure men of 
 their corruption. The adage means the same 
 
 as
 
 ( 135 ) 
 
 as "Ne negligas amicitias consuetudinem, aut 
 violes jura ejusdem." you must not omit the 
 usages, or violate the rights of friendship. 
 The dread which many of our good women 
 feel on overturning a salt-cellar, is doubtless 
 a relict of the veneration in which this sub- 
 stance was anciently held. The ill omen which 
 such an accident portends, is to be averted by 
 throwing a few grains of the salt over one's 
 shoulder; perhaps also the privilege which salt 
 has obtained, of being made a convertible 
 term for wit, derives its origin from the same 
 source. The French say of two persons whose 
 intimacy is not likely to be of long duration, 
 " Elles ne mangeront pas un minot de sel 
 ensemble," they will not eat a bushel of salt 
 together. A late envoy from Tripoli, having 
 recommended to the academy in Sweden, to 
 send some of their members to examine the 
 plants and other productions of his country, 
 said, " that in return for the bread and salt he 
 had received among them, he would give every 
 assistance in his power, in forwarding their 
 inquiries." The Germans held in the same 
 respect, persons with whom they had partici- 
 K 4 patetl
 
 ( 136 ) 
 
 patecl in the pleasure of drinking wine, and 
 time has not diminished in them, their reve- 
 rence for this delightful beverage. 
 
 Ne quicquam sapit, qui sibi non sapit. 
 
 The man is not to be esteemed wise, who is 
 not wise or prudent in the management of his 
 own concerns, who, intent on the business 
 of others, suffers his own to fall to decay. 
 On the other hand, the selfish man, whose 
 thoughts are solely employed in advancing 
 his own interest, " who would set his neigh- 
 bour's house on fire, merely to roast his eggs," 
 is still more to be blamed. " It is a poor 
 centre of a man's actions," Lord Verulam 
 says, " himself, and it does not ordinarily 
 succeed well with such persons; for, as they 
 have all their lives sacrificed to themselves, 
 they become in the end sacrifices to the 
 inconstancy of fortune, whose wings they 
 thought by their self- wisdom to have pini- 
 oned." Still, however, we must take care, 
 " not to bulge our own vessel, in attempting 
 to raise that of our neighbour," for, "La carita 
 
 comincia
 
 ( 137 ) 
 
 comincia prima da se steffo," chanty begins 
 at home. 
 
 Neque Mel, neque Apes. 
 
 No bees, no honey. Every convenience 
 hath its concomitant inconvenience; if we are 
 averse to bearing the one, we ought not to 
 expect to enjoy the other. " If we would 
 have eggs, we must bear with the cackling of 
 the hen." " Non s' e rosa senza spine," the 
 rose has its prickles, and the bee its sting, 
 their sweets therefore are not to be obtained 
 without some hazard. 
 
 " Feras quod laedit, ut quod prodest perferas." 
 " You must bear pain, if you look for gain." 
 
 " Dii nobis laboribus omnia vendunt," the 
 goods of fortune are not given, but sold to 
 us ; that is, they are only to be attained by 
 labour and industry, and yet we say, " He 
 pays clear for honey, that licks it from the 
 thorn." 
 
 Facile
 
 ( 138 ) 
 
 Facile qiium valemus, recta Consilia JE grot is 
 
 damns. 
 
 When free from trouble ourselves, we readily 
 give advice to those who are afflicted, which 
 in a similar situation, would not occur to us, 
 or probably we should not be disposed to 
 follow, though admonished to it by our nearest 
 friends 
 
 " "Pis each man's office to speak patience 
 
 To those who wring under the load of sorrow; 
 But no man's virtue or sufficiency 
 To be so moral, when lie shall endure 
 The like himself." 
 
 The Oracle being asked, what was the most 
 difficult thiny;? answered, "to know our- 
 
 O * 
 
 selves." What the most easy? "to give 
 advice to others." 
 
 In monendo sapimus omnes, verum ubi 
 Peccamus ipsi, non videmus propria." 
 
 For though we easily espy the faults of others, 
 and are very ready in admonishing them, yet 
 we do not easily admit that we are guilty of 
 similar errors, and are thence apt to consider 
 f the admonition of our friends, as impertinent, 
 
 and unnecessary. 
 
 " Peras
 
 ( 139 ) 
 
 " Peras iraposuit Jupiter nobis duas, 
 
 Propriis repletam vitiis, post tergurn dedit, 
 Alienis ante pectus suspendit gravem. 
 Hac re, videre nostra mala non possumus, 
 Alii siraul delinquunt censores sumus." 
 
 Jupiter gives to each of us, the Poet says, two 
 wallets, the one filled with the errors of our 
 neighbours, the other with our own. That 
 containing the errors of our neighbours, hangs 
 to our breasts, but that filled with our own, 
 rests on our backs. Hence it is, that though 
 we are well acquainted with the vices of others, 
 yet we are commonly ignorant of those prac- 
 tised by ourselves. 
 
 Quod supra nos, nihll ad nos. 
 
 This was a saying of Socrates, intimating 
 that we should not trouble ourselves by in- 
 quiring into matters that do not concern us; 
 into mysteries that are beyond our compre- 
 hension ; as, how the heavens and the earth 
 were formed ; whether, or by whom, the stars 
 were inhabited ; how far distant from us are 
 the Pleiades, or any other of the constellations ; 
 
 the
 
 ( 140 ) 
 
 the depth of the sea; the nature of space; or 
 whether there exists such a thing as pure 
 space ; the mystery of the Trinity, which the 
 boy told St. Austin, " he would understand, 
 then, when he should be able to lave the sea 
 dry," or numerous other similar inquiries, 
 which would be of little use if they could 
 be discovered, but upon which many volumes 
 have been written, neglecting, in the mean 
 while, to inquire what might make men more 
 quiet, contented, and happy ; or might tend 
 to remove the misery and distress with which 
 the world is overwhelmed. 
 
 Qua infra nos, nihil ad nos. 
 As we are admonished by the preceding 
 aphorism, not to employ our minds too sedu- 
 lously in acquiring a knowledge of things 
 placed far beyond our reach, by this we are 
 advised not with too much anxiety to seek 
 after worldly wealth, as large and splendid 
 houses, rich furniture, clothes, and diet, which, 
 as they contribute little or nothing to our 
 happiness, should be deemed unworthy our 
 regard. 
 
 Refricarc
 
 ( 141 ) 
 
 Refrkare Cicatrlcem. 
 
 To open a wound afresh, which had been 
 but lately skinned over, and is therefore very 
 susceptible of injury ; metaphorically, to re- 
 mind any one of a past misfortune. It is a 
 mark of absence of mind, inattention, or ill- 
 nature, to revive in conversation the memory 
 of circumstances, in which any of the com- 
 pany had been concerned, and which had been 
 the subject of much distress and uneasiness to 
 them. " No se ha de mentar la soga, en casa 
 del ahorcado," we should not talk of a halter, 
 in a house whence any one had been hanged. 
 " Refricare memoriam," to rub up the memory 
 of any one," who is disposed to forget his en- 
 gagement, or promise. 
 
 Nullus Hits Nasus est, et, obesce Naris Homo. 
 
 They have no nose, or they would have 
 smelt it out. They are dull, heavy, stupid, 
 void of ingenuity or sagacity. " Emunctre 
 naris homo," that is, he is a man of a clear 
 head, of quick sense, and sound judgment. 
 
 The
 
 ( 142 ) 
 
 The sense of smelling has perhaps been taken, 
 preferably to any of the other senses, though 
 they are all occasionally used, to denote the 
 perfection or imperfection of the understand- 
 ing, from observing the different value that is 
 put upon dogs, in proportion as they have 
 this sense more or less perfect. " Olet lucer- 
 nam," it smells of the lamp, is said of any 
 work on which much pains have been be- 
 stowed to make it perfect. " Mener par le 
 nez," to lead any one by the nose ; or, to have 
 such influence over him, as to make him say, 
 do, or believe, whatever we please. 
 
 JEdibus in nostris, qucK prava, aut recta 
 gerantur. 
 
 Look to your own household, see that no 
 disorders prevail there. Before we employ our 
 minds on objects that do not concern us, or 
 in studies from which no profit can be ob- 
 tained, we should see that all is well at home, 
 that there are no disorders to be corrected, 
 which neglected may occasion mischief. He 
 who neglects this may be said to be, 
 
 " Procul
 
 ( 143 ) 
 " Procul videns, sed cominus videns nihil." 
 
 Looking after distant objects, which do not 
 concern him, and neglecting those that are at 
 hand, and in which he is nearly interested. 
 The astrologer who pretended to tell the for- 
 tunes of his neighbours, did not see the pit 
 which lay at his feet, and into which he fell. 
 
 " Tendens in alta, amice, terrain non vides, 
 Cupidus futuri, fis rudis praebentium." 
 
 Intent on examining the stars, in which you 
 had no concern, you neglected what lay at 
 your feet. Too desirous of looking into the 
 future, you saw nothing of the disaster imme- 
 diately threatening you. 
 
 In $e descendere. 
 
 This is to the same purport as the last adage, 
 and there are many more inculcating the same 
 doctrine, that we should be more careful in ex- 
 amining into our own conduct, and less curious 
 in inquiring into, and censuring the defects of 
 others. " Rarum est enim ut satis se quisque 
 vereatur," for there are few men who have so 
 much reverence for themselves, as to avoid 
 
 doing
 
 ( 144 ) 
 
 i 
 
 doing wrong from the fear of self-reproach. 
 The silent and internal questioning our own 
 secret motives for action, would lead us to 
 set a true value on our conduct, by directing 
 us to the springs from whence it proceeded. 
 It would besides afford a resource to hours 
 that a man may find heavy on his hands, and 
 thus employed, he may boldly say with the 
 philosopher, that he is " nunquam minus 
 solus, quam cum solus," he is never less alone 
 than when alone. 
 
 <( Ut nemo in sese tentat descendere nemo, 
 Sed praecedenti spectatur mantica tergo.'' 
 
 How little solicitous we are in inquiring into 
 our own errors, and how intent on espying 
 those of our neighbours. 
 
 Festucam ex alterius Oculo ejicere. 
 
 Solicitous to remove a small defect from the 
 eye of your neighbour, regardless of a much 
 greater one in your own. But, " thou fool, 
 first take the beam from thine own eye, and 
 then thou mayest see clearly to remove the 
 mote from thy neighbour's eye." 
 
 " Qui
 
 " Qui ne tuberibus propriis offendat amicum 
 Postulat, ignoscat verrucis illius." 
 
 He who requires of his friend that he should 
 not notice his greater blemishes, should be 
 careful not to censure smaller errors that he 
 may discern in him. 
 
 Te cum habita, and 
 Infra tuam Pelliculam te confine. 
 
 Be contented with your own skin. An ass 
 having put on the skin of a lion, for a time 
 struck terror into all who beheld him, but the 
 cheat being at length discovered, he was hoot- 
 ed, and laughed at, and then cudgelled to death. 
 The ancients seem to hav thought that they 
 could not too frequently or too seriously in- 
 culcate the necessity of turning our attention 
 to ourselves. Look, the adage intimates, into 
 your own affairs : live as becomes your cir- 
 cumstances and fortune, and do not model 
 your expenses by those of persons of much 
 larger estates : " on doit avoir la robe selon le 
 froid," we should cut our coat according to 
 our cloth ; " stretch your arm no further 
 L than
 
 ( 146 ) 
 
 than your sleeve will reach ;" and " let your 
 purse be your master." This may be used to 
 restrain those whose notions are too lofty and 
 aspiring, who hazard what they actually pos- 
 sess in hunting after an increase of fortune, or 
 of preferment, which, if acquired, would add 
 little to their comfort, for " honour and ease 
 are seldom bed-fellows," and, " he that in- 
 creaseshis riches increases his sorrow." Though 
 the world is indulgent enough to look upon 
 the debaucheries and even the vices of the 
 wealthy with complacency, yet when men in 
 inferior situations presume to follow their ex- 
 amples, they are always held in extreme con- 
 tempt. The ass attempting to imitate the 
 playfulness and familiarity of the spaniel, in- 
 stead of caresses met with a cudgel. 
 
 Nosce te ipsiim. 
 
 Know thyself. If men would search diligent* 
 ly their owi\minds,and examine minutely their 
 thoughts and actions, they would be more cau- 
 tious in censuring the conduct of others, as 
 they would find in themselves abundantly suf- 
 ficient
 
 ( 147 ) 
 
 ficient cause for reproof. " It is a good horse 
 that never stumbles ;" and he is a good man 
 indeed who cannot reproach himself with nu- 
 merous slips and errors. " Every bean has its 
 black," and every man his follies and vices. 
 The adage also teaches us to set a proper 
 value upon ourselves, and to be careful not to 
 do any thing that may degrade us. It is not 
 known to whom we are indebted for this 
 golden rule ; we only learn that it is of very 
 long standing, and was held in such high es- 
 timation by the ancients, that it was placed 
 over the doors of their temples, and it was 
 also supposed by them, that " E coelo descen- 
 dit," it came down from heaven. 
 
 " ' Man know thyself !' this precept from on high. 
 Came down, imagined by the Deity ; 
 Oh! be the words indelibly imprest 
 On the live tablet of each human breast. 
 Through every change of many colour'd life, 
 Whether thou seek'st a blessing in a wife ; 
 Or in the senate dost aspire to stand 
 'Mid holy Wisdom's venerable band, 
 Still from the Gods forget not to implore 
 Self-knowledge, for thy bosom's monitor." 
 
 HODGSON'S Juvenal. 
 
 i-2 Ne
 
 ( 148 ) 
 
 Ne quid nimis. 
 
 Too much even of the best of things will 
 tire. 
 
 " The sweetest honey 
 Is loathsome in its own deliciousness." 
 
 The story that pleased when first heard, by 
 frequent repetition becomes disgusting. We 
 should learn to keep the golden mean, and 
 neither passionately praise nor violently de- 
 claim against any one. 
 
 " Ne nimis aut laudes Tydida, aut vituperes me." 
 
 For as there are no men totally free from im- 
 perfections, so there are few so vicious but 
 they have some good qualities. The same 
 rule should guide us in ever} 7 part of our com- 
 merce with the world ; we should be neither 
 too gay nor too slovenly in our apparel, nor 
 too liberal nor too sparing in our expenses; 
 but let every thing be adapted to our circum- 
 stances and situation in life. " L' abondanza 
 delle cose, ingenera fastidio," too much even 
 of a good thing creates disgust; and " assez 
 y a, si trop n'y a," there is enough, where 
 
 there
 
 ( 149 ) 
 
 there is not too much ; and " enough," we 
 say, " is as good as a feast." 
 
 Sponde, Noxa pr&sto est. 
 
 Become surety, and danger is near at hand, 
 or " be bail and pay for it." " He shall be 
 sore vexed that is surety for a stranger, and 
 he that hateth suretyship is sure." As it is 
 not possible, perhaps, in all cases and situa- 
 tions to avoid being responsible for others, it 
 may be right to fix some rules to guide us in 
 this dangerous adventure, for dangerous it 
 must, even under the most favourable circum- 
 stances, be esteemed, as by that act we engage 
 that the party for whom we are security shall 
 be frugal, industrious and honest ; and if 
 he fails in any of those points, we subject 
 ourselves to pay or make good any deficien- 
 cies that may occur through his misfortune, 
 inattention or delinquency. The person there- 
 fore, for whom we purpose being bound, (a 
 strong term,) should be one of tried fidelity, 
 whom we have long known, and in whose wel- 
 fare, either as being a near relation or an inti- 
 L 3 mate
 
 ( 150 ; 
 
 mate friend, we feel ourselves strongly inte- 
 rested ; to this should also be added, that the 
 sum for which we become surety, be not so 
 large that the loss of it would materially injure 
 ourselves or family : " we should so light 
 another's candle as not to extinguish our 
 own." " Ni fiez, ni porfies, ni apuestes, ni 
 prestes, y viviras entre las gentes," that is, 
 neither be surety, nor contend, nor lay wagers, 
 nor lend, and you will be esteemed in the 
 world. Most men are aware of the danger of 
 being security, but they have not sufficient 
 confidence to withstand solicitation, they yield 
 therefore often against their better judgment. 
 This silly bashfulness, an error most incident 
 to ingenuous young men, should be strenu- 
 ously resisted. He who has not learnt to 
 deny, is only half educated ; he should be put 
 under guardians as one not yet of age, and 
 unfit to manage his own concerns. In all 
 cases, where the business is of magnitude, we 
 should require time before we comply ; and if 
 after due consideration, we find that our com- 
 pliance might involve us in difficulties, we 
 should take care not to suffer our determina- 
 tion
 
 tion to be shaken by any further solicitation ; 
 we may then say with the poet, 
 
 " Tis better, Sir, I should you now displease, 
 Than by complying, risque my future ease." 
 
 Duabus sedcre Sellis. 
 
 " Avoir le cul entre deux selles," " between 
 two stools we ofttimes come to the ground." 
 Irresolute persons who adopt neither side of a 
 proposition, or who are desirous of being well 
 with both parties in any contest, as they oblige 
 neither are generally despised by both. Ci- 
 cero fell a sacrifice to such indecisive conduct. 
 Solon established a law, inflicting a severe 
 punishment on persons refusing to take a part 
 in public commotions : by such secession the 
 country was deprived of the advice and assist- 
 ance of the very persons by whose prudence 
 much of the mischief attending: n civil dis- 
 
 ^j 
 
 sensions might be prevented ; or if they could 
 not entirely appease the tumult by joining 
 with the party favouring the good of their 
 country, they would contribute to their suc- 
 cess. 
 
 L 4 Nescts
 
 quid serus Vesper vehat. 
 
 You know not what the evening may 
 produce, or how the present appearances may 
 be changed : no business shoulc^ be depend- 
 ed on during its progress, we must wait for 
 its completion before we give our opinion 
 of it ; for, " la fin couronne Toeuvre," " it is 
 the end that crowns the whole." Though 
 the morning be fair, the evening may be 
 dark and cloudy; though the business began 
 with favourable auspices and seemed to pro- 
 mise a happy conclusion, it may still fail ; or 
 though the early part of our lives be prosper- 
 ous, the end may be most disastrous and un- 
 happy. " La vita il fine, e '1 di loda sera," 
 the end commends the life, the evening the 
 day : " do not halloo, therefore," we say, 
 " until you are out of the wood ;" that is, un- 
 til you have completely escaped the danger. 
 
 " Prosperity doth bewitch men, seeming clear; 
 
 But seas laugh, and shew white when rocks are near." 
 
 Simla ,
 
 ( 153 ) 
 
 Simla, Simla est, etiamsl aurea gestet Insignia. 
 
 An ape is an ape, though dressed in the 
 most splended apparel, or 
 
 " An ape is an ape, a varlet's a varlet, 
 Though they be clad in silk or scarlet." 
 
 This may be applied to persons who, born 
 and educated among the common people, on 
 being advanced by fortune, affect the manners 
 of gentlemen, but imitate them so wretchedly, 
 as easily to shew the baseness of the state 
 from which they have been raised. " One 
 would think that nature's journeymen had 
 made them, they imitate humanity so abomi- 
 nably." " Asperius nihil est, humili cum 
 surgit in altum," which may be best rendered 
 by our English adage, " Set a beggar on 
 horseback, and he will ride to the devil." "Tu 
 fai come la simia, die piu va in alto, pin 
 mostra il cula," that is, " an ape, the higher 
 he climbs, the more he shews his tail." 
 " Aunque la mona se vista de seda, mona se 
 queda," although the monkey clothes her- 
 self in silk, she is still a monkey. 
 
 Ira
 
 ( 154 ) 
 
 Ira omnium tardissime scnescit. 
 
 Anger becomes old, that is, yields, or gives 
 way slowly. When the mind is inflamed to 
 rage, the impression is long in wearing out. 
 " Cui placet, obliviscitur ; cui dolet, meminit ;" 
 acts of kindness are soon forgotten, hut the 
 memory of an offence remains. " Favours 
 are written on glass, injuries on stone." 
 " Segnius homines bonaquam mala sentiunt," 
 affronts affect us more keenlv, make a strong. 
 
 *> ' O 
 
 er impression on us, than kindness ; and u Bo- 
 cado comido, no gana amigo," the morsel that 
 is eaten, gains no friends. There are some 
 men of such irritable dispositions, that the 
 slightest opposition will excite this turbulent 
 passion, and it not unfrequently happens that 
 in their rage, they say, or do, what will not 
 be forgotten, or cannot easily be remedied. 
 Anger has therefore been not improperly 
 called " a short madness," " Ira brevis furor," 
 or, " una collera subitanea, e una pazzia 
 passegera," men under the influence of an- 
 ger being as intractable as those who are 
 insane ; " Sa3va animi tempestas," a cruel 
 
 tempest
 
 ( 155 ) 
 
 tempest of the mind, making the eyes dart 
 fire, the teeth gnash, and the tongue to falter. 
 How necessary therefore to check it in its 
 commencement, and hefore it rises to that 
 ungovernahle height. 
 
 " give me that man 
 
 That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him 
 In my heart's core, ay in my heart of hearts." 
 
 Pythagoras advises to efface the print of 
 the caldron in the ashes, after it has 
 boiled ; intimating that we should not persist 
 in our anger, but after the first ebullition, 
 endeavour to restrain and subdue it. Plato 
 being about to punish a servant who had 
 offended him, raised his hand for the purpose 
 but checking himself, and yet keeping his 
 hand lifted up, as if in the act of striking, 
 a friend who was present asked what he was 
 going to do, " I am about," says he, " to 
 chastise an angry man." In all contentions 
 or disputes, when we find we are becoming 
 warm, it would be wise to retire, or give up 
 the contest. 
 
 " When two discourse, if the one's anger rise, 
 Then he who lets the contest fall, is wise." 
 
 In
 
 In Vino Veritas. 
 
 " La verclad esta en el vino," and ' Dans 
 le vin on dit la ve"riteV' Wine opens the heart 
 and makes us speak the truth. " Vin dentro, 
 senno fuora," that is, " When wine is in, wit 
 is out." " II vino non ha temone," " wine 
 hath no helm or rudder." " El vino no trae 
 bragas, ni de paiio, ni de lino," " wine wears 
 no breeches, neither woollen, nor linen." Men 
 intoxicated with wine, are easily led to betray 
 their most secret thoughts. " Quod in corde 
 sobrii, id in lingua ebrii," " what we think 
 when sober, when drunk we blab." " As fire 
 discovers the properties of gold, so wine lays 
 open the hearts of men ;" and certainly in a 
 state of ebriety, we have so little command 
 over ourselves, that there are few things, even 
 those regarding our personal safety, which a 
 crafty man might not extract from us. 
 
 Though drinking to excess, is in general 
 improper, and we can hardly conceive a more 
 despicable character than an habitual sot, 
 yet occasional intemperance in this way may 
 be excused. " Nonnunquam," Seneca says, 
 
 " usque
 
 *' usque ad ebrietatem veniendum, non ut 
 mergat nos, sed ut deprimat curas," some- 
 times we may extend our draught even to 
 intoxication, not that the wine may drown us, 
 but that it may drown our cares. It was for 
 that purpose we are to suppose that Cato had 
 such frequent recourse to the bottle. 
 
 " Narratur et prisci Catonis, 
 Saspe mero caluisse virtus." 
 
 Sylvius, an eminent French physician, 
 thought that taking wine to intoxication 
 once in a month, might be useful in strength- 
 ening the/ligestive power of the stomach; and 
 the late Dr. Cadogan, who lived to a great 
 age, is said to have approved, and to have 
 followed this regimen. 
 
 " Qu'il faut a chaque niois, 
 Du rnoins s'enyvre une fois." 
 
 We should get drunk, at the least, once in a 
 month. This is an old French proverb, fa- 
 thered, I know not on what authority, upon 
 Hippocrates. But as some men are quarrel- 
 some when intoxicated, it is right, to remind 
 them, " That he that kills a. man when he is 
 drunk, must be hanged for it when he is 
 
 sober."
 
 sober." " He that drinks all night, and is 
 hanged betimes in the morning, will sleep the 
 soundlier all the next day," is one of our 
 jocular proverbs ; as is, " The man was hang- 
 ed, who left his drink behind him ;" though 
 this is said to have been done by a thief, on 
 hearing that he was pursued. He was taken, 
 we are to suppose, and hanged. Of such stuff, 
 are some of our old proverbs made. " Drunk- 
 en folks seldom take harm," is as true perhaps 
 as " Naught, though often in danger, is sel- 
 dom hurt." Neither of them will bear a very 
 exact scrutiny. Not alien to the purport of 
 this adage are the following lines, 
 
 " Dives eram dudum, fecerunt me tria nudum, 
 Alea, Vina, Venus, per quse sum factus egenus." 
 
 I was rich and prosperous, but gaming, 
 wine, and women have reduced me to misery, 
 Either of them singly, if followed up, would 
 be sufficient to produce that effect. 
 
 Bos in Lingua. 
 
 He has an ox on his tongue. The Athenians 
 had a piece of money stamped with the figure 
 
 of
 
 of an ox, whence any one who was bribed to 
 be silent, was said to have an ox on his 
 tongue. The adage was also applied generally 
 to persons who, restrained by fear, or from 
 motives of prudence, avoided giving their 
 opinion on any subject. It is said to have 
 taken its rise from the following circumstance. 
 Demosthenes having received a present from 
 the Milesians, who wished to obtain some 
 favour from his countrymen, which they were 
 apprehensive he would oppose, appeared in 
 the court, with his throat muffled, pretending 
 that he had so violent a cold, as to be inca- 
 pable of speaking ; but one of the members of 
 the court, suspecting the trick, observed to 
 his brethren, that " Demosthenes had an ox 
 on his tongue," intimating that it was not a 
 cold, but a bribe that prevented him from 
 speaking. The people of /Egina had a piece 
 of money stamped with the figure of a snail, 
 with this motto, " Virtutem et sapientiam, 
 vincunt testudines," that is, money is more 
 powerful than valour or wisdom* 
 
 Currus
 
 ( 160 ) 
 
 Cur r us Bovem trahlt. 
 
 " Placing the cart," we say, " before the 
 horse," literally, The car draws the oxen. 
 This may be applied to any thing that is con- 
 ducted preposterously ; to children affecting 
 to instruct their parents, pupils their masters; 
 also to persons beginning a business before 
 they have well considered it, or spending a 
 fortune before it is come into their possession, 
 which is, " Eating the calf in the cow's belly.'* 
 It happens when a waggon going down a 
 steep hill drags the cattle, instead of being 
 drawn by them, which gave rise to the adage. 
 
 Pennas incidere alicui. 
 
 To clip any one's wings, to check him in 
 his career, " To take him a peg lower," ne- 
 cessary sometimes to be done to persons who 
 are too obtrusive and forward ; who assume a 
 state, and consequence, that does not belong 
 to them, or who thrust themselves into busi- 
 ness in which they have no concern. 
 
 Omnia
 
 Omnia idem Pulvis. 
 
 \Ve are all made of the same materials, 
 "ejusdem farinas," of the same dust, and in 
 the grave there is no mark by which we may 
 distinguish the dust of the king from that of 
 the clown. As the philosophers rarely sought 
 after, and therefore seldom acquired wealth, 
 they were frequent in admonishing the great 
 men of the world of this truth, " that death 
 levels all distinctions," and that " Pobreza no 
 es vileza," poverty is no disgrace. 
 
 I dreamt, that buried in my native clay, 
 
 Close by a common beggar's side I lay : 
 
 And as so mean a neighbour shock'd my pride, 
 
 Thus like a corpse of consequence I cried 
 
 " Scoundrel, begone! and henceforth touch me not; 
 
 " More manners learn, and at a distance rot." 
 
 " How ! scoundrel!" in a haughtier tone cried he ; 
 
 " Proud lump of dirt, I scorn thy words and thee ; 
 
 " Here all are equal now my case is thine, 
 
 " That is thy rotting place, and this is mine." 
 
 The phrase, " He is of the same kidney, 
 stamp, or mould," is never used by us but to 
 designate a worthless character. 
 
 M Anulus
 
 ( 162 ) 
 Anulus aureus in Naribus Suls. 
 
 It is putting a ring of gold into a swine's 
 snout, or " casting pearls before swine," may be 
 said to any one talking learnedly before persons 
 who are illiterate, or giving rich and gaudy 
 clothes to one who is old and decrepid ; 
 which, instead of adorning, would only serve 
 -to make him ridiculous. " As a jewel of gold 
 in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman without 
 discretion." 
 
 In eburna Vagina, plumbeus Gladius. 
 
 This is putting a leaden sword into an ivory 
 scabbard, was the observation of Diogenes the 
 cynic, on hearing very foul language come 
 from the mouth of an elegant young man. 
 Matching, and bringing together things en- 
 tirely dissimilar, as Hercules and an ape, the 
 one excelling in strength and courage, the 
 other only noticed for his foolish gestures, 
 and mischievous tricks, renders the parties 
 subject to the censure implied in this, and the 
 preceding adages.
 
 ( 163 ) 
 
 Artem quavis alit Terra. 
 
 The arts are of every country, or every 
 country is willing to encourage them. Men 
 of knowledge, particularly in any of the arts 
 that administer to the necessities, or con- 
 venience of mankind, find themselves at home 
 in every country. The poet Simonicles, seeing 
 all the passengers in a vessel in which he was 
 sailing, and which was in danger of sinking, 
 collecting their valuables, said, " Omnia mea 
 mecum porto," I carry all my valuables about 
 me, let me but escape drowning, and I have 
 nothing to fear. " Quien tiene arte, va por 
 toda parte," he who has learned any art, may 
 live in any place, every country being ready 
 to entertain such inmates. " El villano en su 
 tierra, y el hidalgo donde quiera," the clown 
 in his own country, the gentleman where he 
 pleases; his education qualifying him to live 
 in any country. 
 
 A teneris Unguiculis, Ab Incunabulis, Cum 
 Lacte Nut rids. 
 
 It was his disposition from earliest infancy, 
 M 2 he
 
 ( 164 ) 
 
 he shewed it when in his cradle, he sucked it 
 in with his mother's milk. There appears to 
 be a character in some individuals, implanted 
 by nature itself, which neither precept nor ex- 
 ample can alter. Persons related to each other 
 by the nearest ties of consanguinity ; nursed 
 and educated under the same auspices ; en- 
 joying the same advantages, stimulated to 
 action by the same difficulties, have been, 
 found as dissimilar, as if their characters had 
 been formed in climates and regions, and 
 under circumstances the most remote. He 
 who will reason on the above motto, will find 
 ample subject of discussion in the brothers 
 Titus and Domitian, Julian and Gallus. 
 
 Omnes attrahens ut magnes Lapis. 
 
 Drawing every thing to it, like the load- 
 stone. Persons of mild and placid disposi- 
 tions, conciliate the most rugged and harsh 
 tempers, as the magnet attracts iron. 
 
 " Ita facillime 
 Sine invidia laudem invenias, et amicos pares." 
 
 By
 
 ( 165 ) 
 
 By such dispositions men easily acquire a 
 good name without envy, and procure to 
 themselves friends. 
 
 Magis magni Clerici non sunt magis sapicntes. 
 
 The greatest clerks, or scholars, are not the 
 wisest men ; that is, they have not the greatest 
 share of that wisdom which is necessary for 
 conducting their worldly concerns. To excel 
 in any art, it is necessary tlfat our attention 
 be applied to it, if not exclusively, at the 
 least that it occupy a larger share of it than 
 any other subject. The man who engages in 
 the pursuit of literature, will find he has little 
 time to bestow on any other object ; the 
 acquisition of money will be with him a sub- 
 ordinate concern ; he has been taught in the 
 course of his studies, to consider it as of little 
 value, and by no means to be put in com- 
 petition with what he has chosen; no wonder 
 therefore that he is no favourite of fortune, 
 to whom he never paid his court, or that, 
 others, whom he considers, and the world 
 M 3 agrees
 
 agrees in placing beneath him, receive a larger 
 portion of her goods, than fall to his lot. Of 
 what use, Tasso's father asked him, after 
 chiding him for neglecting the study of the 
 law, which he had recommended, of what use 
 is this philosophy, with which you are so en- 
 amoured ? " It has enabled me, sir," Tasso 
 replied, " to bear the harshness of your re- 
 proof;" and Aristotle, being asked the same 
 question, said, " to do willingly, and from a 
 conviction of its propriety, what others do on 
 compulsion." 
 
 In tuo Regno es. 
 
 You are on your own ground, surrounded 
 by your friends, or you would not have dared 
 to have insulted me, or in your own house 
 where it is not civil to contradict you. " Chien 
 sur son fumier est hardi," every dog is brave 
 on his own dunghill. " Chacun est roi en 
 ^a maison," every man is king in his own 
 house, and " under my cloak," the Spaniards 
 say, "a fig for the king;" or, which is also 
 one of their sayings, " Tan seor es cada uno 
 
 en
 
 ( 167 ) 
 
 en su casa, como el rey de sus alcavalas,' 
 every man is as much master in his house A as 
 
 the king is of his taxes. 
 
 Fontes ipsi sit hint. 
 
 Even the fountains complain of being thirs*' 
 ty. The proverb may be applied to persons 
 who greedily hunt after the goods of fortune, 
 though they abound in them, or who require 
 of their friends articles \vhich they might take 
 from their own stores. Cicero applied it in 
 this way to his brother, who had asked him 
 for verses, which he was himself much more 
 capable of making. Juvenal says, if Cicero, 
 who was as contemptible as a poet, as he was 
 great as a pleader, had made verses instead of 
 orations, he might have preserved his head. 
 The following is given as a specimen of his 
 poetry. 
 
 " O fortunatam natam, me consule, Romam," 
 which is thus rendered by Dry den, 
 
 " Fortune fortuneri the failing state of Rome, 
 While I thy consul sole, consoled thy doom;" 
 
 >i 4 for
 
 ( 16*8 ) 
 
 for which he might have been whipped at 
 school, but would have been in no danger of 
 
 losing his head. 
 
 Lumen Soli mutuum das. 
 
 Affecting to explain things that are of 
 themselves abundantly clear and intelligible, 
 or to instruct persons in matters in which they 
 are well informed, is like holding a light to the 
 sun " Holding," Shakespeare says, "thy far- 
 thing candle to the sun." 
 
 In Sylvam Lignaferre. 
 
 " Porter de Teau a la mer," carrying wood 
 to the forest, coals to Newcastle, or water to 
 the ocean. Adding to the stores of those who 
 already abound, or aiding those who have no 
 need of assistance, and neglecting persons who 
 are in real want, subjects any one to the cen- 
 sure implied in this adage. 
 
 Vdocem
 
 ( 169 ) 
 
 Velocem tardus assequitur. 
 
 " The race is not to the swift, nor the battle 
 to the strong." Ingenuity and perseverance 
 will often prevail over strength and swiftness, 
 as the slow tortoise won the race against the 
 swift hare. The adage may be used whenever 
 we find persons of weak intellects, or of no 
 great strength, or agility, advancing them- 
 selves above others who are far superior to 
 them in those qualities. 
 
 Nosce Tempus. 
 
 " Cada cosa en su tiempo, y nabos en Ad- 
 viento," every thing in its season, and turnips 
 in Advent. Choose the proper season. "Make 
 hay while the sun shines." A maxim of great 
 importance in life. A thing proper in itself, 
 if unseasonably done, may be mischievous. 
 The golden ball is held out to every man once 
 in his life, if not then laid hold of, it may 
 never again be offered. "Accasca in un punto, 
 quel che non accasca in cento anni," that may 
 happen in a moment, which may not again 
 occur in an hundred years, therefore " keep 
 
 your
 
 ( 170 ) 
 
 your hook always baited," that is, be always 
 prepared, for as Shakespeare has well noted, 
 
 " There is a tide in the affairs of men, 
 
 Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; 
 Omitted, all the voyage of their life, 
 Is bound in shallows, and in miseries." 
 
 The ancients pictured Time with wings on his 
 feet, and standing on a wheel ; with a lock of 
 hair on his forehead, but bald behind ; inti- 
 mating, that time was perpetually moving, and 
 once suffered to pass by, it could not be re- 
 called. Hence we are admonished, " to take 
 Time by the forelock. " 
 
 " elapsum semel,- 
 
 Non ipse possit Jupiter reprehendere." 
 
 For, if suffered to escape, not Jupiter himself 
 can reclaim him. 
 
 Olet Lucernam. 
 
 " It smells of the lamp." The ancients used 
 lamps when they studied by night, therefore 
 any discourse or work, that was extremely 
 elaborated and polished, was said to smell of 
 the lamp, or to have had bestowed upon it the 
 " JLimjE labor et mora." 
 
 Noct*
 
 ( 171 ) 
 
 Nocte latent Mendce. 
 
 Faults, or defects, in the complexion or form 
 of women, are concealed by darkness. " Ne 
 femina, ne tela a lume de candela," \yomen, 
 and linen, shew best by candle-light. Night 
 also throws her cloak over evil actions. Hence 
 the Spaniards say, " La noche es capa des 
 peccadores." 
 
 Mafe parta, mate dilabuntur. 
 
 " 111 gotten, ill spent. " " Lightly come, 
 lightly go," and " what is gotten over the 
 devil's back, is spent under his belly." Riches 
 obtained by unjust means, are frequently squan- 
 dered in vicious and disgraceful pursuits. 
 
 " What is well got, may meet with disaster, 
 
 But what is ill got, destroys both itself and its master." 
 
 " La farina del Diavolo, va tutta in crusca," 
 the devil's meal turns all to chaff. "Vien pres- 
 to consummate, 1'ingiustamente acquistato," 
 what is unjustly acquired, is quickly con- 
 sumed. Juvenal, more consonant perhaps to 
 common experience, says, 
 
 " De raal quaesitis, vix gaudet tertius haeres." 
 
 The
 
 The fortune that is acquired by fraud or rapine, 
 scarcely descends to the third generation. 
 
 There is something curious in pursuing thjs 
 simple, moral observation into real history. 
 Of all the companions of William the Con- 
 queror, who obtained the chief military digni- 
 ties under his jurisdiction, it is worth observ- 
 ing, that hardly any one had any immediate 
 male descendants in the third generation. 
 When Henry the Second ascended the throne 
 in 1154, only seventy years after the Con- 
 queror's death, there was no earl in England, 
 descended in the male line from one who had 
 been an earl under the Conqueror. The Con- 
 queror himself, as is well known, faad no male 
 issue in the third generation. Alexander and 
 Caesar had no descendants. Will the Emperor 
 of the French prove an exception to Juvenal's 
 observation ? 
 
 OccultcB Musices nullus Respectus. 
 
 Talents that are concealed, are of no use. 
 Though a man shall have cultivated his mind 
 with the greatest care, and shall have acquired 
 
 a large
 
 ( 173 ) 
 
 a large portion of knowledge, if opportunity 
 be wanted of producing it to the public, he 
 will reap little profit from his attainments. 
 
 " Scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc, sciat alter." 
 
 There is little pleasure in knowing any subject, 
 unless we are satisfied that others know that 
 we are in possession of such knowledge. To 
 make learning useful, it must be communi- 
 cated. "Take from the philosopher," Rousseau 
 says, "the pleasure of being heard, and his 
 desire for knowledge ceases." Seneca carries 
 this still further. " Si cum hac exceptione 
 detur sapientia, ut illam inclusam teneam, 
 nee enunciem, rejiciam, " if wisdom were 
 offered to me, on this condition, that I should 
 not communicate it, I would not accept it. 
 " Quis enim virtutem ipsam amplectitur, pras- 
 mia si tollas ?" for who would embrace even 
 virtue itself, but for the attending reward ? 
 
 Lupi ilium priores viderunt. 
 
 The wolves have seen him ; or, which is 
 more consonant to the English adage, " He 
 has seen a wolf," and to the French, " II a vu 
 
 le
 
 ( 174 ) 
 
 le loup," which was said of any one, who, bold 
 and forward with his tongue, became suddenly- 
 less talkative and intrusive. 
 
 " Edere non poteris vocem, lupus est tibi visus." 
 You are silent, I perceive, you have seen a wolf. 
 
 It was anciently believed that the wolf, by 
 some occult power, struck those whom it 
 looked on dumb, as the basilisk was said to 
 strike them blind. The adage, as it is now 
 used, is supposed to have taken its rise from 
 a story in Theocritus, who relates that a lover 
 was suddenly struck dumb, in the midst of 
 his courtship, by the appearance of a rival, 
 named Lycus, which in the Greek language is 
 the name of a wolf. 
 
 Una Hirundo non efficit Ver. 
 " Una golondrina no haze verano," and in 
 French, for the adage is every where known, 
 "Une hirondelle ne fait pas le printems," 
 " One swallow does not make a summer." One 
 single piece of good or bad fortune should not 
 greatly raise or depress us, what folloM^s may 
 be of a different complexion. From a single 
 act of liberality, or the contrary, we should 
 
 not,
 
 ( 175 ) 
 
 not, generally, form our opinion of the dis- 
 position of a man, or from a single speech, of 
 his learning or ability. A few warm days 
 occurring in the winter, brought a swallow, it 
 is said, from his hiding-place, which being seen 
 by a prodigal young man, he parted with his 
 cloak, but the frost returning, he soon felt the 
 want of his garment, and found to his cost, 
 that " cue swallow did not make a summer," 
 which thence, it is said, became proverbial. 
 " Guarda el sayo," the Spaniards say, " para 
 Mayo," do not leave off your great coat until 
 May, or you will be obliged to take to it again. 
 
 In utramvis dormire Aurem. 
 
 He may sleep on either ear. His fortune 
 is made, he may now sleep at his ease ; or as 
 we say, " His name is up, he may go to bed." 
 " Bonne renomme'e vaut mieux que ceinture 
 dore'e," a good name is rather to be chosen 
 than riches; though the French proverb is 
 founded on an old law among them, prohibit- 
 ing any but women of good fame, from wear- 
 ing a golden girdle. We sleep more soundly 
 
 and
 
 and quietly lying on one side, than on the back. 
 To sleep on either ear, means to enjoy undis- 
 turbed repose, which those only, whose minds 
 are free from care, may expect. But how few 
 can boast of this exemption ! Withers, an in- 
 different poet in the time of James the First, 
 was used to say, " Nee habeo, nee careo, nee 
 euro," I neither have any thing, want any 
 thing, nor care for any thing. But he must 
 soon after have changed his song, for siding 
 with Parliament in the troubles that arose in 
 the next reign, he was taken by the king's 
 party, and sentenced to be hanged. From 
 this danger he was rescued on the intercession 
 of Waller, who pleaded for him, it is said, "in 
 order that there might be one worse poet 
 living than himself." The Spaniards, consonant 
 to this proverb, say, " Cobra buena fama, y 
 echate a dormir," get a good name, and go to 
 sleep; and the French, " Qui a bruit cle se 
 lever matin, peut dormir jusques a diner." 
 Not alien, in its sense also is, "Give a dog an 
 ill name, and hang him^" " Famas laboranti 
 non facile succurritur," it is not easy to re- 
 cover a lost character. 
 
 A It era
 
 ( 177 ) 
 
 Altera Manufert Lapidem, altera Panem 
 
 ostentat. 
 
 Holding in one hand a stone, in the other 
 bread, from the custom of enticing dogs, whom 
 we mean to beat, by holding out to them a 
 piece of bread ; or a horse, when we want to 
 harness him, by shewing him corn. The an- 
 cients, by this apothegm, typified persons of 
 deceitful and treacherous dispositions, 
 
 " Tel par devant fait bon visage, 
 Qui derriere mord et outrage," 
 
 who speak fair, but mean foul ; whose words 
 are honey, but their actions gall ; who wound 
 while they flatter ; who gain your confidence 
 to betray you. " AlterA manu scabunt, altera 
 feriunt," who strike with one hand, while they 
 tickle with the other ; " who cover with their 
 wings, while they bite with their beaks." 
 
 Ex eodem Ore calidum etfrigidum efflare. 
 
 " Blowing hot and cold with the same 
 breath." This those persons are said to do, 
 who praise what they had before condemned, 
 or condemn what they had once commended, 
 
 N according
 
 ( 178 ) 
 
 according as it suits their purpose. The 
 adage is founded on the well known apologue 
 of a Satyr, who received a poor man, nearly 
 frozen to death, into his hut. Observing the 
 man to blow or breathe into his hands, the 
 Satyr asked him, for what purpose he did 
 that ? " To warm them," the poor man said. 
 Seeing him afterwards blow into a bason of 
 pottage he had given him, he asked him, 
 "And for what purpose do you blow into your 
 pottage?" and the man telling him that it was 
 " To cool it," the Satyr turned him out of 
 doors, declaring he would have no commu- 
 nication with one, who could blow hot and 
 cold with the same breath. 
 
 Unico Digitulo scalpit Caput. 
 
 Scratching the head with a single finger, 
 which it seems was done by the fops in Greece 
 and Rome, that they might not discompose 
 the economy of their hair. The phrase was 
 therefore applied to men of nice and effeminate 
 manners, and implied that they paid more 
 attention to their dress than to the acquire- 
 ment
 
 ment of more valuable endowments. This 
 pro verb, which originated among the Grecians, 
 as did indeed nearly the whole of the collec- 
 tion made by Erasmus, could only be used by 
 the Romans after they had conquered that 
 country, and had begun to adopt their man- 
 ners, in which they became such proficients, 
 as in time to outstrip their teachers in volup- 
 tuousness and vice, as far as they had before 
 excelled them in magnanimity and courage. 
 
 Lentiscum mandere. 
 
 Chewing mastic. The juice, or gum of the 
 mastic tree, was early used as a dentrifice, 
 being found to make the teeth white, and to 
 strengthen and preserve the gums. Tooth- 
 picks were also made of the wood, which those 
 who were more than ordinarily attentive to 
 their mouths, used frequently to chew, which 
 subjected them to the censure implied in this 
 and in the preceding adage, of being too nice 
 and delicate in their persons. Those who 
 could not get mastic toothpicks, made use 
 
 x 2 ef
 
 ( 180 ) 
 
 of quills, as appears from the following by 
 Martial. 
 
 " Lentiscum melius, sed si tibi frondea cuspis 
 Defuerit, denies penna levare potest." 
 
 CCECUS Cceco Dux. 
 
 The blind leading the blind. Men incapable 
 of managing their own affairs, pretending to 
 conduct those of others, or young men ad- 
 vising with others equally inexperienced as 
 themselves, instead of following the counsel 
 of their elders, are like blind men trusting to 
 the guidance of the blind. "But if the blind 
 lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." 
 " Rehoboam lost his kingdom," Lord Verulam 
 observes, " not from refusing counsel, but 
 from taking counsel from young and incon- 
 siderate men. Young men," he goes on to 
 say, " in the conduct of affairs, embrace more 
 than they can hold, stir more than they can 
 quiet; fly to the end, without considering the 
 means. They use extreme remedies at first,' 
 and, which doubleth all errors, they will not 
 
 acknowledge
 
 acknowledge or retract them ; like an un- 
 steady horse, that will neither stop nor turn." 
 
 Sine Cortice nature. 
 
 To swim without bladders, cork, or any of 
 the aids usually given to learners. The pro- 
 verb may be applied to persons who have 
 made such progress in the knowledge of any 
 art, that they are no longer in want of masters. 
 
 "Sitnul ac duraverit Eetas 
 
 Membra animumque tuum, nabis sine cortice," 
 
 when time shall have strengthened your body, 
 and the powers of your mind, you may swim 
 without corks, that is, you will no longer stand 
 in need of a monitor to advise and instruct you. 
 
 Ut possumus, quando ut volumus non licet, or 
 " Non uti libet, sed uti licet, sic vivimus" 
 
 We should learn to live as we can, since we 
 cannot live as we would. " We should make a 
 virtue of necessity," and be contented though 
 we should not be able to attain what our am- 
 bition or cupidity grasps at. So unbounded are 
 the desires of men, that even those who have 
 N 3 abundance,
 
 abundance, rarely or never think they have 
 enough. Happiness does not consist so much 
 in the largeness of our possessions, as in our 
 moderating our desires, and using properly 
 what we have. 
 
 " Haec perinde sunt, ut illius animus, qui ea possidet, 
 Qui uti scit, ei bona, illi qui non utitur recte, mala." 
 
 The real wants of nature are few, and ordina- 
 rily attainable by such a portion of industry, 
 as we are most, if not all of us, capable of 
 exerting, provided we are careful to dispense 
 frugally what we get by our industry or in* 
 genuity. 
 
 " Man wants but little here below, 
 Nor wants that little long." 
 
 u De hambre," the Spaniards say, "a nadie vi 
 morir, de mucho comer a cien mil," I never 
 saw a man die of hunger, but thousands die of 
 over feeding. The follo\ving from St. Austin's 
 Confessions, as rendered by Burton, is so much 
 to the purpose of the present argument, that 
 I am induced to insert it. 
 
 "Passing by a village in the territory of 
 Milan," the writer says, " I saw a poor beggar 
 that had got, belike, his belly full of meat, 
 
 jesting
 
 ( 183 ) 
 
 jesting and merry. I sighed, and said to some 
 of my friends that were then with me, what a 
 deal of trouble, madness, pain, and grief, do we 
 sustain, and exaggerate unto ourselves, to get 
 that secure happiness, which this poor beggar 
 hath prevented us. of, and which we perad ven- 
 ture shall never have ! for that which he hath 
 now attained with the begging of some small 
 pieces of silver, a temporal happiness, and pre- 
 sent heart's ease, I cannot compass with all 
 my careful windings, and running in and out. 
 And surely the beggar was very merry, but I 
 was heavy : he was secure, but I timorous. 
 And if any man should ask me now, whether 
 
 V 
 
 I had rather be merry, or still so solicitous and 
 sad, I should say, merry. If he should ask 
 me again, whether I had rather be as I am, or 
 as this beggar was, I should sure choose to be 
 as 1 am, tortured still with cares and fears, but 
 out of peevishness, and not out of truth." As 
 St. Austin was a bishop, wealthy and in great 
 authority, we learn from this simple story, of 
 how little avail wealth and power are in pro- 
 curing to us happiness. The proverb may be 
 used by any one not meeting with the success 
 N 4 he
 
 ( 184 ) 
 
 he expected from his exertions, signifying 
 that he should still receive gratefully and con- 
 tentedly what had fallen to his lot. 
 
 Ut Sementem feceris, it a et metis. 
 
 As you have sown so you must expect to 
 reap. " Quien mala cama haze, en ella se 
 yaze," " Comme on fait son lit, on se couche," 
 " as you have made your bed, so you must 
 lie:" you must not expect corn from thistles, 
 or health and prosperity from intemperance 
 and prodigality. " No hay dulzura sin sudor," 
 " there is no sweet without sweat," and " No 
 hay ganancia, sin fatiga," " no gains without 
 pains ;" " he that will not work, must not ex- 
 pect to eat ; " qui est oisif en sa jeunesse, 
 travaillera en sa vieillesse," it is only from 
 being industrious and frugal when young, that 
 we may hope for comfort and plenty in our 
 old age. 
 
 " Quin ubi qua? non decent, 
 Haud veritus es patrare, fer quae non libeat." 
 
 As you were not afraid to do what was un- 
 fitting, bear now what is unplcasing as the 
 
 consequence
 
 ( 185 ) 
 
 consequence of your misdoing. Zeno having 
 detected his servant in thieving, ordered him 
 to be whipped ; the servant, in excuse for 
 what he had done, said it was decreed by the 
 fates that he should be a thief, alluding to the 
 doctrine which he had heard his master main- 
 taining ; and so it was, said Zeno, that you 
 should be whipped. That our actions are in 
 some degree governed by fate is a very early 
 dogma, and is not entirely abandoned, 
 
 " And when weak women go astray, 
 Their stars are more in fault than they." 
 
 The Duke de Rochefoucault seems to have 
 acknowledged the principle : " II semble que 
 nos actions aient des e"toiles heureuses on mal- 
 heureuses, a qui elles doivent une grande par- 
 tie de la louange et du blame qu'on leur 
 donne :" our actions seem often to be under 
 the influence of good or bad stars, to which 
 rather than to our prudence or misconduct, 
 the principal part of the praise or blame they 
 may merit, should be attributed. 
 
 " Committunt multi eadem diverse crimina fato, 
 Ille crucem sceleris pretium tulerit, hie diadema." 
 
 How different the fates or fortunes of men! 
 
 the
 
 ( 186 ) 
 
 the same act of villany that brings one man 
 to the gallows, raises another to a throne. 
 This is consonant also to an old English pro- 
 verb, " one man may steal a horse, more safely 
 than another may look at him over a hedge ;" 
 also, "one man's meat is another man's poison." 
 
 Deorum Cibus est, 
 
 Meat fit for the Gods, who, according to 
 Homer, feasted only on nectar and ambrosia, 
 which were supposed to be of such tenuity as 
 to pass off by transpiration, diffusing around 
 them rich perfumes : as digestion was per- 
 formed without labour to the stomach, the 
 bodies of the gods were supposed never to be- 
 come old or to be subjected to decay. The 
 phrase is applied hyperbolically, to any very 
 rich and superb entertainment ; it is a feast 
 fit for the gods. 
 
 Multis Ictibus dejlcitur Quercus. 
 
 There is nothing so difficult, but it may be 
 effected by perseverance; even the massive and 
 
 sturdy
 
 ( 187 ) 
 
 sturdy oak by repeated strokes of the axe is at 
 length thrown down. " Gutta cavat lapi- 
 dem," and the constant dripping of water 
 wears and hollows the solid stone : " el que 
 trabaja, y madra, hila ora," he that labours 
 and perseveres, spins gold : " le labeur sur- 
 monte tout," by labour and perseverance, all 
 difficulties are surmounted. 
 
 Tertius Cato. 
 
 He is a third, or another Cato, was Said 
 ironically of persons affecting a more than or- 
 dinary degree of gravity, and sanctity of man- 
 ners. The two Catos, who were in their time 
 models of wisdom, virtue and patriotism, were 
 in such high esteem among the Romans, that 
 they even believed that they had been sent 
 into the world by the gods, for the purpose of 
 suppressing vice and banishing it from the 
 earth. To compare any one therefore to 
 them, or to call him a third Cato, would have 
 been the highest compliment that could have 
 been paid to any human being, but as they 
 
 despaired
 
 ( 188 ) 
 
 despaired of seeing ag^n such a character, 
 the phrase was never used but to ridicule such 
 persons as endeavoured to assume the appear- 
 ance without any just pretensions to the ac- 
 complishments of those great men. Of such 
 persons, we usually say, " he is a second 
 Solomon ;" and the jew in the Merchant of 
 Venice, " he is a second Daniel." 
 
 Sapientum octavus. 
 
 An eighth wise man. This was applied iro- 
 nically to persons who were severe censors of 
 the morals of others, but not very attentive to 
 propriety in their own conduct. The ancients 
 seem to have selected seven of the philoso- 
 phers, who were believed to excel the rest in 
 wisdom and virtue, and called them the 
 " seven wise men," and were as little disposed 
 to add to the number, as to admit there could 
 be a third Cato. It is not with certainty 
 agreed by any of the writers whose works 
 have come down to us, who the seven wise 
 men were. 
 
 Fel
 
 ( 189 ) 
 
 Vtl C&co appareat. 
 
 Even a blind man might perceive it, may 
 be said metaphorically, of a proposition so 
 clear and perspicuous, that it might be com- 
 prehended by the weakest intellects. Even a 
 child may understand it. 
 
 Ex Quercubus ac Saxis nati. 
 
 This was used figuratively to designate per- 
 sons of harsh and cruel dispositions, who 
 could by no intreaties be moved to compas- 
 sion ; they could not be the progeny of men, 
 but must have been produced by trees or 
 rocks, or some such unfeeling bodies. Pope 
 makes one of his shepherds say, 
 
 " I know thee, Love, on foreign mountains bred, 
 Wolves gave thee suck, and savage tigers fed ; 
 Thou wert from ^Etna's burning entrails torn, 
 Got by fierce whirlwinds, and in thunder born." 
 
 Virum improbum vel Mm mordeat. 
 
 Even a mouse may strike terror into the 
 mind of a man who has been guilty of any 
 
 great
 
 great crime; conscious of his iniquity, he 
 hears a pursuer in every the lightest noise, for, 
 *' a guilty conscience needs no accuser ;" this, 
 at the least, is the case with persons only com- 
 mencing their career of sin, for veterans in 
 iniquity are not, perhaps, so easily affrighted. 
 
 " Pavore carent qui nihil commiserunt ; at poenam 
 Semper ob oculos versari putant qui peccarunt." 
 
 The innocent are free from fear ; but the 
 guilty live under the perpetual apprehension 
 that their crimes will be discovered, and that 
 the punishment they have merited will over- 
 take them. " Vivir bien destierra miedo," 
 to live well banishes fear. 
 
 Bis dat qui cito dat. 
 
 " Quien da presto, da dos veces," " he 
 gives twice who gives in a trice;" and " dono 
 molto aspettato, e venduto non donato," a 
 gift long expected or waited for, is not given 
 but sold : benefits are not so much esteemed 
 for their value, as for the readiness with which 
 they are bestowed. " Say not to your neigh- 
 bour, go and come again, and to-morrow I will 
 
 give,
 
 give, when tbou hast it by thee :" the assist- 
 ance which is not given early is frequently 
 unavailable : I thank you, what you now 
 offer might have been useful ; but the time is 
 past, the mischief your present might have 
 prevented, is fallen upon me. <l Ingratum 
 est beneficium quod diu inter manus dan- 
 tis haesit," the kindness that is long delay- 
 ed loses its value; " at bis gratum est, quod 
 ultro offertur," but the favour which comes 
 unsolicited, is doubly grateful. " Hope de- 
 ferred niaketh the heart sick :" the petitioner 
 has paid by anxious expectation more than 
 the value of the gift ; or he has learned, 
 while waiting for assistance, how to bear his 
 trouble, and has accommodated himself to his 
 situation. " Quo mihi fortunas, si non con- 
 ceditur uti ?" Of what use is fortune,, when I 
 am no longer in a capacity of enjoying it ? 
 " Is not a patron," Dr. Johnson says to the 
 Earl of Chesterfield, " one who looks with un- 
 concern on a man struggling for life in the 
 water, and when he has reached the land, en- 
 cumbers him with help? The notice which you 
 have been pleased to take of my labours, had 
 
 been
 
 ( 192 ) 
 
 been kind; but it has been delayed until I 
 am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am 
 solitary and cannot impart it; till I am 
 known and do not want it." 
 
 " How little knowest thou who hast not tried, 
 What hell it is, in suing long to bide, 
 To waste long days that may be better spent, 
 To pass long nights in cheerless discontent; 
 To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow, 
 To live on hope, to die with pain and sorrow." 
 
 CaudcE Pilos equince paullatim oportet evellere. 
 
 Allow me to do that slowly and gradually, 
 which cannot be effected suddenly and with 
 violence. " Piuma a piuma se pela 1'occha," 
 feather by feather the goose \vas stripped ; 
 " Petit a petit Toiseau fait son nid," and by 
 little and little the bird makes its nest. 
 
 " Si leonina pellis non satis est, vulpina addenda ;" 
 " The lion's skin, too short, you know, 
 Was lengthened by the fox's tail/' 
 
 The adage took its rise from a story told by 
 Plutarch of Sertorius a Roman general, who 
 finding his soldiers were not pleased with his 
 wary and cautious mode of conducting a war 
 
 in
 
 (193 ) 
 
 in which he was engaged, he ordered two of 
 his men, the one young, lusty and strong, the 
 other, old and feeble, to strip the tails of two 
 horses, that were brought to them, of their 
 hair; the young man, grasping the whole of 
 the tail in his hand, pulled it with all his 
 strength, and continued his exertions until 
 he had completely tired himself, without ef- 
 fecting the business : the old and feeble man 
 on the contrary, by plucking a few hairs only 
 at a time, very soon stripped the tail bare and 
 so accomplished his purpose, with but little 
 difficulty. Then Sertorius, addressing himself 
 to his soldiers said, " videtis, commilitones, 
 quanto plus posset ingenium quam vires," 
 you see, my fellow soldiers, of how much more 
 value deliberation is than strength. 
 
 Sonus Dux bomim reddit Comitem. 
 
 A good general makes a good soldier, a 
 good master good servants, a good father 
 good children, a good magistrate good citi- 
 zens, not only because each in their station, 
 will take care that those under their authority 
 o shall
 
 ( 194 ) 
 
 shall be instructed in every thing that is ne- 
 cessary to enable them properly to perform 
 their several duties, but they will themselves 
 be careful that they set only good examples, 
 which they know to be more efficacious and 
 more likely to induce good manners than sim- 
 ple instruction ; for " precepta ducunt, at ex- 
 empla trahunt;" 
 
 " Example draws where precept fails, 
 And sermons are less read than tales." 
 
 This regimen, however, will not always produce 
 the desired effect. For though the parent and 
 the master shall have diligently performed 
 their parts, there are too many opportunities 
 and too manv incentives to vice to be found 
 
 w 
 
 abroad, to hope that the pupil will entirely 
 escape infection. Hence it not unfrequently 
 happens, that the most prudent and worthy 
 parents have to lament the delinquency of 
 their children, though the greatest care had 
 been taken to instil and ingraft into them 
 when young, the principles of honour and in- 
 tegrity ; for " many a good cow hath a bad 
 ealf," and " a good Jack, does not always 
 
 make
 
 ( 195 ) 
 
 make a good Jill." The sentiment therefore 
 contained in the following lines, 
 
 " Youth, like the softened wax, with ease will take 
 Those images which first impressions make ; 
 If those be fair, their lives will all be bright; 
 If foul, they '11 cloud them o'er with shades of night.'' 
 
 though frequently, is not universally true. 
 jElius Spartianus, in the life of the Emperor 
 Severus, shews by many examples, that men 
 famed for learning, virtue, or valour, have, for 
 the most part, either left behind them no chil- 
 dren, or such as it had been more for their 
 honour and the interest of human affairs, that 
 they had died childless. To the instances 
 produced by this writer, Mr. Ray adds from 
 our own history, " that Edward the First, a 
 wise and valiant prince, left us Edward the 
 Second ; Edward the Black Prince, Richard 
 the Second; and Henry the Fifth, a valiant 
 and successful king, Henry the Sixth." 
 
 Litem parit Lis, Noxa item Noxam parit* 
 
 One dispute, or one injury produces ano- 
 o 2 ther.
 
 ( '96 ) 
 
 ther. Where the parties are of litigious dis- 
 positions, and will neither of them give way, 
 it happens not unfrequently, that from the 
 most trifling causes, the most serious con- 
 tentions arise, terminating in a duel, or in a 
 suit at law, often more disastrous than a duel. 
 " Nescios, y porfiados, hacen ricos los lat- 
 rados," fools, and contentious persons, th6 
 Spaniards say, make the lawyers rich ; they 
 also say, " Mas vale mala avanencia, que 
 buena sentencia;" and the Italians, " Meglio 
 e magro accordo, che grassa sentenza," " A 
 lean agreement is better than a fat sentence;" 
 to which we have added, not less sensibly 
 and impressively, " Agree, for the law is 
 costly." 
 
 Nothing is more generally known, or more 
 commonly deprecated, than the misery often 
 occasioned by contention, and yet how very 
 little influence does this knowledge seem to 
 have on our conduct ! There are few of us 
 but can tell stories of families reduced to in- 
 digence from having too hastily engaged in a 
 suit at law, in defending a doubtful right to 
 a slip of land, or other equally insignificant 
 
 object,
 
 ( 197 ) 
 
 object, claimed perhaps by some wealthy 
 neighbour. " Should I suffer myself to be 
 imposed upon ?" Better suffer a small impo- 
 sition, than a great injury. No one can tell 
 on entering into a lawsuit, how or where it 
 will terminate ; but of one thing we are very 
 certain, the expense, unless the object be very 
 considerable, will exceed the sum for which 
 we are contending, for " Law is a bottomless 
 pit," an insatiable gulph, and it should be our 
 care to keep out of its reach. The only dif- 
 ference made by the painter between two men, 
 one of whom had gained, and the other lost 
 his cause, was, that to the unsuccessful party 
 he gave a ragged coat, and a gloomy despond- 
 ing countenance : to him who had succeeded 
 he gave an equally ragged coat, but expressed 
 in his look a savage joy, not at the profit he 
 had made, for his apparel shewed the low 
 state of his finances, but that he had been able 
 to effect the ruin of his opponent. " Be not 
 easily provoked," Lord Burleigh admonishes 
 his son, " to enter into a suit at law, lest in 
 the end it prove no greater refuge than did 
 the thicket of brambles to a flock of sheep, 
 o 3 that,
 
 ( 198 ) 
 
 that, driven from the plain by a tempest, ran 
 thither for shelter, and there lost their fleeces." 
 
 Parturiunt Monies, nascetur ridiculus Mus. 
 
 " The mountain laboured and brought forth 
 a mouse." " La montagne est accouch6e 
 d'une souris." This may be applied to persons 
 introducing a story with great pomp and 
 solemnity, which turns out to be trifling and 
 insignificant ; to vain and empty boasters, 
 who have neither the power, nor perhaps the 
 inclination to do what they are very free in 
 promising; or when any project, of which 
 great hopes were formed, proves abortive. 
 
 Thesaurus Carbones erant. 
 
 Searching for a treasure, they found only 
 charcoal, may be said of persons who are dis-. 
 appointed in their expectations, who, after 
 great labour and expense, find the object of 
 their search of little value; the end of nume- 
 rous expensive speculations. Charcoal being 
 
 of
 
 of a nature to last for ages when buried under 
 ground, was used by the ancients to mark the 
 boundaries of lands. A trench being dug, 
 dividing the property of two individuals, it 
 was rilled with charcoal, and then covered 
 with soil, in which stakes, at regulated dis- 
 tances, were placed. The stakes might be 
 removed, but the charcoal remaining, would 
 for ever shew the original boundaries of the 
 land. 
 
 Dives aut miquus est, aut iniqui Hceres. 
 
 A rich man is either a knave or heir to a 
 knave. " How can you be a good man," 
 Sylla was asked, " possessing such immense 
 wealth, though you received nothing from 
 your parents?" Consonant to this opinion is 
 the English adage, " Happy is the man whose 
 father went to the devil;" and 
 
 " Jt is a saying common more than civil, 
 The son is blest, whose sire is at the devil." 
 
 Large fortunes made in a small space of 
 time, are rarely found to be acquired by fair 
 and honourable practices ; as is expressed in 
 
 o 4 a pas-
 
 ( 200 ) 
 
 a passage in one of the comedies of Menander, 
 " Nunquam vir aequus dives evasit cito.' r 
 " Seek not," Lord Verulam says, " great 
 riches, but such as thou mayest get justly, use 
 soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave con- 
 tentedly." Solomon advises, " to beware of 
 hasty gathering of riches." Riches obtained 
 by the ordinary means of industry, increase 
 slowly, and it is only by bold and hazardous 
 speculations, that they are made to accumu- 
 late rapidly. The most honourable merchants, 
 or those so esteemed, who acquire very large 
 fortunes, can hardly be said to obtain them 
 justly. For though they, none of them, con- 
 fine their traffic within their own capitals, yet 
 if they are successful, they receive the whole 
 of the profit ; but if their speculations prove 
 unfortunate, they involve in their fall all who 
 were unlucky enough to give them credit. 
 " The first article, that a young trader offers 
 for sale," our proverb says, " is his hipnesty." 
 
 Hie Funis nihil attraxlt. 
 
 This bate has taken no fish. This argument 
 
 has
 
 ( 201 ) 
 
 has not prevailed, or this scheme has not an- 
 swered ; some other mode must be tried, which 
 may be more successful. " Semper tibi pen- 
 deat hamus," have your hook always bated ; 
 though you should fail again and again, con- 
 tinue your exertions, you will succeed at 
 length. " Quis enim totum diem jaculans, 
 non aliquando conlineat?"forwhosoevershoots 
 often will at length hit the mark. To the same 
 purport is, " Omnem movere lapidern," " leave 
 no stone unturned," try every expedient that 
 is likely to be successful. 
 
 Merx ultronea putet. 
 
 " Profferred service stinks." We are apt to 
 esteem of little value, what is obtained with 
 small labour. The proverb seems to have 
 taken its origin from the mistrust entertained 
 of any goods pressed upon us with too much 
 earnestness by the venders ; from that cir- 
 cumstance, concluding them to be damaged 
 or faulty. 
 
 " Laudat venales qui vult extrudere merces," 
 
 every man praising the articles he wishes to 
 
 dispose
 
 C 
 
 dispose of; the purchaser, on the other hand, 
 labours as hard to depreciate what he is about 
 to buy. " It is naught, it is naught, says 
 the buyer, but when he is gone he vaunteth." 
 " Chi comprar ha bisogno di cent' ochii, chi 
 vende n' ha assai de uno," he who buys hath 
 need of an hundred eyes, who sells hath 
 enough of one. We are all of us also solicitous 
 of obtaining intelligence that is attempted to 
 be kept secret, or which is known to a few 
 persons only, and listen to it with more atten- 
 tion than to information equally important, 
 but of more easy acquisition. 
 
 Fuimiis Troes, and " Aquifye Troy a." 
 
 Troy once was, that is, Troy, though now 
 destroyed, was once a great and powerful city. 
 It may be used by persons whose families, or 
 countries, formerly in repute, have fallen to 
 decay. Time was when we were of some note 
 or value. " Fui Caius," is the inscription that 
 Dr. Caius, or Keys, the founder of a college 
 of that name at Cambridge, ordered to be in- 
 scribed on his monument. 
 
 
 Post
 
 ( 203 ) 
 
 Post Festum venisti. 
 
 " You are come a day after the fair," the 
 business is done, there is now no want of your 
 assistance, may be said to tardy and indolent 
 persons, who are always too late, whether en- 
 gaged in business or pleasure. To which how- 
 ever they may answer, " II vaut mieux tard 
 que jamais," " Better late than never," and 
 " Better come at the end of a feast, than at 
 the beginning of a fray." 
 
 Illotls Pedibus ingredi. 
 
 Entering with unwashed feet. Alluding to 
 the custom of washing the feet, anciently 
 practised by all persons, before the}^ entered 
 any sacred place, or sat down to their repasts. 
 It was used to be applied to persons talking 
 confidently on subjects they did not under- 
 stand, or irreverently on sacred subjects; or 
 to those who intruded themselves into busi- 
 ness, without having previously prepared 
 themselves by study and application. As the 
 ancients wore sandals, and no stockings, their 
 
 feet
 
 ( 204 ) 
 
 feet and legs were exposed to the mud and 
 dirt, and required to be washed, when they 
 had walked any considerable distance, both 
 for the sake of cleanliness and refreshment. 
 After washing they were usually anointed with 
 sweet-scented oil. This custom, at first adopted 
 from necessity, became at length a religious 
 ceremony. 
 
 Palinodiam canere. 
 
 This was used to be said to persons, who 
 had been obliged, to use a phrase common in 
 this country, " to eat their words," to retract 
 the judgment or opinion they had given on 
 any person or subject ; to praise what they 
 had before condemned, or to censure what 
 they had commended. The allegorical punish- 
 ment of the Braggadochio, in all the old play- 
 writers, is to be forced to " eat their swords." 
 
 The following fable is related, as having 
 given origin to this adage. The poet Stesi- 
 chorus, having in a copy of verses severely 
 censured the conduct of Helena, as a punish- 
 ment for his offence, he was deprived of his 
 
 sight
 
 ( 205 ) 
 
 sight by the gods her protectors. Under- 
 standing the cause of his disaster, in a sub- 
 sequent poem, he raised and extolled her 
 character, as highly as he had before censured 
 her. Having therefore sung his palinodia, 
 retracted his censure, which is implied by the 
 term, he was restored to his sight. 
 
 Senecta. 
 
 Living like an old eagle. Syrus meeting 
 Chremes early in the morning, whom he knew 
 to have drunk hard the night before, addressed 
 him with this phrase, intimating that drinking 
 suited him as it did an old eagle. The eagle, 
 Pliny says, is in the latter part of its life in- 
 capable of eating any solid food, the upper 
 mandible growing to such a length, and be- 
 coming so hooked, that it can only open its 
 mouth sufficiently to suck the blood of the 
 animals it takes. Old topers therefore who 
 usually eat but little, may be said like that 
 bird, if the story is correct, to live on suction. 
 The adage may be applied, and with more 
 propriety, perhaps, to persons enjoying a high 
 
 state
 
 ( 206 ) 
 
 state of health, spirits, and activity to an ex- 
 treme old age, which the eagle, upon better 
 grounds, is known to do. 
 
 Matura Satio sape decipit, sera semper mala est. 
 
 Corn early sown may disappoint your ex- 
 pectation, but sown too late, you will certainly 
 lose your seed and your labour. A proper 
 and seasonable time is to be chosen for per- 
 forming all business ; if it be too precipitately 
 undertaken, and before you have made the 
 necessary preparation, it will rarely succeed ; 
 but if it be delayed too long, and the oppor- 
 tunity suffered to pass by, that can never be 
 .recovered, and the business will altogether 
 fail. The proverb probably took its rise from 
 the following passage in Cato's treatise De Re 
 Rustica : " Res rustica sic est, si unam rem sero 
 feceris, omnia opera sero facies," such is the 
 nature of husbandry that if one process be 
 performed too late, the whole of the business 
 will fail. 
 
 Ele-
 
 ( 207 ) 
 
 Elephantus non capit Murem, nee Aquila 
 Muscas. 
 
 The elephant disdains to contend with a 
 mouse, neither will the eagle stoop to catch a 
 fly. The brave man is not easily provoked to 
 punish a coward, and men of enlarged and 
 liberal minds are above noticing the paltry 
 censures of trifling, and insignificant scribblers. 
 
 De Pilo pendet. De Filo pendet. 
 
 " Colgar cle un hilo," it hangs by a hair, by 
 a thread, as the life of a man does, who is at 
 sea in a violent storm ; it may be said in all 
 cases of great and imminent danger, also when 
 the result of any business depends on some 
 minute circumstance. The adage is said to 
 have taken its rise from a device of Dionysius, 
 tyrant of Syracuse, who ordered one of his 
 courtiers, who had too highly extolled the 
 pleasures of royalty, to be placed at a splendid 
 banquet, attended by numerous servants, all 
 ready to obey his orders, and surrounded with 
 .every thing that might serve to exhilarate his 
 
 spirits :
 
 ( 208 ) 
 
 spirits: but over his head, suspended by a single 
 hair, was a massive sword, which threatened 
 every moment to fall upon, and kill him. The 
 thought of the danger in which he was placed, 
 took from him all relish for the dainties before 
 him, and made him request that he might be 
 allowed to descend to his former state of pri- 
 vacy and safety. The tyrant, by this con- 
 trivance, meant to shew, that if royalty has its 
 pleasures, it is also surrounded with dangers, 
 that may well be thought to balance its en- 
 joyments. " If thou knewest," he said, " with 
 what cares and anxieties this robe is stuffed, 
 thou wouldest not stoop to take it from the 
 ground." " None think the great unhappy, 
 but the great." 
 
 Elephantem ex Muscdfads. 
 
 Persons speaking hyperbolically, and mag- 
 nifying small and insignificant objects, or 
 treating little offences as great and serious 
 crimes, may be said to make elephants of flies, 
 " mountains of mole-hills." 
 
 In
 
 ( 209 ) 
 In Laqueos Lupus. 
 
 The wolf is fallen into a snare, was said, 
 When a crafty and bad man, who had been a 
 plague to his neighbours, was visited by any 
 great misfortune, or suffered a considerable 
 loss, particularly if this happened when he 
 was contriving mischief for some other person. 
 " Craft," we say, " bringeth nothing home," 
 that is, nothing that is permanent. 
 
 Annosa Vulpes hdud capitur Laqueo. 
 
 " Old birds are not to be caught with 
 chaff." An old fox is not easily taken ; or 
 with the French, " Un renard n'est pas pris 
 deux fois a un piege," he is not to be twice 
 taken in the same snare ; but " Enfin les re- 
 nards se troiivent chez le pelletier," at length 
 they come to the furrier, " Tutte le volpe si 
 trovano in pelliceria." The tricks of crafty 
 and bad men are not easily detected, but 
 though such may escape for a time, they are 
 usually caught at last. " Mucho sabe la zorra, 
 pero mas el que la toma," the fox is cunning, 
 but he is more cunning who takes him. 
 
 p C apt antes
 
 ( 210 ) 
 Captantes capti sumus. 
 
 "The biter is bit." Attempting to lead 
 another into an error, I am fallen into one 
 myself, from which I am not likely easily to 
 escape. Assaying to mortify another, by plac- 
 ing him in a ridiculous light before his com- 
 panions, he has turned the jest upon me, and 
 covered me with confusion. Augustus Csesar, 
 seeing a young man from the country, who 
 in his features very much resembled his own 
 family, asked him, by way of scoff, whether 
 his mother had ever been at Rome? No, said 
 the youth, but my father has. Princes endea- 
 vouring to enlarge their dominions at the ex- 
 pense of their neighbours, are themselves not 
 unfrequently obliged to yield up a part, or 
 perhaps the whole of what they before pos- 
 sessed. "He hath graven and digged a pit, 
 and is fallen into it himself." 
 
 JEthiopcm ex Vultujudico. 
 
 The ^Ethiopian may be known by his coun- 
 tenance, being too distinctly marked to be 
 
 mistaken
 
 ( 211 ) 
 
 mistaken even on the slightest view of him ; 
 but neither persons, nor things, are in general 
 to be judged of by a superficial view of them, 
 for, " all is not gold that glitters." Men are 
 not to be estimated to be friends, merely for 
 professing themselves to be so. " Del dicho 
 al hecho ay gran trecho," there is a great 
 difference between saying and doing, and, 
 " Tierra negra buen pan lleva," black earth 
 produces white bread ; we therefore say, 
 
 De Fructu Arborem cognosce. 
 
 A tree is known by its fruit, and the real 
 value of a man by his actions. 
 
 Satius e$t recurrere, quam currere mall. 
 
 It is often better to return, than to go on ; 
 that is, when any one finds he has taken a 
 wrong road, it is better to turn back than to 
 proceed, as the further he goes on, the further 
 he will be from the place he proposes visiting. 
 This is the plain and literal sense of the adage ; 
 but it is used to recommend to us to leave 
 any scheme or project in which we may have 
 P2 en*
 
 engaged, if we find it not likely to answer the 
 intended purpose, and not through pride, and 
 an unwillingness to acknowledge we have been 
 in an error, to persist until we have suffered 
 some great inconvenience, or mischief. 
 
 In Man Aquam gutzris, or 
 " Insanus, medio Flumine quceris Aquam" 
 
 Do you hunt for water, though surrounded 
 by the ocean ; why particularise one fault in 
 a man, the occurrences of whose life, offer 
 only a continued series of vice and immorality; 
 or censure a single error in a work, in which 
 they so abound, that they are to be met with 
 in every page ? 
 
 Ut Canis e Nilo. 
 
 As dogs drink of the river Nile. Menwhoarfe 
 unsteady in business, attending to it by starts 
 and snatches, and then leaving it for other em- 
 ployments, or reading books in the same de- 
 sultory and careless manner, are said to take 
 
 to
 
 ( 213 ) 
 
 to them, as dogs take water from the Nile, 
 that is, hastily, and without stopping to taste 
 it. This the dogs are said to do through fear 
 of the crocodiles, which abound in the upper 
 part or' that river. A person inquiring, after 
 the defeat of the forces of Marc Anthony at 
 Actium, what he had done there, was an- 
 swered by his friend, "Ut canis in ^Egypto, 
 bibit et fugit," that is, as the dogs do in 
 Egypt, drink and run. Marc Anthony is 
 said on that day only to have shewn himself, 
 and seeing the superiority of the forces of his 
 adversary, to have fled, without waiting the 
 result. 
 
 Fluvius cum Mari certas. 
 
 Being but a river, do you compare yourself 
 to the ocean ? A frog trying to extend herself 
 to the size of an ox, burst, we are told, and 
 became an object of derision to the spectators. 
 Men of slender fortunes, emulating the state 
 and splendor of the wealthy, are ruined, and 
 are despised even by those who encouraged 
 them in their expenses. 
 
 P 3 <* Qui
 
 ( 214 ) 
 
 " Qui monte plus haul qu'il ne doit, 
 Descend plus has qu'il ne voudroit." 
 
 Those who attempt rising higher than they 
 ought, generally mar their fortunes, and fall 
 lower than they would have done, had they 
 been less ambitious. 
 
 Leonem ex Unguibus estimare. Ex Pede 
 Herculem. 
 
 Prom the size of the talons, you may esti- 
 mate the bulk of an animal, and from the 
 foot, the stature of the man to whom it be- 
 longed. Also, from a single stratagem, the 
 wit and ingenuity, and from a letter, or con- 
 versation, the learning, or judgment of any 
 one with whom we are about to be connected 
 may often be discovered. The rule, how- 
 ever, is not infallible, for bulk does not always 
 indicate strength or courage; neither are the 
 qualities of the mind ordinarily laid open at a 
 single interview. Hence we say, "Fronti nulla 
 fides," mens' characters are not always written 
 on their foreheads, and " No es todb oro, lo 
 que reluce," all is not gold that glitters ; and 
 
 " straight
 
 " straight personages have often crooked 
 manners ; fair faces, foul vices ; and good 
 complexions, ill conditions." 
 
 It is known, Plutarch says, that the Olympic 
 stadium was of the length of six hundred feet, 
 measured by the foot of Hercules; but Pytha- 
 goras, finding that the stadium used in other 
 countries, containing the same number of feet 
 of men of the ordinary stature, was much 
 shorter, by dividing the space in which it was 
 deficient into six hundred parts, he determined 
 the exact length of the foot of Hercules, and 
 thence of his stature or height, which he found 
 to be six feet seven inches ; and Phidias the 
 statuary, from seeing the claw of a lion, 
 ascertained the size of the animal, whence the 
 proverbs. 
 
 Extremis Digitis attingere. 
 This may be said by a writer or orator, who 
 does not mean to enter deeply into the subject 
 he is discoursing of, but only to handle it 
 lightly, not to grasp or take hold of the ob- 
 ject, but to touch it with the ends of his 
 fingers. "Summis labiis," persons professing 
 p 4 with
 
 with their lips, more than they intend, has 
 nearly a similar meaning ; and 
 
 Summit Naribus olfacere, 
 
 passing an opinion upon a subject from a 
 very slight inspection or examination of it. 
 " Molli brachio, et laevi brachio," are also 
 phrases used to intimate that a business has 
 been hurried over, without having the ne- 
 cessary attention paid to it. In handicraft 
 business we should say, "bestow a little more 
 elbow-grease upon it," 
 
 De Fcece haurire. 
 
 To drain the cask, and drink to the bottom; 
 metaphorically, to be reduced to the lowest 
 state of misery and wretchedness. 
 
 With persevering industry. Like to school- 
 masters, who are obliged to repeat the same 
 lesson to an hundred different boys, and many 
 times to the same boys, that it may be re- 
 tained in their memories. There are few things 
 
 impossible
 
 ( 217 ) 
 
 impossible to industry. Iron, by repeated 
 strokes of the hammer, becomes at length soft 
 and pliable, whence the adage. 
 
 In Quadrum re dig ere. 
 To make any thing perfectly square; meta- 
 phorically, to reduce to order. Thus the parts 
 of any object, or of any speech or composition, 
 agreeing together, they are said to quadrate ; 
 and the man whose conduct is consistent and 
 right, is said " to act upon the square." The 
 phrase seems to be derived from the uniform 
 and apposite consistency of that figure, whose 
 every side and angle is answered by its op- 
 posite. 
 
 Dimidium plus toto. 
 
 The half is oftentimes more, or better than 
 the whole ; that is, the half that we possess, 
 or that may be acquired with safety, is better 
 than the whole, if it cannot be obtained with- 
 out danger. By this enigmatical adage, in 
 frequent use among the ancients, is recom- 
 mended the " aurea mediocritas," the golden 
 
 mean :
 
 ( 218 ) 
 
 mean ; or, moderation in our pursuits of riches 
 or of power. It is better to be contented with 
 a middling estate, or to cease speculating when 
 we have acquired a competency, than by hunt- 
 ing after more, to hazard what we already 
 possess. The dog catching at the shadow of 
 a piece of meat which he saw in the water, lost 
 that which he held in his mouth. The adage 
 may also be applied to persons engaged in 
 controversy, where neither party will give way 
 though a small concession on each side might 
 tend to their mutual profit. Erasmus applies 
 it to the dissensions existing between the Lu- 
 therans and the Romanists, which then raged 
 with great violence, neither party being dis- 
 posed to recede in their pretensions, or both of 
 them, perhaps, making it a point of conscience 
 not to yield. " Dum enim theologi quidam, 
 ac prsesules, nihil omnino volunt de suis dog- 
 matibus, ac jure concedere, veniunt in peri- 
 culum ne perdant et ilia, qure bono jure tene- 
 bant" For while the heads of the Romish 
 church will yield nothing to the adverse party, 
 there seems great reason to apprehend they 
 will lose much of what they would be allowed 
 
 to
 
 ( 219 ) 
 
 to retain. My opinion,, he adds, is, that rather 
 than hazard losing the whole of the authority 
 they contend for, that they give up a portion 
 of it, it being hetter to preserve the half, 
 than by contending for the whole to lose all. 
 From this, and other passages in his works, it 
 seems clear that though Erasmus continued to 
 his death in community with the catholics, he 
 was much more inclined to the tenets of the 
 Lutherans, and so indeed the Lutherans be- 
 lieved, and they reproved him accordingly for 
 his pusillanimity, in not declaring himself more 
 openly. But he had not the courage, as he 
 frankly acknowledged, to become a martyr. 
 " Non omnes ad martyrium, satis habent ro- 
 boris ; vereor autem, ne, si quid incident tu- 
 multus, Petrum sim imitaturus." He was be- 
 sides, as he says, so averse to contention, that 
 he should abandon the truth itself, if it could 
 only be defended by tumult. " Mihi adeo 
 invisa est discard ia, ut veritas etiam displiceat 
 seditiosa. " Hesiod, to whom we owe this 
 adage, tells us, that having been, defrauded of 
 a portion of his estate by his brother, he was 
 thence induced to turn his mind more sedu- 
 lously
 
 ( 220 ) 
 
 x r \ 
 
 lously to the cultivation of what remained, 
 which soon became so productive, that he 
 observed, the judges, who decided the cause, 
 had not done him so much injury as was ap- 
 prehended, the half proving in the event to be 
 more valuable than was the whole. 
 
 " Unhappy they to whom God ha'nt revealed, 
 By a strong light which must their sense controul, 
 That half a great estate's more than the whole ; 
 Unhappy, from whom concealed still does lye, 
 Of roots and herbs, the wholesome luxury." 
 
 Ole.o tranquillior. 
 
 Attend to me, and I will cure you of your 
 passions, and make you more soft, supple, and 
 pliant than oil, "As mild as a turtle-dove." 
 It is known, that oil poured into water, when 
 in the highest state of agitation and disturb- 
 ance, renders it immediately smooth and placid; 
 hence persons of peaceable and quiet disposi- 
 tions were said to be, "Oleo tranquilliores," as 
 those of haughty, unsteady, and passionate 
 tempers were, " Iracundiores Adria," more 
 boisterous and turbulent than the Adriatic 
 
 sea,
 
 ( 221 ) 
 
 sea, which had the character, though not very 
 justly, perhaps, of being peculiarly liable to 
 storms and tempests. Pope seemed to think 
 that his verses might have an effect on the 
 mind similar to that of oil on water. 
 
 " Know there are lines, which fresh and fresh applied* 
 Might cure the arrantst puppy of his pride." 
 
 Canis in Pr&sepi. 
 
 Like the dog in the manger, who would not 
 suffer the ox to eat of the hay, though he 
 could make no use of it himself. Those who 
 have large collections of valuable books, which 
 they are incapable of reading, and refuse to 
 let them be consulted by others who might 
 reap information from them, are guilty of this 
 vice, as indeed is every one, who will not im- 
 part, out of his abundance, to those who are 
 in want. 
 
 Summum Jus summa Injuria. 
 
 The extreme of justice, that is, strictly ad- 
 hering to the letter of the law, may prove 
 highly injurious. As it is impossible that laws 
 
 should
 
 ( 222 ) 
 
 should be so framed as to embrace and take 
 in every species or degree of turpitude or 
 crimes ; so on the other hand, it cannot be 
 avoided, but that in the endeavour to restrain 
 or punish vice, general regulations will be 
 made prohibiting actions, which, under cer- 
 tain circumstances, may not be criminal, or 
 may be even necessary or unavoidable. Hence 
 it has been found expedient in most civilised 
 countries, to lodge a power in the supreme 
 magistrate of pardoning persons, in whose 
 cases some alleviating circumstances appear, 
 who, by rigidly adhering to the 1 letter of the 
 law, would suffer the punishment allotted to 
 the act he had committed. Courts of equity are 
 also formed, empowered to correct errors in 
 the wording of deeds or instruments by which 
 property is transferred, when it appears that 
 by following the direct meaning of the words 
 the intention of the parties would be defeated. 
 By a law of the Romans, children refusing to 
 support their aged parents were condemned 
 to be thrown into prison ; " liberi parentes 
 alant, aut vinciantur." But should the son 
 be incapable of procuring sustenance for him- 
 self,
 
 ( 223 ) 
 
 self, it would be highly injurious to condemn 
 him to suffer the penalty of the laws : a simi- 
 lar law prevailed at Athens, but was obliga- 
 tory only on those persons whose parents had 
 brought them up to some business or calling. 
 There are other ways in which this popular 
 adage may be properly applied, 
 
 " Insani sapiens nomen ferat, zequus iniqui, 
 Ultra quam satis est, virtutem si petat ipsam." 
 
 We should take care that even our admiration 
 of virtue be not carried to excess, but remem- 
 ber, in our censures of the conduct of others, 
 to make allowance for slight errors and imper- 
 fections, such as are incident to the nature and 
 state of man, which occasions that even our 
 best works fall very short of perfection. " The 
 archer who shoots beyond the mark misses it, 
 as well as he that falls short of it." " We may 
 grasp virtue," Montaigne says, " so hard, till 
 it becomes vicious." No men are less be- 
 loved than those who are too rigidly nice and 
 exact in marking small errors in their families, 
 though they censure nothing but what is, in 
 a degree, reprehensible. " Quien las cosas 
 
 much
 
 ( 224 ) 
 
 mucho apura, no vive vida segura," he that is 
 over-nice in looking into small errors, will never 
 live an easy and quiet life. There should 
 be a medium therefore in our prosecution of 
 virtue, as well as in every other pursuit. 
 
 Aberrare a Scopo, non attingere Scopum, extra 
 Scopum jaculare. 
 
 " To miss the mark," to throw beyond or 
 over-shoot the mark, to be out or mistaken 
 in our conjecture upon any subject. It is 
 applicable to any one who in conversation or 
 writing wanders from the subject proposed 
 for discussion, as he was said " attingere sco- 
 pum," " to hit the mark," who delivered what 
 was pertinent or proper. 
 
 Inexplebile Dolium, 
 
 A cask which cannot be filled. An appe- 
 tite that can never be satiated, a thirst after 
 riches that no acquisition of fortune can sa- 
 tisfy, have been aptly enough compared to a 
 
 leaky
 
 ( 225 ) 
 
 leaky vessel, that can never be filled, the liquor 
 running out as fast as it is poured in. It 
 may also be applied to persons who, from in- 
 capacity or inattention, retain nothing that 
 they have learned : it is labour lost, " it is like 
 pouring water into a sieve," to attempt in- 
 structing such persons. 
 
 Aut bibat, aut abeat. 
 
 Either drink or begone, and " Odi me- 
 morem compotorem," I hate the man who 
 tells what is said at the table. It was a 
 custom among the ancients, and it is still fol- 
 lowed, at their convivial meetings, to place one 
 of the company at the head of the table as 
 president or moderator for the day, whose 
 orifice it was to see, among other things, that 
 each of the guests drank his portion of wine; 
 and this was one of the laws that was invaria- 
 bly put in force, " either drink or leave the 
 company," that none of them might be in a 
 state to take advantage of any unguarded 
 expression that might happn to be used. 
 " Quando a Roma fueres, haz como vieres," 
 
 Q that
 
 that is, " when we are at Rome, we should do 
 as they do at Rome;" and we should, at least 
 for the time, accommodate ourselves to the 
 manners of those persons with whom we asso- 
 ciate. Antipater of Sidon, who had possibly 
 been traduced by one of these unfair intru- 
 ders upon festivity, expresses his indignation 
 against the whole tribe as follows : 
 
 " Not the planet that sinking in ocean, 
 
 Foretells future storms to our tars; 
 Not the sea when in fearful commotion, 
 
 Its billows swell high as the stars ; 
 Not the thunder that rolls in October, 
 
 Is so hateful to each honest fellow, 
 As he who remembers when sober, 
 
 The tales that were told him when mellow." 
 
 What is told at such times has always been 
 considered as " said under the rose," or under 
 a seal of secrecy, of which the rose is an em- 
 blem. The Germans were used to have a rose 
 in painting or in sculpture on the ceilings of 
 the rooms in which they caroused. The rose 
 was the favoured flower of Venus, and was by 
 Cupid dedicated to Harpocrates, the God of 
 Silence, the votaries to his mother being parti- 
 cularly
 
 ( 227 ) 
 
 cularly interested that their rites should be 
 kept secret : this property of the rose is cele- 
 brated in the following tetrastic : 
 
 " Est Rosa flos Veneris ; quo dulcia furta laterent, 
 Harpocrati, matris dona, dicavit Amor; 
 Inde rosam mensis hospes suspendit amicis, 
 Convivze ut sub ea, dicta tacenda sciant." 
 
 " The Rose was born for beauty's queen ; 
 
 Young Love in playful hour, 
 From eye and ear her thefts to screen, 
 To Silence gave the flower. 
 
 Hence o'er the friendly board the rose 
 
 Suspended blush'd, to shew 
 That he who would the joy disclose, 
 
 Is mirth's and friendship's foe." 
 
 Cicero seems to extend the meaning of the 
 adage, to persons declaiming with too much 
 violence against the miseries which all men 
 suffer more or less in this life. Either be 
 contented with what you meet with here, or 
 leave them, and see what another world may 
 afford you. With more propriety it may be 
 applied to persons railing at the laws and 
 manners of their own countries; either refrain 
 from your censures, or go to some place where 
 you imagine you shall fare better. 
 
 Q 2 Frigidam
 
 ( 228 ) 
 
 Frigidam Aquam eff under e. 
 
 " To throw cold water on a business," to 
 retard its progress by idle scruples, or by more 
 than necessary caution, is at least the manner 
 in which the phrase is used by us. As few 
 great actions can be achieved without some 
 danger, or any work of eminence performed 
 without hazard, to magnify these and to sup- 
 pose them to be inevitable, because they are 
 possible, is to check the progress of invention 
 and improvement in the world. " Chi troppo 
 s'assottiglia, si scavessa," who refines too much 
 concludes nothing, or who makes himself too 
 wise, becomes a fool. " He that regardeth 
 the wind, shall not sow; and he that looketh 
 at the clouds shall not reap ;" the face of the 
 sky not affording certain signs, indicating 
 that the weather will continue for a sufficient 
 space of time favourable to those operations : 
 we therefore say, " nothing venture, nothing 
 have:" 
 
 " Our doubts are traitors, 
 
 And make us lose the good we oft might win, 
 By fearing to attempt." 
 
 Stultus
 
 ( 229 ) 
 
 Stultus qui Pat re occiso, Liber os relinquat. 
 
 Having killed the father, you should have 
 destroyed the children also ; they being 
 spared, will at some future time revenge the 
 death of their parent. When the murderers in- 
 formed Macbeth, that they had killed Banquo, 
 but that Fleance his son was fled, " Then," said 
 the king, " you have scotched the snake, not 
 killed him." You should have taken care 
 either not to have provoked the man, or you 
 should have rendered him incapable of return- 
 ing the affront. 
 
 Oportet Testudinis Carnes aut edere aut non 
 edere. 
 
 Either eat the turtle, that is eat plentifully 
 of it, or leave it. " Do it or let it alone." 
 This is said to unsteady or lukewarm persons 
 who stand long hesitating, who will neither 
 take nor leave what is offered them, or who set 
 about a business with so ill a will, that it is 
 impossible it should succeed. In literature, 
 
 Q 3 such
 
 ( 230 ) 
 
 such waywardness is more likely to make 
 men opiniative coxcombs than to improve 
 their understandings, as we learn from these 
 lines of Pope : 
 
 " A little learning is a dangerous thing, 
 
 Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring; 
 There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, 
 But drinking largely sobers us again." 
 
 The flesh of the turtle eaten sparingly, was. 
 said to disagree with and disturb the stomach, 
 but taken plentifully, to be innocent and salu 
 tary, whence the adage. This, however, 
 though believed by the ancients, is not very 
 probable ; it is more consonant to reason, that 
 it soon became putrid, and was therefore not 
 fit to be long kept. 
 
 Ab Ovo usque ad Mala. 
 
 From the eggs to the apples, from the begin-* 
 ning to the end ; it was said when a story or 
 an account of any transaction was narrated 
 circumstantially, from its commencement to 
 its termination. Alluding to the tables of the 
 
 Romans,
 
 Romans, at which eggs were first, apples last 
 served. 
 
 Bonce Leges ex mails Moribus procreantur. 
 
 Good laws are the offspring of bad actions. 
 If men were all just and honest, there would 
 be no need of laws to restrain them. If there 
 were no diseases, there would be no need of 
 physicians ; if no crimes, there would be no 
 occasion for judges, or executioners. Solon 
 being asked why he had devised no punish- 
 ment for parricides, said, " the crime was so 
 horrible, he could not suppose it would ever 
 be committed." 
 
 Similes habent Labra Lactucas. 
 
 " Like lips, like lettuce." Thistles suit the 
 rough and hard lips of the ass, and coarse and 
 plain diet the stomach of the clown ; employ- 
 ments^ clothes, and entertainment should be 
 adapted to the persons for whom they are pro- 
 vided ; a dull scholar to a stupid master, and 
 a froward wife to a peevish and churlish hus- 
 Q 4 band.
 
 ( 232 ) 
 
 band. "It would be a pity," we say, " that 
 two houses should be troubled with them." 
 " Tal carne, tal cultello," the knife should 
 suit the meat, and " Dios da el frio confonne 
 a la ropa," the cold is fitted to the coat. The 
 poor man with his thread-bare and tattered 
 raiment, is no more incommoded by the cold 
 than the rich man who is clothed with furs 
 and velvets. Hence we say, " God suits the 
 back to the burthen." Whenever we hear 
 that a mean, sordid, and worthless man has 
 committed some dirty act, we say it was of a 
 piece with the man, no better could be ex- 
 pected of him ; the action suited him as this- 
 tles do the mouth of an ass, and this is the 
 usual way of applying the proverb. To the 
 same purport is, 
 
 Dignum Patella Operculum. 
 
 A cover worthy such a pot. " What better 
 could be expected from such a stock," or, in 
 a favourable way, nothing less was expected 
 from so excellent a man ; though the adage 
 is more commonly used in an unfavourable 
 sense. We have however a phrase which seems 
 
 to
 
 ( 233 ) 
 
 to militate against the sense of this proverb, 
 as when we say of a person performing un- 
 willingly a duty imposed upon him, " he looks 
 like an ass mumbling of thistles." 
 
 Sijuxta claudum habit es, subclaudicare disces. 
 
 If you dwell with the lame, you will learn 
 to limp likewise. We are all prone to imitate 
 those with whom we associate. Those who 
 educate child ren^ therefore should be careful 
 not to introduce among them any persons 
 who squint, stammer, or have any remarkable 
 defect in their gait, or who have any acquired 
 habits that are unseemly or disgusting. But 
 such is the capriciousness of mankind, that 
 in pursuit of the idol fashion, they will 
 not only subject themselves to inconvenience 
 and pain, but will maim and distort their 
 bodies, and fancy such perversions to be beau- 
 ties. For examples of this kind, we need not 
 recur to the ladies in China, who submit to be 
 rendered cripples, in order to distinguish them- 
 selves from the lower classes of women ; or to 
 the Esquimaux and other uncultivated people, 
 
 who
 
 ( 234 ) 
 
 who wear fish bones stuck through their ears 
 and nostrils, and deem them to be ornaments, 
 who suffer themselves to be tattooed, or com- 
 mit an hundred other extravagances, to add 
 grace, as they suppose, and dignity to their 
 persons. The absurdity of these customs have 
 been equalled at the least by the ladies in this, 
 and perhaps, in every other country in Europe; 
 the high-heeled shoes, and the straight and 
 stiff stays, so long the fashion here, occasion- 
 ing to those who wore them as much pain, 
 and were as prejudicial to their health, as the 
 practices of the savages. But the ladies must 
 not be allowed to bear the whole of the ridi- 
 cule attached to these follies. The men may 
 justly put in a claim for their share. It is 
 known that Alexander the Great carried his 
 head a little over the left shoulder. This de- 
 fect in the prince soon became a fashion, and 
 then, we are told, " not a soul stirred out un- 
 til he had adjusted his neck-bone ; the whole 
 nobility addressed the prince and each other 
 obliquely, and all matters of importance were 
 concerted and carried on in the Macedonian 
 Court, with their polls on one side." As 
 
 Diony-
 
 ( 235 ) 
 
 Dionysius was purblind, his courtiers, Plu- 
 tarch says, the better to conciliate his favour, 
 affecting to have the same deficiency, ran 
 against each other, when in his presence, 
 stumbled over stools, chairs, or whatever hap- 
 pened to stand in their way ; and he speaks 
 of another country, where the courtiers carried 
 their adulation so far, that many of them re- 
 pudiated wives whom they loved, in compli- 
 ment to the tyrant who had put away his wife, 
 with whom he was disgusted. Dr. Heberden 
 gives a more recent instance of a similar folly. 
 " When Lewis the XIV. happened to have a 
 fistula, the French surgeons of that time com- 
 plain of their being incessantly teazed by peo- 
 ple who pretended, whatever their complaints 
 were, that they proceeded from a fistula ; and 
 if there had been in France, he adds, a mineral 
 water reputed capable of giving it them, they 
 would perhaps have flocked thither as eagerly 
 as Englishmen resort to Bath, in order to get 
 the gout, the fashionable disease of this coun- 
 try." 
 
 Cor rum-
 
 ( 236 ) 
 Corrumpunt Mores bonos Colloquia pram. 
 
 c 
 
 " Evil communication corrupts good man- 
 ners." If it is important to prevent children 
 in particular from associating with those who 
 have any personal defects, lest they should 
 adopt them, it is still more necessary to guard 
 them against the infection of depraved morals; 
 which are more readily imbibed, take deeper 
 root, and are with greater difficulty removed 
 than those affecting only the person. " Cos- 
 tumbre haze ley," custom has the force of a 
 law, and " Mudar costumbre a par de muerte," 
 to change a custom is next to death. " Tell 
 me," we say, <{ with whom you associate, and 
 I will tell you what you are." " Che dorme 
 co cani, si leva col le pulci," those who sleep 
 with dogs rise up with fleas, and " La mala 
 compagnia, e quella che mena huomini a la 
 furca," it is bad company that brings men to 
 the gallows. "Company," Falstaff says, 
 
 " Villanous company hath undone me ; 
 Till 1 knew thee, Hal, I knew nothing." 
 
 On the other hand, the Spaniards say, " Ari- 
 mate a buenos, v seras uno dellos," associate 
 
 * V 
 
 with
 
 ( 237 ) 
 with the good, and you will be esteemed one 
 
 e> 
 
 of them. 
 
 Conscientia mills Testes. 
 
 Conscience is as a thousand witnesses. We 
 therefore say, " An evil conscience needs no 
 accuser." " Heti quam difficile est, crimen 
 non prodere vultu !" how difficult it is for a 
 person accused of a crime to avoid betraying 
 his guilt by his countenance. No man who 
 has not been long trammelled in wickedness 
 can bear this test. " Oh coward conscience, 
 how dost thou affright me !" was the apos- 
 trophe of Macbeth, after having murdered 
 his sovereign. " Labour," Lord Bacon says, 
 " to keep a good conscience ; for he that is dis- 
 furnished thereof, hath fear for his bedfellow, 
 care for his companion, and the sting of guilt 
 for his torment." The following lines from 
 the Thirteenth Satire of Juvenal as translated 
 by Mr. Hodgson, give a terrible description 
 of the power of conscience, in tormenting 
 those, who may perhaps have escaped punish- 
 ment by the insulted laws of their country, 
 
 "Yet
 
 ( 238 ) 
 
 " Yet can we deem those traitors free from pain, 
 Who the quick sense of villany retain ? 
 Whom secret scorpions to confession urge, 
 While torturing conscience shakes her bloody scourge? 
 To them belongs more dreadful punishment 
 Than laws can execute, or judge invent; 
 By day, by night, condemn'd to hear within, 
 The sleepless witness of their burning sin. 
 These are the souls who shrink with pale affright, 
 When harmless lightnings purge the sultry night; 
 Who faint, when hollow rumblings from afar, 
 Foretel the wrath of elemental war ; 
 Nor deern it chance, nor wind that caus'd the din, 
 But Jove himself in arms to punish sin." 
 
 Not alien to the sense of the proverb, though 
 dissimilar enough to the lines just quoted, is 
 the following story : 
 
 A clergyman with whom Brantome was 
 acquainted, preaching to a polite audience 
 on conjugal infidelity, said he understood 
 there were some among them, who were so 
 depraved as to wink at the infidelity of their 
 wives, in favour of persons from whom they 
 were soliciting preferment. And now, says 
 he, I mean to strike the most culpable, lifting 
 up his hand, as if about to throw something 
 at him, on which a majority of the married 
 
 men
 
 ( S39 ) 
 
 men stooped down their heads ; waiting a small 
 time, until they had recovered their seats, he 
 added, I did suppose that some among you 
 might be guilty, but I did not before know 
 that so large a proportion of you were so. 
 
 J\Iagistratus Virum indicat. 
 
 The office shews the man. Men who have 
 opulence and power, being under little re- 
 straint, shew their natural dispositions, which 
 those in more confined circumstances are 
 obliged to check and subdue. Galba, who 
 had passed through all the offices of the state 
 \vith honour, when at length, and late in life, 
 he was made Emperor of Rome, being pos- 
 sessed of unlimited power, he became a 
 monster of cruelty and avarice. He was, 
 *' Omnium consensu, capax imperii, nisi irn- 
 perasset," by the consent of all he would 
 have been fit for the supreme command, if 
 he had not attained to it ; and of Caligula, 
 Suetonius says, "Nee servum meliorem ullum, 
 nee deteriorem dominum fuisse," there never 
 
 was
 
 ( 240 ) 
 
 was a better servant, nor a worse master. 
 Vespasian, on the other hand, who in the early 
 part of his life, had been a voluptuary, and 
 shewed little attention to business, being 
 raised to empire, filled his post with so much 
 honor, as to be called the Delight of Man- 
 kind. " Solus imperatorum Vespasianus mu- 
 tatus in melius," he was the only one of the 
 emperors, who became a better man by being 
 raised to the supreme command. 
 
 Manllana Imperia. 
 
 Any exceedingly harsh and severe sentence 
 or punishment, was so called from Titus Man- 
 lius, who ordered his own son to be first 
 scourged, and then beheaded, the usual pu- 
 nishment for disobedience of military orders, 
 for having, in the heat of battle, advanced 
 beyond his rank upon the enemy. The story 
 adds, that Manlius, being some time after 
 offered the consulship, declined accepting it, 
 telling the people, that as they could not bear, 
 his severity, for they had censured him for 
 
 his
 
 ( 241 ) 
 
 his cruelty, so neither could he bear their 
 licentiousness. 
 
 Sylosontis Chlamys* 
 
 The garment of Syloson ; alluding to a rich 
 cloak whicfo Syloson gave to Darius, before he 
 came to the empire. The prince, pleased with 
 the conduct of the man in making him so 
 grateful a present, for the garment was exqui- 
 sitely beautiful, as soon as he was advanced to 
 the throne, gave him the sovereignty of the 
 island of Samos. The proverb may be applied 
 to any one conferring small favours on their 
 superiors, in the expectation of getting some- 
 thing of greater value. Syloson, the story 
 adds, exercised his authority with so much 
 severity, as usually happens when men of ob- 
 scure birth are raised to high rank and dignity, 
 that the people, tired with his tyranny and ra- 
 paciousness, quitted the country in such num- 
 bers, as in time to reduce it almost to a desert. 
 This gave birth to the following, which became 
 also proverbial.
 
 ( 242 ) 
 
 Opera Sylosontis ampla Reglb. 
 
 Which may be rendered, By the favour of 
 Syloson, there is now room enough, and may 
 be applied on any similar occasion ; and it 
 seems as if the present Emperor of the French 
 wo'uld make room enough in all the countries 
 that are so unfortunate as to be visifed by him. 
 It may also be applied where any one has by 
 extravagance emptied his coffers, or unfur- 
 nished his house. 
 
 Dii laneos Pecks habent. 
 
 The gods have their feet shod with wool. 
 " God comes with leaden feet, but strikes with 
 iron hands.'' The ancients, by this enigmatical 
 proverb, intimated that the judgments of the 
 Deity were executed in so silent a manner, 
 that trie offenders did not often perceive the 
 approach of the punishment they were doomed 
 to suffer, until they felt the stroke. But, 
 "where vice is, vengeance follows." 
 
 " Raro antecedentera scelestura 
 Deseruit pede pcena claudo." 
 
 Punishment*
 
 ( 243 ) 
 
 Punishment, though deferred, rarely fails ul- 
 timately to be inflicted on those who have' 
 offended. 
 
 ' - -" Vengeance, though slow paced, 
 At length o'ertakes the guilty, and the -wrath 
 Of the incensed powers, will fall most sure 
 On wicked men, when they are most secure." 
 
 Zenone modcratior. 
 
 More temperate than Zeno; who, both by 
 example and precept, is said to have inculcated, 
 in his disciples the advantages of being plain 
 in their apparel, consulting only what was ne- 
 cessary and moderate in their diet, and in all 
 other sensual enjoyments. As by following this 
 regimen, they would have use for very little 
 money for their personal conveniences, they 
 might more readily bestow it, either for the 
 benefit of their country, or on necessitous 
 individuals. 
 
 Aurum habet Tolosanum. 
 
 He has got the gold of Tolosa. Tolosa was 
 a town in Gallia Narbonensis, which became a 
 
 R 2 Ro
 
 Roman colony under Augustus Caesar. Csepio, 
 one of the consuls, having plundered a temple 
 of Minerva, their tutelar deity, became from 
 that time unfortunate in all his transactions; 
 which was considered as a judgment upon him 
 for his sacrilege. The same sentence continues 
 to be passed on persons falling to decay, after 
 having possessed large property, acquired by 
 rapine : " I thought it would not thrive with 
 him :" a harmless prejudice. To the same 
 purport is the adage " Equus Sejanus," or the 
 horse of Seius, which whoever possessed, came 
 to a miserable end. This is said to have been 
 the fate of four of its owners in succession. 
 It was therefore said indifferently of persons 
 who were very unfortunate, " He has the horse 
 of Seius, or, the gold of Tolosa." 
 
 Festina lente. 
 
 44 On slow," a frequent motto on dials, and 
 giving a name to a noble family in this 
 country ; but to be considered here, as afford- 
 ing an important rule for human actions. 
 " Tarry a little, that we may make an end the 
 
 sooner,''
 
 ( 245 ) 
 
 sooner," was a favourite saying of Sir Amyas 
 Paulet, that is, let us consider a little before 
 we begin, and we shall get through the busi- 
 ness with less interruption. " Qui nimis pro- 
 pere, minus prospere,*' too much haste in the 
 beginning, makes an unhappy ending. " Pro- 
 pera propere," " make no more haste than good 
 speed," for "haste makes waste." " Sat cito, 
 si sat bene," "soon enough, if well enough." 
 "Presto et bene, non conviene," hastily and 
 well, rarely or never meet. " Pas a pas on 
 va bien loin," step by step we may to a great 
 distance go. " Chi va piano va sano, e anche 
 lontano," who goes slowly, goes sure, and also 
 far. " It is good to have a hatch before your 
 door," that you may be stopped a minute or 
 two before you get out, which may enable 
 you to consider, whether you have taken with 
 you every thing you may have occasion for 
 in the business you are going upon. From 
 these adages, and many more might be added, 
 all bearing on the same point, we see how 
 highly the precept has been esteemed in all 
 ages. Erasmus thought it of such general 
 utility, that it might not improperly be in- 
 u 3 scribed
 
 ( 246 ) 
 
 scribed upon our public columns and build- 
 ings, upon the doors of our houses, and upon 
 our screens, or other pieces of furniture, and 
 to be engraved upon our rings and seals, that 
 it might be met by us whichever way we turned 
 our eyes. " Poco a poco van lexos, y cor- 
 riendo a mal lugar," slow and softly go far, the 
 Spaniards say, and haste may bring the busi- 
 ness to an ill conclusion. 
 
 Difficilia quce pulchra. 
 
 What is valuable is usually of difficult ac- 
 quisition. Things that are rare and of great 
 utility are not ordinarily to be obtained but 
 with much labour. Learning, which contri- 
 butes so much to distinguish those who are 
 possessed of it, is not to be acquired but by 
 long and continued study and application. It 
 is difficult to restrain our passions, and to ac- 
 quire habits of temperance and moderation, 
 but these when obtained are of inestimable 
 value. The difficulty with which arts and 
 sciences are learned is so great, that few 
 would undertake the labour of acquiring them 
 
 but
 
 ( 247 
 
 but for the pleasure and advantages they hold 
 out to those who possess them. 
 
 " Nothing endears 
 
 A good, more than the contemplation : ' 
 Of the difficulty >ve had to obtain it." . ; . ; 
 
 " Non est e terris mollis ad:: astral via,," 
 " narrow and difficult is the r way. thai 'Jeaids 'to 
 life, but broad and easy that w/bidr$etods- to 
 destruction," " Difficilius est sarciie coticor- 
 diam, qtiam rumpere," how easy it is to sow 
 dissensions and, strife among men, but how 
 difficult to bring them again to peace and har- 
 mony ! 
 
 Cumini Sector. 
 
 One who would carve or split a cummin seed. 
 The adage was applied to persons who were 
 extremely cautious, in examining into the evi- 
 dence on which any report was founded, be- 
 fore they admitted it as deserving credit. Of 
 such a character was the Emperor Antoninus 
 Pius, to whom the proverb was applied, for his 
 patience and diligence in examining into the 
 merits of the causes that came before him; 
 
 R 4 and
 
 and if all persons were of the same disposi- 
 tion, it would put a stop to more than half 
 the broils, dissensions, and disputes which add 
 so largely to the catalogue of evils* afflicting 
 us ; but " oiii dire va par ville," idle reports 
 that have no foundation, are quickly circu- 
 lated and easily believed. The adage is, how- 
 ever, more commonly applied to persons of 
 mean and sordid dispositions, and has the 
 same sense as, 
 
 Ficos dividers, 
 
 Persons who would cut a fig into parts, or 
 as we say, " who would flay a flint." " He will 
 tlress an egg and give the broth to the poor." 
 Though the fruit is not a native of this coun- 
 try) yet when we mean to .speak contemptu- 
 ously of any one, we say, " a fig for him," and 
 " under my cloak," the Spaniards say, " a fig 
 for the king. " 
 
 Neminijidas, nisi cum quo prius Modium 
 Salis absumpseris. 
 
 Or as the French say, " pour bieu connoitre
 
 ( 249 ) 
 
 iin homme, il faut avoir mange un muid de 
 sel avec lui." As a friend is " alter ipse," ano- 
 ther self, to whom the most secret transactions 
 of your life may be communicated, it is neces- 
 sary you should be well acquainted with him, 
 before he be admitted to this intimate fami- 
 liarity, or that you should have known- him, 
 as the adage expresses it, so long that you 
 might have eaten a peck of salt with him. 
 Salt among the eastern nations was the type 
 of hospitality, and for its many useful quali- 
 ties, particularly for its power of preserving 
 bodies from putrefaction, it seems to have 
 been every where had in high estimation ; 
 which is the reason, probably, M'hy it is named 
 here in preference to bread, or other articles 
 also in daily use at our tables. 
 
 Multas Amicitias Silentium diremit. 
 
 Silence or neglect destroys friendship. " Non 
 sunt amici qui degunt procul," they will 
 not ordinarily long continue to be friends, 
 who live at a great distance from each other. 
 
 As
 
 As we should not be 'hasty in forming 
 nections, so having -formed tliem, we should 
 cultivate them with care, and strengthen the 
 intimacy by frequent conversation and cor- 
 respondence. " Lontano dag'li occhi lontano 
 del cuore." " Loin des yeux, lorn du coeur," 
 " out of sight, out of mind." : 
 
 Pulchrl dixti. Bd& narras. 
 
 You have made out a pretty story, was 
 used to be said, ironically, to any one who had 
 failed egregiously in delivering message or 
 telling a story ; and similar forms of speech 
 are not uncommon among ourselves. 
 
 Rara Avis. 
 
 He is a rare bird indeed, was used to be said 
 of any one doing an act of unusual generosity 
 or goodness; or of a man of such strict mo- 
 rality, that he would not do a mean or unjust 
 action though he might without fear or de- 
 tection obtain a fortune by it. A'character 
 which, though very unco'mntoh in the later 
 
 ages
 
 ( 251 ) 
 
 ages of the Roman empire, is, I trust and be- 
 liev.e, by no means so at this time, in this 
 country : 
 
 " Kara avis in terris, nigroque simillima cygno." 
 " Corvo quoque rarior albo." 
 
 A phenomenon more rare, Juvenal supposes, 
 than a white crow or a black swan. 
 
 Naribus trahere. 
 
 " Menar uno per il naso," It. " Mener par 
 le nez," " to lead any one by the nose." To 
 obtain so much influence or such command 
 over any one, as to induce him to do what- 
 ever you advise, though equally averse to his 
 inclination and his interest. The phrase 
 takes its origin from the custom of leading 
 animals by rings passed through their nostrils. 
 This, by ecclesiastical lawyers, is called " hav- 
 ing the advowson of a man's conscience." 
 Does not this apply equally to the leaders of 
 majorities and minorities in certain assem- 
 blies ? 
 
 Ama
 
 ( 252 ) 
 
 Ama tanquam osurus. Odcris tanquam 
 amaturus. 
 
 Or, as the Spaniards say, " quando estes en 
 enojo, acuerdate que puedes venir a paz, y 
 quando estes en paz, acuerdate que puedes 
 venir a enojo," that is, when you are angry 
 with any one, consider that you may be re- 
 conciled ; and when you are friends with any 
 one, that you may be at enmity with him ; 
 therefore, " del mal que hizieres no tengas 
 testigo, aunque sea tu amigo," you should not 
 be so communicative even to your most inti- 
 mate friend, as to make him privy to your 
 failings, still less to the vices of which you 
 should be guilty, as it might tend to alienate 
 him from you, or enable him to do you an 
 injury, if your connection should by any 
 means be dissolved ; an event which, from the 
 mutability of human affairs and dispositions, 
 should always be considered as possible at 
 least : neither should you, on the other 
 hand, reproach your enemy so bitterly, or 
 tax him with faults so atrocious, as to make 
 
 it
 
 Jt impossible he should ever forgive you ; 
 as circumstances may occur that may make 
 it your mutual advantage, or even render 
 it necessary that your acquaintance should 
 be renewed. Erasmus states, as one of the 
 evils attendant on publishing letters to and 
 from our friends, that occurrences may happen 
 obliging us to change our opinions, and to 
 censure those whom we had commended, or to 
 praise those whom we had before censured : 
 " jam et illud est incommodi, quod, ut nunc res 
 sunt mortalium, ex amicissimis nonnunquam 
 reddantur inimicissimi, et contra ; ut et illos 
 laudatos, et hos doleas attactos." Erasmus 
 speaks feelingly here, finding himself called 
 upon in the latter part of his life, to censure 
 Ulric Hutton, a violent and turbulent man, 
 whom in his early works he had liberally com- 
 mended. 
 
 The following observation of the poet 
 Burns, may be added as further illustrating 
 this adage. " I am not sure," he says, " not- 
 withstanding all the sentimental flights of no- 
 vel-writers, and the sagephilosophy of moralists, 
 whether we are capable of so intimate and cor- 
 dial
 
 ( 254 ) 
 
 dial a coalition of friendship, as that one mail 
 may pour out his bosom, his very thought, 
 and floating fancy, his very inmost soul, with 
 unreserved confidence to another, without 
 hazard of losing part of that respect which man 
 deserves from man ; or from the unavoidable 
 imperfection attending human nature, of one 
 day repenting his confidence." Cicero was, 
 however, of opinion, that nothing could be 
 more hostile to the idea of genuine friendship, 
 than the sentiment contained in this adage, 
 neither could he believe that it was the saying 
 of so wise a man as Bion, to whom it is attri- 
 buted. Certainly it is not in accord with the 
 picture of true friendship, given in the eluci- 
 dation of the first and third adages in this : 
 volume. 
 
 Ne Malorum memineris* 
 
 Do not revive the memory of troubles that 
 are past. " Repeat no grievances." The thirty 
 tyrants, who had seized upon the government 
 of Athens, having been expelled by Thrasy- 
 bulus, he enacted a law, "Ne quis de prasteritis 
 
 actis
 
 actis accusaretur, aut mulctaretur," that nd 
 persons should be accused or punished for the 
 part they had taken during the civil dissen- 
 sions. He added, "Ne malorum memoriam 
 revoces," whieh is said to have given origin 
 to the adage. Not alien to this is what is re- 
 lated of the Emperor Charles the Fifth. When 
 he entered Wittenburgh, in the year 1547, he 
 was much pressed by the Spaniards who were 
 in his army, to destroy the monument which 
 had been erected there to Luther, but he 
 severely reproved them, under penalty of the 
 forfeiture of their lives, from disturbing the 
 ashes of that celebrated reformer, to whom he 
 had nevertheless been, while living, an impla- 
 cable enemy ; adding, " Nihil mini ultra cum 
 Luthero," I have nothing further to do with 
 Luther, he is now amenable to another and a 
 higher tribunal; neither is it my custom to- 
 war with the dead, but with those who are 
 living, and appear in arms against me. Similar 
 to this was the conduct of Lewis the Eleventh. 
 When he was urged to deface the monument 
 of John, Duke of Bedford, who had been 
 Regent of France in the time of Henry the 
 
 Sixth:
 
 ( 256 ) 
 
 Sixth: " He would not," he said, "disturb thft 
 ashes of the man, whom all France could not 
 repel when living." Our King Charles the 
 Second, being recalled from banishment, and 
 put in possession of his crown and kingdom, 
 after passing an act of amnesty, required of 
 his courtiers that they should make no further 
 mention of their past sufferings, and on any 
 allusion to them being made, he was used to 
 check them, reminding them of one of his 
 father's golden rules, that they were " to re- 
 peat oo grievances." 
 
 Septennis guum sit, nondum edidit Denies. 
 
 Though he is seven years of age, he has not 
 yet cut his teeth, was used to be said to per- 
 sons, who, though men in years, were, in their 
 actions, and in their understanding, only 
 children ; to men passing their time in idle 
 and boyish amusements, or asking questions 
 on subjects so trifling and common, that it 
 would be disgraceful even for children to be 
 ignorant of them. We say of a person who 
 suffers himself to be easily outwitted, " he has 
 
 not
 
 ( 257 ) 
 
 not got all his teeth," or "he has not cut his 
 eye-teeth." 
 
 Canis festinans cacos parit Catulos. 
 
 The dog hastening to produce its young, 
 brings them into the world blind, that is, im- 
 mature, and before they are completely formed. 
 This was used, and may be applied to persons 
 who are in so much haste to finish what they 
 undertake, that they leave it imperfect. Those 
 err similarly, who are too precipitate in giving 
 their opinion on any work, or action, before 
 they have had time to examine into its merit. 
 
 Lingua, quo vadis ? 
 
 Tongue, whither are you going ? The tongue 
 has been compared, and not unaptly, to the 
 helm of a ship; though it makes but a small 
 part of the vessel, yet upon its right or im- 
 proper movement, depends the safety or de- 
 struction of the whole. How valuable a dis- 
 creet and eloquent tongue is, and on the other 
 hand, what confusion and distress a hasty and 
 
 s tur-
 
 ( 258 ) 
 
 turbulent tongue often occasions, we all of us 
 know ; hence the phrase 
 
 " Vincula da linguae, vel tibi vinc'la dabit." 
 
 Confine your tongue, or it will bring you into 
 confinement. Amasis, king of Egypt, having 
 ordered the philosopher Bias to send him the 
 best and the worst part of a victim about to 
 be sacrificed, Bias sent him the tongue of 
 the animal, intimating, that according as it 
 was used, that was the part which was capable 
 of producing the greatest good, or the greatest 
 evil to the possessor. " Tel coup de langue, 
 est pire qu'un coup de lance," a stab with the 
 tongue is worse than a thrust with a lance. 
 
 In Node Com ilium. 
 
 lt La notte 6 madre di pensiera," night is the 
 mother of reflection. "La nuit donne conseil,' r 
 consult, or take counsel of your pillow; that 
 is, do not precipitately, and on the first pro- 
 posal, enter into any engagement, that may 
 have a material influence on your future pro- 
 spects in life. It is better to sleep, that is, to 
 deliberate on a business proposed to be done, 
 
 than
 
 than to be kept awake by reflections on its 
 being improvidently finished. Indeed a habit 
 of deliberating before you act, is useful in in- 
 ferior matters, taking care, however, that it 
 may not degenerate into a futile, and trifling 
 affectation of gravity, that may make you 
 ridiculous. Our English proverb says, " On 
 a good bargain think twice." A wise man 
 rarely determines on the merit of an offer, on 
 the first view of it, however advantageous it 
 may seem. A more intimate acquaintance is 
 wanted to enable him to decide on its actual 
 value. The worth of the object may be greater 
 than the price at which it is offered ; but he 
 will consider whether it may be wanted by him, 
 or whether by purchasing it at that time, he 
 may not subject himself to greater inconve- 
 niences, than the advantages proposed by pos- 
 sessing it will compensate. "Bon march6 tire 
 1'argent hors de la bourse," " a good bargain 
 is a pick-purse." People are often induced to 
 buy an article because it is cheap, but, "Com- 
 pra lo que no has menester, y venderas lo que 
 no podras escusar," " buy what thou hast no 
 need of, and ere long thou shalt sell thy ne- 
 s2 cessaries;"
 
 ( 260 ) 
 
 cessaries;" and " Quod non opus est asse carum 
 est," what is not wanted is dear even at a 
 farthing. 
 
 Fronti nulla Fides. 
 
 Too much credit must not be given to ap- 
 pearances. "No es todo oro, lo que reluce," 
 and " Tout ce qui reluit n'est pas or," for, all 
 is not gold that glitters. A beautiful woman 
 may be a shrew; or a fine horse vicious, or an 
 ill-goer. A story may be told in such a man- 
 ner, as to induce us to entertain a much more 
 favourable opinion of the principal actor in it, 
 than on a further investigation he shall appear 
 to deserve. Hence the legal maxim, "Audi 
 alteram partem," hear the other side. The rule 
 intended to be inculcated by this maxim, has 
 been given by the ancients in twenty different 
 forms, and is in the mouth of every one ; but 
 though it is so generally known, and the utility 
 of it so universally assented to, yet it is far 
 from having that influence on our conduct, 
 which it seems calculated to produce. 
 -&? 
 
 Coronam
 
 ( 261 ) 
 
 Coronam quidem gestans, cceterum Siti per- 
 ditus. 
 
 Though bearing a crown, that is, abundantly 
 honoured, yet dying of thirst, or in want of 
 necessaries. The adage is supposed to have 
 taken its origin from the fate of one Connas, 
 who had been frequently victor in the Olym- 
 pic and, other games, and therefore often 
 crowned, and yet was suffered to live and die 
 in misery and wretchedness. This fate has 
 attended more than one of the votaries to the 
 Muses in this country ; though it may be 
 doubted whether this has happened so much 
 through the want of patrons and friends, as 
 from an incorrigible habit of idleness, and dis- 
 sipation in the sufferers. This was certainly 
 the case with Savage, and in a stronger degree 
 with Moreland, an artist of our own time, 
 famed for his talent in painting rustic scenes. 
 He died indeed miserable, but rather of drunk- 
 enness, the vice of Connas also, than of want. 
 He chose rather, the later years of his life, to 
 live concealed from his creditors, than by very 
 moderate exertions, to get what would have 
 been sufficient to pay his debts, and to support 
 s 3 him-
 
 himself with credit. The adage was used to 
 be applied to persons, whose friends were more 
 liberal in their praise, than in what was neces- 
 sary for their support and subsistence. 
 
 Ubi quis dolet. ibi et ManumJ'requens habet. 
 
 "We must scratch where it itches." The 
 hand will be frequently and spontaneously 
 moved to the part that is grieved. " Alia va 
 la lengua, do duele la muela," the tongue goes 
 to the tooth that is in pain. Men are with 
 difficulty kept from talking of their misfor- 
 tunes, or of whatever strongly affects them. 
 ' What the mind thinks, the tongue speaks," 
 or, " Out of the abundance of the heart, the 
 mouth speaketh." In conversation men are 
 apt on all occasions to introduce the subjects 
 that happen to employ their attention; to talk 
 of their professions, their business, their tra- 
 vels, or their troubles, without considering 
 how uninteresting, or even annoying, they 
 must be to the auditors, and that such dis- 
 courses should be deferred until the persons 
 we mean to entertain, may call for, or at the 
 
 least
 
 ( 263 ) 
 
 least be disposed to hear them. " Dios te librc 
 de 1'hombre de un libro," God keep you, the 
 Spaniards say, from the man who has but one 
 book. 
 
 Quod licet ingratum est, quod non licet 
 acrius uret. 
 
 While it was permitted, we looked upon it 
 with indifference, it was not until it was 
 prohibited that we anxiously longed for it. 
 <f Communiter negligitur, quod communiter 
 possidetur," what is common, and may be 
 easily obtained, is in little request. 
 
 " Man's curse is, things forbid still to pursue, 
 What's freely offered, not to hold worth view." 
 
 " Furem signata solicitant, aperta effractarius 
 praeterit," things sealed up excite the cupidity 
 of the thief, but what lies open is passed by 
 unnoticed. It was the opinion of one of the 
 ancients, that executions rather whet than 
 blunt the edge of vice ; that they do not pro- 
 duce a desire to do well, but only a care not 
 to be taken in doing ill. 
 
 s 4 Hinc
 
 H'mc illce Lachrymce. 
 
 Hence these tears, hence all the concern 
 he has shewn ; I have not praised his works, 
 or joined in his projects to amuse and deceive 
 the public. The adage may be applied on dis- 
 covering the true causes of the complaints or 
 actions of any one, which he had studiously 
 endeavoured to conceal, and to such a cir- 
 cumstance it owes its origin. Simo, in the 
 Andrian, supposed at first, that the concern 
 his son manifested on the death of Chryses, 
 proceeded from his friendship for the deceased, 
 but finding, at length, that it arose from his 
 affection to her sister, equally disappointed 
 and concerned at the discovery, he burst out 
 into the exclamation, " Hinc illffi lachrymal," 
 this then was the cause of his concern. 
 
 Ignis, Mare, Mulier, tria Mala. 
 
 Which cannot be better explained than by * 
 the following lines of Prior. 
 
 *' Fire, water, woman, are man's ruin, 
 Says wise professor Vander Bruin." 
 
 "By
 
 ( 265 ) 
 
 " By flames, a house I hired, was lost 
 Last year, and I must pay the cost. 
 Next year the sea o'erflowed my ground, 
 And my best Flanders mare was drowned. 
 A slave I am to Clara's eyes, 
 The gipsey knows her power and flies. 
 Fire, water, woman, are my ruin, 
 And great thy wisdom, Vander Bruin." 
 
 This is something better than the answer of 
 the Lacedemonian, who being ridiculed for 
 having married a very little woman, excused 
 himself, by observing, "that of evils, we should 
 choose the least." The Spartans, we are told, 
 fined their king Archidamus, for marrying a 
 very little woman, concluding that the breed 
 would degenerate, and that she could only 
 produce kinglets. 
 
 Aureopiscari Hamo. 
 
 " Peschar col hamo d'argento," fishing with 
 a golden or silver hook. Men are often so 
 eager in pursuit of some favourite object, that 
 they care not at what cost it is obtained; but 
 which, when acquired, they find to be of little 
 value. This is fishing with a golden hook. 
 
 The
 
 The proverb was frequent in the mouth of 
 Augustus Csesar, who used it to restrain the 
 young men of fashion, at his court, when he 
 saw them lavishing their fortunes, to obtain 
 the reputation of having more stately houses, 
 richer furniture, or finer horses, than others of 
 their rank, from which they would reap no 
 solid advantage. It took its rise from a prac- 
 tice not uncommon with persons who have 
 been unsuccessful in their sport, who purchase 
 of more fortunate fishermen a part of what 
 they have taken, that they may not, by carry- 
 ing home empty bags, subject themselves to 
 the laughter of their friends. These therefore 
 literally fish with golden hooks. 
 
 Sera infundo Parcimonia. 
 
 It is too late to begin to save when all is 
 spent. 
 
 " It is too late to spare 
 When me bottom is bare." 
 
 " Bolsa vazia faz 6 homo sesuda mas tarde, 
 an empty purse makes a man wise too late. 
 To these apothegms we may oppose, "Meglio 
 
 tarde
 
 ( 267 ) 
 
 tarde die mai, " " II vaut mieux tarcl que 
 jamais," " Better late than never," and " It 
 is never too late to mend." Though by a long 
 course of imprudence we may have reduced 
 ourselves to great inconvenience or distress, 
 we should not despair, scarcely any thing be- 
 ing impossible for labour and perseverance to 
 achieve. "Aogni cosa e remedio, fuora qu' 
 alia morte," there is a remedy for every thing 
 but death. "Thomas Sackville, earl of Dorset, 
 having wasted his fortune, was so shocked at 
 being made to wait in an anti-room at the 
 house of a citizen, where he went to borrow 
 money, that he resolved from thenceforward 
 to become an economist, and by that means 
 recovered his estate." The proverb, however, 
 means to recommend that we should pay early 
 attention to our affairs, and set bounds to 
 our expenditure, while our estates are entire. 
 " When thou hast enough, remember the time 
 of hunger; and when thou art rich, think upon 
 poverty and need:" take care "that you do 
 not make the sail too big for the vessel, lest it 
 should sink." Plato, seeing a young man of 
 good family, who had wasted his estate, sitting 
 
 at
 
 ( 268 ) 
 
 at the door of an inn, feeding on offals, said 
 to those who were with him, " If this man 
 had dined temperately, he needed not to have 
 supped so sparingly." We should consider 
 that love and respect are rarely conceded to 
 a lost fortune, and that adversity seldom meets 
 with the returns of friendship. "Quien a mano 
 egena espera, mal yanta y peor cena," he that 
 depends upon another for subsistence, break- 
 fasts ill, and sups worse. A man of good edu- 
 cation, without money, has been compared to 
 a ship that is well-rigged, but is detained in 
 port for want of a favourable wind. " Amasser 
 en saison, depenser par raison, font la bonne 
 maison," a seasonable gathering, and a reason- 
 able spending make a good housekeeping. By 
 a decree of the Emperor Adrian, men who had 
 wasted their property by gaming, or by fol- 
 lowing profligate courses, were publicly put 
 to shame. In later times, the Tuscans brought 
 such men into the market, on a bier, with an 
 empty purse before them, and they were obliged 
 to sit there the whole day, exposed to the de- 
 rision of the people. Our stocks would be a 
 good substitute for the bier. At Padua they 
 
 had
 
 ( 269 ) 
 
 had a stone, called the seat of turpitude, near 
 the senate-house, where spendthrifts were com- 
 pelled to sit with their hinder parts bare, that 
 by thejr disgrace others might be deterred 
 from copying their vices. It is too late also 
 at the latter part of our lives, then to begin to 
 learn how to live, for though it be true, that 
 " nulla astas ad perdiscendum sera est," that 
 is, that it is not impracticable to learn at a 
 late period ; yet at such a term, we can neither 
 hope to make the proficiency we might have 
 done, or to enjoy the benefit from it we should 
 have obtained if we had begun earlier. 
 
 Homines frugi omnia rectkfaciunt. 
 
 By a frugal man you may expect every 
 thing to be justly and faithfully performed. 
 The same value was attributed to prudence, 
 which is indeed only another word for fru- 
 gality; " nullum numen abest si sit pru- 
 dentia," for without prudence there can be no 
 virtue. " Sum bonus et frugi," I am honest 
 and careful, Horace makes his servant say, as 
 including every virtue. The word frugi among 
 
 the
 
 ( 270 ) 
 
 the Romans was of a very extensive significa- 
 tion, comprehending under it, justice, forti- 
 tude, constancy and temperance ; by Cicero 
 it is opposed to nequam, and frugalitas to 
 neqnitia, as if he thought it impossible for the 
 improvident and careless to be other than pro- 
 fligate and wicked, and not perhaps without 
 reason, as he who is not frugal, will not long 
 avoid being involved in debt, and he who is 
 deeply plunged in debt, will be so often ob- 
 liged to break his engagements, that he will at 
 length lose all sense of distinction between 
 
 o 
 
 truth and falsehood; " for lying," as Panta- 
 gruel tells Panurge, " is only the second vice, 
 the first vice is being in debt;'' a maxim, 
 Plutarch says, we have taken from the Per- 
 sians. Not alien to this is the Italian pro- 
 verb, " un oncia di prudenza val piu che una 
 libra d' oro," an ounce of prudence is better 
 than a pound of gold, and " chi semina virtu 
 fama raccogli,'' who sows virtue reaps fame. 
 Sir George Mackenzie, in his history of fru- 
 gality, says, he heard a Dutch ambassador 
 tell King Charles the Second, that he had 
 spent only an hundred guilders in meat and 
 
 drink
 
 ( 271 ) 
 
 drink in Holland, during a whole year, nor 
 had he ever been in better health or company ; 
 and when the King asked him why he had 
 done so unusual a thing, he answered, to let 
 his countrymen see, that one needed not to 
 have recourse to mean, still less to vicious 
 practices to get whereon to live : but " there 
 needed no ghost, methinks, to tell his country- 
 men that." 
 
 Simul sorbere et flare difficile est. 
 
 " Sorber y soplar, no se puecle hazar a la 
 par," it is difficult to sup and blow, that is, to 
 drink and talk at the same time. Whatever 
 our employment or pursuit may be, to that we 
 should direct our thoughts and not distract 
 our minds by attempting a variety of different 
 projects at the same time. To bring any one 
 art or science to perfection, or to achieve any 
 great object will require our undivided atten- 
 tion, and must be persevered in for a long 
 course of time. Milton would not have at- 
 tained to the eminence to which he rose ill 
 poetry, nor Newton in philosophy, if they had 
 
 not
 
 ( 272 ) 
 
 not confined their studies to those objects. 
 Rightly therefore the bard, 
 
 " One science only will one genius fit, 
 So vast is art, so narrow human wit." 
 
 We are also told in the Scriptures, " that no 
 man can serve two masters," and that " we 
 cannot serve God and Mammon." " You can- 
 not," Phocion said to Antipater, " have me 
 both for your flatterer and your friend :" and 
 no man, we are told, can be at once prudent 
 and in love. 
 
 " Amare et sapere vix Deo conceditur." 
 And the Spaniards say, that honor and profit 
 cannot exist together, or cannot be contained 
 in one and the same bag, " Honor y provecho 
 no caben en un saco." The adage was used 
 by a servant in one of the comedies of Plau- 
 tus, whose master had required of him what 
 was impracticable, viz. to be giving him as- 
 sistance at home, and doing his business 
 abroad at the same time. 
 
 In Herba esse. 
 
 The corn is as yet in the blade, " you are 
 
 counting
 
 ( 273 ) 
 
 counting your chickens before they are hatch- 
 ed;" " hazer la cuenta sin la huespida," or 
 " reckoning without your host," and " spend- 
 ing your Michaelmas rent in the Midsummer 
 moon ;" not considering how many accidents 
 may happen to thwart and disappoint your 
 expectations. Young and inexperienced per- 
 sons are very apt, as soon as they have formed 
 a plausible project, to begin to reckon their 
 profits and often to spend them too, and take 
 it unkind of their friends if they disturb their 
 confidence with doubts, or do not enter into 
 their schemes with equal ardour and precipi- 
 tancy. Poets are also apt, my text says, to 
 exult too much, on hearing their compositions 
 praised by those to whom they read them ; 
 but they should wait if they would know their 
 true character, until the public have given 
 their opinion, or until time has stamped them 
 with its- seal. 
 
 Inter indoctos etiam Corydus sonat. 
 
 To those unskilled in music the note of the 
 
 sparrow may be agreeable, as among illiterate 
 
 T person s
 
 ( 274 ) 
 
 persons a dunce may be held in some estima- 
 tion. The corydus is a species of larks, of a 
 very inferior quality, which were found in 
 great abundance near Athens: but as the lark 
 has some credit among us for its note, the 
 sparrow is here substituted as better according 
 with the intention of the adage. " Luscus 
 convitia jacit in caecum," or " borgne est roy 
 entre les aveugles," he that hath one eye is a 
 king among the blind ; and " dixo el cuervo 
 a la corneja, quita os alia negra," the crow 
 bids the rook put off his black coat, and the 
 rook makes the same proposal to the crow. 
 
 Ficum cupit. 
 
 He wants figs. This was used to be said of 
 any one paying particular attention to per- 
 sons much beneath him ; meaning, he is court- 
 ing me for his own purpose, as may be said 
 of our gentry going into the shops of little 
 traders on the eve of a general election, spend- 
 ing their money with them liberally and treat- 
 ing them with unusual civility : he wants my 
 vote. 
 
 The
 
 The Athenians were used on the approach 
 of the season when the figs were coming to 
 perfection, to visit the cots of the neighbour- 
 ing peasants, and treat them with great fami- 
 liarity and kindness, that they might procure 
 from them some of the finest of the fruit ; 
 which the rustics at length perceiving, when 
 any one they did not know, addressed them 
 in that manner, they would say, what you 
 want, I suppose, some of our figs ; which 
 thence became proverbial. 
 
 Odium Vatinianum. 
 
 Vatinian hatred, by which the Romans 
 meant to express, an inextinguishable hatred, 
 such as they bore to Vatinus, for his flagi- 
 tious vices and cruelty, which had been ex- 
 posed to them by Cicero. 
 
 Ficus Fiats, Ligonem Ligonem vocat. 
 
 He calls a fig, a fig ; a spade, a spade. That 
 
 is, he is a man of plain and rustic manners, 
 
 T 2 and
 
 ( 276 ) 
 
 and calls every thing by its name. " He is 
 Tom tell-truth." He tells his story as it had 
 been related to him, and is no respecter of 
 persons. If a man is just and upright, he gives 
 him due honour; if crafty and deceitful, what- 
 ever may be his quality, he calls him a knave. 
 " But vice has persuaded custom," Sir William 
 Cornwallis observes, " that to call naught, 
 naught, is uncivil and dangerous." At any 
 rate, let those who have any hidden, or not 
 generally known vices, take care how they 
 descant upon the follies or vices of others, lest 
 their own faults should be drawn from their 
 covert, and exposed to the world. " Desinant 
 maledicere, malefacta ni noscant sua." . 
 
 Bona magis carendo quam fruendo sentimus. 
 
 We perceive more the value of an object 
 when it has escaped from us, than we did when 
 possessing it, and " Bona a tergo formosis- 
 sima," good things rarely appear to us in their 
 full beauty, until we are about to lose them. 
 The poor man, in the fable, did not know 
 to what degree he valued life, until death, 
 
 whom
 
 ( 277 ) 
 
 whom he had called for, came to take it from 
 him. 
 
 " Pleasures are ever in our hands or eyes, 
 And when in act they cease, in prospect rise." 
 
 " Vdche ne sfait que vaut se queue, 
 Jusques a ce qu'elle 1'ait perdue." 
 
 The co\v did not know the value of her tail, 
 until she had lost it. 
 
 " What we have we prize not to the worth, 
 Whiles we enjoy it; but being lack'd and lost, 
 Why then we rack the value; then we find 
 The virtue, that possession would not give us 
 Whiles it was ours." 
 
 ad Aures guidem scalpendas Ocium est. 
 
 He is so full of business, that he has not 
 time to scratch his ears, by which hyperbolical 
 expression, the ancients designated persons so 
 overwhelmed by a multiplicity of employments, 
 as not to leave them leisure for the most com- 
 mon and necessary concerns. 
 
 T 3 Quot
 
 Quot Servi tot Hostes. 
 
 Who has many servants, has as many ene- 
 mies, which is the way I should choose to 
 read the adage. If your servants are slaves, 
 purchased, or taken in war, as they will he 
 perpetually seeking means to free themselves 
 from bondage, the more there are of them the 
 greater the danger, and these are probably the 
 servants alluded to. In this sense it is not less 
 true when applied to servants who are hired, 
 and may be supposed to serve voluntarily. If 
 you keep more than you have employment 
 for, they will corrupt each other, and become 
 vicious through idleness. " Quien ha criados, 
 ha enemigos no escusados," he who has ser- 
 vants, has unavoidable enemies. As they can- 
 not be dispensed with, they are therefore ne- 
 cessary evils. 
 
 The adage more particularly admonishes, 
 that you do not make confidents of them, but 
 as far as you are able, keep from them the 
 knowledge of all circumstances, which di- 
 vulged might injure you ; but this, if there 
 are many of them, will not be easily effected. 
 
 On this subject Juvenal says, 
 
 O Co-
 
 " O Corydon, Corydon, secretum divitis ullum 
 Esse putas ? Servi ut taceant ?" 
 
 which take as translated by Dryden : 
 
 " Dull Corydon ! art thou so stupid grown, 
 To think a rich man's faults can be unknown ? 
 Has he not slaves about him ? would not they 
 Rejoice and laugh, his secrets to betray? 
 What more effectual to revenge their wrongs, 
 Than the unbounded freedom of their tongues?" 
 
 And though little attention might be paid to 
 their suffrages, in commendation of their mas- 
 ters, any scandal they may propagate, will be 
 readily enough believed. For as the same Poet 
 says, 
 
 " On eagle's wings immortal scandals fly, 
 While virtuous actions are but born and die." 
 
 Prcevisus ante, mollior Ictus venit. 
 
 A misfortune that is foreseen affects us less 
 keenly, than one that falls upon us suddenly 
 and unexpectedly : we may also by foreseeing 
 what is about to happen, if not altogether 
 avoid the stroke, contrive to make it less hurt- 
 ful to us. Of kin to this, is 
 
 T 4 Prce-
 
 ( 280 ) 
 
 Prcemonitus, Pramunitus. 
 
 " Forewarned, forearmed ;" which may be 
 said to any one threatening vengeance. I 
 thank you for your candour in advertising me 
 of your intention, I shall now take care to be 
 prepared for you. 
 
 Stultum est timer e quod vitari non potest. 
 
 It is foolish to distress ourselves for what 
 cannot be prevented ; instead of uselessly la- 
 menting we should summon up our courage, 
 and endeavour to accommodate ourselves to 
 the new situation into which we have been 
 thrown by our misfortunes ; remembering* 
 " that what can't be cured, must be endured." 
 
 Optimum aliena Insanidfrui. 
 
 It is good to profit by the follies of others. 
 " Experience," we say, " makes even fools 
 wise," but wise men gain experience from the 
 
 mis'
 
 ( 281 ) 
 
 misfortunes of others, fools only from their 
 own ; 
 
 " Ex vitio alterius, sapiens emendat suum." 
 
 " It is a pleasure," Lord Verulam says, from 
 Lucretius, " to stand upon the shore and 
 to see ships tost upon the sea; a pleasure 
 to stand in the window of a castle, and to 
 see a battle and the adventure thereof below ; 
 but no pleasure is comparable to the standing 
 upon the vantage ground of truth, and to see 
 the errors and wanderings, and mists and tem- 
 pests in the vale below. So always," he adds, 
 " that this prospect be with pity, and not with 
 swelling or pride." 
 
 Acti Labores jucundi. 
 
 The remembrance of dangers that are past 
 is pleasant, particularly if we have escaped by 
 our own activity, skill, or courage. 
 
 Homo est Bulla. 
 
 Human life is a bubble. So frail and unsta- 
 ble is life, so assailable and liable to disease and 
 accidents, and so easily extinguishable, that 
 
 it
 
 ( 282 ) 
 
 it is not unaptly compared to a bubble, which 
 rising upon water or any other fluid, bursts 
 and disappears almost as soon as it is formed, 
 and is succeeded by others equally unsubstan- 
 tial and evanescent. This fragility of human 
 life is very properly adduced as an argument 
 of the immortality of the soul ; the deity 
 would not have produced into the world a 
 being endowed with such powers, so capable 
 of acquiring knowledge, merely to flutter a 
 few hours on this stage and then to be lost for 
 .ever. If that were the case, we might then 
 agree with those philosophers who held it 
 to be 
 
 Optimum non nasci. 
 
 Better not to be born, or to have died as 
 soon as we had seen the light, and before 
 we should have been subjected " to the thou- 
 sand natural ills that flesh is heir to." " II n'y 
 & personne heureux au monde," the French 
 say, " que celui qui meurt en maillet," none 
 can be esteemed happy but such as die in 
 their swaddling clothes; and the Italians to 
 
 the
 
 ( 283 ) 
 
 the same purport, " nel mondo non e felice se 
 non quel che muore in fascie :" for 
 
 " " Medio de fonte leporum 
 
 Surgit amairaliquid." 
 
 Even in the midst of our festivity some me- 
 lancholy thoughts will intrude themselves to 
 dash our mirth. And Solomon says, " where- 
 fore I praised the dead, which are already 
 dead, more than the living, which are yet 
 alive; yea, better is he than both they, which 
 hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil 
 work that is done under the sun." This sen- 
 timent is amplified in the following lines of 
 Prior's Solomon : 
 
 " Thrice happy is the man who now at last, 
 Has through this doleful vale of misery past J 
 Who to his destined stage, has carried on 
 The tedious load, and laid his burthen down. 
 He's happier, yet, who privileged by fate, 
 To shorter labour, and a lighter weight, 
 Received but yesterday the gift of breath, 
 Ordered to-morrow to return to death." 
 
 a 
 
 On this theme the Grecian poets and philo- 
 sophers are very eloquent; with them, " dolere 
 ac vivere," to suffer and to live, were syno- 
 
 nimous,
 
 ( 284 ) 
 
 nimous. The following from Translations from 
 the Greek Anthology will shew this opinion 
 of the ancients better than any thing I could 
 add: 
 
 " Thracians who howl around an infant's birth, 
 And give the funeral hour to songs and mirth, 
 Well in your grief and gladness are express'd, 
 That life is labour, and that death is rest." 
 
 and these, 
 
 " Why fear ye death, the parent of repose, 
 Who numbs the sense of penury and pain ? 
 He comes but only once ; nor ever throws, 
 Triumphant once, his painful shaft again ; 
 But countless ills upon our life intrude, 
 Recurring oft in sad vicissitude." 
 
 I shall insert one other specimen from an un- 
 known writer, taken from the same collection. 
 
 " Waking we burst at each return of morn, 
 From death's dull fetters, and again are born ; 
 No longer ours the moments that are past, 
 To a new remnant of our lives we haste. 
 Call not the years thine own that made thee grey, 
 That left their wrinkles, and are fled away ; 
 The past no more shall yield thee ill or good, 
 Gone to the silent times beyond the flood." 
 
 That life has its evils, and that they more than 
 balance its comforts, is pretty generally ad- 
 mitted ;
 
 ( 285 ) 
 
 mitted ; yet we find that even a long continu- 
 aace of pain and distress, have not the power, 
 in many of us, of weaning us from a fondness 
 for it. Seneca makes one of his characters say, 
 
 " Debilem facito manu, 
 Debilem pede, cox4, 
 Lubricos quate dentes, 
 Vita dura superest, bene est." 
 
 Take from me the use of my hands and of my 
 feet, dash out my teeth, and inflict upon me a 
 thousand other ills, preserve but my life, and 
 I will still be contented. 
 
 " Oh what a dreadful thought it is, to die! 
 To leave the freshness of this upper sky, 
 For the cold horrors of the funeral rite, 
 The land of ghosts and everlasting night! 
 Oh, slay me not ! the weariest life that pain, 
 The fever of disgrace, the lengthened chain 
 Of slavery, can impose on mortal breath, 
 ' Is real bliss,' to what we fear of death. 
 
 Greek Anthology. 
 
 But this was the complaint of a beautiful young 
 damsel, whose father was about to sacrifice her, 
 to appease the anger of Diana, whom he had 
 offended by killing one of her stags. The 
 goddess took compassion on the lady, and 
 
 sub-
 
 ( 286 ) 
 
 substituted a deer in her place. The following 
 is more to the purpose. Antisthenes, the stoic, 
 being very sick, and in great pain, cried out, 
 " Can no one deliver me from these evils ? " 
 Diogenes, who was with him, presenting him 
 a knife, said, "This will relieve you." " I do 
 not mean from my life," replied Antisthenes, 
 " but from my disease." The point to which 
 we should aim, and endeavour to arrive at, is, 
 not to make our continuance in life an object 
 of too anxious solicitude, but as Martial teaches 
 "Summum nee metuas diem, nee optas," nei- 
 ther to wish, nor fear, to die. " Viva la gal- 
 lina, y viva con su pepita," let the hen live, 
 though with the pip ; and " a living dog," we 
 say, "is better than a dead lion." 
 
 Harena sine Cake. 
 
 Sand without lime. If too much sand or 
 rubbish be used in making mortar or cement, 
 it will not cohere, but crumble into dust. The 
 adage may be applied to any speech or com- 
 position, in which order and method have been 
 neglected, where the parts have no congruity 
 
 or
 
 or connection. It was by this phrase that the 
 Emperor Caligula characterised the works of 
 Seneca, and not entirely without reason, Eras- 
 mus observes. For though the writings of that 
 great observer of human life and manners, 
 abound with just and pertinent observations, 
 they are frequently given in so desultory a 
 manner, that it is not easy to follow and con- 
 nect them together ; the same may be objected 
 to the elegant, but unconnected Elegies of 
 Tibullus, and still more justly, perhaps, to 
 the Essays of Montaigne. 
 
 Furemque Fur cognoscit. 
 The thief knows or acknowledges his brother 
 thief. Persons of similar manners, but the bad 
 particularly, are fond of associating together; 
 indeed when their characters are known, they 
 cannot easily get other companions. Hence 
 we say, 
 
 " Tell me with whom thou goest, 
 And I'll tell thee what thou doest." 
 
 for, " Cada uno busca a su semejante,',' or 
 " Chacun aime son semblable," " birds of a 
 feather will still flock together/' 
 
 Ante-
 
 Antequam incipias, consulto. 
 
 Consider, or deliberate maturely, before you 
 undertake any great work or enterprise ; after 
 you have embarked in it, it may be too late. 
 "The beginning of all virtue," Demosthenes 
 observes, " is deliberation ; and the end and 
 perfection of it, constancy." When you de- 
 termine to cross the ocean, remember you. 
 may have to epcounter storms and tempests, 
 and before you enter on any new project, that 
 it may fail. It is necessary to be prepared for 
 every event, and not like the inconsiderate and 
 foolish man, at every cross incident or obstacle 
 you meet with, cry " who would have thought 
 it !" "Things will have," Lord Verulam says, 
 " their first, or second agitation ; if they be not 
 tossed upon the arguments of counsel, they will 
 be tossed upon the waves of fortune, and be 
 full of inconstancy, doing and undoing, like the 
 reeling of a drunken man. It is good to com- 
 mit the beginnings of all great actions to Argus 
 with his hundred eyes, and the ends to Briareus 
 with his hundred hands: for the helmet of 
 Pluto, which maketh the politic man to go 
 
 invisible,
 
 ( 139 ) 
 
 invisible, is secrecy in counsel, and celerity in 
 the execution." Polonius advises his son to 
 
 " Beware 
 
 Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, 
 Bear 't, that th' oppo&er may beware of thee." 
 
 END OF VOL. I.
 
 ERRATA, VOL. I, 
 
 Page 21. 1. 16. for Crabones, read Crabroncs. 
 
 73. 1. for and so long a, read and so a long. 
 
 99. 2. for Invenxione, read Invenzione. 
 
 123. 10. for capillo, vead lapillo, 
 
 1 1. for candido, read candidus. 
 
 137. 1. for steftb, read stesso. 
 
 145. 14, for has, read have. 
 
 148. 2. dele of. 
 
 200. 25. /or bate, read bait, 
 
 201. 4. for bated, read baited. 
 225. 24. for happn, read happen- 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed by C. Ro worth, Bell-yard, Temple-bar.
 
 PROVERBS, 
 
 CHIEFLY TAKEN FROM THE 
 
 ADAGIA OF ERASMUS, 
 
 WITH EXPLANATIONS; 
 
 AND FURTHER ILLUSTRATED BY CORRESPONDING 
 EXAMPLES FROM THE 
 
 SPANISH, ITALIAN, FRENCH & ENGLISH 
 LANGUAGES. 
 
 BY ROBERT BLAND, M.D. F.S.A. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR T. EGERTON, MILITARY LIBRARY, 
 WHITEHALL. 
 
 1814.
 
 London: Printed liv f. Rowoith, 
 Be 11-yard, Temple-bar.
 
 PROVERBS, 
 
 VOLUME THE SECOND, 
 
 Mendacem memorem, esse oportet. 
 
 IL faut qu'un menteur ait bonne memoire," 
 a liar ought to have a good memory. When 
 a transaction is related exactly as it occurred, 
 there is no probability that the relater should 
 at any time vary in his account. The circum- 
 stance must for ever dwell in his mind, in the 
 very manner he described it. But if a fictitious 
 story is told, he must have a good memory to 
 be able at all times to tell it in the same man- 
 ner. The liar therefore has little chance that 
 his fiction shall remain long undiscovered, for 
 should no other circumstance lead to the de- 
 tection of it, he will, by not adhering always 
 to the same story, betray the imposition he has 
 practised ; and it is well that it is so, as there 
 is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame, 
 as to be detected in telling a lie. " Clear and 
 
 VOL. ii. r, round
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 round dealing," Lord Verulam says, " is the 
 honour of man's nature, while a mixture of 
 falsehood, is like allay in coin of gold or silver, 
 which may make the metal work better, hut it 
 embaseth it." Montaigne says, very happily, 
 " To accuse a man of lying, is as much as to 
 say, he is a brave towards God, and a coward 
 towards man." 
 
 Qui bene conjiciet, hunc Vatem perhibeto 
 optimum. 
 
 Let him who conjectures best, who from 
 circumstances draws the most rational con- 
 clusions, be esteemed your best counsellor or 
 adviser, or more literally, let him be your 
 soothsayer or prophet. 
 
 " He that conjectures least amiss, 
 Of all the best of prophets is." 
 
 Do not, like the Africans, and other illiterate 
 and uncultivated people, consult astrologers, 
 or diviners, with the view of learning your 
 future destiny, which cannot with any cer- 
 tainty be foretold. It is true, as is said of 
 persons having the second sight in Scotland, 
 
 there
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 there is sometimes- a very near, or perhaps, an 
 exact coincidence between the prediction and 
 the event, "Quisest enim, qui totum diem 
 jaculans, non aliquando conlineat?" for, who 
 shoots often, will at some time hit the mark. 
 But on inquiry, it would be found, that they 
 fail fifty times for once that they are right. 
 But jugglers, or fortune-tellers, as they are call- 
 ed, are in no small degree of estimation in this 
 country, and among persons who should be 
 ashamed of giving encouragement to such 
 wretched impostures. Erasmus complains, that 
 they were not less in vogue in his time, and 
 that they were resorted to by personages of 
 the highest rank. " Si fuera adevino, no mu- 
 riera mesquino," if I were a conjuror, I should 
 not die a beggar, the Spaniards say, which 
 shews they do not want encouragement in 
 that country also. Of the Spaniards, it has 
 been said, that they are less wise, as the French 
 are found to be more wise, more politic, at the 
 least, than from their respective habits and 
 manners, might be expected. 
 
 B 2 Pannus
 
 ( 8 ) 
 
 Pannus lacer. 
 
 A tattered garment, which, if a man has the 
 misfortune to be obliged to appear in, it being 
 what is first seen and noticed, he is usually 
 rejected, without trying whether, under that 
 sordid and wretched outside, there may not 
 lie talents, which might make him a valuable 
 associate. 
 
 " Want is the scorn of every wealthy fool, 
 And wit in rags is turn'd to ridicule." 
 
 But this might be borne, and it might perhaps 
 be in some measure compensated, if the con- 
 tempt in which persons so accoutred are held, 
 should incite in such as have abilities, so much 
 industry and frugality, as might guarantee 
 them from falling into a state of indigence, 
 which is not so impracticable, as it is often 
 supposed to be. But when men become in- 
 digent through misfortune, their distress is 
 more than doubled, when they find that those 
 who in their prosperity courted, now turn their 
 backs upon them, and this, it is to be feared, 
 is no uncommon case. 
 
 " poverty, 
 
 When no ill else will do 't, makes all friends fly." 
 
 An-
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 Anciently, when any thing was rejected, and 
 put away with contempt, it was said to be 
 thrown away like a worn out and tattered 
 garment. " Did you observe, how he turned 
 up his nose at it?" is our more common phrase, 
 when any thing is refused with disdain. 
 
 Chius Dominum emit 
 
 
 
 The Chians purchased for themselves mas- 
 ters. When their country was conquered by 
 Mithridates, they were delivered, bound with 
 chains, to their slaves,/ whom they had pur- 
 chased, to be by them transported to Colchis. 
 The adage was used when any one by mis- 
 management had brought upon himself any 
 severe calamity. 
 
 Multce Manus Onus levius reddunt. 
 
 "Many hands make light work." This is 
 too obvious to need being explained. Of the 
 same kind are, " Two heads are better than, 
 one, or why do folks marry?" and "in a mul- 
 titude of counsellors, there is safety." But the 
 B 3 oppo-
 
 opposite to this is no less true, and we say, 
 " too many cooks spoil the broth," and " keep 
 no more cats than catch mice;"' we know also 
 that where too many men are employed in the 
 same business, instead of helping, they often- 
 times hinder each other. 
 
 Spem Pretio ernere. 
 
 Paying a high price for some future and in- 
 cidental advantage. " Parting with the sub- 
 stance for a shadow." The adage advises not 
 to part with what we actually possess, upon the 
 distant prospect of some doubtful or uncer- 
 tain profit ; " e meglio aver hoggi un uovo, 
 che dimana una gallina," better an egg to-day 
 than a hen to-morrow, or " a bird in the hand 
 is worth two in the bush." It would be worse 
 than madness in any one in possession of a 
 competence, or exercising successfully any 
 business or profession to hazard all in pursuit 
 of some new scheme, which however promis- 
 ing in appearance, might fail and_involve him 
 in ruin : and yet of this folly there are few 
 but are acquainted with some victims. This, 
 
 the
 
 ( 11 ) 
 
 the Spaniards say, is " yr por lana, y bolver 
 tresquilado," going for wool, and returning 
 home shorn. How many young men again, 
 spend whole years of their invaluable time, in 
 cultivating the friendship of some great man 
 in the hope of obtaining preferment, and are 
 only at length weaned from the pursuit, in 
 the course of which they have submitted to 
 all those insults and mortifications incident to 
 a state of dependence, by rinding other, per- 
 haps less obsequious clients, preferred to the 
 office which had been pointed out to them as 
 the reward of their servitude : awaked, at 
 length, from their dream of prosperity, they 
 find the loss of the expected office the smallest 
 part of their misery. They have not only neg- 
 lected to improve the little fortune they pos- 
 sessed, but have suffered it to slip completely 
 away, or have so reduced it as not to have a 
 sufficiency left for their subsistence ; in the 
 meantime they have contracted habits of idle- 
 ness, which render it impossible for them to 
 search out means of recovering what they have 
 lost : this is buying hope at a dreadfully high 
 price indeed ! The adage also alludes to a 
 B 4 custom,
 
 custom, common, we are told, among the an- 
 cients, and which has descended to the pre- 
 sent times, of purchasing the produce of an 
 orchard while the trees were only in blossom, 
 or of a field of corn as soon -as the seed was 
 committed to the ground, at stipulated prices. 
 This species of gaming was carried so far, 
 that it was not unusual to buy a draught of 
 fishes, or so many as should be taken at one 
 cast of a net; or all the game that should be 
 taken in one day's hunting : and laws, we are 
 told, were framed to regulate this kind of 
 traffic. 
 
 " Lord Bacon, being in York-house garden, 
 looking on fishers as they were throwing their 
 net, asked them what they would take for their 
 draught; they answered so much, his lordship 
 would offer them only so much ; they drew 
 up their net, and in it were only two or three 
 little fishes ; his lordship then told them, it 
 had been better for them to have taken his 
 offer ; they replied, they hoped to have had a 
 better draught; but, said his lordship, " hope 
 is a good breakfast, but a bad supper." Au- 
 brey's Manuscripts. 
 
 JEgrot?
 
 ( 13 > 
 
 JEgroto dum Anima est Spes est. 
 
 " While there is life, there is hope," and 
 " there is life in a muscle." We should not 
 give up our exertions too early ; what is dif- 
 ficult, is not therefore to be deemed impossi- 
 ble, as persons apparently at the point of death 
 are sometimes found to recover; and a turn not 
 unfrequently takes place in our affairs, and we 
 are rescued from difficulties that seemed at 
 one time hopeless and irremediable. 
 
 Tempus omnia revelai. 
 
 Time brings all things to light. Truth has 
 therefore been called the daughter of Time, or 
 as the Spaniards say, of God, " la verdad es 
 hija de Dios;" the wicked man hence knows 
 no peace, but lives in perpetual fear that time, 
 the great revealer of secrets, should tear off 
 the veil that hides his crimes and shew him in 
 his true colours. But time also overturns and 
 destroys every thing, and takes away even the 
 memory of them. Hence we have 
 
 Tempus
 
 ( 14 ) 
 
 Tempus edax Rerum. 
 
 Which cannot be better exemplified than 
 by the following lines : 
 
 " Time lays his hand 
 
 On pyramids of brass, and ruins quite 
 What all the fond artificers did think 
 Immortal workmanship. He sends his worms 
 To books, to old records, and they devour 
 Th' inscriptions ; he loves ingratitude, 
 For he destroys the memory of man." 
 
 Quo semel est iinbuta recens, servabit Odorem 
 Testa diu. 
 
 Vessels will for a long time preserve the scent 
 of the liquor first put into them, or with which 
 they were first impregnated. This observa- 
 tion is very happily introduced by Horace, to 
 shew the necessity of instilling early good 
 principles into the minds of young people ; 
 " maxima debetur pueris reverentia :" and 
 
 " Nil dictu foedum visuve hcec limina tangat 
 Intra quae puer est." 
 
 we should reverence youth ; that is, we should 
 
 take
 
 take care that nothing be said or done in 
 their presence offensive to good morals, that 
 we may not suffer the cruel reflection of hav- 
 ing led them into vice by our example. 
 
 " Sincerum est nisi vas, quodcunque infundis acescit." 
 
 For as, unless the vessel is kept clean and 
 untainted, whatever is put into it will be 
 spoiled : if the mind be corrupted when young, 
 it will afterwards reject the most salutary pre- 
 cepts. 
 
 Philip of Macedon thought a good educa- 
 tion of so much importance, that next to the 
 pleasure he experienced in having a son to 
 whom he might leave his empire, he esteemed 
 that of his being born at a time when he was 
 able to procure for him so excellent a precep- 
 tor as Aristotle; under whose tuition he placed 
 him as soon as he was of an age to receive 
 his instruction. " It would be well," Roger 
 Ascham says, " that we should adopt the man- 
 ners of the Persians, whose children to the 
 age of twenty-one years were brought up in 
 learning and exercises of labour, and that in 
 such places, where they should neither see 
 
 that
 
 ( IS ) 
 
 that was uncomely, nor hear that was unho- 
 nest." 
 
 Oculus dexter mlhi sulit. 
 
 " My right eye itches," I shall see whom I 
 have long wished for; and, 
 
 " Num vobis tinniebant aures, Parmeno?" 
 
 Did not your ears tingle ? for your mistress 
 was talking of you. We also say, " my face 
 flushes," some one is talking of me ; and " my 
 elbow itches," I shall be kissed by a fool. 
 Plautus has many similar phrases in his come- 
 dies ; whence we learn, that these supersti- 
 tious fancies have prevailed among the com- 
 mon people in all ages. 
 
 Sequitur Ver Hyemem. 
 
 The spring follows the winter, sunshine 
 succeeds to rain : " apres ce tems-ci il en 
 viendra un autre," after this season will come 
 another and a different one. This, and other si- 
 milar phrases have been used both by ancients 
 
 and
 
 ( 17 ) 
 
 and moderns, to encourage men to bear their 
 troubles with constancy, by the consolatory 
 reflection that they cannot last forever. For 
 though it be true, as the Spaniard notices, 
 " en cada sendero, ay su atolledera," that in 
 every road there are sloughs in some part of 
 it, when these are passed the rest of the way, 
 may be smooth and level. " It is a long lane," 
 we say, " that has no end," and " when things 
 are at the worst they will mend;" for " etiani 
 mala fortuna suas habet levitates," even ill- 
 fortune is changeable and will not last forever; 
 but prosperity is probably still more faithless 
 than adversity : when we have attained the 
 summit of our wishes, we may be doomed to 
 suffer an early reverse, and our fall will be 
 the more severe, the greater the eminence 
 from which we are precipitated. " Di gran 
 subida gran caicla," from a great height a 
 great fall, and " after sweet meat comes sour 
 sauce." 
 
 " The prosperous man to-day puts forth 
 
 The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms, 
 And bears his blushing honours thick upon him : 
 The third day comes a frost, a killing frost ; 
 And when he thinks, good easy man, full surely 
 
 His
 
 ( 18 ) 
 
 His greatness is a ripening, nips his root. 
 And then he falls as I do." 
 
 Woohey's Speech in King Henry VIII. 
 
 Tanguam Ungues Digitosque suos. 
 
 The subject is as familiar and as well known 
 to me, as are my fingers ; to be perfectly 
 conversant with a business, or to have it, as 
 we say, " at our fingers' ends." 
 
 Rem Acu tetigisti. 
 
 "You have hit the matter to a4iair," or 
 " the nail on the head," that is, you are per- 
 fectly right in your conjecture. 
 
 Dies adimit JEgritudinem. 
 
 Time cures the greatest afflictions. There is 
 no trouble, however pungent, which time has 
 not the power of softening or removing. It is 
 also esteemed to have no small influence in 
 
 curing diseases affecting the body. 
 
 " Medi-
 
 ( 19 ) 
 
 " Medicus dedit qui temporis morbo raoram, 
 
 Is plus remedii quam cutis sector dedit." 
 
 / 
 
 The physician who allows the disease to sub- 
 sicle gradually, is more successful than he who 
 has immediate recourse to rough and violent 
 remedies, which is not unlike the following, 
 " El tiempo cura el enfermo, que no el un- 
 guento," it is time, and not medicine that 
 cures the disease. The Spaniards do not ap- 
 pear to have had much reverence either for 
 medicines, or for the dispensers of them. " Si 
 tienes medico amigo, quitale la gorra, y em- 
 bialo a casa de tu enemigo," if you have a 
 physician for your friend, make your bow to 
 him, and send him to your enemy, as the surest 
 way to get rid of him. Time also brings things 
 to perfection. " Col tempo et la paglia si ma- 
 turano mespoli," time and straw make med- 
 lars ripe. 
 
 Quid nisi Victis Dolor. 
 
 What but misery to the conquered; and 
 " vae victis !" woe to the conquered ! was the 
 cruel taunt of Brennus to the Romans, com- 
 plaining
 
 ( 20 ) 
 
 plaining that he exacted more than they had 
 stipulated to pay, as a ransom for their city; 
 reproaching them, perhaps, that they had not 
 made so strenuous a defence as they ought to 
 have done, before they capitulated. It should 
 be sounded in the ears of the careless, the in- 
 dolent, arid the profligate, in short, of all who, 
 having nothing but their genius or their in- 
 dustry to depend upon for their support, pass 
 their time in sloth and inactivity; or who dis- 
 sipate the property left them by their parents, 
 in the foolish, or perhaps criminal indulgence 
 of their passions. What pleasure, or what 
 comforts, are to be purchased by poverty, 
 and what are they to expect, when they have 
 reduced themselves to a state of indigence, 
 but the neglect of those who would have been 
 their friends, or the cold consolation of pity ? 
 How little relief distress may expect from pity, 
 the following very just observations of Gold- 
 smith shew : "Pity and friendship are passions 
 incompatible with each other; and it is impos- 
 sible that both can reside in any breast, for 
 the smallest space of time, without impairing 
 each other. Friendship is made up of esteem 
 'w and
 
 ( 21 ) 
 
 and pleasure, but pity is composed of sorrow 
 and contempt. In fact, "he adds, "pity, though 
 it may often relieve, is but at best a short lived 
 passion, and seldom affords distress more than 
 a transitory assistance," which is consonant to 
 the following observation of Dryden, 
 
 "pity only with new objects stays, 
 
 But with the tedious sight of woe decays." 
 
 Vino vendibili suspensd Hedera nihil Opus. 
 
 " Good wine needs no bush." Good actions 
 are their own interpreters, they need no rhe- 
 toric to adorn them. The phrase derives its 
 origin from a custom among vintners, of 
 hanging out the representation of an ivy bush, 
 as an indication that they sell wine; a custom 
 common in Germany, in the time of Erasmus, 
 and probably much earlier. It is still continued 
 among us ; many of the principal inns in this 
 kingdom, both in town and country, being 
 known by the sign of the bush. While signs 
 were in fashion, Bacchus astride on his tun, 
 and ample bunches of grapes, with their hand- 
 some foliage, were also very general designa- 
 
 VOL. ir, c ttons
 
 tions of the good liquor that was to be had 
 within. The proverb is applicable to persons 
 too earnest in their commendation of any ar- 
 ticles they are desirous of selling. The Spa- 
 niards therefore say, *' El vino que es bueno, 
 no ha menestcr pregonero," the wine that is 
 good needs no trumpeter. 
 
 The ivy is said to be an antidote to the in- 
 toxicating power of wine, hence Bacchus is 
 always painted with a wreath of ivy on his 
 head, and it may be that it was on account of 
 this supposed property, that in old times a 
 bush of ivy was chosen, in preference to any 
 other, by the vintners. The proverb has been 
 pretty generally adopted. " Al buon vino," 
 the Italians say, " non bisogna frasca," and 
 the French, " Le bon vin n'a point besoin de 
 buchcron." Is this the origin of the vulgar 
 
 o o 
 
 term "Bosky," applied to persons who are 
 tipsy, or drunk, viz. he has been under the 
 bush? The Scotch, who are accustomed to fix 
 a bunch of hay against houses where ale is 
 sold, say, "Good ale needs no whisp." 
 
 Anus
 
 ( 23 ) 
 
 Anus Simla, serd quidem. 
 
 The old ape is taken at length. This was 
 said, when any one, who for a long time, by 
 craft and cunning, had succeeded in plunder- 
 ing his neighbours, was at last taken, and 
 condemned to suffer the punishment due to 
 his crimes. Our English proverb has it, "The; 
 old fox is caught at last." 
 
 Spartam nactus es hanc orna. 
 
 Endeavour to acquit yourself well in what- 
 ever station or condition of life your lot may 
 happen to be cast 
 
 " Honour and shame from no conditions rise, 
 Act well your part, there all the honour lies." 
 
 The adage is of general application. Princes, 
 nobles, bishops, lawyers, soldiers, and the 
 meanest individuals, have each of them their 
 distinct province; let them fill them worthily. 
 
 " Each might his several province well command, 
 Would all but stoop to what they understand." 
 
 " England expects that every man will do 
 his duty," was the animated speech of Lord 
 
 c 2 Nelson
 
 ( 24 ) 
 
 Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar, where that 
 hero unfortunately fell ; or not, perhaps, un- 
 fortunately for himself, as it was in the midst 
 of victory, and crowned with glory. Had he 
 died immediately after his unsuccessful at- 
 tempt on the coast of France, or on his expe- 
 dition to Denmark, he would have left his 
 fame somewhat diminished, which by his last 
 brilliant action was again mounted to the stars ; 
 for the victory at the Nile was not less bril- 
 liant than that off Trafalgar. Either of them 
 \vould have been sufficient to immortalise his 
 name. 
 
 Ac k guoi'is Ligno 1\ fer cur ius fiat. 
 
 A statue of Mercury may not be made from 
 every kind of wood. All dispositions and 
 capacities are not adapted to the higher walks 
 of literature. It is incumbent on parents to 
 educate their children, but they should give 
 them such instruction, as is suited to their 
 talents. Artificers are careful to make choice 
 of materials fit for the work they have in hand, 
 whether metal, stone, or wood ; using the 
 
 coarser
 
 coarser sort for rough and common articles, the, 
 finer for those that require to be more exqui- 
 sitely finished. " You cannot make," we say, 
 "a silken purse of a sow's ear," or " a horn of 
 a pig's tail," or " a good coat," the Spaniards 
 say, " of coarse or bad wool." " De ruyn paiio 
 nunca buen sayo." 
 
 Ne Gladium tollas Mulier. 
 Women should not attempt to wield a sword, 
 for which they are incompetent. Employ in 
 every business means adapted and adequate 
 to the purpose; also take care not to irritate 
 any one whom you are not able to stand 
 against, or oppose successfully. Brutus ob- 
 served, that Cicero should not have railed 
 against, and provoked Marc Anthony, who 
 was much more powerful than himself. In 
 the end, this imprudence cost Cicero his life. 
 What, however, shall we say of those heroines, 
 Judith in sacred, and Joan of Arc in modern 
 history, or of the Amazons, who wielded this 
 forbidden weapon with such advantage against 
 their enemies, in defiance of tlus adage? 
 
 c 3 .n-
 
 Exiguum Malum, ingens Eonum. 
 
 " III luck is good for something." From a 
 small evil, to extract a considerable advantage, 
 is the property of a sound and prudent mind. It 
 is next to profiting by the errors and mischances 
 of others, to take warning by some check we 
 may meet with in our progress, and thence to 
 alter our course. " El hombre mancebo perdi- 
 endo gana seso," a young man by losing, gains 
 knowledge. If persons, who are living more 
 expensively than their income permits, would 
 be wanted by the first difficulty or disgrace 
 they suffer, and would institute modes of liv- 
 ing more suitable to their circumstances, they 
 would soonrecoverwhat by their improvidence 
 they had wasted. But pride, a fear of shewing 
 to their companions they are not so wealthy as 
 they had boasted, or had appeared to be, pre- 
 vents their following this salutary counsel, 
 and they go on until their fall becomes in- 
 evitable. " Si quid feceris honestum cum la- 
 bore, labor abit, honestum manet Si quid 
 feceris turpe cum voluptate, voluptas abit, 
 turpitude manet," which may be thus ren- 
 dered :
 
 ( 27 ) 
 
 dered : if by labour and difficulty you have 
 procured to yourself an advantage, the benefit 
 will remain, when the labour with which it 
 was acquired will be forgotten. But if in pur- 
 suit of pleasure you have degraded yourself, 
 the disgrace will remain, while no traces of 
 the pleasure will be retained in your memory. 
 
 Ipse semet canit. 
 
 " Is your trumpeter dead, that you arc 
 obliged to praise yourself?" This may be con- 
 sidered as a caution against vain blasting. 
 Act so as to be deserving of commendation ; 
 and though you should not meet with all the 
 applause you may deserve, you will have the 
 testimony of your own mind, which will be 
 abundantly satisfactory. Hear, O ye Vene- 
 tians, and I will tell ye which is the best thin 2; 
 
 ' / O 
 
 in the world : " To contemn it." Sebastian 
 Foscarius, sometime Duke of Venice, ordered 
 this to be inscribed on his tomb. 
 
 Telpsiim non alens, Canes alls. 
 Not having sufficient for your own support, 
 c 4 do
 
 ( 28 ) 
 
 do you pretend to keep dogs ? This was used 
 to be applied to persons whose income, insuf- 
 ficient to supply them with necessaries, was 
 laid out in superfluities ; in keeping servants 
 and horses, or in an ostentatious use of gaudy 
 clothes, furniture, or other articles of luxury, 
 unbecoming th'eir circumstances. " Los que 
 cabras no tienen, y cabritos venden, de donde 
 lo vienen ?" those who, having no goats, yet 
 sell kids, whence do they get them ? is said by 
 the Spaniards, of persons who, having no es- 
 tates, qr known income, yet contrive to live at 
 a great expense. 
 
 Cantilenam eandem cams. 
 
 To be always singing the same tune, or tell- 
 ing the same stories, which, though at the first 
 they might be interesting and pleasant, at 
 length become, by repetition, tiresome and 
 disgusting. " Dieu nous garde d'un horn me 
 qui n'a qu'une affaire;" God keep us, the 
 French say, from a man who is only acquaint- 
 ed with one subject, on which he is capable of 
 conversing; he will introduce it on all occa- 
 sions,
 
 sions, though it have no affinity to the subject 
 which the company are discussing. "He will 
 lug it in by the neck and shoulders." 
 
 Ignavis semper Ferice sunt. 
 
 To the indolent every day is a holiday, or 
 clay of rest. Erasmus has taken occasion, in 
 the explication of this sentence, to shew the 
 mischiefs incurred by the increasing number 
 of festivals or holidays, enjoined by the church. 
 They were intended, he observes, as days of 
 necessary relaxation for the labouring poor, 
 but were too frequently passed by them in 
 the grossest debauchery. The abolishing the 
 greater part of these holidays, may be esteem- 
 ed, as not the smallest of the many advantages 
 produced to this country by the Reformation. 
 
 Ne Verb a pro Farina. 
 
 " Fair words butter no parsnips." Though 
 we may for a time be satisfied with kind 
 speeches, and fair promises, yet as we cannot 
 
 take
 
 ( 30 ) 
 
 take them to the market, or they will not pass 
 there, the satisfaction derived from them will 
 be but short-lived, and when we find them 
 totally unproductive, and that they were 
 merely unmeaning expletives, our resentment 
 will be in proportion to the dependence we 
 had placed on them, and to the time we have 
 lost in the vain expectation of some promised 
 benefit. 
 
 Timidi nunquam statuerunt Trophceum. 
 Timid persons and such as are not pos- 
 sessed of personal courage, must not expect to 
 be honoured with a triumph, which is only ac- 
 corded to those who have by their valour ob- 
 tained some signal victory. " Qui a peur de 
 feuilles ne doit aller au bois," " he that is 
 afraid of leaves, must not go into a wood/' 
 Persons of timid dispositions should not en- 
 gage in hazardous undertakings, or attempt 
 what can only be achieved by courage and 
 prowess ; " al hombre osado, la fortuna da la 
 mano," " fortune favours the bold," " faint 
 heart never won fair lady," and " none but 
 the brave deserve the fair !" 
 
 Aliorum
 
 ( 31 ) 
 Aliorum Medicus, ipse Ulcerlbus scales. 
 
 " Who boast of curing poor and rich, 
 Yet are themselves all over itch.'* 
 
 Physicians pretending to cure the diseases of 
 others, and are themselves loaded with com- 
 plaints, are the immediate objects of the cen- 
 sure contained in this adage ; but it may also 
 be applied to persons railing against vices to 
 which they are themselves addicted. Persons 
 whose office it is instruct the people in the 
 duties of morality and religion, should consi- 
 der how much their admonitions will lose of 
 their weight and efficacy if their conduct is 
 not in a great degree, at the least, consonant 
 to their doctrine; if they cannot entirely re- 
 frain from vice, they should be extremely 
 careful to conceal their deviations from the 
 precepts they mean to inculcate, lest their ex- 
 ample should be more powerful than their lec- 
 tures. 
 
 Ne Jfcsopum quidem trivit. 
 He has not been taught even the fables of
 
 , was used to be said of persons totally 
 illiterate ; whose education has been so neg- 
 lected, that they had not been initiated in the 
 rudiments of literature ; " he has not read his 
 horn-book or his primer," or "does not know 
 his alphabet," we say on similar occasions. 
 The horn-book, it is known, is a piece of 
 board six or seven inches long and four or 
 five broad, on which is pasted a strip of paper 
 containing the alphabet in capital and small 
 letters, covered with a plate of transparent 
 horn, to guard it from the fingers of the young 
 subjects, to whose use it is dedicated : this 
 description may seem superfluous at present, 
 but horn-books are now so little used, that, it 
 is probable, should the name of the contrivance 
 continue, the form and fashion of it will in a 
 short time be lost. To the same purport is 
 
 Neque nature, neque Literas. 
 
 He has neither been taught to read nor to 
 swim, two things which the Grecians and Ro- 
 mans were careful their children should be in- 
 structed in early ; and which it was held to 
 be disgraceful not to have learned, 
 
 Non
 
 ( S3 ) 
 
 Non est mihi cornea Fibra. 
 
 I am not made of horn, of brass, of iron, or 
 such like impenetrable stuff, as to be so totally 
 void of sense or proper feeling, that I should 
 hear unmoved a tale of so much distress ; or 
 so difficult of persuasion, that I should not 
 listen to so reasonable a request. 
 
 Non est Remedium adversus Sycophants 
 Morsum. 
 
 There is no remedy against the tongue of 
 the sycophant, who, by pretended concern for 
 your interest, worm themselves into your con- 
 fidence and get acquainted with your most 
 intimate concerns. When men who are in- 
 different to you affect a more than ordinary 
 regard for your interest, you should be cau- 
 tious how you converse with them ; 
 " Halaga la cola el can 
 
 Non por ti, sino por el pan," 
 
 the dog wags his tail not for you but for 
 your bread. It might be well if the sycophant 
 were content with pillaging, but more usu- 
 ally they flatter only to betray you ; such men 
 
 are
 
 are said, " halagar con la cola, y morder con 
 la boca," to bite while they fawn upon you 
 and, if they are as crafty as they are malevo- 
 lent, you will not discover the villany of their 
 dispositions until they have done you some 
 irremediable mischief; until they have alie- 
 nated the minds of your friends, or raised such 
 dissensions in your family as nothing but 
 death will extinguish. When lago saw that 
 he had succeeded in exciting in Othello a sus- 
 picion of the incontinence of Desdemona, he 
 says, exulting in the success of his villany, 
 
 " Not poppy, nor mandragore, 
 
 Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world, 
 Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep 
 Which thou ow'dst yesterday." 
 
 The ancients supposed that there were ma- 
 gic rings which had the power of defending 
 those who wore them from certain diseases, 
 inflicted, as they imagined, by inchantment 
 or witchcraft, but even these were insufficient 
 to protect them from the tongue of the slan- 
 derer. 
 
 Dentem
 
 Dent em Dente rodere. 
 
 It is one tooth biting another, was used to 
 be said to any one attempting to hurt what 
 was out of his reach, and could not be af- 
 fected by him : or affronting one who could 
 return the insult with interest; or having a 
 contest with persons capable of doing him 
 more mischief than he could do them. It has 
 the same sense as, " verberare lapidem," beat- 
 ing a stone; " do not shew your teeth," we 
 say, "when you cannot bite." The adage 
 probably took its rise from the fable of the 
 serpent gnawing a file, which it met with in a 
 smith's shop, by which it made its own gums 
 bleed but without hurting the file. 
 
 Frustra Herculi. 
 
 That is, should any one call Hercules a 
 coward, who would listen to him ? .The- adage 
 was applied to anyone speaking ill of persons of 
 known and approved integrity and character. 
 When Cato, whose worth had been often tried, 
 
 was
 
 ( 36 ) 
 
 was accused of avarice ; this, Plutarch said, 
 was as if any one should reproach Hercules 
 with want of courage. 
 
 Ne in Neroum erumpat. 
 
 The string may break; this was said to per- 
 sons who, emboldened by success, were per- 
 petually engaging in new exploits : such per- 
 sons were advised by this apothegm to desist, 
 they had done enough to shew their skill or 
 courage ; a reverse might happen, or by one 
 wrong step they might lose all the honour or 
 emolument they had gained. " The pitcher 
 that goes often to the well returns broken at 
 last." 
 
 The adage takes its rise from bowmen who, 
 by overstraining the string, at length occa- 
 sion it to break, not without danger to them- 
 selves. 
 
 Pluris est oculatus Testis unus, quam auriti 
 decent. 
 
 Better one eye-witness than ten who only 
 
 know
 
 ( 37 ) 
 
 know a thing from hearsay ; or, what we see 
 with our own eyes, is rather to be believed 
 than what we learn only from report, for " ver y 
 creer," " seeing is believing," and " ojos que 
 no ven, coracon que no llora," " what the eye 
 doth not see, the heart doth not rue." 
 
 In caducum Parietem indinare. 
 
 Leaning on a broken staff, which cannot 
 support you, or " on a bruised reed which 
 will pierce your hand and wound you ;" lite- 
 rally upon a weak and tottering wall; meta- 
 phorically, trusting to a false friend who will 
 betray you, or to one who is incapable of per- 
 forming what he promises, or of furnishing the 
 assistance which he undertook to afford you. 
 
 Qui jacet in Terra, non hahet undc cadat. 
 
 He who is at the bottom can fall no lower. 
 When plunged into the gulph of poverty and 
 misery all fear of further distress is over, no 
 change can take place but it must be for the 
 better; and so unsettled are all sublunary 
 
 VOL. LI. D thins
 
 things that a change may always be expected, 
 or time and use will make the greatest trouble 
 tolerable. Hope and patience are two sove- 
 reign remedies, affording the softest cushion 
 to lean on in adversity. " Grata superveniet 
 quae non sperabitur hora," a day of relief 
 beyond expectation may come, and turn a 
 lowering morning to a fair afternoon ; or at the 
 worst, death will at length put an end to our 
 misery, and when a traveller arrives at the end 
 of his journey, he soon forgets the hardships 
 and difficulties he met with on the road. It 
 was an observation of Seneca, that " bona 
 re rum secundarum sunt optabilia, adversarum 
 mirabilia," the good things which belong to 
 prosperity, are to be wished ; but the good 
 things that belong to adversity are to be ad- 
 mired. Queen Catherine, who was repudiated 
 by Henry the Eighth, used to say, that " she 
 would not willingly endure the extremity of 
 either fortune ; but if it were so that of ne- 
 cessity she must undergo the one, she would 
 be in adversity, because comfort was never 
 wanting in that state, but still counsel and 
 self-government were defective in the other." 
 
 "If
 
 ( 39 ) 
 
 " If you have acquired," Plutarch says, " a 
 command over your passions, and are become 
 wise and virtuous, you will be pleased with 
 wealth, for enabling you to be useful to many; 
 with poverty, for not having much to care 
 for; with fame, for procuring you honour; 
 and with obscurity, for keeping you from be- 
 ing envied." 
 
 Verecundia inutilis Viro egenti. 
 
 Bashfulness is of no use to a man in want. 
 The adage teaches that persons liberally edu- 
 cated but in mean circumstances, should not 
 refuse to undertake offices, though beneath 
 them, which might be executed without of- 
 fending against any moral or religious duty. 
 This many do, not from their objection to 
 the labour, but from being ashamed to appear 
 to their friends, or to the world in a degraded 
 situation ; they can contemn pleasure, and 
 bear pain or grief with firmness, but reproach 
 and obloquy breaks and overwhelms them. 
 It is the disgrace more than the confinement 
 that makes a prison hateful. When Johnson 
 D 2 found
 
 ( 40 ) 
 
 found a pair of shoes placed at his door by 
 one of his fellow students, actuated by false 
 shame or by pride, he threw them, with great 
 indignation, out of the window ; though his 
 own were so much worn as not to keep his feet 
 from the stones. But bashfulness or false 
 modesty is more than useless also, when it 
 deters men from laying open their circum- 
 stances to their friends, who both might and 
 would, by their advice or otherwise, relieve 
 them, until, by delay, they are become so in- 
 volved that nothing can prevent their fall : or 
 when it leads them to conceal their bodily com- 
 plaints, which not unfrequently happens, from 
 the physician or surgeon, until they no longer 
 admit of being cured. 
 
 Sustine ct abstine. 
 
 Bear and forbear, a phrase frequently used 
 by Kpictetus, as embracing almost the whole 
 that philosophy or human reason can teach us- 
 Of this Epictetus was a memorable example, 
 no man bearing the evils of life with more 
 constancy or less coveting its enjoyments. 
 
 His
 
 ( 41 ) 
 
 His master Epaphroclitus, for he was a slave 
 in the early part of his life, diverting himself 
 with striking his leg with a large stick, he 
 told him, that if he continued to give such 
 heavy strokes he would hreak the hone; 
 which happening as he had foretold, all that 
 he said on the occasion was, u did not I tell 
 you, you would break my leg." When after- 
 wards he had obtained his liberty and was 
 much followed as a teacher of philosophy, he 
 still lived in the plainest and simplest man- 
 ner ; his house or cottage had no door, and 
 the little furniture it contained was of the 
 meanest kind. When an iron lamp by which 
 he used to study, was stolen, he said, " I shall 
 deceive the thief if he should come again, as 
 he will only find an earthen one." This 
 earthen lamp, Lucian tells us, was sold for 
 three thousand drachmas or groats, 75 
 of our money. He is said to have lived to 
 his ninety-sixth year. The Mexicans, with- 
 out being beholden to the tenets of philoso- 
 phy, have learnt from experience the neces- 
 sity of undergoing trouble ; they say to their 
 children on being born, " thou art come into 
 D 3 the
 
 ( 42 ) 
 
 the world, child, to endure ; suffer, therefore, 
 and be silent. 
 
 Naturam expellas Furca tamen usque 
 recurret. 
 
 Which may be aptly enough rendered by 
 our English proverb, " what is bred in the 
 bone, will never get out of the flesh." " Lu- 
 pus pilum mutat, non mentem," it is easier 
 for the wolf to change his coat than his dispo- 
 sition : habits are with difficulty changed, and 
 with greater difficulty if of such long conti- 
 nuance as to become a second nature. As 
 the bough of a tree drawn from its natural 
 course, recoils and returns to its old position as 
 soon as the force by which it had been restrained 
 is removed ; so do we return to old habits as 
 soon as the motives, whether interest or fear, 
 which had induced us to quit them, are done 
 away : the cat that had been transformed into 
 a fine lady, on seeing a mouse, forgetting the 
 decorum required by her new form, sprung 
 from the table where she was sitting to seize 
 on her prey. " Vizio di natura dura fino alia 
 
 sepol-
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 sepoltura," the vice that is born with us or is 
 become natural to us, accompanies us to the 
 grave. A rich miser being at the point of death, 
 his confessor placed before him a large ^silver 
 crucifix, and was about to begin an exhorta- 
 tion, when the usurer, fixing his eyes on the 
 crucifix, said, " I cannot., sir, lend you much 
 upon this." 
 
 See the camel is dancing, may be said, 
 when we see a very austere person laughing, 
 or any one doing what is contrary to his usual 
 habit or disposition. 
 
 Optimum Condimentum Fames. 
 
 " Appetite non vuol salza," " hunger is the 
 best sauce." This apothegm was frequently 
 in the mouth of Socrates deriding his volup- 
 tuous countrymen, whose tables were fur- 
 nished with every species of luxury, and who 
 used a variety of provocatives to stir up an 
 appetite, which might be so much better ex- 
 cited, he told them, at so easy a rate. 
 
 D 4 Oestro
 
 (44 ) 
 
 Oestro percitus. 
 
 This was said of persons who were seized 
 with a sudden commotion or disturbance ot the 
 mind, as poets by the inspiration of the Muses, 
 from some resemblance in their conduct, 
 as it was supposed, to cattle that had been 
 bitten by the oestrum or gad-fly. It is known 
 that cattle have such extreme horror of this 
 insect, that on only hearing the noise it makes 
 when flying, they run about the fields as if 
 they were mad. The adage was also used 
 when any one was seen to apply himself in- 
 tensely to any kind of business, or study. 
 " But what fly," Friar John says, " has struck 
 Panurge, that he is of late become so hard a 
 student ? " " What maggot," we say, " has he 
 got in his head." 
 
 Tanquam Argivum Clypeum abstulerit, it a 
 gloriatur. 
 
 He is as proud of the transaction, as if he 
 had despoiled a Grecian warrior of his shield. 
 The Greeks and Romans defended their shields 
 
 with
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 with the greatest pertinacity, it being held in 
 the highest degree dishonourable to suffer 
 them to be taken from them. The adage was 
 used to be applied to persons boasting of some 
 insignificant exploit, and magnifying it, as if 
 they had saved a friend, or their country from 
 destruction. 
 
 Frustra habet, qui non utitur. 
 
 It is in vain that he possesses that of which 
 he makes no use. Of what use are horses or 
 carriages to persons who never go abroad, of 
 wit or knowledge to those who do not employ 
 them in the management of their affairs, or of 
 money to the avaricious, who are averse to, or 
 afraid of spending it, even for necessary sus- 
 tenance. 
 
 E tardigradis Asinis Equus non prodiit. 
 
 The horse is not the progeny of the slow 
 paced ass, the sheep of the lion. We do not 
 easily believe a dull and stupid man to be the 
 son of an acute, sensible and ingenious parent; 
 
 a coward,
 
 ( 46 ) 
 
 a coward, of a brave and spirited, or a de- 
 bauched and worthless man, to be the progeny 
 of a good and worthy sire; and yet these ano- 
 malies not ^infrequently occur. 
 
 Fames et Mora Eilem in Nasum conchint. 
 
 Hunger, if not speedily satisfied, or any un- 
 seasonable delay in obtaining what we ear- 
 nestly desire, excites the bile in the nostrils. 
 To raise or heat the bile, is used metaphorically 
 for inflaming the passions; and as some men, 
 and many animals, are observed to inflate or 
 blow out their nostrils when angry, it is said 
 to excite the bile in that organ. The bull, 
 when enraged, is described as breathing fire 
 from his nostrils, and of the horse it is said, 
 "the glory of his nostrils is terrible." The 
 impatience with which we support delay in 
 gratifying our expectation is beautifully paint- 
 ed by Solomon in the following : " Hope de- 
 ferred, maketh the heart sick, but when it is 
 accomplished, it is a tree of life." 
 
 Tuum
 
 ( 47 ) 
 
 Tuum tlbi narro Somnium, 
 
 May be said to any one pretending an inti- 
 mate acquaintance with the private concerns 
 of another; and I will tell you the subject of 
 your last night's dream. 
 
 Qui Nucleum esse vult, Nucem frangat oportet. 
 
 " Qui veut manger de noyau, qu'il casse la 
 noix," he that would eat the kernel, must 
 break the shell; and, "He that will not work, 
 must not expect to eat." " No hay dulzura, 
 sin sudor," no sweet, without sweat. " No hay 
 ganancia, sin fatiga," no gains, without pains; 
 and " El que trabaja y madra, hila oro," he 
 who labours and strives, spins gold. This 
 rule is applicable to persons in every station, 
 the labour only varies in kind, but all must 
 perform a part. Providence has ordained that 
 every thing necessary to our subsistence, as 
 well as those which custom or habit have made 
 so to our comfort, as apparel, furniture, houses, 
 should only be obtained by labour and exer- 
 tion. To this law the wealthy, and those born 
 
 to
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 to high rank and distinction, are equally sub- 
 jected with the poor. As the earth will not 
 produce such a portion of food as is necessary 
 for the support of its numerous inhabitants, 
 unless it be cultivated, the labour of perform- 
 ing which, is usually the lot of the poor; so 
 neither can men be rendered fit to manage 
 large possessions, or fill high stations, unless 
 their minds be well stored with knowledge, 
 which is not to be acquired without equal care 
 and diligence. 
 
 " The chiefest action for a man of spirit, 
 
 Is never to be out of action ; \ve should think 
 The soul was never put into the body, 
 AVhich has so many rare and curious pieces 
 Of mathematical morion, to stand still. 
 Virtue is ever sowing of her seeds, 
 In the trenches for the soldier ; in wakeful study 
 For the scholar; in the furrows of the sea 
 For men of that profession ; of all which 
 Arises, and springs up honour." 
 
 Juxta Fluviitm Puteumfodit. 
 
 It is digging a well in the neighbourhood 
 f a river, may be said to persons doing any 
 
 thing
 
 ( 49 ) 
 
 thing perfectly preposterous, and useless, as 
 giving money, books, or any other articles, to 
 persons who have of them already, more than 
 they have opportunity or inclination to use. 
 
 Beneficium accipere est Libertatem vendere. 
 
 He that accepts a favour, forfeits his liberty. 
 By receiving obligations, particularly if from 
 persons of bad morals, you are precluded the 
 liberty of censuring vices so freely as you 
 might be disposed, or as the subject you are 
 treating might require, especially those vices 
 of which you know. them to be guilty; and in 
 public dissensions, you are restrained from 
 maintaining your own opinion, unless it ac- 
 cords with that of your patron. Erasmus, 
 who manifestly held the same opinions on 
 many points of religion, as were taught by 
 Luther and his followers, was yet restrained 
 from openly espousing them, as he received 
 nearly the whole of his income, from persons 
 of the Romish persuasion. " Fille qui prend," 
 the French sa}', "son corps vend." The maid 
 who takes presents, has deprived herself of the 
 
 power
 
 ( 50 ) 
 
 power of saying "no," or must permit liberties 
 to be taken with her, which she would other- 
 wise resist. " Springes to catch woodcocks," 
 says the sententious Polonius, cautioning his 
 daughter against giving credit to Hamlet's 
 promises and presents. 
 
 Furari Litorts Arenas. 
 
 It is stealing sand from the sea shore, may be 
 said to persons taking home with them, and 
 prizing things of no value, and which are 
 neglected and daily trodden under our feet. 
 
 Pulverem Oculis ejfundere. 
 
 " Jetter de la poudre aux yeux de quelqu' 
 un," throwing dust into the eyes of any one, 
 that he may not see what is going on before 
 him. The adage is applicable to any one at- 
 tempting to make a business, in itself obvious, 
 obscure and difficult. A useful stratagem in 
 war, where it can be effected, is to put an 
 army into such a position, that in marching 
 up to the enemy, the dust may be driven to 
 
 their
 
 their faces, and from this, the adage is sup- 
 posed to have taken its origin. Giving a bribe 
 with the view of obtaining an unjust decision 
 in any business, is also called throwing dust 
 into the eyes of the party. 
 
 Oderint modo metuant. 
 
 Let them hate me, so they do but fear me. 
 But he of whom many are afraid, ought to be 
 afraid of many, as was exemplified in the case 
 of the Emperor Tiberius, who had this saying 
 frequent in his mouth. He lived to be univer- 
 sally feared and execrated, and knowing what 
 a host of enemies he had created by his cruel- 
 ties and lust, he found it necessary to go into 
 a sort of banishment, in the island of Caprea, 
 where he drew out a miserable existence, 
 alarmed at every noise, and fancying he saw 
 a dagger in the hand of every one who ap- 
 proached him. The adage was also used to be 
 applied to persons, whose sole pleasure or satis- 
 faction centered in their wealth. Call me what 
 you will, such men would say, I please myself 
 with the knowledge that I am rich. 
 
 " Populus
 
 -" Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo 
 
 Ipse domi, simulac nummos contemplor in area." 
 
 Caput Artis esf, decere quod facias. 
 
 It is the perfection of art or of management 
 that every one should conform himself to his 
 circumstances and situation in life, that the 
 rich and <n-eat should not descend to the 
 
 O 
 
 manners of the poor, nor the poor emulate 
 those of the rich ; that the aged should not 
 mix in the sports and amusements of the 
 young, nor the young imitate the gravity of 
 those advanced in years. 
 
 Odit Cane pejus et Angue. 
 
 Hated worse than a mad dog, or a venemous 
 serpent. The man who is entirely engrossed 
 by a passion for accumulating riches, or ho- 
 nours, is a dupe to parasites, or to a mistress, 
 who will ruin him, and yet he will not suffer a 
 word to be said against the object of his pur- 
 suit, but would hate worse than a mad dog:, 
 
 ' O 
 
 or a poisonous serpent, whoever should attempt 
 to wean him from her. 
 
 Onmia
 
 ( 53 ) 
 
 Omnia bonos Viros decent. 
 
 All things are becoming in good men. If a 
 man has acquired a character for uprightness 
 and justice, a favourable construction is put 
 upon every thing he says or does, On the 
 contrary, the best actions of bad men are 
 suspected ; as they are never imagined to pro- 
 ceed from the heart, some deep and villanous 
 design is supposed to be couched under them. 
 " A liar is not to be believed, even when he 
 speaks the truth*" 
 
 In Acre piscari, In Mare venari. 
 
 It is fishing in the air, or hunting in the 
 sea, may be said to persons attempting things 
 perfectly incompatible; as if those should ex- 
 pect to enjoy a perfectly retired and quiet life, 
 who are engaged in any public offices or busi- 
 ness; or happiness, while eagerly employed in 
 the pursuit of sensual pleasure; or content- 
 ment, while anxiously intent on increasing 
 their wealth which will be much more likely 
 to add to their cares than to their comfort. 
 
 VOL, II.
 
 C 54 ) 
 
 Negkctis urenda Filiv innasdiur Agris. 
 
 As fern and other hurtful weeds spring up 
 in ground that is not tilled, so do ill humours 
 abound in the bodies of the idle, and evil 
 thoughts take possession of their minds. Hence 
 we truly say, " L'ozio il padre di tutti i vizi," 
 idleness is the root of all evil, "L'oisivete nous 
 mene a la mendicite," and leads to beggary. 
 Idle persons are necessarily restless and un- 
 happy. " They are never pleased, never well 
 in body or in mind, but weary still, sickly still, 
 vexed still, loathing still ; weeping, sighing, 
 grieving, suspecting, offended with the world, 
 -and with every object; and this is the reason," 
 Burton says, "that so many wealthy and great 
 personages, become melancholy." 
 
 Reperit Deus Nocentem. 
 
 God has visited him for his sins. " It has 
 come home to him at last." The security he 
 so long enjoyed, proved a snare to him, and 
 led him to the commission of still greater 
 crimes, hoping for the same impunity; but 
 
 the
 
 ( 55 ) 
 
 the merited punishment has at length over- 
 taken him. It intimates, that no offence, 
 though committed ever so privately, can es- 
 cape the knowledge of the Deity, or ultimately 
 his just vengeance. 
 
 Dem u Ice re Caput. 
 
 Patting and stroking the head, as we do of 
 dogs, and other animals, to put them in good 
 humour with us. Flattering with soft speeches. 
 " Praetermitto," St. Jerome says to his cor- 
 respondent, "salutationis officia, quibus meum 
 demulces caput," not to mention the kind 
 speeches and friendly reception I met with, 
 doubtless with the view of bribing my judg- 
 ment, and inducing me to favour your pro- 
 posal. 
 
 Catulce, Domlnas imitantes. 
 
 See the young whelps looking big, and at- 
 tempting to imitate their elders, was used to 
 be said of servants affecting the state and 
 grandeur of their masters. This is more par- 
 E 2 ticularly 
 
 <
 
 ticularly seen in the conduct of the clerks in* 
 public offices, who often expect to be addressed 
 with more ceremony, and to have more atten- 
 tion paid to them than is required by their 
 superiors. " The insolence of office " is re- 
 corded by Shakespeare, as constituting no small 
 part of the miseries of this life. 
 
 Lingua bellare. 
 
 To war with the tongue, to spend the whole 
 of one's rage in coarse and rude language, in 
 threats which we havie neither the power, nor 
 inclination, perhaps, to carry into execution, 
 is the resort of weak and cowardly persons. 
 Much of this wordy war is practised at the 
 bar, particularly by those defending a bad 
 cause. " Qui aspidis venenum in lingua cir- 
 cumferunt," the poison of asps is under their 
 lips. Wounds made with the tongue are often 
 more hurtful than those made with the sword. 
 " La lengua del inal amigo, mas corta que el 
 cuchillo," the tongue of a false friend is sharper 
 than a knife, cuts deeper. " La lengua no ha 
 osso, e osso fa rompere," the tongue breaks 
 
 bones,
 
 bones, though itself has none. " Mors et vita 
 in manibus linguae," it is often the arbiter of 
 life and death. An intemperate tongue is not 
 only injurious to others, but to its possessor, 
 it is therefore said, " Vincula da lingure vel tibi 
 vincula dabit," restrain your tongue, or it will 
 bring you into restraint. Hence there is no 
 precept more frequently or more strongly in- 
 culcated, than to set a guard over that mis- 
 chievous member. " He that keepeth his 
 mouth, keepeth his life, but he that openeth 
 wide his lips, shall have destruction," and 
 " the tongue of the wise is health." " En 
 boca cerrada no entra moscha," flies do not 
 enter into the mouth that is shut, or, no mis- 
 chief can ensue from being silent; and "an 
 ounce of honey will catch more flies than a 
 gallon of vinegar." William Paulet, Marquis 
 of Winchester, who filled high offices in th 
 state, during the reigns of Henry the Eighth, 
 Edward the Sixth, and the Queens Mary and 
 Elizabeth, being asked by what means he had 
 preserved himself through so many changes, 
 said, " by being a willow, and not an oak." 
 
 f.3 Re-
 
 ( 58 ) 
 
 Refutantis Laudem immodicam. 
 
 Checking immoderate commendation, or 
 praise. " Nullum ego sum nuinen, quid me 
 immortalibus eequas?" I am a mere human 
 being, with all the follies and failings incident 
 to them, why do ye then raise me to the rank 
 of the gods, may be said by any one, finding 
 himself treated with too much homage and 
 adulation. 
 
 Orel habet Galeam. 
 
 He has the helmet of Pluto, was used to be 
 said of persons, who by base and insidious 
 arts, incited others to acts of villany, without 
 themselves appearing to be concerned in them. 
 Those who wore the helmet of Pluto were said 
 to be invisible, but to see every thing about 
 them ; whence the adage. The ring of Gyges 
 was fabled to have a similar power of making 
 those who wore it invisible. Probably nothing 
 more is meant by these stories, than that rich 
 men have great privileges, few persons being 
 bold enough to scrutinize into their actions, 
 
 or
 
 ( 59 ) 
 
 or to censure their errors. " Las necedades 
 del rico, por sentencias passan en el mundo," 
 even the foolish sayings of the rich are es- 
 teemed as oracles. 
 
 Apil opus est. 
 
 There is need of parsley here, was used to be 
 said when any one was affected with a dis- 
 ease, for which there was no known remedy, 
 and which would soon extinguish his life; al- 
 luding to the custom of scattering parsley over 
 their graves, which was the ancient custom 
 among the Grecians. They were also used to 
 crown those who were conquerors in the Isth- 
 mian games, with this herb. 
 
 Prtestat habere acerbos inimicos, guam eos 
 Amlcos qui dulces videantur. 
 
 Better an open enemy, than a false and de- 
 ceitful friend, or than a friend who is too soft 
 and easy, and too readily assents to whatever 
 you propose, was frequently in the mouth of 
 Cato. An enemy, by being a spy upon our 
 actions, and by severely censuring our slightest 
 
 E 4 errors,
 
 ( 60 ) 
 
 errors, may make us cautious, and even lead 
 us to reform any follies or vices we may have 
 accustomed ourselves to, or indulged ourselves 
 in. Philip of Macedon said the Athenian ora- 
 tors, who were incessant in their endeavours 
 to excite the Grecians against him, had by 
 the severity of their censures, conferred on 
 him a lasting obligation, for they had taught 
 him to look into and regulate his conduct in 
 such a manner, as would conduce materially 
 to the success of his enterprizes. 
 
 Sub Cultro liqult. 
 
 He is under the knife, in great danger or 
 extremity. Our phrase,, "he is under the 
 hatchet," is of similar import. The adage 
 was applied when any one who had fallen into 
 an ambush, into the sea, or into any other 
 peril, was left to wade through, or extricate 
 himself by his own strength or ingenuity. 
 The metaphor is taken from a victim standing 
 at the altar, ready to be sacrificed. 
 
 " fugit improbus et me sub cultro liquit," 
 
 Instead
 
 ( 61 ) 
 
 Instead of assisting, he fled, and left me to 
 struggle through my difficulties unaided. Oc- 
 casions offer too frequently of applying this 
 apothegm. 
 
 Date mihi Pelvim. 
 
 Bring me a bason, was used to be said, when 
 any one had so completely worn out the pa- 
 tience of his auditors, by the tediousness, 
 absurdity, or wickedness of his discourse, that 
 it could no longer be borne, and was meant 
 to express the utmost contempt for the relater. 
 " It made my gorge rise," or " I could have 
 spit in the fellow's face." 
 
 Quod alibi diminutum, exequatur alibi. 
 
 Though deficient in one quality, yet abun- 
 dantly endowed with others, equally valuable 
 and productive. He is indeed blind, but has 
 an exquisite ear to music. He is neither 
 strong, nor swift of foot, but is a good pen- 
 man and accountant. Of kin to it are, 
 
 " Non omnes possumus omnia," and 
 " Non omnis fert omnia tellus," 
 
 No
 
 ( 6* ) 
 
 No man should be expected to be intimately 
 acquainted with every art or science, nor any 
 land to produce every kind of fruit or grain* 
 
 When Philip of Macedon was contending 
 with the master of his choir, on some musical 
 subject, the musician, instead of answering 
 him, said, " God forbid that your majesty 
 .should be as well instructed in these matters, 
 as I am." 
 
 Usque ad Aras Amicus. 
 
 A friend even to the altar, that is, who will 
 do every thing that is not offensive to good 
 morals, or that will not oblige him to a breach 
 of his duty to God, to his family, or neigh- 
 bours. Such was the answer of Pericles to a 
 friend, who had required of him in a certain 
 cause to give a false testimony. He was not 
 unmindful of his obligation to his friend, but 
 he dared not violate his duty to the gods. It 
 was the custom anciently for persons taking 
 an oath, to lay one of their hands on the altar, 
 whence the adage. 
 
 The following, from Beloe's translation of 
 
 Aulus
 
 ( 63 ) 
 
 Aulus Gellius, places the character of Chilo, 
 the Lacedemonian, in so pleasing a light, that 
 I am induced to lay it before the reader. It 
 has also some reference to the adage before 
 us. When death was approaching, he thus 
 spake to his surrounding friends: "That there 
 is very little of all that I have said and done 
 in the course of a long life, which has given 
 me cause of repentance, ye may, perhaps, Avell 
 know. At this period, I certainly do not de- 
 lude myself when I say, that I have never 
 clone any thing, the remembrance of which 
 gives me uneasiness, one incident alone ex- 
 cepted. I was once a judge with two others, 
 on the life of a friend. The law was such as 
 to require his condemnation. Either, therefore, 
 a friend was to be lost by a capital punishment, 
 or the law was to be evaded. In this case, I 
 silently gave my own vote for his condemna- 
 tion, but I persuaded my fellow judges to 
 acquit him. Thus I neither violated the duty 
 of the friend, nor of the judge. But the fact 
 gives me this uneasiness; I fear that it was 
 both perfidious and criminal, to persuade others 
 
 to
 
 to do that, which in my own judgment was 
 not right." 
 
 Athos celat Lett era Lemnice Bovis. 
 
 Athos covers with its shade the Lemnian 
 ox. The adage was used to be applied to any 
 one injuring the character, or obscuring the 
 fame of another. In the island of Lemnos, 
 there was formerly the statue of an Ox, of an 
 immense size. This, however, did not prevent 
 its being obscured by the shadow of Mount 
 Athos, which, though at a great distance, ex- 
 tended itself over a large portion of the island. 
 
 JExigit et a Statuis Farinas. 
 
 I warrant he will make something of it, he 
 would get meal even from a statue, nor is there 
 any thing so mean and worthless, but he will 
 reap some profit from it. But the adage was 
 more usually applied to princes, and governors, 
 exacting large tributes from poor, and almost 
 desolate places, or obliging the inhabitants of 
 
 their
 
 ( 65 ) 
 
 their principal cities to pay such immense sums> 
 as to reduce the most wealthy and prosperous 
 of them, to beggary. Of both these, we have 
 now abundant instances in the conduct of 
 Buonaparte and his myrmidons. It was also 
 applied, Erasmus says, to covetous priests, 
 " apud quos ne sepulchrum quidem gratis con- 
 ceclitur," who extracted profit even from fune- 
 rals ; but these dues are now usually paid 
 readily enough, either out of respect to the 
 deceased, or from the consoling consideration 
 that it will be the last cost the survivor will 
 be put to on their account. 
 
 Quid ad Mercurium. 
 
 What has this to do with Mercury, was 
 said when any one through ignorance, or with 
 the view of distracting the attention of the 
 auditor, introduced any matter foreign to the 
 subject intended to be discussed. What has 
 this to do with the business before us. Mer- 
 cury seems to have been made use of, as he 
 was esteemed to be the god, or patron of 
 eloquence. 
 
 A puro
 
 ( 66 ) 
 
 A puro pura defluit Aqua. 
 
 From a pure fountain, pure water may be 
 expected to issue, and from a just and up- 
 right man, none but kind and beneficent 
 actions. 
 
 Reperire Rimam. 
 
 He will find some chink, some aperture by 
 which he will escape, was said of crafty, subtle, 
 and cunning men, who, confine them ever so 
 carefully, would still find some method of get- 
 ting loose ; a Monkhausen. But the adage 
 is also applicable to persons who are ingenious 
 in finding a flaw in any engagement or agree- 
 ment, when it is no longer their interest to 
 abide by the terms of it ; to the lower mem- 
 bers of the law, who read a deed not so much 
 to find out what was the intention of the par- 
 ties, as to see whether it may not be made td 
 bear some other construction. 
 
 " To fiud out meanings never meant." 
 Or who, in penning a deed, contrive to insert 
 some word of doubtful, or equivocal sense, 
 
 that
 
 ( 67 ) 
 
 that may vitiate some of the covenants, always 
 looking to the advantage of the craft. 
 
 Ungentem pungit, pungentem Rusticm 
 angit. 
 
 " Oignez vilain il vous poindra, 
 Poignez vilain il vous oindra." 
 
 If you treat a clown with mildness and ci- 
 vility he will fancy you are afraid of him, and 
 will return your kindness with rudeness or 
 insult ; but if preserving your dignity, you 
 treat him as your inferior or with some degree 
 of authority, he will crouch to and fawn upou 
 you : 
 
 " A base unthankful clownish brood, 
 Return ill offices for good, 
 But if you should them harshly treat, 
 Then spaniel-like they '11 lick your feet." 
 
 " El ruyn, mientras mas le ruegan, mas se 
 estiende," a low and base man, the more you 
 entreat him, the more insolent he becomes. 
 
 Cognatio movet Inmdiam. 
 
 Relationship excites envy. We rarely envy 
 the good fortune of those with whom we are 
 
 little
 
 ( 68 ) 
 
 little acquainted ; it is those who are nearer 
 to us, in the same school, college, or regi* 
 ment; or with whom we are intimately related, 
 or associated in the same business, or who are 
 in the same rank in life with ourselves, whose 
 superior success disturbs us. For the success 
 of persons very much superior to us rarely 
 gives rise to this detestable and tormenting 
 passion, which undermines the health, and 
 when in excess occasions melancholy, and 
 even madness. " As a moth gnaws a gar- 
 ment," Saint Chrysostom says, " so doth envy 
 consume a man." 
 
 -" If she but tastes 
 
 The slenderest pittance of commended virtue. 
 She surfeits of it.'' 
 
 In the same spirit Swift says, 
 
 " To all my foes, O Fortune send 
 Thy gifts, but never to a friend ; 
 I scarcely can endure the first, 
 But this with envy makes me burst." 
 
 Stultus semper- inclpit vivere. 
 The fool is always about to begin to live, 
 
 never
 
 never determined or settled as to his course of 
 life ; like a weathercock, changing his plans 
 as often as the wind shifts, or taking the ad- 
 vice of every new acquaintance. It may be 
 useful to such men to hear what Martial says 
 on this procrastinating disposition as rendered 
 by Cowley : 
 
 " To-morrow you will live, you always cry ; 
 In what far country does this morrow lie, 
 That 'tis so mighty long e'er it arrive ? 
 Beyond the Indies does this morrow live ? 
 Tis so far fetched this morrow that I fear 
 'Twill be both very old and very dear. 
 To-morrow I will live, the fool doth say ; 
 To-day itself 's too late, the wise liv'd yesterday." 
 
 In C&lum jacularis. 
 
 Threatening those whom you cannot hurt, 
 but whose anger may be highly prejudicial to 
 yourself, is like hurling your dart against the 
 heavens, which it cannot reach, but it may 
 wound you in its return. " Chi piscia contra 
 il vento, si bagna la camiscia," and " Quien 
 al cielo escupe, en la cara le cae," who casts 
 
 VOL. ii. F his
 
 ( 70 ) 
 
 his spittle against the heavens, will receive it 
 back on his face. 
 
 Ante hac putabam te habere Cormia. 
 
 I thought you had been furnished with 
 horns ; that is, by your blustering, I thought 
 you had the power, at the least, of defending 
 yourself; this was used to be said to persons 
 who were found on experience to be miserably 
 defective in courage, or in any other quality 
 in which they were supposed to excel. 
 
 Ante Barbam doces Series. 
 
 Being young and inexperienced do you set 
 yourself up for a teacher ? this among the an- 
 cients would have been looked upon as a pre- 
 posterous attempt, and perhaps our manners 
 are not much mended by our departing from 
 their practice on this subject. " Odi pueru- 
 los prsecoci sapientia," I hate these forward 
 wits, or to see young men thrusting them- 
 selves into concerns that require rather 
 strength of heads than of hands. The most 
 
 early
 
 ( 71 ) 
 
 early wits were supposed to be least lasting, 
 and never to attain to perfection ; " soon ripe 
 soon rotten," is a very old maxim. " Buey 
 viejo, sulco derecho," an old ox makes a 
 straight furrow ; and " diablo sabe mucho, 
 por que es viejo," the devil knows much, the 
 Spaniards say, because he is old* 
 
 Auro Loquente nlhil Collet qucevis Ratio. 
 
 Against money or a bribe, reason or elo- 
 quence are of little avail, an apothegm no 
 where more known or acknowledged than in 
 this country, where, according to a saying 
 imputed to Sir Robert Walpole, every man 
 has its price. " L' argento 6 un buon passe- 
 porto," money is a good passport, and " Quien 
 dinero tiene, haze lo que quiere," he who has 
 money has friends, fame, and whatever he 
 pleases : we are not therefore single in the 
 homage we pay to it, and " money," we say, 
 " is welcome every where." Ovid also long 
 since, addressing himself to it, said 
 
 " Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, 
 
 Auri sacra fames." 
 
 F 2 What
 
 C 72 ) 
 
 What atrocities will not the cursed thirst after 
 gold impel men to commit ! 
 
 Durum et durum nonfaciunt Murum. 
 
 Two hard bodies will not coalesce to make 
 a rampart or wall ; there must be a soft sub- 
 stance placed between, to cement them. Two 
 proud, haughty, intemperate men will never 
 agree together, without the intervention of 
 a mild, quiet, rational, and peaceable dispo- 
 sition, to soften asperities and bring them into 
 contact. 
 
 Sublatd Lucernd, nihil interest inter 
 
 Mulieres. 
 
 "Joan is as good as my lady in the dark," 
 and " De noche todos los gatos son pardos," 
 in the dark all cats are grey. The following, 
 which is familiar to all my readers, says all 
 that is necessary on this subject : 
 
 " Whilst in the dark on thy soft hand I hung, 
 And heard the tempting syren in thy tongue j 
 What flames, what darts, what anguish I endured : 
 But when the candle entered. I was cured." 
 
 J\ fuller
 
 Muller turn bene olet, ubi nihil okt. 
 
 A woman then smells most sweet, when she 
 has no scent ; which may be best illustrated 
 by the following lines from Ben Jonson : 
 
 " Still to be neat, still to be drest, 
 As you were going to a feast ; 
 Still to be powdered, still perfum'd, 
 Lady, it is to be presumed, 
 Though art's hid causes are not found, 
 All is not sweet, all is not sound," fyc. fyc. 
 
 The French proverb lays a further embargo 
 on the ladies; " la femme de bien n'a ni 
 yeux, ni oreilles," discreet women have nei- 
 ther eyes nor ears ; and the Spaniards would 
 takeaway their feet also, "la muger en casa, y 
 la pierna quebrada," the wife at home, and her 
 leg broken; so averse are they to their gadding 
 abroad : and in another of their sayings, they 
 only allow a female to go out three times, "En 
 la vida, la muger tres salidas ha de hazer," viz. 
 to be christened, to be married, and to be bu- 
 ried ; also on giving a girl, who loved going 
 abroad, to be married, " algodon cogio, qual 
 la halleres, tal te la doy," she has been gather- 
 F 3 ing
 
 ing cotton, (been gadding,) you must take her 
 as you find her. What privileges the women 
 get by being married, may be learned by the 
 following, " Madre, que cosa es casar ? Hija, 
 hilar, parir, y llorar," mother, the daughter 
 says, what is it to be married ? it is, my child, 
 to spin, to bear children, and to weep. 
 " When the mother of the king of Spain was 
 on her road towards Madrid, she passed 
 through a little town famous for its manufac- 
 tory of gloves and stockings ; the magistrates 
 of the place thought they could not better 
 express their joy for the reception of their new 
 queen, than by presenting her with a sample 
 of those commodities for which their town 
 was remarkable. The major-domo who con- 
 ducted the princess, received the gloves very 
 graciously ; but when the stockings were pre- 
 sented, he flung them away with great indig- 
 nation, and severely reprimanded the magis- 
 trates for this egregious piece of indecency ; 
 Know, says he, that a Queen of Spain has no 
 legs. The poor young queen, who, at that 
 time, understood the language but imperfect- 
 ly, and had often been frightened by stories 
 
 of
 
 ( 75 ) 
 
 of Spanisli jealousy, imagined that they were 
 to cut off her legs, upon which she fell a cry- 
 ing and begged them to send her back to 
 Germany, for that she never could endure the 
 operation ; and it was with some difficulty 
 they could appease her. Philip IV is said 
 never in his life to have laughed heartily, but 
 at the recital of this story. 
 
 Occasiofacit Furem. 
 
 " L' occasione fa il ladrone," and " Tocca- 
 sion fait le larron," " opportunity makes the 
 thief," we should therefore leave it as little as 
 possible in the power of those who are about 
 us, to rob us, that is, we should keep a watch- 
 ful eye over them ; " a quick landlord makes 
 a careful tenant," and an exact and severe 
 master, industrious and honest servants. " En 
 casa abierta el justo pecca," an open door, or 
 an open chest, may tempt even a good man to 
 do a dishonorable action ; " if we place butter 
 hy the fire it will melt," was the observation 
 of a Hindoo, who was asked his opinion of an 
 English country-dance, of which he had been 
 F 4 a spec^
 
 
 ( 76 ) 
 
 a spectator ; not conceiving, as it should 
 seem, that ladies who suffered themselves to be 
 handled so freely, would resist further liber- 
 ties if they should be offered. 
 
 Procul a Jove, procul a Fulmine. 
 
 Far from Jove, far from the thunderbolt. 
 The countries at the greatest distance from the 
 court or capital of a kingdom, being out of 
 view, often escape much of the oppression, 
 which those nearer at hand are obliged to sub- 
 mit to. 
 
 Priusquam Theognis nasceretur. 
 
 Before Theognis was born, was used to be 
 said of any transaction that occurred so early 
 that its origin could not easily be traced. 
 Cicero, in discussing the question how far or 
 to what degree a man would be justified in 
 violating the laws of his country, in defend- 
 ing the life or reputation of his friend, says, 
 " we must not take up arms against our country 
 
 to
 
 ( 77 ) 
 
 to serve our friend," " and who did not know 
 this," Lucilius observed, " before Theognis 
 was born," which thence came to be used as 
 a proverb. Theognis was an early poet of 
 Megara, whose moral sentences have been 
 quoted by some of the most considerable of 
 the Greek writers. 
 
 Lingua Amicus. 
 
 A friend in words ; any one who by his 
 conversation seems desirous of being esteemed 
 a friend, but whose kindness extends no fur- 
 ther ; who is free in promising, but very back- 
 ward in performing any friendly office, is the 
 kind of person intended to be censured by this 
 adage. " Pollicitis dives, quilibet esse potest," 
 any man may be liberal in promises, they cost 
 nothing. " II se ruine a promettre, et s'acquitte 
 & ne rien tenir," he ruins himself by promising, 
 but saves himself by not performing, for "pro- 
 mettre et tenir sont deux," there is a great 
 difference between saying and doing, which is 
 also a Spanish axiom, " Del dicho al hecho, 
 ay gran trecho.'' " II nous a promis monts 
 
 et
 
 ( 78 ) 
 
 ct merveilles," he promises mountains; "more 
 in a month," we say, " than he will perform in 
 a year." 
 
 Lingua non redarguta. 
 
 A tongue not to be silenced. " Qui ratio- 
 nibusconvicti, non cedunt tamen," who though 
 convicted, overcome by argument, still refuse 
 to yield. " Nunquam persuadebis, quamvis 
 persuaseris," although you have convicted me, 
 you shall not convince me. Determined, ob- 
 stinate incredulity. 
 
 Serpens ni edat Serpentem, Draco nonftt. 
 
 A serpent, unless he feeds on serpents, does 
 not become a dragon. It need hardly be 
 mentioned, that the dragon was fabled by the 
 ancients, as a ferocious and destructive beast, 
 and as the head of that class of animals. The 
 adage intimates that kings only become great 
 potentates by destroying neighbouring princes, 
 invading and conquering their territories, as 
 the vast strength of lions, tigers, and other 
 
 beasts
 
 ( 79 ) 
 
 beasts of prey, is supported by the destruction 
 of animals of less bulk and power, and as men 
 rarely acquire enormous fortunes, but by in- 
 juring and oppressing other. 
 
 Qui vitat Molam, vitat Farinam. 
 " No mill, no meal," or, if the noise of the 
 mill offends you, you can have no meal. " Who 
 will not work, must not expect to eat," " Who 
 would have eggs, must bear the cackling of 
 the hen." If the ground be not tilled, it will 
 produce no grain, or the corn will be choked 
 with weeds. " Lutum nisi tundatur, non fit 
 urceus," unless the clay be well pounded and 
 wrought, it cannot be formed into vessels. 
 Nothing valuable is to be produced without 
 industry, "et quid tandem non efficiunt ma- 
 nus," and to labour and ingenuity, scarcely 
 any thing is impossible. 
 
 "Thou would'st be great," Lady Macbeth says 
 
 to her husband, 
 " Art not without ambition ; but without 
 
 The illness should attend it: what thou would'st highly, 
 That would'st thou holily ; would'st not play false, 
 And yet would'st wrongly win." 
 
 This
 
 ( 80 ) 
 
 This, though addressed, and suited particu- 
 larly to Macbeth, is applicable in its principle 
 to mankind in general. We all of us wish for, 
 and would abound in the conveniences of life, 
 but all have not that energy of mind, which is 
 necessary to set them at work to obtain them. 
 Hence we find in all barbarous, and semi ci- 
 vilised countries, the inhabitants are prone to 
 thieving, as a more compendious way of getting 
 what they desire, than by their labour. Cap- 
 tain Cook, lost his life by attempting to make 
 the people of the Sandwich islands esteem, and 
 punish robbery, as a crime ; and we see with 
 what difficulty the propensity is restrained in 
 this, and other countries of Europe, where we 
 are taught from our infancy, and it is made 
 a part of our religion, to refrain from stealing, 
 and where it is prohibited under the severest 
 penalties, in some cases, even to forfeiture of 
 life ; yet many daily hazard that punishment, 
 rather than exert themselves to procure what 
 they want by industry : so true it is, that 
 " Idleness is the root of all evil," as it is also, 
 that " Lazy folks take the most pains," the 
 robber procuring his booty with much greater 
 
 cliffi-
 
 ( 81 ) 
 
 difficulty and hazard, than it costs the indus- 
 trious man to obtain what is of equal, or supe- 
 rior value. In India, we are told, there are 
 whole tribes, or communities of robbers, the 
 individuals of which do not shrink from the 
 imputation. The Mahrattas are a nation of 
 robbers, and on what other principle are car- 
 ried on nearly all the wars of Europe ? 
 
 Optimum Obsonium para Senectuti. 
 Make ample provision for old age. " Chi 
 in prima non pensa, in ultimo sospira," who 
 does not think before, sighs after, therefore, 
 " Make hay while the sun shines." " Lay up 
 against a rainy day," and " Take care to fea- 
 ther your nest while young," for "Non semper 
 crit asstas," it will not be always summer ; 
 and it is as disgraceful for young persons to 
 neglect the means of improving their fortunes, 
 as it is for the aged to be over solicitous about 
 increasing theirs. Diogenes being asked what 
 he considered as the most wretched state of 
 man, answered " an indigent old age." This 
 seems to have been said with too little con- 
 sideration. Poverty is generally and not un- 
 deservedly
 
 ( 82 ) 
 
 deservedly esteemed an evil, and the averting 
 it affords the most powerful incentive to ac- 
 tion, but the pressure of it must be much less 
 felt in age, than in the vigour of life. Among 
 the ancients, indeed, age was itself esteemed 
 an evil, as it incapacitates from making those 
 excursions, and following those pleasures which 
 contribute so much to the felicity of the early 
 part of our lives. But if with the capacity for 
 enjoying, we lose the propensity or desire for 
 having them, it should rather be considered as 
 a blessing. By losing them we attain a state 
 of calm and quiet, rarely experienced by the 
 young, neither would it indeed be suitable to 
 them, the passions and desires being the gales 
 which put them in motion, and lead them 
 to signalize themselves. Without them they 
 would become torpid, and would do nothing 
 useful to themselves, nor to the public. Action 
 therefore is the element of the young, as quiet 
 and retirement is of the aged. If life has been 
 passed innocently, and the aged have not to 
 reproach themselves with having deserted their 
 duty, or with the commission of any crime for 
 which they ought to blush, the reflection on 
 
 their
 
 their past conduct, and on such acts of bene- 
 ficence and kindness they may have performed, 
 or of any thing done by which the community 
 may eventually be benefited, will abundantly 
 compensate for what time has taken from them. 
 The aged will also have learned among other 
 things, if it should happen to be their lot, to 
 bear poverty with composure. If little should 
 now remain to them, their wants will also be 
 equally few. The plainest and simplest diet, 
 clothes, and apartments, may very well serve 
 them, and are, perhaps, the best suited to their 
 state. The old man, therefore, if his poverty 
 is not the effect of vice, or folly, will soon 
 accommodate himself to his situation. But if 
 he has been himself the author of his degrada- 
 tion, he will regret and pine, not so much at the 
 loss of that affluence which he no longer wants, 
 as at the vices or follies which occasioned the 
 loss of them. Old and infirm people should 
 continue to exert themselves in all matters 
 regarding their persons, as much, and as long 
 as they can, and they generally may do this, 
 nearly to the period of the extinction of their 
 lives, if they early and resolutely resist that 
 
 languor,
 
 ( 84 ) 
 
 languor, which feebleness is apt to induce. 
 While they shew this species of independance, 
 they will retain the respect of those who are 
 about them. A total imbecility and incapacity 
 to perform the common offices of life, is the 
 most miserable state to which human nature 
 can be reduced. 
 
 llli Mors gratis incubat, qui notus nimis 
 omnibus, ignotus moritur sibi. 
 
 Death falls heavy upon him who, known to 
 others, is only unknown to himself. Though 
 self-love is an inherent principle in human 
 nature, yet how few are there that are solicit- 
 ous to become acquainted with themselves, or 
 who can bear to be alone ! Not but that the 
 student will, with great satisfaction, pass many 
 hours every day in his study, the merchant in 
 his closet ; but M'hen their respective labours 
 are finished, each of them have recourse to 
 company to amuse and divert their thoughts. 
 Though ^without living associates before, they 
 were still in company, but their books being 
 *lmt, they then find themselves alone; and if 
 
 they
 
 ( 85 } 
 
 they were not to change the scene, they might 
 be induced to look into themselves, to inquire 
 Jmto the state of their mind, 
 
 " That task which as we follow or despise, 
 The oldest is a fool, the youngest wise; 
 Which done, the poorest can no wants endure, 
 And which not done, the richest must be poor." 
 
 In this task, there are few who are inclined to 
 engage. This does not seem to arise from the 
 difficulty of the undertaking, but from an 
 unwillingness to enter on the study, lest it 
 should lead to self-condemnation, and they 
 should find it necessary to give up some fa- 
 vourite pursuit, or practice, which interest, or 
 pleasure, had made too agreeable to be parted 
 with. But those who are so averse to this in- 
 quiry should consider, "that as the tree falls, 
 so it lies.*' Cowley has well described the 
 exit of such an one in the following lines. 
 
 " To him alas, to him I fear, 
 
 The face of death will terrible appear, 
 Who in his life, flattering his senseless pride, 
 By being known to all the world beside, 
 Does Hot himself when he is dying know, 
 
 Nor what he is, nor whither he's to go." 
 
 t 
 
 VOL. n. e Though 
 
 o
 
 ( 86 ) 
 
 Though this article is already far extended, 
 the reader will not be displeased at seeing a 
 passage from the golden verses of Pythagoras, 
 on the utility of self-examination, which is 
 enforced with peculiar energy. The verses, 
 which well deserve the name of " golden," are 
 supposed to contain the principal points of 
 morality, taught by the great philosopher 
 whose name they bear, and to have been 
 delivered down to posterity by one of his 
 disciples. 
 
 " Let not the stealing god of sleep surprise, 
 Nor creep in slumbers on the weary eyes, 
 Ere ev'ry action of the former day, 
 Strictly thou dost and righteously survey. 
 With reverence at thy own tribunal stand,, 
 And answer justly to thy own demand. 
 Where have 1 been? in what have I transgress'd? 
 What good or ill has this day's life express'd ? 
 Where have I failed in what J ought to do ? 
 Tn what to God, to man, or to myself I owe? 
 Inquire severe whate'er from first to last, 
 From morning's dawn till evening's gloom is past,. 
 If evil were thy deeds, repenting mourn, 
 And let thy soul with strong remorse- be torn. 
 If good, the good with peace of mind repay, 
 And to thy secret self with pleasure say, 
 Rejoice, my heart, for all went well to-day. 
 
 These.
 
 ( 87 ) 
 
 These thoughts, and chiefly these, thy mind should move'; 
 Employ thy study, and engage thy love. 
 These are the rules that will to virtue lead, 
 And teach thy feet her heavenly paths to tread." 
 
 Malum Consilium Consult ori pessimum. 
 
 Evil counsel is most pernicious to the giver 
 of it. The adage is applicable to persons \vho 
 find the mischief they intended for others, 
 fall upon themselves. " He hath graven and 
 digged a pit, and hath fallen into the midst 
 of it himself." Advice is of a sacred nature, 
 and should he given faithfully, and those who 
 prostitute it to evil purposes, are deserving of 
 the severest punishment. The following story 
 is related as having given rise to this apo- 
 thegm. The statue of Horatius Codes, who 
 had defended the passage of a bridge singly 
 against the whole Etrurian army, being struck 
 with lightning, the augurs were consulted as 
 to the expiation proper to be made to the 
 offended deities, for to that cause the Romans 
 attributed these and similar accidents; and 
 they advised, among other things, that the 
 
 e 2 statue
 
 ( 88 ) 
 
 statue should be placed in a lower situation ; 
 meaning, perhaps, where it would be less liable 
 to a similar injury. But the advice being sup- 
 posed to be given through treachery, they 
 were accused, convicted, and put to death. 
 This was so agreeable to the superstitious 
 people, that for a long time after they sang 
 the verse which forms this adage, in triumph, 
 about the streets. The augurs are said to 
 have acknowledged their guilt, as many poor 
 old women, accused of witchcraft, have done 
 in this country. The story is more circum- 
 stantially related by Aulus Gellius. See Beloe's 
 translation of that entertaining work. Though 
 augury was held in high estimation by the 
 Greeks and Romans, scarcely any great action 
 being undertaken among them without having 
 recourse to it; and the common people in both 
 countries, as well as many eminent for their 
 rank, and for their literary attainments, placed 
 an entire confidence in it, yet there were not 
 wanting, at all times, persons who held it in 
 contempt. Cato, the censor, Cicero tells us, 
 expressed his astonishment, that the auspices 
 could keep their countenance when two of 
 
 them
 
 ( 89 ) 
 
 them met. " Mirari se aiebat, quod non rideret 
 haruspex haruspicem cum videret." And 
 Homer makes Hector say to Polydamus, ad- 
 vising him not to attack the Grecian camp, 
 on account of some sinister omen. 
 
 " Ye vagrants of the sky ! your wings extend, 
 Or where the suns arise, or where descend ; 
 To right, to left, unheeded take your way" 
 
 " Without a sign, his sword the brave man draws, 
 And asks no omen but his country's cause. 
 
 When Cassius was advised by the augurs not 
 to fight with the Parthians until the moon 
 had passed the scorpion, he said, " he was not 
 afraid of the scorpion, but of the arrows of 
 the enemy." But some of the augurs were, 
 doubtless, dupes to their qwn art, and as cre- 
 dulous, and as foolish, as any modern old 
 witch. 
 
 Corycceus auscultate it. 
 
 A Corycsean has been listening. This was 
 
 said when any one found that a transaction to 
 
 which he thought no one was privy, had been 
 
 discovered. The Corycaeans, a band of rob- 
 
 G 3 bers
 
 bers inhabiting a mountain of that name, con* 
 trived, in order that they might know where 
 to levy contributions with certainty, to mix 
 among the merchants and traders, and by lis- 
 tening to their discourse, learned what sort of 
 goods each of them carried with them, where 
 the}' were going, and at what time they meant 
 to set out on their journey ; when taking with 
 them as many associates as they thought ne- 
 qessary, they met, and robbed them. 
 
 Ammo cegrotanti Medicus est Oratio. 
 
 Kind words are a medicine to an afflicted 
 spirit. " A soft answer turneth away wrath." 
 " Cortesia de boca mucho valer, y poco costa," 
 civility costs little, but has considerable influ- 
 ence in appeasing restless and unquiet minds. 
 "An ounce of honey," we say, "will catch 
 more flics than a gallon of vinegar." 
 
 " Sunt verba et voces quibus hunc lenire dolorem 
 Possis, et magnam morbi depellere partera." 
 
 " Know there are words, which fresh and fresh applied, 
 Will cure the arrantest puppy of his pride." 
 
 Pride, and other evil affections of the mind, 
 
 were
 
 ( 91 ) 
 
 were by the Stoics considered as diseases, for 
 which there were no better remedies, than good 
 and sensible discourses. 
 
 Contra Torrente.m niti. 
 
 " Striving against the stream," which those 
 may be said to do who attempt to convince 
 obstinately perverse persons of the impropriety 
 of any thing they have once resolved to defend, 
 or of undertaking any project they have de- 
 termined to accomplish. 
 
 Radit usque ad Cittern. 
 
 He shaves close, " ad vivum resecat," " he 
 cuts to the quick." The phrase is applied to 
 persons too exact in taking what is their due. 
 "The avaricious man," as described by Theo- 
 phrastus, " though his tenants pay him their 
 rent duly every month, will teaze them for an 
 odd farthing that remained at their last 
 reckoning^ and is perpetually inculcating to 
 his wife never to lend any thing ; for an end 
 ef a candle, or an handful of suit or of oat- 
 4 meal
 
 meal will amount to money at the year's end. 
 He makes the barber shave him to the quick, 
 that it may be the longer before he wants him 
 again." Shylock would abate nothing of the 
 penalty of his bond, though it should cost the 
 debtor his life, but says to those soliciting his 
 forbearance, 
 
 " My deeds upon my head : I crave the law, 
 The penalty and forfeiture of ray bond." 
 
 A late chief magistrate of London, on being 
 told by one of his workmen, an old and faith" 
 ful servant, what pleasure he had received in 
 seeing his master in his state coach, though 
 pleased with the homage the poor man had 
 paid him, yet nature so far prevailed, that he 
 mulcted him a quarter of a day for time lost 
 in going to see the procession. 
 
 Saxum volutum non obducitur Musco. 
 
 " Pietra che rotula non piglia muffa," and 
 " piedra movediza no la cubre moho," that is, 
 " a rolling stone is ever bare of moss," is used 
 to be said to persons who are frequently 
 
 changing
 
 ( 93 ) 
 
 changing their situation or employment; such 
 persons being more likely to dissipate and 
 waste, than to improve and increase their 
 property. To the same purport is, " Planta 
 que sjepe transfertur non coalescit," the tree 
 that is often moved does not thrive. 
 
 Anus Hircum olet. 
 
 " How like a goat she smells," said of libi- 
 dinous old women. The phrase, therefore, 
 taken originally from the Greeks, is neither 
 modern nor peculiar to this country; though 
 no where used, it may be presumed, but among 
 the common people. 
 
 JJctbet et Musca Splenam, and 
 Inest et Formica sua Bills. 
 
 " Even a fly has its sting," and " a worm if 
 trodden upon will turn," and make an effort 
 to avenge the injury : we should therefore not 
 despise an enemy however weak and insignifi- 
 cant, or wantonly offend any one ; there be- 
 ing
 
 ing few persons but who may, at some time, 
 have it in their power to do us an injury, or 
 who may not in some way be useful to us. 
 Socrates determined him to be the wisest man, 
 who gave the least offence. 
 
 Camelus desiderans Cornua etiam Aures 
 perdidit. 
 
 The camel, discontented at not having 
 horns, lost its ears likewise. The adage 
 teaches that we should be thankful for those 
 faculties and powers with which it has pleased 
 Providence to endow us, and not to ask for 
 properties inconsistent with our state, and 
 which would be rather injurious to us than 
 beneficial, as horns would be to the camel, 
 whose strength does not lie in his neck. The 
 fable seems to have taken its rise from the 
 camel's having shorter ears than most animals 
 of its size, and to its not being or reputed not 
 to be quick of hearing. Hence the ancients 
 feigned, that Jupiter, offended at their asking 
 for horns, had deprived them of their ears 
 also. 
 
 rc
 
 Casnare me doce. 
 
 Teach me how to eat, give. me. information 
 on subjects with which you are acquainted, 
 and I shall readily listen to you, hut do not 
 pretend to instruct me in matters of which 
 you have no knowlege, was said by Bacchus 
 to Hercules, who was laying down rules for 
 the construction of tragedies and other poems: 
 Hercules being as famed for the voracious- 
 ness of his appetite, as for his great bodily 
 strength. 
 
 Ad pcenitendum properat cito qui judicat. 
 
 Who determines precipitately hastens to 
 repentance ; which cannot be better illus- 
 trated than by the following, from N. Howe's 
 translation of the golden verses of Pythago- 
 ras : 
 
 " Let wary thought each enterprise forerun, 
 And ponder on thy task before begun, 
 Lest folly should the wretched work deface 
 And mock thy fruitless labours with disgrace. 
 Fools huddle on and always are in haste, 
 Act without thought, and thoughtless words they waste. 
 
 But
 
 ( 96 ) 
 
 But thou, in all thou dost, with early cares 
 Strive to prevent, at first, a fate like theirs ; 
 That sorrow in the end may never wait, 
 Nor sharp repentance make thee wise too late/* 
 
 In Re mala, Animo si bono utare, adjwoat. 
 
 It is good to keep up our spirits under mis- 
 fortunes and to use our endeavours to miti- 
 gate or remove them, or if that cannot be 
 done to bear them with patience, which will 
 of itself, in time, make them more tolerable 
 and easy; as is expressed in the following, 
 " Fortitur ferendo vincitur malum quod evi- 
 tare non potest," and by the English adage, 
 V what can't be cured, must be endured," or 
 " of a bad bargain we should make the best," 
 
 " Of all those sorrows that attend mankind, 
 With patience bear the lot to thee assign'd ; 
 Nor think it chance, nor murmur at the load ; 
 For know, what man calls fortune, is from God." 
 
 Inimicus et invidus Vicinorum Oculus. 
 
 An enemy and an envious person is an 
 
 eye
 
 ( 97 } 
 
 eye over his neighbour, watching narrowly 
 into his conduct ; but if known to be so, he 
 may be highly useful to him by putting him 
 on his guard : knowing he is watched by one 
 who is disposed to put the worst construction 
 upon his actions, he will be so cautious, as to 
 give him as little opportunity as possible of 
 doing him an injury : he, therefore, may be 
 said also to afford an additional eye to his 
 neighbour ; which is the more direct meaning 
 of the adage. 
 
 Lucrum malurn (Equate Dlspendio. 
 
 Gain gotten by unfair means is no better 
 than a loss; "what is ill gotten rarely 
 thrives." Those who are in too much haste 
 to acquire riches, generally commit some error 
 in the process which defeats their purpose; 
 or, if they obtain what they sought for, they 
 have rarely the discretion to use it properly. 
 " Hasty climbers have sudden falls." The 
 wealth that is ill-gotten becomes a canker, and 
 corrodes and destroys what it is put in contact 
 with. " Una pecora rognosa, ne guasta cen- 
 
 to,"
 
 ( 98 ) 
 
 to," " one bad sheep spoils the flock. " The 
 too eager pursuit of any thing, Feltham says, 
 "hinders the enjoyment; for it makes men 
 take indirect ways, which though they pros- 
 per sometimes, are hlessed never. Wealth 
 snatched up by unjust and injurious ways, 
 like a rotten sheep, will infect thy healthful 
 flock." 
 
 Scindere Glctcicm. 
 
 " Romper il giaccio," " to break the ice ;"' 
 any one beginning a discourse or business 
 which had been long expected, or commenc- 
 ing a conversation when a company has for 
 some time sat silent, is said to have broken the 
 ice. 
 
 In Flammam ne. Manum injicito. 
 Do not thrust your hand into the fire. Whv 
 
 V / 
 
 should you embroil yourself in a contention 
 in which you have no concern ? why put 
 yourself into hot water; know you not, that 
 
 " Those who in quarrels interpose 
 Must often wipe a bloody nose?" 
 
 " DC
 
 ( 99 ) 
 
 *' De los faydos guarte, no seras testigo ni 
 parte," keep clear from broils, either as witness 
 or party. 
 
 Testudineus Gradus. 
 
 A snail's pace, he moves slower than a snail, 
 or is fit to drive snails, are phrases applied to 
 persons who are extremely sluggish. " Vi- 
 cistis cochleam tarditate." 
 
 Sine Pennis volire haud facile est. 
 
 11 Non si puo volar senza ale," " he would 
 fain fly, hut he wants wings," is said of per- 
 sons attempting to do what is much beyond 
 their power or capacity ; who speak authori- 
 tatively, without having a right to command 
 or po\ver to enforce obedience. It may also 
 be said of any one in excuse for not having 
 done what was expected of him, but which 
 he had not the necessary means for accom- 
 plishing. "II ne faut pas voler avant que 
 d 'avoir des ailes." 
 
 Muria
 
 Murls in Morem. 
 
 Living like the mouse, upon the property 
 of others. Plautus makes his parasite say, 
 "Quasi mures, semper edimus alienum cibum," 
 like the mouse, we always feed upon what 
 others have provided. ' 
 
 Obtrudere Palpum. 
 
 To deceive with soft speeches. " You must 
 not think," the sycophant says in Plautus, 
 " to cajole me with honied words, who am 
 used to deceive others with them." The word 
 palpum means a gentle stroke or patting with 
 the hand, which we use to horses and other 
 animals to put them into good humour. 
 
 Tanquam Suber. 
 
 He is like a cork, nothing will depress or 
 sink him, was used to be said of persons \vho 
 had passed through great trials, or escaped 
 from imminent danger without mischief. Of 
 
 such
 
 ( 101 ) 
 
 such men we say, u like a cat he has nine 
 lives," or " throw him as you will he will be 
 sure to alight upon his feet," " give a man 
 luck and throw him into the sea." 
 
 In Saltu uno duos Apros capere. 
 
 " Matar dos paxeros con una piedra," 
 " killing two birds with one stone;" I have for- 
 tunately met with more persons, whom I wish- 
 ed to see, or done more business in this excur- 
 sion, than I expected. 
 
 Duos insequens Lepores neutrum capit. 
 
 By greedily attempting to take two hares 
 together, they both of them escaped ; like the 
 dog who, catching at a second piece of meat 
 which he saw by reflection in the water, lost 
 that which he had in his mouth. " Quien 
 mucho abarca poco aprieta," " grasp all, lose 
 all." 
 
 VOL. it. H
 
 ( 102 ) 
 
 Tua Res agitur Paries quum proximus ardet. 
 
 When your neighbour's house is on fire, it 
 is time to look to your own. When you hear 
 your neighbour traduced, and his character 
 blackened, you will defend him even from a 
 regard to yourself, as you may expect the 
 same liberty to be taken with yours, when you 
 shall be absent. Turn the mischances of others 
 to your own benefit ; that is, learn from the 
 failure and misfortunes of others, to attend to 
 your own concerns, that you may not suffer 
 the same disgrace. 
 
 Articular um Deliramen ta. 
 
 The dreams, or ravings of old women. "Old 
 wives tales." By such titles, idle and ridicu- 
 lous stories were used anciently, and still con- 
 tinue to be called. 
 
 Citius quam Asparagi coquuntur. 
 
 Quicker than boiling asparagus, was fre- 
 quently in the mouth of the Emperor Augustus, 
 
 when
 
 ( 103 ) 
 
 when he wished any business to be executed 
 speedily, the asparagus requiring to be boiled 
 only a few minutes ; or " Aphya ad ignem," a 
 kind of salted fish, which in dressing it, re- 
 quired only to be shewn the fire. 
 
 BoniPastoris est fonder e Pecus, non deglubere. 
 
 The good shepherd shears, but does not flay 
 his sheep. The good master only exacts such 
 a portion of labour from his servants, as they 
 may perform without injuring themselves. 
 Tiberius Caesar used this proverb, of which 
 he is reputed to be the author, to restrain the 
 rapacity of his courtiers, advising him to levy 
 further imposts upon one of the provinces, 
 which had been previously largely taxed. 
 Alexander the Great, on a similar occasion, is 
 said to have given the following : " Olitorem 
 odi qui radicitus herbas excidat," he is a bad 
 gardener, who, instead of cropping, tears the 
 plants- up by the roots. The woman who 
 killed the hen, that brought her a golden egg 
 every day, in the hope of becoming more 
 
 H 3 speedily
 
 ( 104 ) 
 
 speedily rich, falls under the censure of this 
 adage. 
 
 Lucri bonus est Odor ex Re qualibet. 
 
 The odour of gain is sweet, from whatever 
 source it may he produced. To the miser, 
 whatever is profitable, and to the voluptu- 
 ous, whatever contributes to their pleasure, is 
 deemed to be good, however impure the source 
 of it may happen to be. Vespasian, who, but 
 for his inordinate love of money, was one of 
 the best of the Roman emperors, made use of 
 this apothegm, in answer to his son, who had 
 reproved him for laying a tax on certain vessels 
 set in the streets, for the reception of urine, for 
 the use of the dyers.* Taking a piece of money 
 
 * That the vessels were placed for the benefit of the 
 dyers, seems proved by the following, taken from a note to 
 p. 1?5, of the second volume of Rabelais. 
 
 Parisiis quando purpura praparatur, tune artifices in- 
 vitant Germanicos militcs, et studiosos, qui libenter bibunt, 
 et eis pnebent largiter optimum vinum, ea conditione, ut 
 postea urinam reddant in illam lanam. Sic enim audivi & 
 studioso Parisiensi. Joan. Manlii Libellus Medicus. 
 
 from
 
 ( 105 ) 
 
 from his pocket, which he had received from 
 that impost, and applying it to the nostrils of 
 his son, he demanded, " Ecquid ea pecunia 
 puteret," whether he perceived any ill savour 
 in it ? The same, however, might be asked of 
 money obtained by robbery, murder, or any 
 other unjustifiable means, and unfortunately 
 we too easily excuse ourselves. 
 
 " O cives, cives, quaerenda pecunia primum, 
 Virtus post nummos." 
 
 O citizens, let money be your first care. 
 " Unde habeas curat nemo; sed oportet ha- 
 bere," no one will inquire how you get your 
 wealth, but if you would be respected, you 
 must have it. 
 
 Bceta turn Hyeme, turn ^Estate bona. 
 
 The baeta is said to have been a kind of 
 garment, made of skins, long, and sufficiently 
 large to invest the whole body, equally cal- 
 culated therefore to guard against the cold in 
 winter, and the scorching rays of the sun in 
 summer. The adage was applied by the an- 
 H 3 cients
 
 ( 106 ) 
 
 cients to any objects that might be made to 
 answer a variety of useful purposes : to lite- 
 rature, which is both useful and ornamental 
 to every age and station in life, and to philo- 
 sophy, which may enable us to bear prosperity 
 without insolence, and adversity without de- 
 basement. 
 
 Salem lingere. 
 
 Making a poor and slender meal ; some 
 simple pulse made savoury with salt, being 
 the usual diet of the poor, and such as many 
 of the ancient philosophers were contented 
 with. Diogenes being invited to dine with a 
 wealthy nobleman, refused his offer, being 
 more pleased to lick salt at Athens, he said ; 
 that is, to make a frugal repast there, than to 
 feed on the richest dainties. " Leaving the 
 nobles, clad in purple, and their splendid 
 tables," Seneca says, " I partake of the frugal 
 board of Demetrius. When I hear this excel- 
 lent man discoursing from his couch of straw, 
 I perceive in him, not a preceptor only, but a 
 witness of the truth ; and I cannot doubt that 
 
 Pro-
 
 ( 107 ) 
 
 Providence has endowed him with such virtues 
 and talents, that he might be an example, and 
 a monitor of the present age. " Demetrius 
 was banished from Rome, on account of the 
 freedom he used in reproving the vices of the 
 great. 
 
 Velut Umbra sequi. 
 
 Following any one as his shadow, as para- 
 sites do silly young men of fortune, being 
 constantly seen with them, until they have 
 disburdened them of their substance, and 
 then the shadow vanishes of course : or, as 
 envy does men of talents. 
 
 " Envy will merit as its shade pursue, 
 
 And like that serves to prove the substance true." 
 
 Quid Cceco cum Speculo. 
 
 What has a blind man to do with a looking- 
 glass, an illiterate man with books, or one 
 who knows not how rightly to use them, with 
 riches ? 
 
 H 4 Mor-
 
 ( 108 ) 
 
 Mordere Labrum. 
 
 Biting the lips, was formerly, and is now, 
 noted as a sign of vexation or anger. "Co- 
 meclens labra prse iracundia," biting his lips 
 through rage. 
 
 Priusquam Gallus iterum cecmerit. 
 
 Before the second crowing of the cock. 
 Before the invention of dials, hour-glasses, 
 and clocks, the crowing of the cock was much 
 attended to, as announcing the dawn, at which 
 time servants were expected to rise and begin 
 their labours. 
 
 Magis gaudet quam qui Senectam exult. 
 
 Was said of any one shewing his joy by 
 uncommon expressions of hilarity. Literally, 
 he rejoices more than an old man, restored to 
 youth ; or, than a cripple, who has recovered 
 his health and the use of his limbs. It seems 
 ta have taken its origin, from observing, that 
 
 serpents,
 
 ( 109 ) 
 
 serpents, after changing their skins, from be* 
 ing dull and torpid, become extremely active 
 and lively. 
 
 Imi Subsellii Viri. 
 
 A term of reproach, or contempt. Men of 
 the lowest form or seat, where parasites, buf- 
 foons, and persons of inferior condition were 
 placed at the tables of the great, where they 
 Avere sometimes admitted, but so placed, and 
 treated, as to make them sensible, in how little 
 estimation they were held. Juvenal is very 
 severe, both on those inflicting, and those 
 submitting, to such indignities. The phrase 
 was also used to denote persons filling inferior 
 situations in public offices, or of little estima- 
 tion in literature. 
 
 Canes timidi vehement ius latrant. 
 
 " Barking dogs rarely bite," and " Brag is a 
 good dog, but hold-fast is a better." Cowards 
 are fond of noise and blustering, under which 
 they hope to hide their baseness ; but men of 
 
 couragre,
 
 ( no ) 
 
 courage, having nothing that they wish to 
 conceal, are sedate and quiet, as the deepest 
 waters flow with the least noise. Churchill 
 has well depicted cowardice in the following 
 lines. ^ 
 
 " Caution before 
 
 With heedful steps the lanthorn bore, 
 Pointing at graves, while in the rear, 
 Trembling and talking loud went Fear." 
 
 Ultra Vires nihil aggrediendum. 
 
 We should be cautious of attempting what 
 we have not ability to accomplish. " A little 
 wariness, prevents great weariness." The adage 
 was used by Paris to Hector, advising him. 
 against a personal conflict with Achilles, and 
 it had been well if he had attended to the 
 admonition, as he lost his life in the contest. 
 It is not, however, on all occasions to be fol- 
 lowed, as without trial it is not always easy to 
 know how far our ability or power extends ; 
 and where a great object is proposed, it is not 
 to be neglected from an apprehension, inspired, 
 perhaps, by timidity of its failing. " In mag- 
 
 nis,
 
 ( "1 ) 
 
 nis, et voluisse sat est," it is honourable even 
 to have attempted a great and noble act ; that 
 is, if the attempt has been persevered in with 
 becomingspirit,and the failure, if it should not 
 succeed, has not been owing to negligence. 
 We may oppose to this adage, "Nothing ven- 
 ture, nothing have." 
 
 Sua Munera mittit cum Hamo. 
 
 His gifts are armed with hooks, with which 
 he means to catch something of equal, or su- 
 perior value, as those do who make presents 
 to persons much their superiors in rank and 
 fortune. " C'est mettre un petit poisson, pour 
 en avoir un gros," it is baiting your hook with 
 a small fish, to catch a large one. The adage 
 may also be applied to persons who make a 
 parade of being very communicative, but are 
 only so to induce those they converse with, 
 to open their minds on subjects they wish to 
 be acquainted with, but which should not be 
 divulged to them. 
 
 " Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes," 
 
 Laocoon said to his countrymen, finding them 
 
 too
 
 ( 112 ) 
 
 too readily listening to a pretended deserter 
 from the camp of their enemy ; I am afraid 
 of the Grecians and will have none of their 
 gifts. Presents from persons whom we have 
 no reason to believe to be our friends, should 
 be received with great caution. 
 
 Timidus Plutus. 
 
 As fearful as Plutus, the reputed god of 
 riches. The poor having nothing to lose, have 
 no dread of thieves, and accustomed to feed 
 on coarse diet, they find little difficulty in 
 getting what is necessary for their support. 
 **' In utramque dormiant aurem, " they can 
 sleep on either ear, in any posture, or on the 
 hardest couch. The rich, on the contrary, are 
 full of care, trouble, and anxiety. " Non so- 
 lum cruciantur libidine augendi ea quae habent, 
 sed etiam timore amittendi ea," they are not 
 only tormented with an incessant desire of in- 
 creasing their wealth, but with the fear of 
 losing that which they possess. They believe 
 that all with whom they have any commerce, 
 
 are
 
 ( 113 ) 
 
 are contriving to rob, or cheat them. They 
 are afraid of their friends, lest they should 
 want to borrow of them ; they think their 
 servants are false, and that their wives and 
 children are combining to deceive, and cozen 
 them. Their fears increasing with their years, 
 at length, though abounding with riches, they 
 are distressed with apprehensions of impending 
 poverty, imagining they shall become beggars^ 
 or die in a workhouse. To avert this evil, they 
 deny themselves necessary sustenance. " la 
 Tiunc scopulum cadaverosi senes ut plurimum 
 impingunt," on this rock cadaverous old men, 
 men on the verge of the grave, are for the 
 most part wrecked, and indeed it is not until 
 they arrive at that period, when their wants 
 might be supplied by the smallest income, that 
 their fears make them imagine that their im- 
 mense possessions will be exhausted, before 
 their glass shall be completely run out, and 
 they perish miserably by the very means that, 
 properly used, would have preserved them in 
 health and spirits.
 
 Mails Mala succedunt. 
 
 A succession of misfortunes, one following 
 another, as happens to some ill-starred per- 
 sons, who have no sooner learned to bear one 
 trouble, but another falls upon them. Hence 
 it has been said, 
 
 " Fortuna obesse nulli contenta est semel." 
 
 " Misfortune seldom comes single." The Spa- 
 niards therefore say, " Ben vengas si vengas 
 solo," you are welcome if you come alone. 
 
 Eodem Coltyrio mederi omnibus. 
 
 Using the same argument or discourse to 
 persons of different ages, dispositions, and 
 faculties, is as if a physician should apply the 
 same remedy in the cure of various and dis- 
 similar diseases. 
 
 Vita Mortalium brevis. 
 
 Life is short, and the duration of it also is 
 uncertain, and not, therefore, at any period of 
 
 it,
 
 it, to be wasted in indolence, or in the in- 
 dulgence of our sensual appetites, but to be 
 employed in improving our faculties, and in, 
 performing the duties of our station; in short, 
 we should take care to pass the portion allotted 
 to us in such a manner, that at the end of it, 
 we may have as little as possible to reproach 
 ourselves with. 
 
 " To die is the first contract that was made 
 'Twixt mankind and the world, it is a debt 
 For which we were created, and indeed, 
 To die is man's nature, not his punishment." 
 
 Another poet says, 
 
 " This life's at longest but one day ; 
 He who in youth posts hence away, 
 Leaves us i' the morn. He who has run 
 His race till manhood, parts at noon ; 
 And who, at seventy odd, forsakes this light, 
 He may be said, to take his leave at night." 
 
 Spenser addresses the following apostrophe 
 to us. 
 
 " O why do wretched men so much desire, 
 
 To draw their days unto the utmost date, 
 And do not rather wish them soon expire, 
 Knowing the misery of their estate, 
 
 And
 
 And thousand perils which them still await, 
 Tossing them like a boat amid the main, 
 
 That every hour they knock at deathes gate ? 
 And he that happy seems, and least in pain, 
 Yet is as nigh his end, as he that most doth plain." 
 
 Hippocrates, who was perhaps the author 
 of this apothegm, extends it further, "Vita 
 brevis," he says, " et ars longa," intimating 
 that the longest life is only sufficient to enable 
 us to acquire a moderate portion of knowledge 
 in any art or science ; and experience shews 
 the justice of his position, for even assisted 
 with the discoveries of our predecessors, neither 
 medicine, to which he alludes, nor any other 
 art has arrived at perfection. 
 
 Per Ignem incedis, 
 
 Or, as Horace gives it, 
 
 " Iiicedis per ignes 
 
 Snppositos cineri doloso." 
 
 You are treading on hot ashes. You are en- 
 gaged in a difficult 'and hazardous business. 
 "Take care," we say, "you do not burn your- 
 self," or, " burn your fingers." Johnson uses 
 
 the
 
 the phrase, when entering on the lives of the 
 poets, who lived near his time, or were his 
 contemporaries ; meaning, that by speaking 
 freely of them, and giving his sentiments of 
 their works there was danger of offending their 
 friends or relatives. The adage may also mean, 
 as you are treading on hot ashes, that is, are 
 in jeopardy, get out of the business, conciliate 
 the parties whom you have offended, as soon 
 as you can, as you would run or hasten over 
 a floor that is burning ; the flame which is at 
 present smothered, may burst out and destroy 
 you. That this is also intimated, seems pro- 
 bable from the following. 
 
 Non incedis per Ignem. 
 
 You are not walking over a furnace, which 
 was used to be said to persons appearing to 
 be in great haste, but who had no urgent 
 business. 
 
 Ausculta, et perpcnde. 
 
 Listen and consider. Hear what is said to 
 
 you, and weigh it in your mind, before you 
 
 VOL. ir. i give
 
 give your opinion. Or it may be said by a 
 person speaking, " Listen attentively to what 
 I am about to relate, you will find it deserv- 
 ing your serious consideration." 
 
 Non statim decernendum. 
 
 Be not in baste to give your opinion on any 
 proposition, though pressed to it ever so ear- 
 nestly. But be ready in all matters of moment 
 to say, I will consider of it, will advise with 
 my pillow. A wise man will neither give his 
 assent nor dissent in anv matter of conse- 
 
 w 
 
 quence, until he has sufficiently examined it, 
 and discovered its tendency. 
 
 Mortuus per Somnum, vacabis Curis. 
 
 Having dreamed you were dead, you will 
 now be free from care. Such was anciently a 
 current opinion among the Grecians, as it is 
 now in some parts of this country. The Spa- 
 niards sa}', more properly, " De los sueHos no 
 creas, ni malos, ni buenos," pay no credit to 
 
 dreams,
 
 ( 119 ) 
 
 dreams, whether good or bad ; and the French, 
 11 Tous les songes sont mensonges," all dreams 
 are lies. Hence, perhaps, an opinion, that all 
 dreams are to be construed as meaning the 
 contrary, " After a dream of a wedding," we 
 say, " comes a corpse." But this is equally as 
 idle, as taking them literally. 
 
 Habet. 
 
 He hath it. He has obtained what he 
 wished for, or, he hath met with his deserts, 
 which last is always understood in an ill sense. 
 The expression is said to take its origin from 
 the exclamation of the spectators in the amphi- 
 theatre at Rome, who, when they saw a gladi- 
 ator wounded, were used to cry out "habet/' 
 A similar expression is used among us, and we 
 say, when a man in fighting receives a violent 
 blow, '' he has got enough," or, " he has got 
 his belly full." Simo used it, when speaking 
 of his son Pamphilus, to intimate he was taken 
 or caught by the fair Andiian. 
 
 1 2 Palpo
 
 ( 120 ) 
 
 Palpo per cut ere. 
 
 To tickle any one fnto a good humour. 
 " To get on the blind side of any one," as we 
 do of a horse who happens to have one eye 
 defective, when we are about to bring any 
 thing near him which would make him 
 startle; also to flatter or cajole any one by 
 praising the qualities of a favourite horse or 
 dog, or any part of his family to whom we 
 observe him to be attached. 
 
 Suam quisque Homo Rem meminit. 
 
 Men are in general abundantly attentive to 
 their own interest; if, therefore, you wish them 
 to serve you with diligence, you must make it 
 their interest to do so : 
 
 " Hoc tibi sit argumentum, semper in promptu situm, 
 Ne quid expectes arnicos facere, quod per te queas." 
 
 Be this your rule through life, never leave to 
 others to perform any business for you, which 
 you can do yourself: consonant to this we 
 say, " help yourself and your friends will love 
 
 you."
 
 you." The lark, that had made her nest in a 
 cornfield, was in no haste to quit her habita- 
 tion so long as she heard that the farmer de- 
 pended upon the assistance of his neighbours 
 and friends to get in his harvest, but when her 
 young ones told her that the master was com- 
 ing himself with his sons the next day ; now 
 it is time, she said, to be gone, for the business 
 will certainly be done. A Venetian noble- 
 man, we are told, called upon Cosmo de Me- 
 dicis, to inquire of him by what means he 
 might improve his fortune, and received from 
 him the following rules ; " Never to do that 
 by another which he could do himself; not 
 to defer until to-morrow what might be done 
 to-day; and not to neglect small concerns." 
 
 Qtice dolent ea molestum est contingere. 
 
 " You touched him in a tender part," and 
 brought to his memory some instance of vice 
 or folly he would gladly have forgotten. This, 
 however, is equally a breach of good manners, 
 as it would be of humanity to tread on the 
 i 3 foot
 
 ( 122 ) 
 
 foot of a person afflicted with corns or the 
 gout, or to handle rudely any part that was 
 diseased or wounded : " No se ha de mentar 
 la soga, en casa del ahorcado," we should not 
 mention a halter in the, house of one whose 
 father was hanged. 
 
 To live voluptuously like the Greeks, to 
 be great topers. The phrase seems to have 
 been used by the Romans to express their 
 contempt of the soft and effeminate man- 
 ners of the Grecians, particularly of that 
 portion of them who had taken up their resi- 
 dence at Rome, and were probably the most 
 worthless of the country, who were not able to 
 get a living at home. These men, we are 
 told, had the art, by flattery and by admi- 
 nistering to the vices of the great, to make 
 themselves so acceptable that scarcely any 
 favour could be procured, or even any access 
 to the nobles could be obtained but through 
 them. Juvenal severely censures his country- 
 men for their attachment to these vermin : 
 
 "All
 
 ( 123 ) 
 
 " All Greeks are actors, and in this vain town, 
 Walk a short road to riches and renown. 
 Smiles the great man ? they laugh with noisy roar ; 
 Weeps he? their eyes with bidden tears run o'er. 
 Asks he a fire in winter's usual cold? 
 The warmest rugs their shivering limbs enfold. 
 Pants he beneath the summer's common heat ? 
 Lo ! they are batb'd in sympathetic sweat. 
 In vain the Roman would contest the prize, 
 For native genius arms the Greek with lies ; 
 He, every moment of the night or day, 
 Mimics the great in all they look or say; 
 Loads their vain ear with praise that never tires, 
 And all their folly, all their trash admires." 
 
 Hodgson's Translation. 
 
 Johnson, in his imitation of the same satire, 
 has transferred the censure to the French, 
 who, he seems to think, had obtained the 
 same influence here, the Grecians had at 
 Rome : 
 
 " Obsequious, artful, voluble and gay, 
 On Britons' fond credulity they prey. 
 No gainful trade their industry can 'scape, 
 They sing, they dance, clean shoes, or cure a clap ; 
 AH sciences a fasting Monsieur knows, 
 And bid him go to hell, to hell he goes," 
 
 i 4 Minuit
 
 ( 134 ) 
 
 Minuit Prcesentia Famam. 
 
 Intimacy lessens fame. Authors, like kings, 
 will be most likely to excite a high opinion of 
 their capacities by being seldom seen, or only 
 by select persons ; too familiar an intercourse 
 with the world breaks the charm which the 
 fame of their works had perhaps raised ; they 
 are found to be mere mortals, and often with 
 a larger portion of folly than falls to the lot of 
 even ordinary men. " How it comes to pass," 
 Montaigne says, " I know not, and yet it is 
 certainly so, there is as much vanity and 
 weakness of judgment in those who possess 
 the greatest abilities, who take upon them 
 learned callings and bookish employments, 
 as in any other sort of men whatever ; ei- 
 ther because more is expected and re- 
 quired from them, and that common defects 
 are inexcusable in them ; or truly because 
 the opinion they have of their own learning 
 makes them more bold to expose and lay 
 themselves too open, by which they lose and 
 betray themselves." " A prophet," we are 
 
 told,
 
 ( 125 ) 
 
 told, " is not without honour save in his own 
 country," where he is intimately known, and 
 where he may be oppressed, and his fame in- 
 jured by the errors of his kindred as well as 
 by his own. " Is not this the son of the car- 
 penter Joseph?" was said of our Saviour, with 
 the view of lessening him in the estimation of 
 the people, when they could find nothing in 
 his character to which blame could be at- 
 tached. 
 
 Quod qiiis Culpa sua contraxit, majus Malum, 
 or, Bis inter imitur qui suis Armis per it. 
 
 The evil which has been occasioned by our 
 own error or misconduct presseth most se- 
 verely and is taken the most heavily; the 
 sting and remorse of the mind accusing itself 
 doubling the adversity : on the contrary, that 
 which is occasioned by the treachery or ma- 
 levolence of others has its alleviation ; partly 
 perhaps from the mind's being diverted from 
 contemplating it intensely by searching means 
 of avenging it, or simply pleasing itself 
 
 with
 
 ( 126 ) 
 
 with the expectation, that it will not pass un- 
 punished. " Remorse," as Dr. Smith observes 
 in his Theory of Moral Sentiments, " is the 
 most painful sentiment that can embitter the 
 human bosom. Any ordinary pitch of forti- 
 tude may bear up tolerably well under those 
 calamities, in the procurement of which we 
 ourselves have had no hand ; but when our 
 own follies or crimes have made us miserable, 
 to bear up with manly firmness, and at the 
 same time to have a proper sense of our mis- 
 conduct, is a glorious effort of self-com- 
 mand." 
 
 " Of all the numerous ills that hurt our peace, 
 
 That press the soul, or wring the mind with anguish, 
 Beyond comparison the worst are those 
 That to our follies or our guilt \ve owe." 
 
 But the Stoics demand from us more intre- 
 pidity; they tell us, and with reason, methinks, 
 that we should not complain of, or sink under 
 those misfortunes which we have brought upon 
 ourselves; " Ferre ea molestissime homines non 
 debent, qua?, ipsorum culpa contracta sunt." 
 
 Cleecam
 
 ( 127 ) 
 
 Clavam extorquere Herculi. 
 
 Would you attempt to wrest his club from 
 the hands of Hercules ? may be said to any one 
 undertaking what is much beyond his capacity 
 to perform. Such was anciently the reverence 
 paid to Homer, that to imitate his verses was 
 thought to be as difficult as to take by force his 
 club from Hercules, or the thunderbolt from 
 the hands of Jupiter. The adage may also be 
 applied to any one entering into a contest 
 with persons superior to him in fortune and 
 power. " You may as well take a bear by the 
 tooth." " He that meddleth with strife that 
 doth not belong to him, is like one that taketh 
 a mad dog by the ear." 
 
 Tacitus pasci si posset. 
 
 If he had eaten quietly what he had ob- 
 tained ; if he had not boasted of his good for- 
 tune, before he was completely in possession 
 of it, he might have enjoyed it unmolested; 
 but by proclaiming it he has stirred up rivals 
 
 for
 
 ( 128 ) 
 
 for the situation, with whom he will find it 
 difficult to contend, and who may probably 
 supplant him. The idea is taken from the 
 fable of the stag who had escaped the hunters 
 and eluded their search by concealing himself 
 among the vines, but thinking himself safe, 
 he began to browse upon the leaves ; the hun- 
 ters, led to the place by the noise and by the 
 motion of the boughs, took and killed him. 
 Or from the crow, who, overcome by the flat- 
 tery of the fox, attempting to sing, let fall the 
 cheese that he held in his mouth, which the 
 fox seized upon and devoured. " Can't you fare 
 well," we say, " without crying roast meat ?" 
 
 Cedro digna Locutus. 
 
 A speech deserving to be embalmed, to be 
 preserved to the latest period of time. " To 
 be written in letters of gold." 
 
 " An erit qui velle recuset 
 
 Os populi meruisse ? et cedro digna locutus 
 Linquere." 
 " Who lives, we ask, insensible to praise, 
 
 Deserves, and yet neglects, the proffer'd bays ? 
 
 Who
 
 ( 129 ) 
 
 Who is not pleased that from the bookworm's rage, 
 The juice of cedar shall preserve his page?" 
 
 The ancients were accustomed to varnish 
 the leaves of the papyrus, on which they had 
 committed any thing to writing, with an oil 
 extracted from the cedar, which had the facul- 
 ty of preserving them from becoming putrid, 
 as well as of driving away noxious or devour- 
 ing insects ; the oil of juniper was used, it is 
 said, for the same purpose and with equal ef- 
 fect. It is probable that Russia leather, used 
 in binding books, owes its power of killing or 
 driving away the bookworm, if it really has 
 that property, to some similar ingredient used 
 in its preparation. 
 
 Cura esse quod audis. 
 
 Endeavour to be what you are reputed to 
 be, or what you are solicitous to be esteemed. 
 We are all of us desirous that the world should 
 think well of us, let us labour then to deserve 
 their good opinion. Sycophants and flatte- 
 rers might be of use to us, if, when we hear 
 ourselves commended by them for qualities 
 
 which
 
 ( 130 ) 
 
 which we are conscious we do not possess, we 
 should forthwith set about to acquire them. 
 
 Equi et PoetcE alendi non saginandi. 
 
 Poets and horses should be fed, not pam- 
 pered, was an apothegm of Charles the Ninth, 
 of France, said, perhaps, rather from the treat- 
 ment poets have in all ages met with, than 
 from his own opinion of their merit. Though 
 he said it, I think, to justify the smallness of 
 the present he had directed to be given to one 
 of them, who had addressed a copy of verses 
 to him. That poets are in a particular manner 
 neglected, can hardly be said with propriety, 
 as literary men of all descriptions almost, pass 
 equally unnoticed. This seems to arise from 
 the quiet, retired, and unobtrusive manner in 
 which they ordinarily pass their lives, so that 
 the world scarcely knows that they are in ex- 
 istence. I speak of the most valuable and 
 deserving of them, for there are, in each class, 
 some who are more than sufficiently forward, 
 and the little that is bestowed falls principally 
 
 among them. 
 
 Mel
 
 ( 131 ) 
 
 Flet victus, Victor interiit. 
 
 The conquered lament their hard fate, and 
 the conqueror is undone : a no uncommon 
 consequence of war, in which, though the 
 conqueror may not be reduced to the low 
 state of his opponent, yet he usually finds his 
 country so weakened by the conte'st, so drained 
 of men and money, that it scarcely recovers it- 
 self in an age. The same often happens, on the 
 termination of a suit at law. The adage took 
 its rise from the result of the battle at Che- 
 ronasa, in which the Athenians and Thebans 
 were destroyed; and Philip, of Macedon, who 
 conquered them, was soon after assassinated, 
 by a young man of the name of Pausanias. 
 
 Sapientes portant Cornua i?i Pectore, Stulti in 
 Front e. 
 
 " Wise men wear their horns in their breasts, 
 in their pockets," we say, " fools on their fore- 
 heads." The Spaniards to the same purport 
 say, " Los locos tienen el corazon en la boca, 
 y los cuerdos la boca en el corazon,'' fools have 
 
 their
 
 ( 132 ) 
 
 their hearts in their mouths, but wise men keep 
 their mouths in their hearts. Fools are the 
 first to proclaim their follies, or those of their 
 families, which men of sense are careful to 
 conceal. It is prudent to wink at some irre- 
 gularities in your children, and friends, to en- 
 deavour by private admonition, and reproof, 
 to correct and amend them ; and though these 
 should fail, you may still hope, that further 
 experience, and knowledge of the world, may 
 produce that change in their conduct, which 
 your labours had failed in procuring. By this 
 means you will often have the satisfaction of 
 saving a person, dear to you, from perdition. 
 
 Qui non litigat, Calebs est. 
 
 The man who has a quiet house, has no 
 wife. Certainly many of the Greek writers 
 appear to have had a great horror of matri- 
 mony, to which, perhaps, may be attributed 
 the high colon ring thev gave to the character 
 
 O v O 
 
 of Xantippe, who was not, it is probable, so 
 great a termagant as they have painted her. 
 Some of their apothegms follow. 
 
 " Mulier
 
 ( 133 ) 
 
 " Mulier in aedibus atra tempestas viro." 
 
 A wife, like a tempest, is a perpetual distur- 
 bance to the house. 
 
 " Incendit omnem feminaj zelus domutn." 
 
 The restless spirit of the woman keeps the 
 house in a perpetual flame ; and 
 
 "Muliere nil est pejus, atque etiam bond." 
 Nothing is worse than a woman, even than 
 the best of them. " It is better," Solomon 
 says, " to dwell in the wilderness, than with a 
 contentious and angry woman ;" and in an- 
 other place, "It is better to dwell in the corner 
 of the house-top, than with a brawling woman, 
 and in a wide house." Montaigne has an ob- 
 servation equally satirical : " The concern," 
 he says, " that some women shew at the ab- 
 sence of their husbands, does not arise from, 
 their desire of seeing and being with them, 
 but from their apprehension that they are en- 
 joying pleasures in which they do not partici- 
 pate, and which, from their being at a distance, 
 they have not the power of interrupting." A 
 similar idea pervades the following, by Bu- 
 channan, who in the early part of Montaigne's 
 life, was one of his preceptors. 
 
 VOL. ir. K *' Ilia
 
 ( 134 ) 
 
 " Ilia mjhi semper praesenti, dura Neasra, 
 Me quoties absum, semper abesse dolet, 
 Non desiderio nostri, non moeret amore, 
 Sed se non nostri posse dolore frui." 
 
 Neasra, who treats me when present with the 
 greatest cruelty, yet never fails to lament my 
 absence; not from the affection she bears me, 
 but she grieves that sne cannot then enjoy 
 the pleasure of seeing me wretched ; which 
 may be better liked, perhaps, in the following: 
 
 " Neasra present, to my vows unkind, 
 
 When absent, still my absence seems to mourn ; 
 Not moved by love, but that my tortur'd mind, 
 With anguish unenjoyed by her, is torn." 
 
 To finish the bad side of the picture, one only 
 of our adages shall be given. " To see a 
 woman weeping," we say, " is as piteous a 
 sight, as to see a goose go barefoot." From 
 all which we learn, that as there are some tur- 
 bulent and ill-disposed women, so there have 
 not been wanting men, ill-natured enough to 
 make them the models, from which they chose 
 to characterize the sex. Hesiod more justly 
 and more reasonably says, 
 
 " Sors potior muliere proba, non obtigit unquarn 
 Ulla viro, contraque malA nil tetrius usquam est. 
 
 As
 
 As the possession of a good woman, consti- 
 tutes the greatest felicity a man can enjoy, so 
 the being yoked to a bad one, is the greatest 
 torment that can be inflicted upon him. The 
 Spaniards, consonant to this, say, "De buenas 
 armas es armado, quien con buena muger es 
 casado," the man is well provided who is mar- 
 ried to a good woman. " He that hath no 
 wife," Cornelius Agrippa sayeth, "hath no 
 house, because he doth not fasten (live) in his 
 house; and if he have, he dwelleth therein as 
 a stranger in an inn ; he that hath no wife, 
 although he be exceeding rich, he hath almost 
 nothing that may be called his, because he 
 hath not to whom he may leave it, nor to 
 whom to trust, all that he hath is in danger 
 of spoyle; his servants rob him, his companions 
 beguile him, his neighbours despise him, his 
 friends regard him not, his kinsfolk seek his 
 undoing; if he hath any children out of ma- 
 trimonie, they turn him to shame, wherefore 
 the laws forbid him to leave them either the 
 name of their familie, the armes of their pre- 
 decessors, or their substance ; and he is also, 
 together with them, put back from all public 
 K 2 offices
 
 offices and dignities by the consent of all 
 law makers : this finally is the only state of 
 life, wherein a man may lead the happiest life 
 of all, in loving his wife, in bringing up his 
 children, in governing his familie, in saving 
 his substance and in encreasing his offspring; 
 wherein if any charge and labour happen, and 
 no state of life is without its cross, verily this 
 only is that light burden and sweet yoke 
 M'hich is in wedlock." 
 
 Mendico ne Parentes quidem Amid sunt. 
 
 Poverty has, at times, the power of destroy- 
 ing even the affection of a parent to his off- 
 spring. " When poverty comes in at the door, 
 love flies out at the window." In extreme 
 poverty, the mind is too intensely employed 
 in procuring sustenance, to have leisure to 
 attend to the wants of others, even our nearest 
 relatives. When Mrs. Thrale reproved a poor 
 girl, who was sitting, while her mother was on 
 her legs, and employed ; Johnson excused 
 the girl, as not owing that attention to her 
 mother, from whom she only inherited misery 
 
 and
 
 ( 137 ) 
 
 and want. But poverty is not without its 
 advantages. If the poor man has not the 
 conveniences, so neither has he the cares that 
 riches never fail to hring with them. His 
 wants are few, and the labour necessary to 
 supply them, preserves him in health, and 
 gives him that composed and quiet sleep, 
 which does not often attend the pillow of the 
 wealthy. The wise man therefore says, "give 
 me neither poverty nor riches." 
 
 " Would you be free ? 'tis your chief wish, you say; 
 Come on, I'll shew thee, friend, the certain way. 
 If to no feasts abroad thou lov'st to go, 
 Whilst bounteous God does bread at home bestow ; 
 If thou the goodness of thy clothes dost prize, 
 By thine own use, and not by others' eyes; 
 If (only safe from weather) thou jeanst dwell 
 In a small house, but a convenient shell ; 
 If thou, without a sigh, or golden wish, 
 Canst look upon the beechen bowl and dish ; 
 If in thy mind such power and greatness be, 
 The Persian king's a slave compared to thee." 
 
 Bellum inejcpertis. 
 
 War is approved by the young and incon- 
 siderate, by those who are unacquainted with 
 
 K 3 the
 
 ( 138 ) 
 
 the dreadful waste of life as well as of pro- 
 perty that it occasions. " Expertus metuit," 
 by men of knowledge and experience it is de- 
 precated. " Iniquissimam pacem justissimo 
 bello antefero," I prefer, says the sagacious 
 and humane Cicero, the most impolitic and 
 disadvantageous peace, to the justest war; 
 and yet with what precipitancy and on what 
 trifling occasions do countries often rush into 
 war with each another ! if sovereigns would 
 
 O 
 
 weigh the consequences, M'ould put against the 
 object contended for, the numerous lives that 
 must necessarily be sacrificed in the contest ; 
 the number of women who would be rendered 
 childless, or would lose their husbands on 
 whom they, and perhaps an infant family, 
 depended for their support, they would sure- 
 ly not think it too much to sacrifice a 
 small portion of their dignity to prevent such 
 accumulated evils ; these, however, are a small 
 part only of the miseries of war. They are, in- 
 deed, all that this country has for many ages 
 been exposed to experience. On the conti- 
 nent, when an hostile army enters a country, 
 what massacres, what destruction marks its 
 
 pro-
 
 ( 139 ) 
 
 progress ! whole towns pillaged and destroyed, 
 and the miserable inhabitants put to the sword, 
 or the few that escape driven into the fields, 
 without shelter, without clothes, and without 
 food, only preserved for a short time to die a 
 more miserable death than those who perished 
 by the sword. With this kind of destruction 
 we have been long threatened, and who can 
 tell how soon it may fall upon us ! In this 
 state of things, how mortifying must it be, 
 to the grave and considerate part of the com- 
 munity, to see the time and energy of those 
 who have the care of the government of the 
 country, employed in rebutting the attacks of 
 noisy and contentious pseudo-patriots; who 
 appear to be moving heaven and earth to em- 
 barrass the proceeding of the ministers, solely, 
 it is to be feared, in the paltry expectation of 
 getting into their places : strange infatuation ! 
 that men of the largest property in the state 
 should be most forward in occasioning its de- 
 struction : surely so monstrous a procedure 
 must portend some dreadful catastrophe ! 
 " Quos Deus vult perdere prius dementat/' 
 God first deprives of their reason those who 
 K 4 are
 
 ( HO ) 
 
 are doomed to be destroyed. " And God har- 
 dened Pharaoh's heart," we are told, " blinded 
 his judgment, that he would not let the.chil- 
 dren of Israel go ;" it being predetermined 
 that the ^Egyptians should suffer a severe 
 chastisement. 
 
 Mors omnibus commums. 
 
 We must all die, M'e should, therefore, fre- 
 quently meditate on this our common destiny, 
 which is equally incident to the young and 
 the old, the strong and the weak ; no age, no 
 state of health affording security against the 
 stroke of death. Whence is it then, that we 
 treat this common guest as a stranger, and 
 appear to be surprised when he has taken from 
 us any near relative or friend ? In this town 
 we have a regular yearly account of the num- 
 ber of deaths that occur within a certain dis- 
 tance ; this, besides the purpose of recording 
 the diseases which occasion the greatest de- 
 struction, for which it seems to have been ori- 
 ginally formed, should have the further use of 
 familiarizing us with death, and as it appears 
 
 that
 
 ( 141 ) 
 
 that from 18 to 20,000 persons die yearly 
 .within the compass of a few miles, it ought 
 not to seem extraordinary that ourselves, or 
 any of our families should be of the number; 
 it should rather be expected. A friend, con- 
 doling with Anaxagoras, on the death of his 
 son, and expressing a more than ordinary 
 concern on the occasion, was told by that 
 philosopher, " Sciebam mortalem me genuisse 
 filium," " that he had never thought his son 
 to be immortal." And Xenophantes receiving 
 similar intelligence, hearing that his son died 
 fighting bravely for his country, said, " I did 
 not make it my request to the Gods that my 
 son might be immortal, or that he should be 
 long lived, for it is not manifest whether this 
 was convenient for him or no ; but that he 
 might have integrity in his principles and be 
 a lover of his country, and now I have my 
 desire !" 
 
 " The time of being here we style amiss, 
 We call it life, but truly labour 'tis." 
 
 These men, therefore, it may be presumed, 
 had well considered the subject. From the 
 aversion that many persons have of speaking 
 
 or
 
 ( 142 ) 
 
 or thinking of death, it would seem as if they 
 thought that by such meditation they should 
 accelerate its approach ; but it would proba- 
 bly have the contrary effect, for as a large por* 
 tion of the diseases and deaths of such as live 
 to an adult age are occasioned by intempe- 
 rance, a serious contemplation of that circum- 
 stance might wean them from their irregula- 
 rities, and so prolong their lives; or if it did 
 not produce that effect, it might enable them 
 to meet death with firmness as a guest that was 
 daily expected : 
 
 " Fleres si scires unum tua tempora mensem, 
 Rides, cum non sit forsitan una dies." 
 
 You would weep if you knew you had only one 
 month to live, yet you pass your time in 
 gaiety and folly, though perhaps you may 
 not live a single day. It is not meant by 
 what is here said, that we should not have a 
 proper relish for life, or that we should be in- 
 different about its extinction ; 
 
 " For who to dumb forgetfulness a prey, 
 This pleasing anxious being e'er resigned, 
 Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, 
 Nor cast one longing lingering wish behind ?" 
 
 But
 
 ( 143 ) 
 
 But as we know we must die, we should be at 
 all times ready to meet our fate when the hour 
 approaches. 
 
 Inter Pueros Senev. 
 
 Among children or young persons he may 
 be looked upon as old or intelligent, but 
 among elderly people he is considered as 
 young. This was used to be said of persons 
 of specious or imposing manners, who wished 
 to appear more learned or wise than on trial 
 they were found to be. " A doctor among 
 fools, and a fool among doctors," is, I think, 
 the phrase by which we designate such cha- 
 racters. 
 
 Ne Jupiter quidem omnibus placet. 
 
 It is of importance that we should well con- 
 sider every project that we may engage in, 
 that there be a reasonable probability of its 
 succeeding and that it receive the sanction 
 of such prudent and sensible friends as we may 
 think it right to consult; but no measure 
 
 however
 
 ( 144 ) 
 
 however well planned should be expected to 
 meet with general approbation ; Jupiter him- 
 self not being able to please every one. 
 
 Felix Corinthus, at ego sim Teneates. 
 
 The Corinthian may, indeed, boast of the 
 splendour of his city, but the soft and rustic 
 beauties of Tenia please and satisfy me; may 
 be said by any one, on hearing the praise of 
 rank and large possessions too much insisted 
 on, if he has sense enough to be contented and 
 to see the advantages of a middling station. 
 
 Tenea was a village in the neighbourhood 
 of Corinth, remarkable for its mild and salu- 
 brious atmosphere, and for the beauty of its 
 scenery. 
 
 Mala ultro adsunt. 
 
 Misfortunes come fast enough, we need not 
 seek them, which those do who enter into 
 contests in which they have no concern ; or 
 who " meet troubles half way," and begin 
 lamenting before they arrive, the difficulty Js 
 
 to
 
 ( 145 ) 
 
 to get rid of them when present "Mischiefs 
 come by the pound, and go away by the 
 ounce," which seems a very indifferent imita- 
 tion of " Les maladies viennent a cheval, re- 
 tournent a pied," diseases make their attack 
 on horseback, but retire on foot. 
 
 De te Kxemplum capit. 
 
 What wonder, since he only follows your 
 example, may be said to parents reproving 
 their children for irregularities, or faults, of 
 which they are themselves guilty. 
 
 " If gaming does an aged sire entice, 
 
 Then my young master swiftly learns the vice, 
 
 And shakes in hanging sleeves the little box and dice. 
 
 In sola Sparta expedit senescere. 
 
 * 
 
 Sparta is the most convenient residence for 
 aged persons ; age being in a peculiar manner 
 respected and honoured in that country. The 
 following story from Valerius Maximus, will 
 illustrate this position. It is here given from 
 the sixth Number of the Spectator. 
 
 "It
 
 " It happened at Athens, during the repre- 
 sentation of a play, that an old gentleman 
 came too late for a place, suitable to his age 
 and quality. Many of the young men, who 
 observed the confusion he was in, made signs 
 to him, that they would accommodate him, if 
 he came where they sat. The good man 
 bustled through the crowd accordingly, but 
 when he came to the seat to which he was in- 
 vited, the jest was to sit close and expose him, 
 as he stood, out of countenance, to the audi- 
 ence. The frolic went round the Athenian 
 benches ; when the good man skulked towards 
 the boxes appointed for the Lacedemonians, 
 that honest people rose up to a man, and with 
 the greatest respect received him among them. 
 The Athenians being suddenly touched with 
 a sense of the Spartan virtue, and their own 
 degeneracy, gave a thunder of applause; and 
 the old man cried out, " The Athenians un- 
 derstand what is right, but the Lacedemo- 
 nians practise it." So the poet, 
 
 " Credebant hoc grande nefas et morte piaudum, 
 Si juvenis vetulo non assurrexerit," &c. 
 
 Divitis
 
 ( 147 ) 
 
 Divitis Seroi mcurimk Servi. 
 
 Servants to rich and powerful persons are 
 the most abject of all servants. On account 
 of the great distance there is between them 
 and those they serve, they lose all estimation, 
 " as the shrubs and underwood, that grow 
 near or under great trees, are observed to be 
 the most scrubby and feeble of any in the 
 field, the trees engrossing to themselves all 
 the nourishment." " Sirve a senor y sabras 
 que es dolor," serve a great man, and you will 
 know what sorrow is. " Cabe Senor, ni cabe 
 igreja no pongas teja," do not lay a tile, that 
 is, do not build a house near a lord, nor near 
 a church, lest they pick a quarrel with you, 
 and dispossess you of your property. 
 
 Malum Vas nonfrangitur. 
 
 The worthless vessel escapes being broken 
 more frequently than one of more value. 
 " Naught," we say, " though often in danger, 
 is seldom hurt," and " ill weeds grow apace." 
 The opinion that the virtuous and discreet are 
 
 more
 
 ( 148 ) 
 
 more subject to accident and misfortune, than 
 the vicious, is too general not to be founded 
 on observation. The good man, conscious of 
 not having done, or intended injury to any 
 one, is not easily led to apprehend mischief 
 from others, or to use precautions against the 
 shafts of malice, which he cannot suppose to 
 be levelled at him ; but the vicious man, 
 knowing he has deserved, is constantly on his 
 guard against the enmity of those whom he 
 has injured or provoked. This habit of watch- 
 fulness and attention to his safety, occasions 
 him not only to escape the injuries which 
 persons less wary meet with, but to obtain a 
 larger portion of the goods of the world, than 
 fall to the lot of persons more deserving, but 
 who are less active and vigilant in using the 
 means necessary for acquiring them. Or the 
 adage may be explained in this way : we set 
 snares for the Canarybird, the Groldfinch, and 
 other birds of song, and having taken them, 
 we confine them in cages ; but the Sparrow, 
 the Swallow, and many others, that neither 
 contribute to our amusement, nor are used at 
 our tables, are suffered to enjoy their liberty. 
 
 Malum
 
 ( 149 ) 
 
 Malum Munus. 
 
 An unseasonable, or improper gift, tending 
 to the injury, not to the profit of the receiver: 
 as a large sum of money to voung persons, 
 which they, not knowing how to use properly, 
 often apply in such ways, as to become de- 
 structive to their health, their morals, and 
 their fortunes ; authority, to ignorant and in- 
 experienced, or to base and worthless men, 
 who will use it to the injury of those whom 
 they ought to favour and protect ; or prefer- 
 ment in the church, to ignorant and illiterate 
 divines, who, like the ape, only become the 
 more disgraced, the higher they rise. 
 
 Vox et prceterea nihil. 
 
 Plutarch in his apothegms tells us, that a 
 nightingale being, among other things, set 
 before a Lacedemonian for his dinner, when 
 he was about to eat it, observing how very 
 slender the body of the bird was, and com- 
 paring it with the strength and beauty of hij> 
 
 VOL, ii. i. song,
 
 song, he exclaimed, " Vox es et praterea 
 nihil," you are all voice; the expression hence 
 became proverbial, and is applied to persons 
 \vho abound in words, but have little sense, 
 " Q.ui dant sine mente sonum/' Cicero there- 
 fore says, " Malo indisertam prudentiam quam 
 loquacem stultitiam,"give me rather a prudent 
 man, who, though unlearned, is silent, than a 
 loquacious blockhead. For as the poet ob- 
 serves, 
 
 " Words are like leaves, and where they most abound, 
 Much fruit of sense beneath, is rarely found." 
 
 Qui nescit dissimulare, nescit regnare. 
 
 " Chi non sa fingere, non sa vivere," who 
 knows not how to dissemble, knows not how 
 to reign, or to live, the Italians say. This was 
 frequently, it is said, in the mouth of King 
 James the First, but it did not say much in 
 favour of his sagacity ; and by proclaiming it 
 as a principle, it must have defeated his pur- 
 pose in adopting it; as it must have made 
 him distrusted, even when he meant what he 
 professed, " a liar not being to be believed, 
 
 even
 
 even when he speaks the truth." Lord Veru- 
 lam says, " Dissimulation is but a faint kind 
 of policy or wisdom, for it asketh a strong wit, 
 and a strong heart, to know when to tell truth, 
 and to do it. Therefore it is the weaker sort 
 of politics that are the great dissemblers." 
 
 Pingere sub Gladio. 
 
 To paint with a sword hanging over one's 
 head ; metaphorically, to perform any business 
 requiring thought and reflection in the midst 
 of difficulty and danger, or in the hurricane 
 and disquiet of a scolding wife, and noisy 
 children. Protogenes is said to have painted 
 one of the finest of his pictures, while the city 
 in which he dwelt was besieged, and in daily 
 expectation to be taken by storm ; a rare in- 
 stance of coolness and presence of mind, and 
 which is said to have given rise to the adage. 
 
 Tuts te pin gam Coloribus. 
 
 I will paint you in your proper colours, 
 
 that is, I will describe you as you are, that 
 
 L 2 your
 
 your friends may see with what sort of man 
 they have to do : with us, the expression is 
 always used in a bad sense. 
 
 Nil act um reputans, si quid superesset 
 agendum. 
 
 Esteeming what is done as nothing, while 
 any thing remains to be performed. It is a 
 .mark of a strong and vigorous mind, not to 
 tire in the pursuit of an object we have deter- 
 mined to attain, as it is of imbecility to give 
 up the chace, deterred by obstacles, whicli 
 perseverance might enable us to surmount. 
 Should the obstacles opposing the completion 
 of our design, prove to be insurmountable, if 
 they are such as could not be foreseen or 
 known, but from experience, the failure will 
 reflect no disgrace, and it is better " magnis 
 excidere ausis," to fail in attempting what was 
 great and noble, than by a too timid, and 
 cautious conduct, to continue in indigence 
 and obscurity. 
 
 Nthil
 
 ( 153 ) 
 
 Nihil de Vitdlo. 
 
 But where is the yolk, was used to be said 
 to persons reserving to themselves the best 
 part of any viands, or other things, of which 
 they had the distribution. A man dreamed 
 he had found an egg. A soothsayer who was 
 consulted to interpret the dream, told him 
 that it portended he should find a treasure, 
 the white of the egg representing silver, the 
 yolk gold. The event corresponding with the 
 prediction, the man took to the seer, some of 
 the pieces of silver ; but what, said the seer, 
 is become of the yolk ? which thence became 
 proverbial. 
 
 Astutior Coccyce. 
 
 More crafty than the cuckoo. The cuckoo 
 is never at the pains of building a nest, but 
 having found one belonging to some other 
 bird, fit for her purpose, she throws out the 
 eggs she finds in it, and deposits her own in 
 their place. The owner of the nest, not per- 
 ceiving the fraud, hatches the cuckoo's egg, 
 L 3
 
 and nurtures the young one, thus freeing 
 its mother from all care for her offspring. 
 The cuckoo is a bird of passage ; it appears 
 in this country in the month of April, and 
 leaves it in June. The female lays only a 
 single egg, usually in the nest of the hedge- 
 sparrow, as we learn from the following distich. 
 
 " The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long, 
 That she had her head bit off by her young." 
 
 Corinthiari. 
 
 To live a debauched and voluptuous life, 
 like the Corinthians. Corinth of old, like 
 Venice in modern times, was famed for enter- 
 taining multitudes of courtezans, and for the 
 great homage that was paid to them. They 
 served as decoys to attract to the city, the 
 most wealthy of the inhabitants from all parts 
 of Greece, to the great emolument of the ar- 
 tizans and traders, and improvement of the 
 revenue of the state. Lais, one of the cour- 
 tezans, was esteemed to be the most beautiful 
 and accomplished woman of the age in which 
 she lived. She drew visitors from the most 
 
 distant
 
 ( 155 ) 
 
 distant countries, to whom she sold her fa- 
 vours at a very high price. Of Demosthenes, 
 who wished to pass an evening with her, she 
 required ten thousand drachmas. Astonished 
 at the boldness and largeness of the demand, 
 he quitted her, " not choosing," he said, "to 
 buy repentance at so dear a rate." 
 
 Leporis Vltam vivit. 
 
 He lives a hare's life. He is full of care and 
 anxiety, like a hare, said to be the most timid 
 of all animals, which is perpetually on the 
 watch, and even in its sleep is said not to 
 shut its eyes, lest it should be surprised and 
 taken by the dogs. The hares, tired of living 
 in a state of constant fear and anxiety, were 
 determined to put an end to their existence, 
 by drowning themselves. With this resolution, 
 they rushed clown to a pool of water. Some 
 frogs, who were near the pool, alarmed at the 
 noise, leaped into the water, to avoid, the 
 danger which they supposed threatened them ; 
 this being noticed by some of the most for- 
 ward of the hares, they stopped, and observing 
 L4 to
 
 ( 156 ) 
 
 to their brethren, that their condition was not 
 worse than that of the frogs, they desisted 
 from their intention. This is one of the apo- 
 logues of JEsop, and \vas meant to cure men, 
 labouring under misfortunes, from thinking 
 that they are more unhappy than the rest of 
 mankind ; there being few so miserable, but 
 they may find others equally, or more wretched 
 than themselves. 
 
 Dolium volvitur. 
 
 A cask, when empty, may be rolled or moved 
 from its place, by a slight impulse, but when 
 filled, it is not to be moved but by the exertion 
 of considerable force. The weak and unin- 
 formed man, like an empty vessel, may be 
 turned from his purpose, by the most trifling 
 and insignificant arguments, or rather, having 
 no fixed principle of action, he is perpetually 
 wavering, and changing his designs. But the 
 considerate and wise man, having, on mature 
 reflection, formed a plan for his conduct, like 
 the well filled cask, he is not easily to be moved 
 or deterred from pursuing his object. 
 
 "Though
 
 ( 157 ) 
 
 " Though the whole frame of nature round him break, 
 He unconcerned will hear the mighty crack." 
 
 The adage is said to have taken its rise from a 
 story told of Diogenes, the cynic. When the 
 city of Abdera, in which he lived, was threat- 
 ened with a siege, seeing the citizens running 
 about confusedly, without order, or fixing on 
 any plan for defending the place, he took the 
 tub in which he lived into the market, and 
 rolled it about with great vehemence, intimat- 
 ing that until they quieted the tumult and 
 confusion that reigned in the city, they were 
 equally insignificantly and unprofitably em- 
 ployed. 
 
 Ne priiis Antidotum quam Venenum. 
 
 Why take the antidote before you have 
 swallowed the poison ; why so solicitous to 
 purge yourself from the imputation of a crime, 
 before you are accused, or why censure the 
 doctrines of a book before you have read and 
 considered it ? 
 
 Joe-
 
 Jactantlus mcerent qui minus dole.nt. 
 
 They weep most who are least concerned. 
 They grieve most ostentatiously for their 
 friends when dead, who regarded them least 
 when living. " Curas leves loquuntur, in- 
 gentes stupent," light griefs are noisy and 
 loquacious, or vent themselves in tears; those 
 that are more deeply felt, overwhelm and stu- 
 pify : and " Hasredis fletus sub persona risus 
 est," the weeping heir laughs under his mask. 
 The tears of those who are greatly benefited 
 by the death of the person whose loss they 
 seem to lament, may be suspected of hypo- 
 crisy ; weeping only to conceal their joy. " In 
 our age," Montaigne says, " women commonly 
 reserve the manifestation of their good of- 
 fices and their vehement affection towards 
 their husbands until they have lost them ; a 
 too slow testimony, and that comes too late : 
 we should willingly give them leave to laugh 
 after we are dead, provided they would smile 
 upon us whilst we are alive. Is it not enough 
 to make a man revive in spight, thaj she who 
 
 spit
 
 ( 159 ) 
 
 spit in my face whilst I was living with her, 
 shall come to kiss my feet when I am no 
 
 more r 
 
 Rore vwit more Cicadce. 
 
 He feeds, only on the dew, as the grasshop- 
 per does, " like the cameleon he feeds on air," 
 was used to be said, jestingly, of persons inor- 
 dinately fat and florid, particularly if they pre- 
 tended to be very delicate in their food, and 
 to have but slender appetites, as the monks 
 were accustomed to do. 
 
 " Qui Curios simulant, et Bacchanalia vivunt. 
 
 " You may read it," Rabelais says, "in their 
 red snouts and gulching bellies as big as a 
 tun." 
 
 Gallus in suo Sterquilinio plurimum valet. 
 
 " Cada gallo canta en su muladar," " every 
 cock will crow on his own dunghill." Every 
 man finds himself courageous in his own 
 house where he is surrounded by his family 
 
 and
 
 ( 160 ) 
 
 and friends, who will not suffer him to be op- 
 pressed. " As iron sharpeneth iron, so doth 
 the countenance of a friend his neighbour." 
 
 Prcestat invidiosum esse quam miserabilem. 
 
 " II vaut mieux faire envie que pitie*," it is 
 better to be envied than pitied ;" for envy is 
 the attendant on good fortune, as pity is of 
 distress and misery. 
 
 " Envy will merit as its shade pursue. 
 
 Like that it serves to show the substance true." 
 
 Quod non Opus cst Asse carum est. 
 
 What you have no use for is dear at the 
 price of a farthing. " Buy what thou hast 
 no need of, and ere long thou shalt sell thy 
 necessaries." 
 
 Nunc twin Ferrum in Igni est. 
 
 Your iron is in the fire, \rork it now that 
 it is soft, and you may give it what fashion 
 
 you
 
 ( 161 ) 
 
 you please ; but if you suffeT it to become 
 cold, it will no longer yield to the hammer. 
 Having begun the business, it must be dili- 
 gently attended to or it will not succeed. 
 " Bisogna battere ii ferro mentre e caldo," 
 "strike while the iron is hot;" " make hay 
 while the sun shines." 
 
 Qualis Hera, tails Pedisequce. 
 
 Such as is the mistress such will be the ser- 
 vants. " Like master like man," " Qual la 
 madre tal la hija," like mother, like daughter ; 
 " Qual el cuervo tal su hue* vo," as is the crow 
 so is the egg. It is therefore becoming those 
 who have the management of the family to set 
 good examples. " Madre piedosa cria hija 
 merdosa," an indulgent mother makes a sloth- 
 ful and sluttish daughter. 
 
 Etiamsi Cato dicat. 
 
 In Rome, if a very improbable tale was told, 
 it was usual to say, " I would not believe it, 
 even though Cato himself should tell it me," 
 thus shewing the reverence paid to the me- 
 mory
 
 ( 162 ) 
 
 mory of that great statesman and philosopher. 
 The Athenians, who had the same confidence 
 in the integrity of Aristides as the Romans 
 had in Cato, used his name on such occasions. 
 We more commonly say, " though an angel 
 should affirm it we would not believe it." 
 
 Destitutus Ventis, Remos adhibe. 
 
 When it is calm you must use your oars. 
 If one project prove unsuccessful you must 
 not despair, but have recourse to other means 
 which may prove more productive. " Post 
 malam segetem serendum est," though the 
 harvest has failed this year, you must conti- 
 nue your exertions in the hope you may speed 
 better the next ; " worse luck now, better 
 another time :" though the Spaniards say, 
 " Contra fortuna, no vale arte ninguna," there 
 is no use in striving against ill fortune. 
 
 Pariter Remum ducere. 
 
 As you have entered into the same vessel 
 
 you
 
 you must row together, as the boat will not 
 go on smoothly and regularly unless you move 
 your oars in concert : so neither must you 
 expect any business in which you are engaged 
 to succeed, unless all the parties concerned 
 are agreed as to the manner of proceeding, 
 and will act together. 
 
 Ut Lupus Ovem amat. 
 
 He loves him as the wolf loves the sheep; 
 or, " as the devil loves holy water." This may 
 be said of any one pretending a regard for 
 the interest of a person whom he is endea- 
 vouring to undermine and would destroy. 
 
 Vlam qui nescit ad Mare, eum oportet Amnem 
 qucerere. 
 
 Let him who knows not the way to the sea 
 take a river for his guide; that is, let him fol- 
 low the course of a river, which, though per- 
 haps by a circuitous route, will at length lead 
 him there ; the sea being the common recep- 
 tacle
 
 ( 164 ) 
 
 tacle or reservoir into which nearly all rivers 
 pour their contents. Or let those who wish 
 for information on any subject on which they 
 are ignorant inquire of those who are ac- 
 quainted with them, however humble their 
 situation : much useful knowledge being often 
 to be obtained by conversing with the very 
 lowest of the people ; as in mechanics, hus- 
 bandry, gardening, Sec. 
 
 Presens abest. 
 
 Though present he is absent. This was said 
 of persons who, engaged in thought, paid lit- 
 tle or no attention to what was said or done 
 in their company, which led them often into 
 great absurdities. M. Bruyere in his Carac- 
 teres, ou Moeurs de ce Siecle, has given an ex- 
 cellent description of an absent man, but too 
 much in detail, though perhaps there may be 
 but few of the instances he produces, which 
 may not have occurred. It is admirably 
 abridged in one of the papers of the Spec- 
 tator. 
 
 J\fagis-
 
 ( 165 ) 
 
 Magistratum gerens, audi et justt et injustl. 
 
 Being in office, it is your duty to hear all 
 that can be said on the business before you by 
 either party, before you decide on its merit. 
 
 " Qui statuit aliquid, parte inaudita altera, 
 JEquum licet statuerit, haud aequus est." 
 
 He who determines a cause without hearing 
 both the parties, though he passes a just sen- 
 tence, acts unjustly. 
 
 Avarus nisi quum moritur nil rectb facif. 
 
 The covetous man begins to be considered 
 with complacence when he ceases to exist, or 
 never does well until he dies; they are like 
 swine, e< which are never good until they come 
 to the knife." The prodigal who dissipates 
 his fortune by living voluptuously, easily con- 
 ciliates to himself the friendship or kindness 
 of the persons with whom he associates ; he 
 contributes to the support of those who fur- 
 nish him with the means of enjoying his di- 
 versions and amusements ; he shares his for- 
 
 VOL. ii. M tune
 
 ( 166 ) 
 
 tune with his friends, his servants, and his de- 
 pendants : he is therefore usually spoken of 
 with complacency. " He is a generous, liheral, 
 open-hearted fellow, and no one's enemy but 
 his own ;" and when his fall is completed, 
 even those who suffer mingle some regret for 
 his misfortune, with the concern they feel for 
 their own loss. But the covetous man neither 
 meets with, nor is entitled to the same consi- 
 deration from the world : even the most 
 harmless of them, those who either came to 
 their fortune by inheritance, or who have ac- 
 quired it by fair dealing, as they use it exclu- 
 sively for their own benefit, are hardly looked 
 on as forming a part of the community in 
 which they live ; no one interests himself in 
 their welfare ; their success is not congratu- 
 lated, nor their losses commiserated. " The 
 prodigal robs his heir, the miser himself." 
 
 " When all other sins are old in us, and go upon crutches. 
 Covetousness does but then lay in her cradle. 
 Lechery loves to dwell in the fairest lodgings, 
 And covetousness in the oldest buildings." 
 
 Par
 
 ( 167 ) 
 
 Par Pari referre. 
 
 " Like for like," or " one good turn deserves 
 another;" we say also, " give him a Rowland 
 for his Oliver." Dionysius, having engaged a 
 musician to entertain his company, to induce 
 him to exert himself he promised to give him 
 a reward proportioned to the amusement he 
 should afford his guests ; the singer, in the 
 hope of obtaining a splendid present, selected 
 some of his choicest pieces of music, which 
 he performed with such excellent skill as to 
 give entire satisfaction to the audience : on 
 applying for his pay, he was told he had al- 
 ready received " par pari," like for like. The 
 pleasure he had enjoyed in expecting the re- 
 ward, balancing that which the company had 
 received in hearing him sing; he had also the 
 further satisfaction of hearing his performance 
 highly extolled, which is too often the only 
 emolument that men of genius are able to ob- 
 tain for their labours. 
 
 it 2 Volam
 
 ( 168 ) 
 
 Volam Pedis ostendere. 
 
 " To shew a light pair of heels." The phrase 
 is applied as a reproach to persons leaving 
 their posts and flying from the enemy instead 
 of fighting. 
 
 JBona Nemini Hora est, quin allcui sit mala. 
 
 " One* man's meat is another man's poi- 
 son." One man's loss is another's gain, 
 or one man makes a fortune by the ruin of 
 another : this is universally the case in war, 
 and not unfrequently in law likewise. 
 
 Noli Equi Denies inspicere donati. 
 
 " A caval donato non guardar in bocca."' 
 It. " A cheval donn6, il ne faut pas regarder 
 aux dens." Fr. " We must not look a gift- 
 horse in the mouth." Presents are not to be 
 esteemed by their costliness, but by the inten- 
 tion of the donor. " Aliquando gratius est 
 
 quod
 
 ( 169 ) 
 
 quod facili, quam quod plena manu datur," 
 what is given freely and without solicitation, 
 is more acceptable than a more Valuable and 
 expensive present, that was not obtained with- 
 out great entreaty. 
 
 Munerum, Animus optimus est. 
 
 The goodwill and intention of the donor, 
 constitutes the principal value of the gift. 
 Xerxes found a draught of water, present- 
 ed to him by a soldier in the field of battle, 
 of inestimable value. 
 
 , Fabarum Arrosor. 
 
 A devourer of beans. The man is become fat, 
 was used to be said, by feeding on beans. Ap- 
 plying it to persons who had accepted a bribe, 
 to put in his bean, which was their mode of 
 voting, in favour of one of the candidates for 
 
 O ' 
 
 a public office or magistracy. The manners 
 therefore of the present times, if they are not 
 mended in this respect, are not worse than 
 they were formerly. 
 
 M 3 Undarum
 
 ( 170 ) 
 
 Undarum in Ulnis. 
 
 Persons were said to be up to the elbows in 
 the sea and striving with them against the 
 Avaves, who were contending with difficulties 
 which threatened to overwhelm them. A sU 
 milar phrase is used by us, speaking of persons 
 who have more than sufficient employment, 
 " he has his hands full," we say, or " he is up 
 to the elbows in business." 
 
 Hodie nihil succedit. 
 
 Nothing has succeeded, or prospered with 
 me this day. This, many among the com- 
 mon people were apt to suppose, proceeded not 
 from their having omitted some necessary 
 caution, but from their having begun the work 
 on an unlucky day ; and there are now, as 
 there were formerly, persons who esteem cer- 
 tain days to be unfortunate in which no new 
 business should be attempted. 
 
 Trochi
 
 ( 171 ) 
 Trochl in morem. 
 
 Like a top which is always turning round 
 and changing its situation. The adage may 
 be applied to persons of versatile dispositions, 
 who have no fixed design, or intention, they 
 will now be parsons, lawyers, soldiers; or as 
 Andrew Borde describes our countrymen, 
 
 " I am an Englishman, and naked I stand here, 
 Musing in my inind, what raiment I shall wear; 
 For now I will wear this, and now 1 will wear that, 
 And now I will wear, I cannot tell what." 
 
 Borde lived in the early part of the sixteenth 
 century ; we are now doubtless changed, and 
 become more steady. There are many other 
 apothegms censuring this mutability of dis- 
 position, from which the following only is 
 taken. 
 
 Chamteleonte mutabilior. 
 
 More changeable than the chameleon, 
 which was supposed, though not truly, to 
 assume the colour of every object it ap- 
 proached. 
 
 w 4 Us us
 
 Usus est alt era Natura. 
 
 " Use, or custom, is a second nature." It 
 is of importance, therefore, in the education 
 of children, to prevent their acquiring habits 
 that are ungraceful or vicious ; as whatever 
 watchfulness or care may be afterwards used, 
 it will be almost impossible to dispossess them- 
 
 Timidi Mater nonjlet. 
 
 The mother of the coward does not weep, 
 that is, does not often lament the untimely 
 death of her son, or that he has met with any 
 sinister accident, as he will be careful to keep 
 out of the way of danger, which the brave 
 and courageous is continually affronting, and 
 so falls early. 
 
 Nemo sibi nascitur. 
 " Non sibi sed toti mundo se credere natum." 
 
 No one is born, or should think himself 
 born, solely for himself. The helpless state 
 
 in
 
 ( 173 ) 
 
 in which we are produced into the world, 
 might teach us this maxim, or should we 
 happen to forget it, a very slight fit of sick- 
 ness would be sufficient to bring it back to 
 our memories. But even in health we are 
 none of us able, without the assistance of 
 others, to prepare every article necessary 
 for our comfort, or even for our subsistence. 
 Every thing we wear, and every thing we eat 
 or drink, requiring the concurrence of several 
 hands, to make them fit for our use. This 
 doubtless was intended by Providence to en- 
 courage mutual benevolence. As we were in- 
 debted in early life to our parents, teachers, 
 and friends, for our maintenance, and for all 
 the knowledge that was instilled into us, it 
 becomes our duty to shew our sense of the 
 obligation, by doing every thing in our power 
 that may contribute to their comfort, and by 
 giving the like assistance to those who may 
 have similar claims upon us. The chain link- 
 ing us together, is by this means kept entire, 
 and we become what nature intended, social 
 beings. Plato is said to have first promul- 
 gated this adage, "Each of us owing," he 
 
 says,
 
 ( 174 ) 
 
 says, " a portion of our time, and of our exer- 
 tions, to our country, to our parents, and to 
 our friends." 
 
 Quod procedere non potest, recedit, and 
 Non progredi est regredi. 
 
 Nothing in this world is stationary, every 
 thing tending to improvement, or deteriora- 
 tion. The land that by culture is brought to 
 produce a plentiful return of grain, if neglect- 
 ed, soon becomes barren, or is covered with 
 weeds. The skill and knowledge that is ac- 
 quired by assiduous study, is only to be re- 
 tained by continued application, and the for- 
 tune which industry has accumulated, to be 
 preserved by exertions similar, in a great mea- 
 sure, to those by M'hich it was obtained. This 
 seems agreeable to the scheme of Providence, 
 inviting, or rather impelling us to a life of 
 activity, which is equally necessary for the 
 preservation of our morals, and our health. 
 " When things are at the worst they will mend," 
 that is, a change will take place, which, in that 
 case, cannot but be for the better. On the 
 
 other
 
 ( 175 ) 
 
 other hand, when they have attained the 
 highest state of perfection, then ought we, 
 from the known mutability of human affairs, 
 to fear a reverse, for " what can no further 
 advance, must recede," as it is expressed in 
 the Latin adage, which gave birth to these 
 reflections. 
 
 Polycrates, the tyrant of Samos, having 
 been for many years successful in all his wars, 
 and transactions of every kind, and acquired 
 an immense increase of territory, and wealth, 
 was advised by Amasis, the king of Egypt, 
 his friend and ally, from a persuasion that 
 such unexampled good fortune must suffer a 
 reverse, to part with something of great value, 
 and which he esteemed highly, to avert the 
 disaster which he believed threatened him. 
 He accordingly threw into the sea a ring, 
 containing the richest jewel that he possessed. 
 A short time after, a fish being sent to him as. 
 a present, the ring was found in its stomach, 
 and restored to its master. Amasis, being 
 now convinced that Polycrates was devoted 
 to destruction, would have no further league 
 with him. The story adds, that he was some 
 
 time
 
 ( 176 ) 
 
 time after treacherously murdered at Mag- 
 nesia, by the order of Oroetes, the governor, 
 at whose house he was on a visit. 
 
 Laudatur et alget. 
 
 Though he is abundantly commended, still 
 he is suffered to live in indigence. It is an 
 old, and too well founded complaint, that the 
 good man frequently fails in meeting with 
 that encouragement and assistance, to which, 
 by his worth, he seems entitled ; nay, that he 
 has often the mortification of seeing persons, 
 of no very nice honour, or who are even ma- 
 nifestly deficient in moral qualities, intercept- 
 ing those emoluments, which should be the 
 reward of uprightness and justice. But the 
 man who is thus rewarded, was active and in- 
 dustrious, and had merited the preference that 
 was given him, by performing some service 
 that was grateful, useful, or even necessary to 
 the person through whose means he obtained 
 his advancement ; while the good man, who 
 was overlooked, might probably want that 
 assiduity, or ingenuity, which are necessary 
 
 to
 
 ( 177 ) 
 
 to enable us .to- be useful to ourselves, or 
 others. The preference that is said to be given 
 to men of bad characters, is not given them 
 on account of their evil qualities, but for 
 having cultivated their talents, and rendered 
 themselves serviceable ; neither are the good 
 passed over on account of their virtues, but 
 for not having acquired those qualities which 
 are necessary to make their virtues conspi- 
 cuous, and which, if possessed, would enable 
 them to demand the assistance they complain 
 is withheld from them. The earth yields its 
 productions, not in proportion to the good or 
 bad characters of the possessors, but to the 
 greater or less degree of knowledge and in- 
 dustry, that have been displayed in its culti- 
 vation. 
 
 " The lucky have their days, and those they choose, 
 The unlucky have but hours, and those they lose." 
 
 Is it not likely, that activity and ingenuity 
 often supply the place of kick, or fortune, and 
 that those who complain they are unfortunate, 
 or unlucky, are in reality only stupid, or in- 
 dolent ? and perhaps, this is oftener the case, 
 than we are willing to confess. 
 
 Barba
 
 ( 173 ) 
 
 Barbce tenus sapient es. 
 
 You know them to be wise by their beards. 
 This was used to be applied to persons who 
 placed all knowledge and goodness in dress, 
 and external appearance, or in the perform- 
 ance of certain ceremonies. "I fast twice a 
 week," said the Pharisee, " and give tithes of 
 all I possess," but he was not accepted. " Si 
 philosophum oporteat ex barba metiri, hircos 
 primam laudem ablaturos," if the beard made 
 the philosopher, then the goat would have a 
 just right to that title, or as the Greek epi- 
 grammatist has it, 
 
 " If beards long and bushy true wisdom denote, 
 Then Plato must yield to a shaggy he-goat." 
 
 " At non omnes monachi sunt, qui cuculo 
 onerantur, nee omnes generosi, qui torquem 
 gestant auream, aut reges, qui diadernate in- 
 signiuntur;" but all are not monks who wear 
 a cowl, or gentlemen who are decorated with 
 golden chains, or kings who are crowned. 
 Those only in reality deserve the titles, who 
 act consistently with the characters they as- 
 sume. " For there are many who talk of Robin 
 
 Hood,
 
 ( 179 ) 
 
 Hood, who never shot with his how." "Diga 
 barba qua haga," let your beard advise you ; 
 that is, let it remind you that you are a man, 
 and that you. do nothing unbecoming that 
 character. 
 
 Gallum habeas Amicum, non Vicinum* 
 
 "Ayez le Francois pour ton ami, non pas 
 pour ton voisin," have the French for your 
 friend, not for your neighbour. But at this 
 time, viz. 1812, it is as dangerous to have 
 them for friends, as for neighbours, nothing 
 being more fatal than to have the honour of 
 being numbered among their associates, or 
 allies, as under that title or pretence, they will 
 take upon them the entire management of 
 your country. The Apennines have not been 
 found a sufficient barrier, to prevent their fra- 
 ternising (a term they have adopted) with the 
 Spaniards. In 1809, they invited the king of 
 Spain, and his son, to their camp, pitched on 
 the borders of the country, to adjust, as they 
 pretended, some matters of difference between 
 them, but, possessed of their persons, they 
 
 trans-
 
 ( 180 ) 
 
 transported them to the interior of France, 
 where they have been detained ever since. In 
 the mean while they have been carrying on a 
 destructive war in Spain, treating the inha- 
 bitants who resisted them as rebels, and oblig- 
 ing many thousands of them to enter into 
 their armies, and to fight for them in far dis- 
 tant countries. They have likewise given to 
 Spain, as king, one of the brothers of Buona- 
 parte, the present governor, or emperor, as he 
 has forced the world to acknowledge him, of 
 the French. The Spaniards, aided by the forces 
 of this country, are making a vigorous oppo- 
 sition to them, and may they in the end be 
 successful in driving them from their terri- 
 tories ! an event, which is rather to be hoped 
 than expected. 
 
 Beneficium accipere est Libertatem vendere. 
 
 Remember, when you receive an obligation, 
 you part with your liberty. To admit this in 
 its full extent, would be to destroy the most 
 pleasing, as well as the most useful intercourse 
 among men, that of mutually aiding each 
 
 other
 
 other by advice and other good offices. It 
 refers, therefore, only to those who receive 
 favours, without endeavouring to make any 
 return; to persons of mean and grovelling 
 dispositions, who would live on the bounty of 
 others, without using any exertions to procure 
 sustenance for themselves. Such men truly 
 sell themselves, and must suffer 1 all the morti- 
 fications, and insults, that those on whom they 
 are dependent, may choose to inflict. 
 
 Dos est magnet, Parentum Virtus. 
 
 The virtue of the parent is a passport through 
 life to the child. Parents are particularly called 
 upon to be careful of their conduct, and not 
 to do any thing that may degrade them, or 
 any way impeach or injure their moral cha- 
 racter : not only that the minds of their chil- 
 dren may not be corrupted by their ill ex- 
 ample, but that the estimation in which they 
 are held, may procure for their offspring, the 
 countenance of their friends, when they shall 
 be gone. " I have been young," the Psalmist 
 s^ays, " but now am old, yet never saw I the 
 
 VOL. ir. N righteous
 
 ( 182 ) 
 
 righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their 
 bread." 
 
 Dttlcis inevpertis Cultura potent is 
 Expert us mctuit. 
 
 To the inexperienced, the patronage of the 
 great and powerful is desirable; to those 
 better acquainted with men and things, it is 
 rather to be dreaded than courted. Youth is 
 flattered by the attention of persons of supe- 
 rior rank and fortune; but those more ac- 
 quainted with the world, know that the great 
 rarely admit their inferiors to familiarity with 
 them, but with a view to their own interest. 
 They want, it is likely, their assistance in 
 some business or other, and the intimacy ge- 
 neralty lasts only so long as they are able to 
 be serviceable to them. " Eat no cherries with 
 great men, for they will cast the stones in 
 your eyes." " Like fire, at a distance they give 
 warmth, but if too near they burn." " They 
 forget," Sir Walter Raleigh says, " such as have 
 done them service, when they have obtained 
 u'bat they wished for, and will rather hate 
 
 them
 
 ( 183 ) 
 
 them for having been the means of their ad- 
 vancement, than acknowledge the favour." 
 Does not this, however, often happen through 
 the imprudence of the client, from his forget- 
 ing the inferiority of his situation, and affect- 
 ing an equality, which cannot but be oifensive? 
 and our proverb avers, that "familiarity breeds 
 contempt." 
 
 Necessitas Magistra. 
 
 " Necessity is the mother of invention, and 
 the most powerful provoker of industry, and 
 ingenuity. " La n^cessite" n'a point de loi," 
 and " La necessidad carece de ley." " Neces- 
 sity has no law," and " Hunger will break 
 through stone walls." 
 
 " Ingenii largitor venter, 
 
 Cautum e rudi reddit magistra necessitas." 
 
 Necessity makes the dull man bright, the 
 sluggard active, the unwary cautious. It 
 sharpens the wit, and makes men more apt 
 for instruction. 
 
 " Jejunus raro stomachus vulgaria terabit. 
 Hunger is the best cure for daintiness, "it is 
 N 2 the
 
 ( 184 ) 
 
 the best sauce;" and " A la hambre, no ay pan 
 malo;" " A hungry dog will eat dirty pud- 
 ding." To these may be added the following, 
 
 " Impletus venter, non vult studere libenter." 
 
 A full belly does not excite to mental labour 
 or exertion, and want sharpens, but luxury 
 blunts the disposition to study. 
 
 Barbati. 
 
 Men with beards. The term was applied 
 by the Romans to persons of plain, simple, 
 and rustic or primitive manners, who still 
 retained the customs of their ancestors. They 
 had not learned to shave their beards, which 
 only began to be practised among them four 
 hundred and fifty years after the building of 
 the city. The first barbers, Pliny tells us, 
 were introduced there from the island of 
 Sicily. 
 
 Annosa Vulpes hand capitur Laqueo. 
 An old fox is not easily to be taken in a 
 
 snare;
 
 ( 185 ) 
 
 .snare; age has made him cautious. The 
 proverb may be applied to persons attempting 
 to impose upon us, and to excite compassion 
 by the relation of some affecting but impro- 
 bable story. " Quaere peregrinum," tell your 
 tale to one less acquainted with you, or 
 with the circumstances you are relating; they 
 will gain you no credit here. " A otro perro, 
 con esse huesso," throw that bone to another 
 dog:. 
 
 Quod de quoque Viro, et cut dicas sape ca-ceto. 
 
 We should be careful not to speak ill of 
 any one who is absent, particularly in mixed 
 companies, as some of the parties may know 
 the person who is censured, and may either 
 resent the affront, or report to his friend what 
 had been said to his discredit. 
 
 Sat cito, si sat bene. 
 
 " Soon enough, if well enough," was an 
 apothegm frequently in the mouth of Cato. 
 N 3 When
 
 ( 186 ) 
 
 "When we are shown any work of art, we do 
 not inquire bow long it was in performing, 
 but how well it is executed. If it is com- 
 plete, and excellent in its kind, we readily 
 give due commendation to the artist, whether 
 it was struck off at a heat, or effected with 
 much labour, thought, and attention. 
 
 Non est Remedium adversus Sycophants 
 Morsum. 
 
 There is no remedy against slander, it 
 shquld therefore be borne quietly, and treated 
 with contempt. What, if 1 have not deserved 
 it ? Then it will be the more easily borne. 
 When a Roman patrician was ordered by the 
 Emperor Tiberius to die, his friends in lament- 
 ing his doom, dwelt strongly on the injustice 
 of the sentence. That, said he, my fi iends r is 
 my greatest consolation; ye do not surely 
 wish that I had been guilty. 
 
 " Latrantem curatne alta Diana canem ?" 
 
 Is the moon disturbed at the barking of a 
 dog? let them scoff, slander, abuse, wrong, 
 
 curse
 
 ( 187 ) 
 
 curse and swear, feign and lye, when they 
 have done all, innocency will vindicate itself, 
 and " a good conscience is a continual feast." 
 
 Bceotum crasso jurares Acre natum. 
 
 You would swear he was a native of Bceotia, 
 a country famed for its thick and foggy air, 
 and for the stupidity of its inhabitants. 
 
 " Tales sunt hoininum mentes, quales pater ipse 
 Jupiter, auctifera lustravit lampade terras." 
 
 " The minds of men do in the weather share, 
 Dark or serene, as the day's foul or fair." 
 
 That most men find themselves in some 
 degree affected by the temperature of the 
 atmosphere, are more cheerful and sprightly, 
 more disposed to gaiety, and more ready to 
 enter on any business requiring mental exer- 
 tion, when warmed and enlivened by a bright 
 sun, and a clear and pleasant state of the air, 
 than when that luminary is obscured by thick, 
 foggy, and moist vapours, has not often been 
 denied, perhaps by no one formally and in 
 writing, but "by the late Dr. Johnson, who 
 x 4 treated
 
 ( 188 ) 
 
 treated the opinion with contempt. It was a 
 mere excuse for idleness, which every one 
 would find, he says, who would set themselves 
 doggedly, that is, determinedly to work. 
 But this, after all, is only saying that the in- 
 fluence or effects of a damp and gloomy sky 
 may be successfully counteracted hy a fixed 
 and vigorous resolution, not to give way to it. 
 " Sapiens dominahitur astris." " The wise 
 man will controul the influence of the stars." 
 
 Poeta nascitur, nonfit. 
 
 The poet must be born such, no art, care, 
 or instruction, being sufficient to make a man a 
 poet, who is not naturally blest with a genius, 
 and with a turn for that divine art, the harmony 
 of numbers. Art may direct and improve 
 genius, but it cannot create it. The same 
 may be said of every other species of science. 
 By study and practice, any man may acquire 
 a competent knowledge of music, of painting, 
 of medicine, and in mechanics, but if he has 
 not genius, an inventive faculty, or power, he 
 will never reach to excellence in any of them. 
 
 In
 
 ( 139 ) 
 
 In this way only can we account for the slow 
 progress made towards perfection in every 
 art or science. Thousands have in all ages 
 been as carefully, and as completely educated 
 as Newton, but the whole world has only 
 produced one Newton. The same may be 
 said of Bacon, and a few others who have 
 shone, and still continue to shine, " Veluti 
 inter ignes luna minores," like the moon among 
 the smaller lights of heaven. The Spaniards 
 attribute this quality to valour. " Nace 
 el valor, no se adquiere," valour must be 
 born with us, it is not to be acquired by 
 instruction. It requires indeed to be re- 
 strained, to be curbed by laws, that it may 
 not degenerate into brutal violence, and so be 
 employed to the destruction instead of the 
 support of society. Three things are neces- 
 sary, Aristotle says, to enable us to excel in 
 any art, " Nature, study, and practice;" and 
 the Italians say, " Nessuno nasce maestro," 
 no one is born a master, or perfect in any 
 art. Every man may learn to write verses, to 
 draw or paint a picture, to distinguish or 
 describe diseases, but to do any of these 
 
 exquisitely,
 
 ( 190 ) 
 
 exquisitely, there must be present, the higher 
 qualities of the mind; a superior degree of 
 sagacity; a quickness in discerning the rela- 
 tions objects bear to each other; a readiness 
 in comparing, combining and discriminating 
 actions or things, not possessed by persons of 
 common understandings. Let a person not 
 possessed of genius write a poem. His verses 
 will be correct, but there will be no invention, 
 nothing interesting; no brilliancy of thought 
 or expression, nothing to surprise or dazzle. 
 A painter, with moderate talents, will be able 
 to produce a general representation of the 
 objects intended to be imitated, you will be 
 in no danger of mistaking his horses for 
 elephants. But there will be no character 
 either in his men or beasts, or none according 
 with the subject His pictures will want 
 animation ; you \vill see them without emo- 
 tion, and part from them with indifference. 
 A physician, though not possessed of an extra- 
 ordinary portion of sagacity, may soon ac- 
 quire a knowledge of the diseases that most 
 frequently occur, and of the common routine 
 of practice in such cases, so that he will have 
 
 the
 
 the satisfaction of knowing, when he fails, 
 that his patient died " secundum artem." In 
 more abstruse cases, and in those that are less 
 common, he will he very likely to mistake one 
 disease for another, and not perhaps discover 
 his error, until the mischief is irreparable. It 
 is rarely, however, that the reputation of the 
 physician suffers by a blunder of this kind, 
 which is buried with the patients; " for the 
 earth covers the errors of the physician." 
 Physicians have this advantage over the pro- 
 fessors of other arts. Medicine is held to be 
 a mystery, into which it would be a sort of 
 impiety, for persons not initiated to pry. 
 Like the Philistines for looking into the ark, 
 they might be smitten with emrods, or some 
 other plague. It is difficult therefore for 
 persons not within the pale, to appreciate 
 their value, or knowledge. The art abounds 
 also, beyond all others, with technical terms, 
 and he who has the skill to lard his conversa- 
 tion with the greatest number of them, will 
 probably be esteemed the best physician. 
 There seems also an opinion, more prevalent 
 than we are individually perhaps disposed to 
 
 admit.
 
 admit, that there is something of a fatality in 
 our deaths; or in other words, that there is a 
 time fixed, beyond which \ve can none of us 
 continue to live. This is extremely con- 
 venient to the professors of medicine, as it 
 leaves them in full possession of the credit of 
 curing all the sick that may happen to get 
 well while under their care, and at the same 
 time it takes from them all blame or responsi- 
 bility when they die. " Dios es el que sana, 
 y el medico lleva la plata." Though it is God 
 who cures, the physician gets the fee. Thus 
 we find the Canon in Gil Bias saying, " Je 
 vois bien qu'il faut mourir, malgre" la vertu de 
 1'eau ; etquoi qu'il ne reste a peine une goute 
 de sang, je ne m'en porte pas mieux pour cela. 
 Ce qui prouve bien que le plus habile medecin 
 du monde ne sauroit prolonger nos jours, 
 quand leur terme fatal est arriveV' I know 
 that I must die notwithstanding the great 
 efficacy there is in water: and although I 
 have scarcely a drop of blood remaining in 
 my veins, I still find myself no better, a clear 
 proof that the most skilful physician cannot 
 preserve our lives, when the fatal hour arrives.. 
 
 Bui
 
 But leaving this digression, this seems the 
 most rational way of explaining the adage 
 " Poeta nascitur." It is prohable, however, 
 that the ancients had a further meaning. 
 They attached something of divine to the cha- 
 racter of the poet, who was also called vates, 
 as supposing him to be the interpreter of the 
 behests of the deity. The custom among the 
 poets of invoking the Muses, and calling for 
 their assistance in the beginning of their works, 
 without doubt contributed to strengthen the 
 delusion. This practice has been long since 
 discontinued. Prior, alluding to the opinion 
 that poets received their verse- by inspiration, 
 Says, ludicrously enough, 
 
 " If inward wind does truly swell ye, 
 It must be the cholic in your belly." 
 
 Qui Luccrna egent, infundunt Okum. 
 
 When we have occasion for a lamp, we trim 
 it and fill it with oil. Anaxagoras having 
 been often consulted by Pericles, and very 
 advantageously, in the government of his coun- 
 try becoming old, and finding himself en- 
 tirely
 
 tirely neglected by his pupil and his former 
 services forgotten, determined, by a total ab- 
 stinence from food, to put an end to his ex- 
 istence ; this being told to Pericles, he called 
 upon and entreated him to desist from his pur- 
 pose, as he had business requiring his assist- 
 ance ; but the philosopher being now near 
 dying, answered, " O Pericles, et quibus lu- 
 cerna opus est, infundunt oleum." Thus re- 
 proving him for his inattention, when he 
 thought he should have no further occasion 
 for his advice. The phrase thence became 
 proverbial. 
 
 * 
 Dulce est Mlseris Socws habuisse Dolor is. 
 
 It is a comfort to the wretched to have 
 companions in their misfortunes. It is plea- 
 sant, Lucretius says, standing on the shore 
 to see a ship driven about by a tempest ; or 
 from the window of a castle, to see a battle; 
 not that we rejoice in the sufferings of the un- 
 happy people in the vessel, who all of them, 
 perhaps, after long struggling with the dan- 
 ger, perish in the ocean ; or at the fate of 
 
 those
 
 those who are killed or wounded in the bat- 
 tle : the pleasure arises from our being exempt 
 from the danger in which we see so many of 
 our fellow creatures immersed. The comfort, 
 therefore, that we experience in having com- 
 panions in our troubles, in finding others suf- 
 fering pains similar to those with which we are 
 afflicted, does not arise from seeing them in 
 pain, but from finding that we are not singled 
 out in a particular manner to bear a greater 
 portion of evil than falls to the lot of 
 others : whenever this does happen, it adds- 
 greatly to the misery of what kind so ever it 
 may be. Some men are peculiarly unhappy 
 in this way ; in all public calamities, whether 
 by sickness-, fire, or inundations, a much larger 
 than their proportion of the evil, being sure 
 to fall upon them. But upon what principle 
 are we to account for the avidity with which 
 people flock to be present at executions? here 
 they become voluntary spectators of one of 
 the most distressing and afflicting scenes that 
 can be well imagined; particularly when the 
 execution is attended with any additional cir- 
 cumstances of horror; when the criminals are 
 
 made
 
 ( 196 ) 
 
 made to suffer the most excruciating torture 
 before death relieves them from their misery, 
 May we attribute this propensity to curiosity, 
 to a desire to see in what manner human 
 strength or courage is able to bear such an 
 extremity of evil r It were much to be wished, 
 that women, whose soft and delicate frames 
 seem to render them unfit for such scenes, did 
 not make so large a portion of the spectators 
 ou such occasions, 
 
 ".I have long been sorry," Mrs. Montagu 
 says, Letters, Vol. IV, " to see the best of our 
 sex running continually after public specta- 
 cles and diversions, to the ruin of their health 
 and understandings, and neglect of all do- 
 mestic duties : but I o\vn the late instance of 
 their going to hear Lord Ferrers's sentence 
 particularly provoked me: the ladies crowded 
 to the House of Lords, to see a wretch brought 
 loaded with crime and shame to the bar, to hear 
 sentence of a cruel and ignominious death ; 
 which, considering only this world, cast shame 
 on his ancestors and all his succeeding family. 
 There was in this case every thing that could 
 disgrace human nature and civil distinctions; 
 
 but
 
 ( 197 ) 
 
 but it was a sight, and in spite of all pretences 
 to tenderness and delicacy they went adorned 
 with jewels, and laughing and gay to see 
 their fellow creature in the most horrid situa- 
 tion, making a sad end of this life, and in 
 fearful expectation of the commencement of 
 another." 
 
 Lord Ferrers, it is known, was hanged for 
 shooting one of his servants, in the year 1760. 
 
 Fuere quondam Milesii. 
 
 The Milesians were once a brave and hard}' 
 people. " Troja fuit." The magnificent city 
 of Troy once existed, though no vestiges 
 even of the ruins of its walls and temples now 
 remain. I was once rich and powerful, but 
 am now poor, miserable, and wretched ; con- 
 demned to serve where I formerly command- 
 ed ; may be said, particularly at this moment, 
 by many fallen potentates ; fallen, most or 
 all of them, by their own misconduct and 
 mistaken notions of government. For the great 
 changes which have taken place in the condi- 
 VOL. IT. o tion
 
 tion of the princes of Europe could never have 
 been effected, if their self-indulgences and 
 want of energy in the exercise of their high 
 authorities, frequently the consequence of a 
 voluptuous life and wrong principles of action, 
 had not co-operated, unfortunately, too power- 
 fully with the force of their conqueror and 
 brought on their ruin: they were enslaved by 
 their inordinate passions which led to the op- 
 pression of their subjects, and was ultimately 
 the occasion of losing their affections. The 
 people were in the situation of the overloaded 
 ass in the fable, who, when told to hasten for 
 there were robbers at hand, answered, it mat- 
 tered little whom he served since he must still 
 carry his panniers. But to pursue rny theme: 
 I was once young, strong, and vigorous, may 
 be said, but am now old, feeble, and decrepid. 
 These reflections, though trite, may still have 
 their utility ; for as they teach us, by shewing 
 what has happened, to expect reverses in our 
 state, they tend to enforce upon us the pro- 
 priety of using our prosperity with modera- 
 tion. 
 
 The Milesians, who have long since ceased 
 
 to
 
 ( 199 ) 
 
 to be a people, were not conquered by their 
 enemies, until they had left off to be strong 
 and courageous ; until luxury, the conse- 
 quence of their success, and opulence, had 
 enervated and enfeebled them. 
 
 Massiliam naviges. 
 
 You are going the way of the Massilians, 
 may be said to inconsiderate spendthrifts, who 
 are dissipating what had been acquired for 
 them, either by good fortune or the industry 
 and frugality of their ancestors. The Massi- 
 lians, once a brave and independent people, 
 having by their commerce acquired great afflu- 
 ence, became so debauched, extravagant and 
 effeminate, as to fall an easy prey to the 
 neighbouring states. 
 
 Non unquam tacuisse nocet, nocet esse 
 loquutum. 
 
 What is retained and kept in the mind can 
 
 never injure, it may injure us to have divulged 
 
 it. " Quien calla, piedras apana," he that is 
 
 o 2 silent
 
 ( 200 ) 
 
 silent is heaping up stones; he is thinking 
 how he may profit hy what others are saying; 
 and " Oveja que bala bocada pierde," the 
 sheep loses a mouthful when it bleats. Silence 
 is the sanctuary of prudence, and properly 
 used, it is one of the most valuable attributes 
 of wisdom. " The fool's bolt is soon shot," he 
 has little in him, and over that little he has no 
 controul; he is always, therefore, saying some- 
 thing that is unseasonable and improper ; he is 
 precipitate in his judgment, and determines 
 before he M 7 ell knows the proposition to which 
 his assent is required. But the wise man is 
 reserved and cautious, " he looks before he 
 leaps," " thinks before he speaks/' and " even 
 of a good bargain he thinks twice before he 
 says done," for he knows that appearances 
 are often deceitful, and that " all is not gold 
 that glitters," " he has wide ears, and a short 
 tongue," therefore more ready to hear the opi- 
 nions of others, than to proclaim his own. 
 Augustus Cassar bore a sphinx, an emblem of 
 silence, on his ring, intimating that the coun- 
 sels of princes should be secret. But silence 
 is often adopted for very different purposes 
 
 and
 
 ( 201 ) 
 
 and from different motives : some make use 
 of it, to cover their ignorance ; conscious of 
 their inability to bear a part in the conversa- 
 tion, they avoid venturing their opinion, and 
 " wisely keep the fool within," in which they 
 shew a commendable prudence ; " even a fool 
 when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise, 
 and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man 
 of understanding." " Parla poco, ascolto 
 assai, et non fallirai," speak little and attend 
 to what falls from others, and you will commit 
 no error. Others again are silent through 
 craft, fearful lest by some unguarded expres- 
 sion they should betray the part they had 
 taken in some transaction, in which they 
 would not be thought to have been concern- 
 ed ; or that they should discover their opi- 
 nion or intention, which may be the reverse 
 of what they publicly profess : such men, 
 to use the strong language of Churchill, 
 
 " Lest bokl truth to do sage wisdom spight, 
 Should burst the portals of their lips by night, 
 Tremble to trust themselves one hour in sleep." 
 
 Yet there is an instance on record, where 
 o 3 silence
 
 ( 202 ) 
 
 silence is said to have occasioned the destruc- 
 tion of a country, whence the following : 
 
 Amyclas perdidit Silentia. 
 
 Amyclas was lost by silence. The magis- 
 trates of this city having been frequently 
 alarmed by some of the more timid inhabi- 
 tants, with reports of an enemy being at hand 
 when no danger was near, ordered, under the 
 penalty of a severe punishment, that no one 
 should again disturb them with such rumours. 
 At length, when an enemy was actually ap- 
 proaching, the people not daring, on ac- 
 count of the law to give the necessary in- 
 formation, the city was taken. The proverb 
 may be applied to any one neglecting the 
 proper opportunity or time for doing any ne- 
 cessary business. 
 
 Ubi tres Medici, duo Athei. 
 
 Where there are three physicians, there are 
 two atheists. Whence could a censure so 
 senseless, derive its origin ? since physicians, 
 
 whose
 
 ( 203 ) 
 
 whose professions led them in a particular 
 manner to examine into the properties of na- 
 tural bodies, must have been among the first 
 to see and admire the order, regularity, and 
 beauty of their structure. 
 
 " Presentemque refert quajlibet herba deum." 
 
 Every herb having a signature of the divine 
 Majesty stamped upon it. Need it be added, 
 that the anatomy of the human, or of any 
 other animal body, afforded no less pregnant 
 proofs of the existence of an all- wise and 
 powerful Architect; since nothing less than 
 such a being could have contrived, and put 
 together, such exquisite pieces of mechanism. 
 But the habit of inquiring, and looking deeply 
 into the nature and structure of the bodies 
 they examined, might make them sceptical, 
 and not ready to credit what could not be 
 submitted to a similar test. They might not, 
 therefore, be disposed to treat with reverence, 
 the rabble of gods that disgraced the calen- 
 dars of Greece and Rome ; and this might be 
 sufficient to induce the common people to 
 brand them with the name of atheists. Sir 
 o 4 Thomas
 
 ( 204 ) 
 
 Thomas Brown, in his singular book, "Religio 
 Medici," after defending the profession from 
 the imputation of atheism, gives his own creed, 
 in which, on all material points, he is suffi- 
 ciently orthodox, but in matters which he 
 conceived not to be essential, he carved for 
 himself. Indeed, he seems to have had a very 
 extended faith, and to have thought that the 
 more improbable any of the tenets of religion 
 were, the more merit there was in believing 
 them. He was a perfect convert to the reso- 
 lution of Tertullian, "credo quia impossible 
 est," I believe it, because it is impossible. "I 
 desire to exercise my faith," he says, "in the 
 difficultest points ; for to credit ordinary and 
 visible objects, is not faith, but persuasion." 
 He joined also heartily in the then popular 
 opinion of witchcraft. " I have ever believed," 
 he says, " and do now know that there are 
 witches," and he charges those who disbelieve 
 in them, "as being a sort, not of infidels, but 
 atheists." Chaucer does not speak very fa- 
 vourably of the faith of the medical corps. 
 
 " Physicians know what is digestible, 
 But their study is but little in the bible."
 
 ( 205 ) 
 And another Poet says, 
 
 " I have heard, how true 
 
 I know not, most physicians as they grow 
 Greater in skill, grow less in their religion; 
 Attributing so much to the natural causes, 
 That they have little faith in that they cannot 
 Deliver reason for." 
 
 Time, which has corrected the erroneous opi- 
 nion of witches, has also released the studious 
 in medicine, from the reproach of infidelity, 
 and they are now allowed to have as just a 
 sense of religion, as any other of the classes 
 of mankind. 
 
 Multos in summa Pericula misit, 
 
 Venturl Timor ipse Mali. 
 
 Men are often through the dread of some 
 misfortune threatening them, so disturbed, and 
 so completely deprived of judgment, as not to 
 see, or be able to use the means, which, in a 
 more easy and quiet state of their minds, would 
 have been sufficiently obvious, and by which 
 they might have avoided the evil, so that to 
 standers by, they seem to have acted under 
 
 some
 
 ( 206 ) 
 
 some secret impulse, or to have been fascinated. 
 It is fear that deprives the bird of the power 
 of escaping the snake, if it has once caught its 
 eye; not daring to turn its face from the 
 frightful object, it necessarily every step it 
 takes approaches nearer, and at length, depri- 
 ved of all sense and power, falls into its jaws. 
 
 " Quo timoris minus est, eo minus ferme periculi est." 
 
 Where there is the least fear, there is, for the 
 most part, least danger; though the Spaniards 
 say, " Quien obra sin miedo, yerra su hecho," 
 he who acts without fear, aots wrong; but 
 the word miedo, fear, in this sentence, means 
 only care, caution or attention. 
 
 Rebus in adversis, facile est contenmere Mortem, 
 Fortius ille facit, qui miser esse potest. 
 
 Men of strong minds contend with diffi- 
 culties and misfortunes, and frequently suc- 
 cessfully, or if they cannot be completely 
 averted, bear them patiently, by which means 
 they become lighter, and their sting is 
 
 blunted ;
 
 ( 207 ) 
 
 blunted; it is the coward only that seeks to 
 escape them by death. 
 
 " Hie rogo, non furor est ne moriare 
 Mori?" 
 
 Is it not madness to kill yourselves lest ye 
 should die ? to suffer the greatest misfortune 
 that can befall you to escape a less ? But, 
 with Martial's leave, this is not a right state- 
 ment of the position. Men do not kill 
 themselves to escape dying, but to put an end 
 to a thousand cares and perplexities which 
 make life a burthen to them. Agis being 
 asked which way a man might live free, 
 answered, " by despising death." 
 
 " Emori nolo, sed me esse mortuum nihil estimo." 
 
 I feel no difficulty in saying I wish I were 
 dead, but I have not courage sufficient to 
 embrace a voluntary death, or to put an end 
 to my existence. 
 
 Quoniam id fieri quod vis non potetf, 
 Id veils quod possis. 
 
 Since you cannot effect what you are solici- 
 tous
 
 ( 208 ) 
 
 tous to obtain, be contented with what you 
 have. That is, we should not suffer the want 
 of something upon which we may have impru- 
 dently set our affection, to prevent our enjoy- 
 ing, and being thankful for what we actually 
 possess, and we should the rather do this, as, 
 if we are incapable of bounding our desires, 
 the object we are in pursuit of, would, if 
 obtained, contribute very little to our con- 
 tentment. 
 
 *' Against our peace \ve arm our will, 
 Amidst our plenty something still, 
 For horses, houses, pictures, planting, 
 To me, to thee, to him are wanting. 
 That cruel something unpossess'd, 
 Corrodes, and leavens all the rest; 
 That something if we could obtain, 
 Would soon create a future pain." 
 
 Venter obesus non gignit Mentem subtilem. 
 
 An over crammed belly does not produce a 
 quick, and ready wit, or " fat paunches make 
 lean pates." The Lacedemonians, who were 
 remarkably frugal in their diet, had such an 
 
 abhorrence
 
 ( 209 ) 
 
 abhorrence and contempt for fat and corpu- 
 lent persons, that they were about to banish 
 from their city, Auclides, one of their country- 
 men, who, by a course of indolent and volup- 
 tuous living-, had swelled himself to an enor- 
 mous bulk, and were only deterred from it by 
 his engaging to live for the future more 
 sparingly. They would have no inhabitants 
 but such as, in time of danger, might be 
 assisting in repelling an enemy. 
 
 Quid ad Farinas ? 
 
 What profit do you expect from this, or 
 how will it conduce to provide you with 
 bread, to which your attention should be 
 principally turned, may be said to young 
 persons, who are seen neglecting their busi- 
 ness, and spending their time in idle pursuits, 
 in keeping loose company, in haunting tavern s ? 
 playhouses, and assemblies, in reading novels 
 and romances, or in taking up the trade of 
 poetry, without any better call than their 
 own silly conceit; a vice now very prevalent. 
 
 " Quid me numeri tantlem ad farinas juverint?" 
 
 Mortui
 
 ( 210 ) 
 
 Mortui non mordent. 
 
 The dead do not bite, cannot hurt you. 
 This apothegm was used by Theodore Chius, 
 master in rhetoric to Ptolemy king of Egypt, 
 when consulted by him whether they should 
 grant an asylum to Pompey, who had landed 
 on their coast, after being defeated by Julius 
 Caesar. He advised them to receive him, and 
 put him to death; adding, " Mortuos non 
 mordere." Our more common phrase, and 
 which is probably used by ruffians who deter- 
 mine to murder those they rob, is, " the 
 dead tell no tales." 
 
 De Calceo solicitus, at Pedem nihil curet. 
 
 Looking more to the fashion of the shoe 
 than to the ease of the feet, which those 
 persons were said to do, who paid more atten- 
 tion to the diet than to the education of their 
 children. 
 
 Verbum
 
 Verbum Sapient i. 
 
 " A buon intenditore poche parole." 
 
 " Le sage entend un demi mot." 
 
 " Al buen entendador pocas palabras. 
 
 " A word to the wise." To a sensible man, 
 but few words are ordinarily necessary, and a 
 fool will not understand you, though you 
 should give him a long dissertation. 
 
 Tanquam meum Nomen. 
 
 TanqUam Ungues, Digitosque suos. 
 
 It is a subject I am as well acquainted with, 
 as I am with my own name, or with my 
 fingers, was used to be said to persons repeat- 
 ing any well known story or circumstance. 
 
 " Totis diebus, Afer, hcec mihi narras, 
 Et teneo melius ista, quam meum nomen." 
 
 You are perpetually teasing me with a repeti- 
 tion of this story, which is as familiar to me 
 as my own name. 
 
 Mittc
 
 ( 212 ) 
 
 Mitte in Aquam, hoc est, Aufer t medio. 
 
 A phrase for which we have no direct sub- 
 stitute. Take him away, to the river with 
 him. To the pump or to the horse pond, is 
 sometimes the cry of the mob in this country, 
 when they take upon themselves to execute 
 summary justice on some poor wretch taken 
 in the act of picking a pocket, or in the com- 
 mission of some crime for which they con- 
 ceive them properly to be amenable to their 
 tribunal. But among the ancients, certain 
 criminals were condemned to be tied in a sack 
 and drowned, which is what the adage 
 alludes to, and this kind of punishment is still 
 used in Germany. Parricides in Rome were 
 put into a sack with a cock, a monkey, a ser- 
 pent, and a dog, and thrown into a river or 
 into the sea, to which Juvenal alludes, in the 
 following lines, as translated by Hodgson. 
 
 " If votes were free, what slave so lost to shame. 
 Prefers not Seneca's to Nero's name, 
 Whose parricides, not one close sack alone, 
 One serpent, nor one monkey could atone ?" 
 
 Xero
 
 Nero, it is known, caused his mother, two 
 of his wives, and Seneca his tutor to be put to 
 death. 
 
 Perdere Naulum. 
 
 " Echar la soga tras el caldero." " It is 
 throwing the rope after the bucket, the helve 
 after the hatchet," may be said to persons 
 under misfortunes, who, instead of exerting 
 themselves to recover what they have lost, 
 give way to despair, and so suffer what re- 
 mains of their property to be wrecked likewise. 
 
 " Furor cst post omnia perdere naulum." 
 
 But the adage is more immediately appli- 
 cable to persons who have made an unsuccess- 
 ful venture, \vho have taken goods to a 
 country where they are little in request, or 
 are valued at a very low price. Do not let 
 them be destroyed, get, at the least, so much 
 for them as will pay the freight; " of a bad 
 bargain we should make the best," and, " half 
 a loaf is better than no bread." 
 
 VOL, ir. if Turpz
 
 ( 214 ) 
 
 Turpe siler e. 
 
 It is disgraceful to be silent. When a man 
 is conscious that he is capable of instructing 
 his fellow-citizens, or those with whom he is 
 connected, in any art that might be beneficial 
 to them, it is disgraceful, or perhaps criminal, 
 to withhold it. 
 
 " Be niggards of advice on no pretence, 
 For the worst avarice is that of sense." 
 
 It may also be said by any one, who should 
 find others not so well qualified as himself, 
 acquiring honour by the practice of any art or 
 profession, I must now exert myself, and shew 
 these men, that it was not through incapacity, 
 that I have hitherto abstained, " It would be 
 disgraceful to be any longer silent," and to a 
 circumstance of this kind, the adage is said to 
 have owed its origin. 
 
 Medice, cur a te ipsum. 
 
 Physician, heal thyself. It seems but just, 
 that those who profess to cure the diseases of 
 others, should, as a pledge of their capacity, 
 b able to preserve themselves, and families, 
 
 from
 
 ( 215 ) 
 
 from the ravages of them. But how few are 
 able to give this pledge ! Practitioners in 
 medicine, are neither more remarkable for 
 longevity, nor for producing or rearing a more 
 healthy, or a more numerous progeny, than 
 those who are out of the pale of the profession. 
 This, however, does not arise from the fault of 
 the physician, but from the imperfection of 
 the art ; for though there is no branch of 
 science that has been cultivated with more 
 diligence, than this of medicine, or that has 
 had the advantage of being practised by men 
 of greater genius, abilities, and learning, or 
 who have laboured with greater industry, per- 
 severance, and zeal, to bring it to perfection; 
 yet they have been so far from attaining their 
 object, that there are many diseases, and 
 among them, some of the most frequent, for- 
 midable, and fatal, for which no adequate, or 
 successful methods of treatment, have been 
 discovered. The treatment of rheumatism is 
 at this time as various, unsettled, and gene- 
 rally as inefficient, as it was 000 years ago ; 
 and although so many volumes have beeu 
 written on asthma, and consumption, it is to 
 p<2 be
 
 ( 216 ) 
 
 be lamented that no satisfactory proof can be 
 given, that either of them were ever cured by 
 medicine. Much might, perhaps, be clone to- 
 wards the improvement of the practice, if 
 physicians would follow the model which 
 the late Dr. Pleberden has left them in his 
 Commentaries ; in my judgment, one of the 
 best books which this, or any other age, or 
 country, has produced on the subject. The 
 College of Physicians have done something 
 towards leading practitioners to this mode, 
 by abolishing the vain titles heretofore given 
 to drugs and compositions, attributing to them 
 qualities which experience by no means war- 
 rants us in believing they possess. But even 
 in the complaints mentioned above, and many 
 more might be added, the physician may be 
 often able to give directions that may retard 
 their progress, and enable the patient to pass 
 his life with some degree of comfort; and 
 he who limits his endeavours to procuring 
 these advantages, will well deserve their grate- 
 ful acknowledgments, he will also escape the 
 censures so frequently thrown on the profes- 
 sors of the art. " Turba medicorum perii," a 
 
 multitude
 
 ( 217 ) 
 
 multitude of physicians have destroyed me, 
 was the inscription the Emperor Adrian or- 
 dered to be put upon his monument. It would 
 be useless, perhaps in some degree mischiev- 
 ous, to recite the many sarcastic speeches that 
 have been recorded to degrade the practice 
 of mediciue. The effect they should have, 
 and which, indeed, they have had on the more 
 judicious practitioners, is not, on every occa- 
 sion, to load their patients with drugs, which, 
 when not absolutely necessary, deserve a dif- 
 ferent name than that of medicines. With no 
 great impropriety they may be called poisons; 
 for, although they may not kill, yet if they 
 nauseate, and destroy the tone of the stomach, 
 and have the effect of checking and prevent- 
 ing the powers of the constitution in their 
 efforts to expel the disease, they cannot fail 
 of doing much mischief. Baglivi, addressing 
 himself to young practitioners, says, " Quam 
 paucis remediis curantur morbi ! Quam pi u res 
 e vita tollit remediorum farrago!" and Sy- 
 denham advises, in many cases, rather to trust 
 to nature, it being a great error to imagine 
 that every case requires the assistance of art. 
 P 3 It
 
 ( 218 I 
 
 It should be considered, that as there are some 
 diseases for which medicine has not yet found 
 out any cure, there are others for which no 
 medicines are required, the constitution being 
 of itself, or only aided by rest, and a simple 
 and plain diet, sufficient to overcome them. 
 The French therefore say, with much good 
 sense, "Un bouillon dechoux fait perd re cinque 
 sous au medecin," a mess of broth hath lost 
 the physician his fee. That this adage is an- 
 cient may be concluded from the smallness of 
 the fee assigned to the doctor. The Undertaker, 
 in the Funeral, or Grief a-la-mode, among his 
 expenses, mentions ten pounds paid for a Trea- 
 tise against Water-gruel, "a damned healthy 
 slop, that has done his trade more mischief," 
 he says, " than all the faculty." The Spaniards 
 on this subject say, " Al enfermo que es vida, 
 el agua le es medicina," the patient who is 
 not destined to die, will need no other medi- 
 cine than water : such is their opinion of the 
 efficacy of abstinence. " It is no less disgrace- 
 ful,''" Plutarch says, " to ask a physician, what 
 is easy, and what is hard of digestion, and 
 what will agree with the stomach, and what 
 
 not,
 
 ( 219 ) 
 
 not, than it is to ask what is sweet, or bitter, 
 or sour." Our English adage, which is much 
 to this purport, and with which I shall close 
 this essay is, " Every man is a fool or a phy- 
 sician, at forty." 
 
 Facilius sit Nili Caput invenire. 
 
 It M r ould be easier to find the source of the 
 Nile. This has in all ages been considered as 
 so difficult, that the proverb was used to re- 
 present something scarcely possible ever to be 
 effected : this opinion was not formed until 
 after a variety of experiments had been made 
 with a view to its discovery. But the dis- 
 tance of its head or source from any of the 
 parts of Africa that had been visited or were 
 known to Europeans, or to the inhabitants of 
 the northern parts of that vast continent, is so 
 great, and the countries lying between them 
 inhabited by such numerous tribes of savages, 
 that all the expeditions formed for that pur- 
 pose had failed, and so many lives had been 
 lost in the attempt, that the project had for 
 p 4 many
 
 ( 220 ) 
 
 many ages been laid aside. That one of its 
 sources is now known, is owing to the genius 
 or industry of certain Portuguese missiona- 
 ries. Mr. Bruce, indeed, assumes to himself 
 the merit of having made this discovery, but 
 it had been very circumstantially described by 
 Lobo, in his account of Abyssinia, whose work 
 on the subject was translated by Dr. Johnson, 
 and by Sir Peter Wyche, in his " Short Rela- 
 tion of the River Nile," translated by him 
 from the Portuguese, and published by order 
 of the Royal Society in 1673: perhaps a short 
 extract from this little tract, which is not com- 
 mon, may be acceptable. 
 
 " One of the provinces of Abyssinia," the 
 writer says, " is called Agoas ; the inhabitants 
 of the same name, whether these bestowed 
 their name or took it from the province. The 
 higher part of the country is mountainous 
 and woody, yet not without vallies and groves 
 of cedars, for goodness and scent not inferior 
 to those of Lebanus. In this territory is the 
 known head and source of the Nile, by the 
 natives called Abani, the father of waters, 
 from the great collection it makes in the king- 
 doms
 
 doms and provinces through which it passeth; 
 for the greatest part of Ethiopia being moun- 
 tainous and the torrents swelled in the winter, 
 the mountains so transmit them as to increase 
 the river, which falling into the Nile make no 
 little addition to its greatness, causing it to 
 run with such a stock of water as overflows the 
 plains of JEgypt. This is the river the Scrip- 
 ture calleth Gihon, which encompassed the 
 land of Ethiopia, so doth the Nile with its 
 turnings and meanders. The head rises in the 
 most pleasant recess of the territory, having 
 two springs called eyes, each about the big- 
 ness of a coachwheel, distant from each other 
 about twenty paces: the pagan inhabitants 
 adore as an idol the biggest, offering to it 
 many sacrifices of cows which they kill there, 
 flinging the head into the spring, eat the flesh 
 as holy, lay the bones together in a place de- 
 signed for that purpose, which at present 
 make a considerable hill, and would make it 
 much bigger, if carnivorous beasts and birds 
 of prey did not, by picking them, lessen and 
 scatter them." 
 
 The curious reader will be struck with ob- 
 serving
 
 serving how very nearly the account given by 
 Mr. Bruce resembles this, which is here laid 
 before him. That Mr. Bruce should take no 
 notice of either of these books, though it is 
 scarcely possible but he must have seen or 
 heard of them, is singular. 
 
 Mr. Rennel has however shewn, in a late 
 publication on the Geography of Herodotus, 
 that the river, the head of which has been here 
 described, is only one and an inferior source 
 of the Nile, and that the largest and princi- 
 pal source of that celebrated stream rises at a 
 great distance from Agoas, and much higher 
 up in the country, and which has probably 
 never yet been visited by any European. 
 
 The principal source of the Nile, therefore, 
 remaining still undiscovered, the proverb con- 
 tinues in full force. 
 
 Terram video. 
 
 I see land, may be said by persons getting 
 nearly to the end of a long and troublesome 
 business, or concluding any great work or la- 
 bour; more directly, and to this the adage 
 owes its origin-, by those who have been a long 
 
 time
 
 ( 223 ) 
 
 time at sea, and perhaps been driven about by 
 adverse winds, on first espying the shore, 
 " Thank God, I once more see land 1" an eja- 
 culation which some of my readers may per- 
 haps make at finding they have got to the 
 end of this hook ; and it may not be less satis- 
 factory to them to learn, that the writer or 
 collector of this miscellany is too far advanced 
 in life, to be likely to make any considerable 
 addition to them. 
 
 FINIS.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 A a ERR A RE a Scopo 224 
 
 Ab Incunabulis 163 
 
 Ab Ovo usque ad Mala 230 
 
 ActiLabores jucundi 281 
 
 Ad Amussim 131 
 
 Ad Concilium ne accesseris, antequam voceris 58 
 
 Ad felicem inflectere Parietem 66 
 
 Ad Fincm ubi perveneris, ne veils rcverti 13 
 
 Ad pcenitendum properat cito qui judicat vol. ii. 95 
 
 At! Unguem 131 
 
 Adversus Solem ne loquitor 14 
 
 yEdibus in nostris quae prava aut recta geruutur 142 
 
 jEgroto dum Anima est, spes est vol. ii. 13 
 
 /Equalis aequaletn delectat 43 
 
 /Ethiopem ex Vultu judico 210 
 
 A Fabis abstineto f) 
 
 Albas Gallinae Filius 31 
 
 Album Calculum addere 122 
 
 Alicnos Agros irrigas, tuis sitientibus 67 
 
 Alii sementcm faciunt, alii metent 119 
 
 AUorum Medicus, ipse Ulceribus scates vol. ii. 31 
 
 Aliam
 
 26 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Aliam Quercum excute 120 
 Altera Manu fert Lapidem, altera Panem ostentat 177 
 
 Altera Manu scabunt, altera feriunt 177 
 
 Ama tanquam osurus, oderis tanquani amaturus 252 
 
 Amens longus 54 
 
 Amicorum communia sunt omnia 1 
 
 Amyclas perdidit Silentium vol. ii. 203 
 
 Anicularum Deliramenta vol. ii. 102 
 
 Animo aegrotanti Medicus est Oratio vol. ii. 90 
 
 An nescis longas Regibns esse Manus ? 35 
 
 Annosa Vulpes baud capitur Laqueo 209 
 
 and vol. ii. 184 
 
 Annosam Arborem transplantare 89 
 
 Ansam quaerere 105 
 
 Ante Barbam doces senes vol. ii. 70 
 
 Ante hac putabam te habere Cornua vol. ii. 70 
 
 Antequam incipias, consulto 288 
 
 Annulus aureus in Naribus Suis 162 
 
 Anus Hircum olet vol. ii. 93 
 
 Anus Simia serd quidem vol. ii. 22 
 
 Aphya ad Ignem vol. ii. 103 
 
 Apii Opus est vol. ii. 59 
 
 A puro pura defluit Aqua vol. ii. 66 
 
 Aquilae Senecta 205 
 
 Aranearum Telas texere 89 
 
 Arctum Anulum ne gestato 9 
 
 Are varia Vulpi, ast una Echino maxima 114 
 
 Artem qurcvis alit Terra 163 
 
 Asinum sub Frceno currere doces 89 
 
 Asinus inter Simias -- 115 
 
 Asinus
 
 INDEX. 227 
 
 Page 
 
 Asinus in Unguento 118 
 
 Asperius nihil est humili cum surgit in altum 153 
 
 Astutior Coccyge vol. ii. 153 
 
 A teneris Unguiculis 163 
 
 Athos celat Latera Lemniae Bovis vol. ii. 64 
 
 Avarus uisi quum moritur, nil recte facit vol. ii. 165 
 
 Aureo piscari Hamo 265 
 
 Auribus Lupum teneo 114 
 
 Auro loquenti nihil pollet qusevis Ratio vol. ii. 7 1 
 
 Aurum Tolosanum 243 
 
 Ausculta et perpende vol. ii. 117 
 
 Aut bibat aut abeat 225 
 
 Aut Caesar aut nullus 6% 
 
 Aut Regem aut Fatuum nasci oportuit 62 
 
 BARBJE ten us Sapientes 60 
 
 and vol. ii. 178 
 
 Barbati vol. ii. 18-t 
 
 Baeta turn Hyeme turn Estate bona vol. ii. 105 
 
 Belte narras 250 
 
 Bellura inexpertis vol. ii. 137 
 
 Bcneficium accipere, est Libertatem vendere vol. ii. 49 
 
 and 180 
 
 Bis dat qui cito dat 190 
 
 Bis interimitur qui suis Armis pent vol. ii. 125 
 
 Bis Pueri Senes 100 
 
 Bceotum in crasso jurares A tire natum vol. ii. 187 
 
 Bona k Tergo formosissirna 276 
 
 Bona magis carendo quain truendo sentimus 276 
 
 .Bona? Leges ex mails Moribus procreantur 231 
 
 Bona
 
 .228 INDEX. 
 
 Pagt 
 
 Bona nemini Hora est, quin alicui sit mala vol. ii. 16'8 
 
 Boni Pastoris est tondere Pecus, non deglubere vol. ii. 103 
 
 Bonis vel malis Avibus 
 
 Bonus Dux bonum reddit Comitem -^ 
 
 Bos alienus subincle prospectat Foras 
 
 Bos in Linua 
 
 caeco Dux 180 
 
 Camaelus desiderans Cornua etiam Aures perdidit 44 
 
 vol. ii. 94 
 
 Camelus saltat vol. ii. 43 
 
 Canes Socium in Culina nullum amant 44 
 
 Canes timidi vehementius lalrant vol. ii. 109 
 
 Canis in Praesepi 221 
 
 Canis festinans caecos parit Catulos 257 
 
 Canlabit vacuus coram Latrone Viator 77 
 
 Cantilenam eandem canere vol. ii. 2S 
 
 Captantes capti sumus 210 
 
 Catulae Dominas imitantes vol.ii. 55 
 
 Caudaa Pilos equkiae paulatim evellere 192 
 
 Cedro digna locutus vol.ii. 128 
 
 Certa sunt paucis 116' 
 
 Chamaeleonte mutabilior vol.ii. 171 
 
 Chius Dominum emit vol. ii. 9 
 
 Cibum in Matellam ne immittito 12 
 
 Citius quam Asparagi coquuntur vol. ii. 102 
 
 Citra Arationem, citraque Sementem 129 
 
 Citra Pulverem 129 
 
 Clavam extorquere Herculi vol.ii. 127 
 
 Ccenare me doces -r* vol. ii. 95 
 
 Cosnatio
 
 IKDEX. 229 
 
 Page 
 
 Cognatio rnovet Invidiam vol. ii. 67 
 
 Conscientia mille Testes 337 
 
 Contra Sfimulum calces 69 
 
 Contra Torrentem niti vol. ii. 91 
 
 Cor ne edito 7 
 
 Corinthiari - vol. ii. 154 
 
 Comix Scorpium rapuit 26 
 
 Coronam quidem gestans caeterum Siti perditus 26l 
 
 Corrumpunt Mores bonos Colloquia prava 236 
 
 Corycanis auscultavit voL ii. 89 
 
 Crambe bis posita, Mors 101 
 
 Crehl vel Carbone notare 123 
 
 Croesi Pecunioe ter unciam addere 38 
 
 Cui placet obliviscitur, cui dolet meminit 154 
 
 Cum Lacte Nutricss 163 
 
 Cum Larvis luctari 47 
 
 Cumini Sector 247 
 
 Cura esse quod audis vol. ii. 129 
 
 Currus Bovem trahit -;.' - 160 
 
 DATE mihi Pelvim * vol. ii. 6& 
 
 Davus sum non CEdipus 109 
 
 De Asini Umbra 71 
 
 De Calceo solicitus, at Pedem nihil curet vol. ii. 210 
 
 De Fiece haurire 2l6 
 
 De Filo pendet 207 
 
 De Fructu Arborem cognosce 211 
 
 De Fumo disceptare 72 
 
 De Lana cnprina 71 
 
 ii. V Delphiaurn
 
 230 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Delphinuai natare doces, vel Aquilam volare 9* 
 
 Deraulcere Caput vol. ii. 55 
 
 De mortuis nil nisi bonum 47 
 
 Den tern Den te rodere vol.ii. 35 
 
 Deorum Cibus est 186 
 
 De Pilo pendet 207 
 
 Destitutus Ventis Remos adhibe vol. ii. l62 
 
 De te Exemplum capit vol.ii. 145 
 
 Dies adimit ^Egritudinem vol. ii. 18 
 
 Difficilia qoae pulehra 246 
 
 Difficilius est sarcire Concordiam quam rumpere 24-7 
 
 Digitum noft porrexerim 67 
 
 Dignum Patella Operculum 232 
 
 Dii Laneos Pedes habent 242 
 
 Dimidium facti, qui benc cepit, habet 45 
 
 Dimidium plus toto 257 
 
 Divitis Servi niaxime Servi vol. ii. 147 
 
 Dives aut iniquus est, aut iniqui hrercs 199 
 
 Dolium volvitur vol, ii. 156 
 
 Dos est magna Parentuin Virtus vol. ii. 181 
 
 Duabus sedcre Sellis 151 
 
 Dulce est miseris Socios habuisse Doloris vol. ii. 194 
 
 Dolcis inexpertis Culturu potentis Amici vol. ii. ISO 
 
 Duos insequens Lepores, neutrum capit vol. ii, 101 
 
 Durum ct durum non faciunt Murum vol.ii. 72 
 
 EANDEM tumlerc Incudem 2l6 
 
 Ejusdem Farinae l6l 
 
 Elephantus non capit Murem 207 
 
 Elephantem ex Musca facis , 208 
 
 Erner*
 
 231 
 
 Page 
 
 Emere inalo quam rogare 67 
 
 E multis Paleis paulura Fructus 56 
 
 Emuncta? Naris Homo 141 
 
 Eodem Collyrio mederi omnibus vol. ii. 114 
 
 Equi et Poetae alendi mm saginandi vol. ii. 130 
 
 Equus Sejauus 244 
 
 E quovis Ligno non fit Mercurius vol. ii. 24 
 
 Et meum Telum Cuspidem habet acuminatum 59 
 
 Etiamsi Cato dicat vol. ii. l6\ 
 
 E tardigradis Asinis, Equus non prodiit vol. ii. 45 
 
 Eum ausculta, cui quatuorsunt Aures 65 
 
 Ex eodem Ore calidum et frigidum effkire 177 
 
 Exigit et e Statuis Farinas vol. ii. 64 
 
 Exiguum Maluin ingens Bonum vol. ii. 2t> 
 
 Ex Harena I'uniculum needs 10.9 
 
 Ex Pede Herculem 214 
 
 Ex Quercubus ac Saxis nati 189 
 
 Extra Lutum Pedes habes 57 
 
 Extra Telorum Jactum 81 
 
 Extra Scopum jaculare 224 
 
 Extremis Digitis attingere 215 
 
 Ex Umbra in Solem 57 
 
 Ex uno omnia specta 57 
 
 FABARUV Arrosor vol. ii. 169 
 
 Facile quum valemus, recta Consilia .ZEgrotis damns 138 
 
 Facilius sit Nili Capnt invenire vol. ii. 219 
 
 Fama; laboranti non facile succurritur 176 
 
 Fames et Mora BHem in Nastim copciunt vol. ii. 46 
 
 Q 2 Felix
 
 23* INDRX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Felix Corinthus, at ego sim Teneates vol. ii. 144 
 
 Fenestram vel Januam aperire 83 
 
 Fervet olla, vivit Amicitia 111 
 
 Festina, lente 244 
 
 Festucum ex alterius Oculo ejiccre 144 
 
 Ficum cupit 274 
 
 Ficos dividere 243 
 
 Ficus Ficus, Ligonem Ligonem vocat 275 
 
 Fidelius rident Tuguria 77 
 
 Figulus Figulo invidet 44 
 
 Flamma Fumo est proxima 97 
 
 Flet victus, Victor interiit vol. ii. 131 
 
 Fluvius cum Mari certas 213 
 
 Fcenum habet in Cornu 33 
 
 Koines ipsi sitiunt 167 
 
 Fortes Fortuna adjuvat 46 
 
 Fortuna nimium quern favet, Stultum facit 76 
 
 Fortuna obesse nulli contents est semel vol. ii. 1 14 
 
 Frigidam Aquam effundere 228 
 
 Frons Occipitio prior 42 
 
 Front! nulla Fides 260 
 
 Frustra habet qui non utitur vol. ii. 45 
 
 Frustra Herculi vol. ii. 35 
 
 Fucum facere 121 
 
 Fuere quondam Milesii vol. ii. 197 
 
 Fuimus Troes 202 
 
 Funem abrumpere nimium tendendo 127 
 
 Furari Litoris Arenas vol. ii. 50 
 
 Furemque Fur cognoscit 287 
 
 Galhis
 
 INDEX. 233 
 
 Page 
 
 Callus in suo Sterquilinio plurimum valet vol. ii. 159 
 
 Gall-urn habeas Amicum non Vicinum vol. ii. 179 
 
 Gutta Fortunae prae Dolio Sapientiae 129 
 
 Gutta cavit Lapidem 65 
 
 HABET vol. ii. 119 
 
 Habet et Musca Splenam vol. ii. 93 
 
 Harena sine Calce 2So 
 
 Ilarenae mandas Semina 90 
 
 Hie Funis nihil attraxit 200 
 
 Hinc illae Lachryma? 26"4 
 
 Hirundinem sub eodem Tecto ne habeas 14 
 
 Hodie nihil succedit vol. ii. 1?0 
 
 Homines frugi omnia recte faciunt 269 
 
 Homo est Bulla 2STI 
 
 Homo longus raro sapiens 56 
 
 IGNAVIS semper Feriae sunt vol.ii. 29 
 
 Ignem ne Gladio fodito 8 
 
 Ignis, Mare, Mulier, tria Mala 264 
 
 Illotis Pedibus ingredi 203 
 
 Jmi Subsellii Viri vol. ii. 109 
 
 Incidis in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim 95 
 
 Indignus qui illi Matellam porrigat 132 
 
 Injuriae spretae exolescunt SO 
 
 Inexplebile Dolium 224 
 
 Incudi reddere 131 
 
 Inimicus et invidus VicinorumOculus vol.ii. 96 
 
 In Acre piscari vol. ii. 53 
 
 Insanus, medio Flumine queeris Aquara 212 
 
 Q 3 Illj
 
 234 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Illi Mors gravis incubat, qui notus nimis omnibus 
 
 ignotus moritur sibi vol. ii. 84 
 
 In Annulum, Dei Figuram ne gestato 15 
 
 In Aqua vel in Saxis Sementem facis ^ 90 
 
 In caducum Parietem inclinare vol. ii. 37 
 
 In Coelum jaculare vol.ii. 69 
 
 In eburna Vagina plumbeus Gladius 162 
 
 Inest et Formicas sua Bilis vol. ii. 93 
 
 In Flammam ne Manum injicito vol. ii. 98 
 
 In Herba esse 272 
 
 In Laqueos Lupus 166 
 
 In Mare venari vol. ii. 53 
 
 In Mari Aquam quasris 212 
 
 In Nocte Consilium 258 
 
 In Portu navigare 24 
 
 In Quudrum redigere 217 
 
 In Re mala, Animo si bono utare, adjuvat vol. ii. 96 
 
 In se descendere 143 
 
 In sola Sparta expedit senescere vol. ii. 145 
 
 In Sylvam Ligna ferre l6S 
 
 In Saltu uno duos Apros capere - vol. ii. 101 
 
 Inter indoctos etiam Corydus sonat 273 
 
 Inter Malleum et Incudem 16 
 
 IntraTelorum Jactum < 82 
 
 Intra tuam Pelliculam te confine 145 
 
 In tuo Regno es 166 
 
 In Vado esse 24 
 
 In Vino Veritas 156' 
 
 In vita Minerva 20 
 
 In utramvis dormire Aurem 175 
 
 Ipse
 
 INDEX. 235 
 
 Page 
 
 Ipse semet canit vol. ii. 27 
 
 Iracundior Adria - 220 
 
 Ira brevis Furor 154 
 
 Ira omnium tardissime senescit 154 
 
 Irritare Crabrones 26 
 
 JACTANTIUS raoerent qui minus dolent vol.ii. 158 
 
 Jejunus raro Stomachus vulgaria temnit, vol. ii. 183 
 
 Jungere Vulpes, aut mulgere llircum 110 
 
 Juxta Fluvium Puteum ibdit vol.ii. 48 
 
 Brachio 37 
 
 Laterem lavas .91 
 
 Latet Anguis in Ilerba 87 
 
 Latum Unguem 110 
 
 Laudatur et alget vol.ii. 176 
 Laureum Baculum gesto 
 
 Leberide caecior 74 
 
 Lentiscum mandere 179 
 
 Leonem stimulas 27 
 
 Leonem ex Unguibus estimare 214 
 
 Leonem Larva terres 133 
 
 Leporis Vitam vivit TO!, ii. 155 
 
 Lingua Amicus vol. ii. 77 
 
 Lingua bellare vol. ii. 56 
 
 Lingua non redarguta vol. ii. 78 
 
 Lingua, quo vadis ? 257 
 
 Li tern parit Lis, Noxa item Noxam parit 195 
 
 Lucri bonus est Odor ex Re qualibet vol. ii. 104 
 
 Lucrum malum aequale Dispendio vol. ii. 97 
 
 Q 4 Lucrum
 
 236' INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Lucrum Pudori praestat vol. ii. 105 
 
 Lumen Soli mutuum das ]68 
 
 Lupi ilium priores viderunt 1/3 
 
 Lupus Pilum mutat non Mentem vol. ii. 42 
 
 Luscus Convitia jacit in caecum 274 
 
 Lyd i us Lapis, si ve Heracli us Lapis *- 130 
 
 MAGIS gaudet quam qui Senectam exuit vol. ii. 108 
 
 Magis magni Clerici, non sunt magis Sapientes 165 
 
 Magister Artis, Ingeniique Largitor Venter 99 
 
 Magistratum gerens, audi et juste et injustk vol. ii. 165 
 
 Magistratus Virum indicat *- 339 
 
 Magis mutus quam Pisces 115 
 
 Mala ultro adsunt vol. ii. 144 
 
 Male parta, male dilabuntur 171 
 
 Malis mala succedunt vol. ii. 114 
 
 Malo accepto, Stultus sapit -^ * - 18 
 
 Malo Nodo malus quzerendus Cuneus 36 
 
 Malum Consilium Consultori pessimum vol.ii. 87 
 
 Malum bene conditum ne moveris 27 
 
 Malum Munus vol. ii. .149 
 
 Malum Vas non frangitur vol.ii. 147 
 
 Mandrabuli More Res succedit -^51 
 
 Manibus Pedibusque -^- 84t 
 
 Manliana Imperia * * 240 
 
 Manum non verterira 67 
 
 Manum de Tabula -* 102 
 
 Manus Manum fricat -r- ]9 
 
 Massiliam naviges - vol. ii. 199 
 
 Mature fias senex, si diu velis esse senex 52 
 
 MaturaSatio sacpe decipit, sera semper mala est 206
 
 INDEX. 237 
 
 Page 
 
 Meclice, cura te ipsum vol. ii. 214 
 
 Mendacem memorem esse oportet' vol. ii. 1 
 
 Mendico ne Parentes quidem Amici sunt vol. ii. 136 
 
 Messe tenus propria vivere 100 
 
 Merx ultronea putet 201 
 
 Alinutula Pluvia Imbrem parit 64 
 
 Minuit Prassentia Famam vol. ii. 124 
 
 Mitte in Aquam, hoc est aufer e medio vol. ii. 212 
 
 Molli Brachio 37 
 
 Mons cum Monte non miscebitur - 45 
 
 Mordere Labrum vol. ii. 108 
 
 Mors omnibus communis vol. ii. 140 
 
 Mortui non mordent vol. ii. 210 
 
 Mortutnn flagellas 106 
 
 Mortuus per Somnum vacabis Curis vol. ii. 118 
 
 Mulier turn bene olet, ubi nihil olet vol. ii. 73 
 Multa novit Vulpes, sed Felis unum magnum 112 
 
 Multa cadunt inter Calicem supremaque Labra 94 
 
 Multas Amicitias Silentium diremit 249 
 
 Multa; Manus Onus levius reddunt vol. ii. 9 
 
 Multae Regum Aures atque Oculi 35 
 
 Multis Ictibus dejicitur Quercus 186 
 
 Multos in summa Pericula misit 
 
 Venturi Timor ipse Mali vol. ii. 203 
 
 Munerum, Animus optimus est vol. ii. 169 
 
 Muris in Morem vol. ii. 100 
 
 Mustelam habes 55 
 
 NAM tuaRes agitur Paries cum proximus ardet vol. ii. 102 
 
 Naribus trahere 251 
 
 Naturam
 
 J38 IXDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Naturam expellas Furca, tamen usque recurret vol.ii. 42 
 
 Ne ad Au res quiclem scalpendas Ociom est 277 
 
 Ne .iEsopum quidem trivit vol.ii. 31 
 
 Ne cuivis Dextram injeceris 5 
 
 Nee quovis Ligno Mercurius fiat vol. ii. 24 
 
 Ne Gladium tollas Mulier vol. ii. 25 
 
 Ne gustaris quibus nigra est Cauda 4 
 
 Ne Hercules quidem adversus duos 1 l6 
 
 Ne in Nervum erumpat vol. ii. 36 
 
 Ne Jupiter quidem omnibus placet vol. ii. 143 
 
 Ne Malorum memineris 254 
 
 Nee Oboluin habet unde Ilestim emat 70 
 
 Ne prius Antidotum quam Venenum vol. ii. 157 
 
 Ne quid nimis 148 
 
 Ne Sus Minervam 19 
 
 Ne Sutor ultra Crepidam 21 
 
 Ne Verba pro Farina vol.ii. 29 
 
 Necessitas Magistra vol. ii. 183 
 
 Neglectis uremia Filix innascitur Agris vol. ii. 54 
 
 Nemini fidas nisi cum quo prius Modium Salis 
 
 absumpseris 248 
 
 Nemo me impune lacessit 60 
 
 Nemo sibi nascitur vol. ii. 172 
 
 Neque Mel, neque Apes 137 
 
 Neque natare, neque Literas vol. ii. 32 
 
 Nequicquam sapit qui sibi non sapit 136 
 
 Nervis omnibus 85 
 
 Nescis quid serus Vesper vehat 152 
 Nil actum reputans, si quid superesset agendum, 
 
 vol. ii. 152 
 
 Nihil ad Fides 118 
 
 NibiJ
 
 INDEX. 239 
 
 Page 
 
 ad Versum 117 
 
 Nihil de Vitello vol. ii. 153 
 
 Nimia Familiaritas parit Contemptum 49 
 
 Nocte latent Menda? 171 
 
 Noctua inter Cornices 119 
 
 Noctua volavit 29 
 
 Nocumentum Documentum 107 
 
 Noli Equi Denies inspicere donati vol. ii. 168 
 
 Non attingere Scopum 224 
 
 Non bene imperat, nisi qui paruerit Imperio - 15 
 
 Non cuivis Homini contingit adire Corinthum 82 
 Non esse Cupidum Pecunia est, non esse emacera 
 
 Vectigal 77 
 
 Non est e Terris mollis ad Astra Via 247 
 
 Non estejusdem et multa, et opportuna dicere 6l 
 
 Non est miht cornea Fibra vol.ii. 33 
 Non est Rernedium adversus Sycophantse Morsum 
 
 vol. ii. 33, & 185 
 
 Non incedisper Ignem vol.ii. 117 
 
 Non omnes possumus omnia vol. ii. 6l 
 
 Non omnis fert omnia Tellus vol. ii. 6l 
 
 Non progredi est regredi vol.ii. 174 
 
 Non statim decernendum vol. ii. 118 
 
 Non sunt Amici qui degunt procul 249 
 
 Non tarn Ovum Ovo simile 110 
 
 Non unquam tacuisse nocct vol. ii. 199 
 
 Non uti libet, sed uti licet, sic vivimus 181 
 
 Nosce te ipsum 146 
 
 Nosce Tempus 169 
 
 Novacula in Cotem 17 
 
 Nuces
 
 240 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Nuces relinquere 108 
 
 Nulla Dies sine Linea 84 
 
 Nullus illis Nasus est 141 
 
 Nullus sum 70 
 
 Num vobis tinniebant Aures vol. ii. l6 
 
 Nunc tuum Ferrum in Igni est vol. ii. l6Q 
 
 OBTIU'DKRE Palpum vol. m 100 
 
 Occasio facit Furein vol. ii. 75 
 
 Occultze Musices nullus Respectus 172 
 
 Oculus dexter mihi salit -< vol. ii. 16 
 
 Oderint modo metuant vol.ii. 51 
 
 Ocli memorem Compotorem 225 
 
 OditCane pejus et Angue vol. ii. 52 
 
 Odium Vatinianum 275 
 
 CEstro percitus . vol.ii. 44 
 
 Oleo tranquilior 220 
 
 Oleum Camino addere 37 
 
 Oleum et Operam perdere 105 
 
 OletLucernam 142 and 170 
 Olitorem odi qui radicitus Herbas excidat 'vol. ii. 103 
 
 Ollae Amicitia 111 
 
 Omne ignotum pro magnifico est 50 
 
 Omnes attrahens ut Magnes Lapis 164 
 
 Omnes sibi melius malunt quam alteri 80 
 
 Omnia bonos Viros decent vol. ii. 53 
 
 Omnia idem Pulvis - l6l 
 
 Omnem movere Lapidem 85 
 
 Omnium Horarum Homo 78 
 
 Opera Sylosontis ampla Regio 242 
 
 Oportet
 
 INDEX. 24rl 
 
 Page 
 
 Oportet Testudinis Carnes aut edere, aut non edere 229 
 
 Optimum aliena Insania frui 280 
 
 Optimum Condimentum Fames vol. ii. 43 
 
 Optimum non nasci 282 
 
 Optimum Obsonium para Senectuti vol. ii. 81 
 
 Orci Galeam habet vol. ii. 58 
 
 Ovem Lupo commisisti 83 
 
 PALINODIAM canere 204 
 
 Palpo percutere vol. ii. 120 
 
 Pannus lacer vol. ii. 8 
 
 Pariter Remum ducere vol. ii. 162 
 
 Par Pari referre vol. ii. 167 
 
 Parturiunt Montes, nascetur ridiculus Mus 198 
 
 Patriag Fumus Igni alieno luculentior 39 
 
 Paupertas Sapientiam sortita est 99 
 
 Pecunias obediunt omnia 75 
 
 Pennas incidere alicui 160 
 
 Percontatorem fugito, nam idem garrulus est 14- 
 
 Perdere Naulum vol. ii. 233 
 
 Pergnccari vol. ii. 122 
 
 Per Ignem incedis vol. ii. 116 
 
 Pingere sub Gladio vol. ii. 155 
 
 Piscator ictus sapit 19 
 
 Pluris est unus ocufatus Testis, quara auriti decem 
 
 vol. ii. 36 
 
 Poeta nascitur non fit vol.ii. 188 
 
 Polypi Mentem obtine 34. 
 
 Post Festum venisti 203 
 
 Praemonitus prsemunitus 280 
 
 Praesens
 
 42 INDEX. 
 
 
 vol. ii. 
 qui 
 vol. ii. 
 vol. ii. 
 
 Page 
 J64 
 
 59 
 160 
 
 279 
 45 
 108 
 76 
 76 
 143 
 245 
 66' 
 250 
 50 
 
 121 
 140 
 113 
 11 
 52 
 16' I 
 20 
 
 0' 
 
 123 
 
 W9 
 65 
 107 
 127 
 19 
 Qui 
 
 Praestat habere acerbos inimicos, quam eos 
 
 Praestat invidiosum esse quam miserabilem 
 
 
 vol. ii. 
 vol. ii. 
 vol. ii. 
 
 Principium Dimidium totius 
 Priusquam Callus iterum cecinerit 
 
 
 
 
 
 Prospectandum vetulo latrante Cane 
 
 vol. ii. 
 vol. ii. 
 vol. ii. 
 
 Pulverem Oculis effundere 
 Qujfc dolent ea molestum est cbntingere 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 vol. ii. 
 
 opti- 
 vol. ii. 
 
 vol. ii. 
 vol. ii. 
 vol. ii. 
 
 Quam quisque norit Artem, in hac se excrceat 
 Qui bene conjiciat, Yatem hunc pcrhibeto 
 
 Quicquid in Buccam, vel in Linguam vcncrit 
 
 
 Quid Coeco cum Speculo 
 
 Quid nisi victis Dolor 
 
 vol. ii.
 
 IXDEX. 
 
 24$ 
 
 Qui jacet in Terra, non liabet unde cadat vol. ii. 37 
 
 Qui Lucerna egent, infuiulunt Oleum vol.ii. 193 
 
 Qui nescit dissimulare, nescit regnare vol. ii. 150 
 
 Qui nimis p rope re, minus prospere --- 245 
 
 Qui non litigat Cselubs est vol. ii. 132 
 
 Qui Nucler.m esse vult, Nucem frangat oportet 
 
 vol. ii. 47 
 
 Qui vital Molam, vital Farinam - vol.ii. 79 
 
 Quarta Luna nati - 30 
 
 Quod alibi diminutum, exequatur alibi vol. ii. 6'l 
 
 Quod de quoque Viro et cui dicas, saepe cavcto vol. ii. 185 
 Quod in Corde sobrii, id in Lingua ebrii 156 
 
 Quod licet ingratum est, quod non licet acrius erit 2(>3 
 Quod non Opus est, Asse carum est vol. ii. l60 
 
 Quod procedere non potest recedit vol. ii. 174 
 
 Quod quis Culpa sua contraxit, majus malum vol. ii. 125 
 Quod supra nos, nihil ad nos 139 
 
 Quo seme! est imbuta recens servabit Odorein Testa 
 
 din - vol. ii. 14 
 
 Quoniam id fieri quod vis non potest, 
 
 Id velis quod possis -- vol. ii. 207 
 
 Quot Servi tot Hostes 273 
 
 RADIT usque ad Cutem vol.ii. .91 
 
 Rara Avis 250 
 
 Rebus iiv adversis facile est contemnere Mortem 
 
 vol.ii. 206 
 
 Red ire ad Nuces 309 
 
 RefricareCicatricem ; - 141 
 
 Refricare- Memoriam 141 
 
 Refii-
 
 244 INDEX. 
 
 Pag* 
 
 Refutantis Laudem immodicam - vol. ii. 58 
 
 Rem Acu tetigisti - vol. ii. 18 
 
 Remis Velisque - - - 85 
 
 Reperire Rimam - vol. ii. 66 
 
 Reperit Deus Nocentem vol. ii. 54 
 
 Res in Cardine est - 16 
 
 Res indicabit 17 
 
 Rore vixit More Cicadas vol. ii. 159 
 
 etiam est Holitor valde opportuna loquutus 132 
 
 Saepe etiam Stultus fuit opportuna loquutus 133 
 
 Salem et Mensam ne praetereas - 134 
 
 Salem lingere - - vol.ii. 106 
 Sapientes portant Cornua in Pectore, Stulti in Fronte 
 
 vol.ii. 131 
 
 Sapientum octavus - - - " 188 
 
 Sat cito si sat ben - - 245 and vol. ii. 185 
 
 Satius estlnitiis mederi quam Fini 45- 
 
 Satius est recurrere quam currere male 21 1 
 
 Sat pulchra si sat bona - POP 
 
 Saxum volntum non obducitur Muscho vol. ii. 92 
 
 Scindere Glaeiem - vol. ri. Qft 
 
 Segnius Homines bona quam mala sentiunt -- 154 
 
 Semper tibi pendeat Hamus - 20t 
 
 Senem juventus pigra Mendicum creat - 52 
 
 Senis mutare Linguam ; 53 
 
 Septennis quum sit.nondum edidit Denies - 256 
 
 Sequitur \'er Ilyemem vol. ii, l6 
 
 Sera in Fundo Parcimonia 256 
 
 Sero Clypeum post Vulnera - 46 
 
 Sero
 
 INDEX. 245 
 
 Page 
 
 Sero sapiunt Phryges 18 
 
 Serpens ni edat Serpentem, Draco non fiet vol. ii. 78 
 Si juxta claudum habites, subclaudicare disces 233 
 
 Simia Simla est, etiamsi aurea gestat Insignia 153 
 
 Simile gaudet Simili 43 
 
 Similes habent Labra Lectucas 231 
 
 Simul sorbere et flare, difficile est 271 
 
 Sincerum est nisi Vas, quodcunque infundis acescit 
 
 vol. ii. 15 
 
 Sine Cortice nalare 181 
 
 Sine Pennis volare haud facile est vol. ii. 99 
 
 Spartam nactus es, lianc orna vol. ii. 23 
 
 Spem Pretio emere vol. ii. JO 
 
 Sponde, Noxa est praesto 149 
 
 Stultum est timere quod vitari non potest 280 
 
 Stultus qui, Patre occiso, Liberos relinquat 229 
 
 Stultus semper incipit vivere vol.ii. 68 
 
 Stylum vert ere 123 
 
 Stia Munera mittit cum Hamo vol.ii. Ill 
 
 Suam quisquc Homo Rem meminit vol. ii. 20t 
 
 Sub Cultro liquit vol.ii. 6'0 
 
 Sub omni Lapide Scorpius dormit 86 
 
 Sublata Lucerna nihil interest inter Mulieres vol. ii. 72 
 
 Sum bonus et frugi 26'9 
 
 Summis Labris 215 
 
 Summis Naribus olfacere 216' 
 
 Summum Jus, summa Injuria 221 
 
 Suo Jumento Malum accersere 2<j 
 
 Surdo Canis 92 
 
 Sustine et abstine - vol.ii. 40 
 
 vou II. u Suum
 
 46 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Suum cuique pulchrum 38 
 
 Suum cuique Decus Posteritas rependet 50 
 
 Sylosontis Chlamys 241 
 
 TACITUS pasci si posset vol. ii. 127 
 
 Talpa cascior 74 
 
 Tanquam Argivum Clypeura abstulerit, ita glo- 
 
 riatur vol. ii. 44 
 
 Tanquam meum Nomeu vol. ii. 211 
 
 Tanquam Suber vol. ii. 100 
 
 Tanquam Ungues Digitosque suos vol. ii. 18 
 
 Taurum toilet qui Vitulum sustulerit 48 
 
 Te cum habita 145 
 
 Te ipsum non alens, Canes alis vol. ii. 27 
 
 Tempus edax Rerum vol. ii. 14 
 
 Tempus omnia revelat vol. ii. 13 
 
 Terram video vol. ii. 222 
 
 Tertius Cato 187 
 
 Testudineus Gradus vol. ii. 99 
 
 Thesaurus Carbones erant 198 
 
 Thus Aulicum 69 
 
 Timidi Mater non flet vol. ii. 172 
 
 Timidi nunquam statuerunt Trophoeum vol. ii. 30 
 
 Timidus Plutus . vol. ii. 112 
 
 Tollenti Onus auxiliare, deponenti nequaquam 10 
 
 Toto Coelo errare 25 
 
 Toto Pec tore 85 
 
 Trochi in Morem vol. ii. 171 
 
 Tua Res agitur Paries quum proximus ardet vol. ii. 102 
 
 Tuis te pingum Coloribus vol. ii. 151 
 
 Tunica
 
 247 
 
 Page 
 
 Tunica Pallio propior est 81 
 
 Turdus ipse sibi malum cacat 25 
 
 Turpe silere vol. ii. 214- 
 
 Turtura loquacior 111 
 
 Tuum tibi narro Somnium vol. ii. 47 
 
 VEL casco appareat 189 
 
 Velocem tardus assequitur 169 
 
 Vclut Umbra sequi vol. ii. 107 
 
 Venter obesus non gignit Mentem subtilem vol. ii. 208 
 
 Ver Hyemem sequitur vol. ii. l6 
 
 Verbura Sapienti vol. ii. 211 
 
 Verecundia inutilis Viro egenti vol. ii. 39 
 
 Veritatis simplex est Oratio 79 
 
 Veterem Injuriam ferendo, invitas novam 103 
 
 Viam qui nescit ad Mare 163 
 
 Vicistis Cochleam Tarditate vol. ii. 99 
 
 Vino vendibili suspensa Hedera nihil Opus vol. ii. 21 
 
 Virtutem etSapientiam vincunt Testudines 159 
 
 Virum improbum vel Mus mordeat 189 
 
 Vis unita fortior 113 
 
 Vita Mortal! um brevis vol. ii. 114 
 
 Volam Pedis ostendere vol. ii. 168 
 
 Vox et Preterea nihil vol. ii. 149 
 
 UBI Amici, ibi Opes 68 
 
 Ubi Mens plurima, ibi minima Fortuna 76 
 
 Ubi quis dblet ibi et Manum frequens habet 2o"2 
 
 Ubi tres Medici, duo Athei vol. ii. 202 
 
 Ultra Vires nihil aggrediendum vol. ii. 110 
 
 Ululas
 
 24S INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Ululas Athaenas portare 38 
 
 Urabram suam metuere 26 1 
 
 Una Domus non alit duos Canes 44 
 
 Una Hirundo non efficit Ver 174 
 
 Undarum in Ulnis vol. ii. 170 
 
 Unico Digitulo scalpit Caput 178 
 
 Ungentein pungit, pungentem Rusticus ungit vol. ii. 67 
 
 Unus Vir, nullus Vir 117 
 
 Usque ad Aras Amicus vol. ii. 65 
 
 Usus est altera Natura vol. ii. 172 
 
 Ut Canis e Nilo 212 
 
 Ut Lupus Ovem amat vol. ii. l6S 
 
 Ut possumus, quando ut volumus non licet 181 
 
 Ut Sementem feceris, ita et metes 184 
 
 ZEN ox E moderator 243 
 
 ERRATA, VOL. II. 
 
 Page 31. 1. 7. for it is instruct, read it is to instruct. 
 60. 4. after the word said, a comma. 
 
 14. for hatchet, read hatches. 
 67. 4. for angit, read ungit. 
 71 . 14. for its, rtad Ins. 
 88. last line but one, for auspices, rtad aruspices. 
 
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