[Introduction]

i / What a proverb is

A proverb, according to Donatus, is 'a saying which is fitted to things and

times/ Diomedes however defines it as follows: 'A proverb is the taking
over of a popular saying, fitted to things and times, when the words say one
thing and mean another/ Among Greek authors various definitions are to 5
be found. Some describe it in this way: 'A proverb is a saying useful in the
conduct of life, with a certain degree of obscurity but of great value in itself.'
Others define it like this: 'A proverb is a manner of speaking which wraps up
in obscurity an obvious truth' I am quite aware that several other
definitions of the word proverb exist in both Latin and Greek, but I have not 10
thought it worth while to list them all here, first because I propose as far as
possible, in this work especially, to follow the advice of Horace about the
brevity required of a teacher; secondly because they all tell the same tale and
come back to the same point; but above all because among all these
definitions there is not one to be found which covers the character and force 15
of proverbs so as to contain nothing unnecessary and leave nothing dimi-
nished in importance.
Setting aside other things for the present, it seems that Donatus and

1
2 A proverb] In these definitions 'proverb' represents the Greek paroemia in Latin
dress (which is much used in this introduction), and 'saying' is the Latin
proverbium, which Erasmus uses normally in the Adagia when he does not use
adagium. They come from two well-known sources, the Ars grammatica of
Donatus 3.6 (Grammatici latini ed H. Keil, 4, Leipzig 1864,402) and of Diomedes
2 (ibid 1, 1857, 462).
5 Greek authors] These definitions are close to those offered by the Etymologicum
magnum 654.15 (ed Venice 1499) and Suidas II733, but are not quite the same.
12 Horace] Ars poetica 335-6 'Whate'er you teach, be terse; what's brief and
plain, / Your readers may learn fast, and long retain/
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB n ID 4

Diomedes regard it as essential for any proverb to have some kind of

envelope; in fact they make it into a sort of allegory. They also expect it to 20
contain something gnomic, didactic, since they add 'fitted to things and
times/ The Greeks too, in all their definitions, introduce either helpfulness
in the conduct of life, or the outer covering of metaphor, and sometimes they
join the two together. Yet you will find many observations quoted as
proverbs by writers of unshakeable authority which are not hidden in 25
metaphor, and not a few which have no bearing at all on instruction in
living, and are diametrically (as they say) opposed to the nature of a
sententia or aphorism. Two examples out of many will suffice. Ne quid nimis,
Nothing to excess [i vi 96], is accepted by everybody as an adage, but it
is not in the least disguised. And Quis aberret a foribus?, Who could miss the 30
gate? [i vi 36], is given the name of proverb by Aristotle, but I cannot see how
it can be useful for the conduct of life. Again, not every proverb is clothed in
allegory, as Quintilian makes clear when he says in the fifth book of his
Institutions: 'Allied to this is that type of proverb which is like a short form of
fable.' This indicates clearly that there are other kinds of proverb, which do 35
not come close to allegory. I would not deny however that the majority of
adages have some kind of metaphorical disguise. I think the best of them are
those which equally give pleasure by their figurative colouring and profit by
the value of their ideas.
But it is one thing to praise the proverb and show which kind is best, 40
and quite another to define exactly what it is. I myself think (pace the
grammarians) that a complete definition and one suitable to our present
purpose may be reached by saying: 'A proverb is a saying in popular use,
remarkable for some shrewd and novel turn/ The logicians agree that there
are three parts to a definition, and here we have them: the word 'saying' 45
indicates the genus, 'in popular use' the differentia or species, and 'remark-
able for some shrewd and novel turn' the particular characteristic.

ii / What is the special quality of a proverb, and its limits

There are then two things which are peculiar to the character of a proverb,
common usage and novelty. This means that it must be well known and in
popular currency; for this is the origin of the word paroimia in Greek (from
oimos, a road, as though well polished in use and circulating), that which 5
travels everywhere on the lips of men, and of adagium in Latin, as if you

31 Aristotle] Metaphysics IA.I (993b5)

33 Quintilian] Institutio oratoria 5.11.21; Erasmus returns to this in n ix 84.
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB ii 2C 5

should say 'something passed round/ following Varro. And then it must be
shrewd, so as to have some mark, as it were, to distinguish it from ordinary
talk. But we cannot immediately rank in this category everything which has
passed into popular speech, or contains an unusual image; it must be 10
recommended by its antiquity and erudition alike, for that is what I call
shrewd. What confers originality on adages I intend to explain soon; at
present I shall say a few words about the many ways in which a proverb can
achieve a popular circulation.
Proverbs get into popular speech, either from the oracles of the gods, 15
like 'Neither the third nor the fourth' [n i 79], or from the sayings of sages,
which indeed circulated in Antiquity as if they were oracles, such as 'Good
things are difficult' [n i 12]. Or else they come from some very ancient poet,
as for instance Homer's 'When a thing is done, a fool can see it' [i i 30], or
Pindar's 'To kick against the goad' [i iii 46], or from Sappho 'No bees, no 20
honey' [i vi 62]; for at a time when tongues were as yet uncorrupted, the
verses of the poets were also sung at feasts. Or they may come from the
stage, that is, from tragedies and comedies, like this from Euripides: 'Up-
wards flow the streams' [i iii 15], or this from Aristophanes: 'Off with you to
the crows!' [n i 96]. It is comedy especially which by a mutual give-and-take 25
adopts many of the expressions in constant use among the common people,
and in turn gives birth to others which are passed on to them for constant
use. Some are derived from the subjects of legend, such as the great jar that
cannot be filled from the story of the daughters of Danaus [i iv 60], or the
helmet of Orcus from the tale of Perseus [n x 74]. Some arise from fables, 30
among which we find 'But we see not what is in the wallet behind' [i vi 90].
Occasionally they are born from an actual occurrence: 'Leucon carries some
things, his ass carries others' [n ii 86]. Several are borrowed from history:
'Rome wins by sitting still' [i x 29]. Others come from apophthegms, that is
from quick witty replies, like that remark 'Who does not own himself would 35
Samos own' [i vii 83]. There are some which are snatched from a word rashly
spoken, such as 'Hippocleides doesn't care' [i x 12]. In a word, the behaviour,
the natural qualities of any race or individual, or even of an animal, or lastly
any power belonging even to a thing, if remarkable and commonly known -

11
7 Varro] In his De lingua latina 7.31 the greatest antiquarian of republican Rome,
without a shadow of probability, had connected adagio (a form of the word
which Erasmus sometimes uses) with an invented word ambagio, from ambi, an
old Italian word meaning 'around,' because an adage 'gets around/ and is not
confined to a single application. Erasmus exchanges ambi for the more familiar
circum, and produces circumagium, 'something passed round.'
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB n 2F 6

all these have given occasion for an adage. Examples of this are 'Syrians 40
against Phoenicians' [i viii 56], accissare [n ii 99] which means to refuse coyly
what you mean to accept, 'A fox takes no bribes' [i x 18], Twice-served
cabbage is death' [i v 38], and The Egyptian clematis' [i i 22].

iii / What produces novelty in a proverb

I have already mentioned novelty, and this is by no means a simple matter.

For sometimes this is produced by the thing itself, as in 'Crocodile tears'
[n iv 60]; sometimes the metaphor provides it, since the adage may adopt all
kinds of figurative variations, which need not be followed up one by one. I 5
will touch only on those which it most frequently assumes. Metaphor is
nearly always present, but it embraces many forms. Allegory is no less
frequent, though to some people this also is a kind of metaphor. An example
of the first is 'Everything is in shallow water' [i i 45], of the second The wolf's
jaws are gaping' [n iii 58]. Hyperbole is not infrequent, as in 'As bare as a 10
snake's sloughed skin' [i i 26]. Sometimes it goes as far as a riddle which,
according to Quintilian, is nothing but a more obscure allegory, as in The
half is more than the whole' [i ix 95]. Sometimes an allusion gives the
proverb its attraction, as in 'Keep it up' [n iv 28]; and Two heads together'
[in i 51]; and The good or ill that's wrought in our own halls' [i vi 85]. 15
Occasionally the dialect or idiom itself, the particular significance of a word,
gives it a resemblance to a proverb, for instance 'An Ogygian disaster' [n ix
50] for an immense one. It happens sometimes that sheer ambiguity gives
grace to a proverb: of this sort are 'An ox on the tongue' [i vii 18] and 'Like
Mys in Pisa' [n iii 67-8]. The point of this is that 'ox' means both an animal 20
and a coin, and in the same way Mys, the Greek for 'mouse/ is the name of
an animal and also of an athlete, and Pisa, the name of a town, needs only
one letter added to give pissa, the Greek for 'pitch/ Sometimes the very
novelty of an expression is what makes it into a proverb, like 'Wine speaks

in
12 Quintilian] 8.6.52
13 an allusion] The three examples given are all intended to evoke in the reader's
mind a scene from Homer.
19 An ox on the tongue] A man is silent, either because he feels suppressed by
some great weight (of influence, anxiety, etc), heavy as an ox, or because he
has been bribed (and the ox or bull is an early coin-type).
20 Mys in Pisa] With very little alteration in the Greek, this can mean either a
mouse stuck in some pitch, or the athlete Mys, competing at Pisa where the
Olympic games were held.
24 Wine speaks the truth] Literally, In wine is truth.
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB n 30 7

the truth' [i vii 17], for if you say 'Men speak their minds when drunk/ it will 25
not look like a proverb. Similarly, if you say 'Desire fails without food and
drink/ this has not the look of an adage; but say 'Without Ceres and Bacchus
Venus grows cold' [n iii 97], and everyone will recognize the adage-form.
But of course this kind of novelty, like every other, comes from the
metaphor. Age sometimes lends attractions too, as in 'Stand surety, and 30
ruin is at hand' [i vi 97]. Once again, in proverbs you will find humour in all
its forms. But to follow out these points in detail might seem to be industry
misapplied. However, I shall say rather more later on about proverbial
metaphors.

iv / How the proverb differs from those forms that

seem to approach it closely

There are however some near neighbours to the proverb, for instance
gnomai, which are called by us sententiae or aphorisms, and ainoi, which
among us are called fables; with the addition of apophthegmata, which may be 5
translated as quick witty sayings, as well as skommata or facetious remarks,
and in a word anything which shelters behind a kind of mask of allegory or
any other figure of speech associated with proverbs. It is not difficult to
distinguish these from the proverb itself, if one knows how to test them
against our definition as against a measure or rule; but in order to satisfy the 10
inexperienced as well, I am quite willing to explain more crudely and 'with
crass mother-wit' as the saying goes, so as to make it quite clear what my
purpose has been in this work. In the first place, the relationship between
the aphorism and the proverb is of such a nature that each can be joined to
the other or again each can be separated from the other, in the same way as 15
with 'whiteness' and 'man.' Whiteness is not ipso facto man, nor man
inevitably whiteness; but there is nothing to prevent what constitutes a man
being also white. Thus it not infrequently happens that an aphorism in-
cludes a proverb, but a proverb need not automatically become an aphorism
or vice versa. For instance The miser lacks what he has as well as what he 20

30 Age] Because the adage chosen is one of the three said to have been per-
manently written up in the sanctuary at Delphi from early times.

iv
12 saying] i i 37
20 For instance] The examples given are Publilius Syrus (compiler of moral
maxims, each occupying a single iambic line, of uncertain date) T 3, cited by
Quintilian 8.5.6; and Ovid Amores 1.15.39, which comes again in n vii 11 and
m x 96.
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB n 3F 8

has not' and 'Ill-will feeds on the living but is quiet after death' are aphorisms,
but not for that reason adages. On the other hand, 'I navigate in harbour' [i i
46] is a proverb but not an aphorism. Again, Tut not a sword into the hand
of a child' [n v 18] partakes of the nature of both proverb and aphorism, and
of allegory as well. There were those, especially among the Greeks, who 25
willingly undertook the task of making gnomologies, collections of aphor-
isms, notably Johannes Stobaeus. I would rather praise their work than
imitate it.
Now to consider the rest. Aphthonius in the Progymnasmata calls the
ainos simply mythos, a fable. It has, as he says, various secondary names, 30
taken from the inventors: Sybarite, Cilician, Cyprian, Aesopic. Quintilian
says that the Greeks call it a logos mythikos or apologue, 'and some Latin
authors an apologation, a name which has not gained general currency.' He
agrees that the fable is close to the proverb, but says that they are to be
distinguished by the fact that the ainos is a whole story, and the proverb is 35
shorter 'like a fable in miniature.' As an example he gives 'Not my burden:
pack-saddle on the ox' [n ix 84]. Hesiod used it in this way: 'Now will I tell
the princes a fable, though they know it well: the hawk thus addressed the
tuneful nightingale.' Archilochus and Callimachus use it in the same way,
although Theocritus in the Cyniscae seems to have used 'tale' for a proverb: 40
Tn truth a certain tale is told: the bull went off into the wood' [i i 43].
As for apophthegms, they are differentiated from proverbs in the same
way as aphorisms. Just as the phrase 'Who does not own himself would
Samos own' [i vii 83] is at the same time both an adage and an apophthegm,

27 Joannes Stobaeus] Compiler of a valuable florilegium, about the year 500 AD,
which Erasmus uses in the Adagia, but never saw in print. From 1520 onwards
his first name was given as Nicolaus.
29 Aphthonius] A technical writer on rhetoric, of the fourth/fifth centuries AD;
Progymnasmata i (21). This was printed in the Aldine Rhetores graeci of 1508. His
'secondary names' are expounded in the preface to the proverb-collection
ascribed to Diogenianus.
31 Quintilian] Institutio oratoria 5.11.20. The manuscripts of Quintilian give the
adage which he quotes in the form vos clitellas; both here and in u ix 84 Erasmus
gives this in 1508, and in 1515 changes vos to bos. Editors of Quintilian attribute
this emendation to Paris and Lyons texts of 1531.
37 Hesiod] Works and Days 202-3
39 Archilochus] A poet of the seventh century BC; frag 174 West, and Callimachus
(scholar and poet of the third century BC) frag 194.6-8 Pfeiffer; both passages
are quoted in the preface to the proverb-collection called Diogenianus. Eras-
mus adds Theocritus 14.43, where the word ainos is again used of a beast-fable;
this he will use again in i i 43.
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB ii 4C 9

so that remark of Simonides to someone who was silent at a banquet 'if you 45
are a fool you are doing a wise thing, but if you are wise a foolish one/ and
that well-known saying 'Caesar's wife must not only be innocent, she must
be above suspicion' are apophthegms but not also proverbs. Also 'You are
used to sitting on two stools' [i vii 2] is both a proverb and an insult.
Conversely 'My mother never, my father constantly.' That phrase of Turo- 50
nius, 'They are at the mills/ is a savage jest, but not also an adage. But there
are some of this sort so aptly put that they can easily be ranked as adages,
like T'm your friend as far as the altar' [in ii 10]. Here we have brevity,
aphorism and metaphor all together. I have emphasized this at somewhat
too great length, so that no one may expect to find in this book anything but 55
what falls into the category of proverbs, and to prevent anyone from think-
ing that an omission is the result of negligence, when I have left it on one
side deliberately and on purpose, as not pertaining to the subject.

v / Proverbs are to be respected for their value

Now in case anyone should impatiently thrust aside this aspect of learning
as too humble, perfectly easy and almost childish, I will explain in a few
words how much respect was earned by these apparent trivialities among
the Ancients; and then I will show what a sound contribution they can 5
make, if cleverly used in appropriate places, and finally how it is by no means
everyone who can make the right use of proverbs. To start with, that an

45 Simonides] Of Ceos, the eminent lyric poet, who flourished 0500 BC, had a
reputation in later centuries for winged remarks, many of them no doubt
apocryphal; this one is from Plutarch Moralia 644*.
47 Caesar's wife] The source of this is also Plutarch: Caesar 10.6; Moralia 2068, and
elsewhere.
49 an insult] Cicero had complained of close seating in the theatre; the retort
suggested, not only that he was used to having more space but that he had a
habit of temporizing politically between two parties.
50 Conversely] Erasmus illustrates his point with two replies made to the Emperor
Augustus, recorded by Macrobius (see i i ian) Saturnalia 2.4.20 and 28 to
illustrate the emperor's tolerance of such retorts. A visitor to Rome from the
provinces resembled him so closely that it was thought he must be Augustus'
blood-relation. Tell me, young man/ said the emperor: 'was your mother ever
in Rome?' And the man deftly threw back the imputation on his mother's
chastity by replying: 'My mother never, my father constantly.' Turonius was
the owner of a band of slave musicians, whose performance pleased Augustus,
but was rewarded in kind, with a gift of bread-corn, instead of in cash as usual.
When he commanded another performance, the impresario replied: 'I'm sorry,
sire; they're all busy grinding.'
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB n 4E 10

acquaintance with adages was held to be not unimportant by the greatest

men is sufficiently proved, I think, by the fact that authors of the first
distinction have thought them a worthy subject for a number of volumes 10
diligently compiled. The first of these is Aristotle, so great a philosopher of
course that he alone may stand for many others. Laertius tells us that he
left one volume of Paroimiai. Chrysippus also compiled two volumes on
proverbs, addressed to Zenodotus. Cleanthes wrote on the same subject. If
the works of these men were still extant, it would not have been necessary 15
for me to fish up some things with such labour out of these insignificant
writers, who were both careless and textually most corrupt. Some collec-
tions of proverbs are to be found under the name of Plutarch, but they are
few in number and almost bare of comment. Often cited among compilers of
proverbs, by Athenaeus in his Deipnologia among others, are Clearchus of 20
Soli, a pupil of Aristotle, and Aristides, and after them Zenodotus, who

v
10 number of volumes] More will be said on the Greek proverb-collectors in the
introductory volume of this version of the Adagia (CWE 30).
11 Aristotle] A reference to the list of his works in Diogenes Laertius 5.26
13 Chrysippus] Of Soli, the eminent Stoic (second half of third century BC)
compiled several books On Proverbs, of which eight fragments are collected by
H. von Arnim Stoicorum veterum fragmenta, Leipzig 1903-5, 3.202. Erasmus
incorporates six of these.
14 Cleanthes] Another Stoic; von Arnim 1.103-39
18 Plutarch] His name is found attached to more than one of the smaller
collections, and one was published under his name by Otto Crusius in two
Tubingen programmes of 1887 and 1895 (reprinted Hildesheim 1961); but it is
not thought that any of them are his. Erasmus gives his name to nearly fifty,
most of them in the third Chiliad.
20 Athenaeus] His Deipnosophistae ('Doctors at Dinner') was a major source for the
Adagia, and Erasmus' own copy of the first edition, Aldus 1514, which survives
at Oxford in the Bodleian Library, is heavily annotated. The title given to it
here, which is quite unorthodox, is taken from Athenaeus 1.46, where it
belongs to a poem on gastronomy, or from Suidas A73i. For the minor collectors
mentioned by him, of whom little is known, see the relevant section of our
introductory volume (CWE 30).
21 a pupil of Aristotle, and Aristides] These words, and the sentence on the
proverbs of Theophrastus which follows, were inserted in 1517/8 and 1515
respectively.
21 Zenodotus] Zenobius seems to be the right name; Erasmus never closed his
mind to the question, and recurs to it in Adagia in vi 88; see our introductory
volume. While awaiting a new edition of the Greek proverb collections,
without which all is dark, we use the name Zenobius, and refer by it to the
major text published by F.G. Schneidewin in the first volume of the Corpus
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB n 5A 11

reduced to a compendium the proverbs of Didymus and Tarrhaeus. In the

brief scholia on Demosthenes proverbs of Theophrastus are also quoted.
This makes it clear that these writers too left collections on this subject. I am
aware that this work is in circulation under the name of Zenobius. But as I 25
find that in the scholiast on Aristophanes there are some things attributed to
that very Zenodotus who summarized Didymus and Tarrhaeus which are to
be found word for word in this man's collections, I hope I shall not be
blamed if in this work I adduce him, whatever his name was (for what does it
matter?), under the name of Zenodotus. This writer refers among others to a 30
certain Milo as a collector of proverbs. One Daemon is also quoted, by many
others and particularly by the person who explained a number of words and
phrases in the speeches of Demosthenes; he appears to have composed
many books of proverbs, since book 40 is quoted. There are also extant the
collections of Diogenianus. Hesychius states in his preface that he has given 35
a fuller explanation of the proverbs which had been briefly enumerated by
Diogenianus; but the work itself seems to conflict with the prologue, since
the earlier writer claims to give a list of the authors and the subjects of the
proverbs, while the later is so brief that nothing shorter could be imagined.
From this I conjecture that this work was produced in a fuller form by the 40

Paroemiographorum (Gottingen 1839). The reference to Didymus and Tarrhaeus

is taken by Erasmus from the Zenobius-text published by Aldus in his Aesop of
1505.
31 Daemon] The mention of him was added to twice: 'by many others ...
Demosthenes' and 'of proverbs' were inserted in 1517/5, and 'he appears ... is
quoted' had been added in 1515.
35 Diogenianus] This means the form of the collection that passed under this name
which is printed by Schneidewin in the volume already referred to. It was the
source of almost all the Greek in the Collectanea; therefore Erasmus had access to
it while he was still in Paris, and we can identify the text he used with a copy
(Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Grabe 30) which belonged to Georgius Hermo-
nymus, from whom Erasmus had Greek lessons in Paris, or with a transcript
of it (more likely the latter, as the Grabe text is in a very crabbed hand).
Hermonymus made a transcript of his Diogenianus for Guillaume Bude, which
is also in the Bodleian, MS Laud gr 7.
35 Hesychius] Of Alexandria (fifth century AD) compiled a lexicon of rare words,
which survives in a single late manuscript, Venice Marcianus gr 522, which was
used by Marcus Musurus as printer's copy for the Aldine edition of 1514. Here
'Hesychius ... another hand' was inserted in 1517/8. Kurt Latte discusses
Erasmus' problem on pp Ix-lxi of the first volume of his new edition
(Copenhagen 1953- ), and decides that Hesychius' copy of Diogenianus had
an abbreviated text.
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB n 50 12

author, and contracted into a summary by another hand. Suidas, who must
himself be placed in this category, mentions a certain Theaetetus as having
written a work on proverbs. But why should I be talking of these people,
when the Hebrew sages themselves did not hesitate to bring out more than
one book with this title, and to enclose the venerable mysteries of the 45
unsearchable deity in proverbs which the intellects of so many and such
great theologians have struggled to elucidate, as they are struggling to this
day?
It is no light argument too that among good authors it was the most
learned and eloquent who sprinkled their books most freely with adages. To 50
begin with the Greeks, who is a greater master of proverbs, so to call it, than
the great, not to say the divine, Plato? Aristotle, otherwise a grave philo-
sopher, is always ready to interweave frequent proverbs, like jewels, into
his discussions. As in other things, so in this, Theophrastus imitates him. As
for Plutarch, a serious, religious-minded writer, not to say austere, how he 55
scatters proverbs plentifully everywhere! Nor was he averse to bringing
forward and discussing certain proverbs among his 'Problems/ and in this
he was following the example of Aristotle. To turn to Latin, setting aside
grammarians and poets in both kinds (unless it is thought that among these
we should count Varro, who gave proverbial titles to his Menippean Satires, 60
so that there is general agreement that he borrowed the subjects of his fables
from no other source than proverbs), the rulers of Rome did not think it was
demeaning the imperial majesty to reply in proverbs when they were
consulted on great topics, as can be found even now in the Digest: 'Not
everything, nor everywhere, nor from everybody' [n iv 16]. 65

41 Suidas] This should properly be 'the Suda' (it may mean 'treasure-house'), but
Erasmus, in common with all scholars down to very recent times, treated Suidas
as the personal name of the compiler, and we have thought it would be
unhistorical not to do as he did. It is an immense alphabetical compilation of the
tenth century AD, published in Milan in 1499 and by the Aldine press in
February 1514. One of the sources was a collection of proverbs, and Erasmus
makes much use of it. It mentions Theaetetus' work at o 806.
60 Varro] Marcus Terentius Varro (116-27 BC), whom we have already met as
author of the De lingua latina (see ii /n), wrote as part of a voluminous output a
series of Menippean Satires (taking their name from the third-century Cynic
philosopher Menippus), of which we know little more than the titles. Many of
these were adapted from proverbs, and it is not surprising that Erasmus should
refer to the Satires in the Adagia over thirty times. The fragments, most of them
from the lexicographer Nonius, are collected by F. Buecheler in his Petronii
saturae (Berlin 1922) 177-250.
64 Digest] The compilation of the opinions of Roman jurists, published on the
orders of the emperor Justinian in AD 533. Erasmus, who had read parts of it, at
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB n 51 13

Then who would dare to despise this mode of speech, when he saw
that some of the oracles of the holy prophets are made of proverbs? One
example of this is The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's
teeth are set on edge.' Who would not revere them as an almost holy thing,
fit to express the mysteries of religion, since Christ Himself, whom we ought 70
to imitate in all things, seems to have taken a particular delight in this way of
speaking? An adage is current in Greek: 'I judge the tree by its fruit' [i ix 39].
In Luke we read the same thing: 'A good tree bringeth not forth corrupt
fruit, neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.' In Greek, Pittacus
the philosopher sent an enquirer to watch boys playing with tops, so as to 75
learn proverbial wisdom from them about taking a wife, and heard: 'Stick to
your own' [i viii i]. Christ cites a proverb from children playing in the
market-place: 'We have piped to you and you have not danced; we have
mourned to you, and you have not wept.' This is very like that saying in
Theognis, if one may compare sacred with profane: 'For Jove himself may 80
not content us all, / Whether he holds rain back or lets it fall' [n vii 55].
If a motive is to be found in reverence for antiquity, there appears to be
no form of teaching which is older than the proverb. In these symbols, as it
were, almost all the philosophy of the Ancients was contained. What were
the oracles of those wise old Sages but proverbs? They were so deeply 85
respected in old time, that they seemed to have fallen from heaven rather
than to have come from men. 'And Know thyself descended from the sky'
[i vi 95] says Juvenal. And so they were written on the doors of temples, as
worthy of the gods; they were everywhere to be seen carved on columns and
marble tablets as worthy of immortal memory. If the adage seems a tiny 90
thing, we must remember that it has to be estimated not by its size but by its
value. What man of sane mind would not prefer gems, however small, to

least, with care, usually calls it Pandects, the title in Greek, and gives the name
of the lawyer (Ulpian more often than any) whose view he is quoting. Ulpian
here (Digest i. 16.6.3) cites an imperial rescript on the question how far, if at all,
an official is allowed to receive gifts.
68 The fathers] Jeremiah 31:29; Ezekiel 18:2
73 Luke] 6:43
74 Pittacus] One of the Seven Sages. The boys, as they whipped their tops, called
to each other to get out of the way; the man who was looking for a wife heard
this as advice to stick to his own station in life.
77 proverb] Luke 7:32
80 Theognis] 25-6; a sixth-century BC moralist (in elegiac couplets) referred to in
the Adagia fifty times. Aldus published the first edition in 1495/6.
88 Juvenal] 11.27; m 15°8 he was merely referred to as 'the satyrist/ but the
quotation was given more fully and ascribed to him in 1523.
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB ii 6s 14

immense rocks? And, as Pliny says, the miracle of nature is greater in the
most minute creatures, in the spider or the gnat, than in the elephant, if only
one looks closely; and so, in the domain of literature, it is sometimes the 95
smallest things which have the greatest intellectual value.

vi / The many uses of a knowledge of proverbs

It remains for me to show briefly how proverbs have an intrinsic usefulness

no less than the respect in which they were formerly held. A knowledge of
proverbs contributes to a number of things, but to four especially: philoso-
phy, persuasiveness, grace and charm in speaking, and the understanding 5
of the best authors.
To begin with, it may seem surprising that I should have said that
proverbs belong to the science of philosophy; but Aristotle, according to
Synesius, thinks that proverbs wire simply the vestiges of that earliest
philosophy which was destroyed by the calamities of human history. They 10
were preserved, he thinks, partly because of their brevity and conciseness,
partly owing to their good humour and gaiety; and for that reason are to be
looked into, not in sluggish or careless fashion, but closely and deeply: for
underlying them there are what one might call sparks of that ancient phi-
losophy, which was much clearer-sighted in its investigation of truth than 15
were the philosophers who came after. Plutarch too in the essay which he
called 'On How to Study Poetry' thinks the adages of the Ancients very
similar to the rites of religion, in which things which are most important and
even divine are often expressed in ceremonies of a trivial and seemingly
almost ridiculous nature. He suggests that these sayings, brief as they are 20
give a hint in their concealed way of those very things which were pro-
pounded in so many volumes by the princes of philosophy. For instance,
that proverb in Hesiod The half is more than the whole' [i ix 95] is exactly
what Plato in the Gorgias and in his books On the State tries to expound by so
many arguments: it is preferable to receive an injury than to inflict one. What 25
doctrine was ever produced by the philosophers more salutary as a principle
of life or closer to the Christian religion? But here is a principle clearly of the

93 Pliny] Naturalis historia 11.2-4

vi
8 Aristotle] Frag 13 Rose, cited by Synesius (fourth-century bishop of Ptolemais)
Calvitiae encomium 22 (PG 66.12048)
16 Plutarch] Moralia 35F-36A, from memory; the passages of Plato referred to are
Gorgias 473 and Republic in several places.
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB n 6E 15

greatest importance enclosed in a minute proverb, The half is more than the
whole/ For to take away the whole is to defraud the man to whom nothing is
left; on the other hand, to accept the half only is to be in a sense defrauded 30
oneself. But it is preferable to be defrauded than to defraud. Again, anyone
who deeply and diligently considers that remark of Pythagoras 'Between
friends all is common' [i i i] will certainly find the whole of human happi-
ness included in this brief saying. What other purpose has Plato in so many
volumes except to urge a community of living, and the factor which creates 35
it, namely friendship? If only he could persuade mortals of these things,
war, envy and fraud would at once vanish from our midst; in short a whole
regiment of woes would depart from life once and for all. What other
purpose had Christ, the prince of our religion? One precept and one alone
He gave to the world, and that was love; on that alone, He taught, hang all 40
the law and the prophets. Or what else does love teach us, except that all
things should be common to all? In fact that united in friendship with Christ,
glued to Him by the same binding force that holds Him fast to the Father,
imitating so far as we may that complete communion by which He and the
Father are one, we should also be one with Him, and, as Paul says, should 45
become one spirit and one flesh with God, so that by the laws of friendship
all that is His is shared with us and all that is ours is shared with Him; and
then that, linked one to another in the same bonds of friendship, as mem-
bers of one Head and like one and the same body we may be filled with the
same spirit, and weep and rejoice at the same things together. This is 50
signified to us by the mystic bread, brought together out of many grains into
one flour, and the draught of wine fused into one liquid from many clusters
of grapes. Finally, love teaches how, as the sum of all created things is in
God and God is in all things, the universal all is in fact one. You see what an
ocean of philosophy, or rather of theology, is opened up to us by this tiny 55
proverb.

vii / Proverbs as a means to persuasion

If it is not enough to understand something oneself, but one wishes to

persuade others, to be furnished with proverbs is by no means unhelpful, as
Aristotle himself makes sufficiently clear by classifying proverbs as evidence

40 He taught] Matthew 22:40

45 Paul] Ephesians 4:4

vii
4 Aristotle] Rhetoric 1.15 (137631)
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB 11 7B 16

more than once in his principles of rhetoric: 'for instance/ he says, 'if one 5
wishes to persuade someone not to make close friends with an old man, he
will use as evidence the proverb that one should never do an old man a
kindness' [i x 52], and again, if one were to argue that he who has killed the
father should slay the children also, he will find this proverb useful: 'He's a
fool who kills the father and leaves the children' [i x 53]. How much weight 10
is added to the power of persuasion by supporting evidence is common
knowledge. Aphorisms too are of no small use; but under evidence Aristotle
also classes proverbs. Quintilian too in his Institutions also mentions
proverbs in several places as conducive to good speaking in more ways than
one. For in book 5 he joins proverbs with examples and allots them equal 15
force; and he rates the force of examples very high. Again in the same book
he classes proverbs under the type of argument called in Greek kriseis,
authoritative assertions, which are very frequently used and of no mean
power to persuade and move. It may be better to quote Quintilian's actual
words: 'Popular sayings which command general assent will also be found 20
not without value as supporting material. In a way they carry even more
weight because they have not been adapted to particular cases but have been
said and done by minds exempt from hatred or partiality for no reason
except their evident connection with honour or truth.' And a little further
on: Those things too which command general assent seem to be, as it were, 25
common property from the very fact that they have no certain author.
Examples are "Where there are friends, there is wealth" [i iii 24] and "Con-
science is a thousand witnesses" [i x 91] and in Cicero "Like readily comes
together with like as the old proverb has it" [i ii 20]; for these would not have
lived for ever if they did not seem true to everyone.' Thus far I have retailed 30
the words of Quintilian. The same author, a little later, makes the oracles of
the gods follow proverbs as though they were closely related. And what of
Cicero? Does he not use a proverb in the Pro Flacco to destroy the credibility
of witnesses? The proverb in question is 'Risk it on a Carian' [i vi 14]. Does he
not in the same speech explode the integrity in the witness-box of the whole 35
race of Greeks with this one proverb: 'Lend me your evidence' [i vii 95]?
Need I mention the fact that even philosophers in person are always sup-
porting their arguments with proverbs? No wonder then if historians often
seek to support the truth of their narrative by means of some adage. So true
is it that what vanishes from written sources, what could not be preserved 40

13 Quintilian] Institutio oratoria 5.11.37 and 41

33 Cicero] Pro L. Flacco 27.65 and 4.9. 'Support me now, and in return I will give
evidence for you when required, true or false.'
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB n js 17

by inscriptions, colossal statues and marble tablets, is preserved intact in a

proverb, if I may note by the way this fresh reason to praise adages.
And then St Jerome shows no reluctance in confirming a Gospel
maxim with the help of a common proverb: 'A rich man is either wicked
himself or the heir of a wicked man' [i ix 47]. Even Paul himself does not 45
scorn to use proverbs as evidence in some passages, and not without cause.
For if TO mQavov, the power to carry conviction, holds the first place in the
achievement of persuasion, what could be more convincing, I ask you, than
what is said by everyone? What is more likely to be true than what has been
approved by the consensus, the unanimous vote as it were, of so many 50
epochs and so many peoples? There is, and I say it again, in these proverbs
some native authentic power of truth. Otherwise how could it happen that
we should frequently find the same thought spread abroad among a hun-
dred peoples, transposed into a hundred languages, a thought which has
not perished or grown old even with the passing of so many centuries, 55
which pyramids themselves have not withstood? So that we see the justice
of that saying, 'Nothing is solider than truth/ Besides, it happens (how, I
cannot tell) that an idea launched like a javelin in proverbial form strikes
with sharper point on the hearer's mind and leaves implanted barbs for
meditation. It will make far less impression on the mind if you say 'Fleeting 60
and brief is the life of man' than if you quote the proverb 'Man is but a
bubble' [n iii 48]. Lastly, what Quintilian writes about laughter, when he
says that the greatest difficulties in pleading a case, which cannot be solved
by any arguments, can be evaded by a jest, is particularly applicable to the
proverb. 65

viii / Decorative value of the proverb

It hardly needs explaining at length, I think, how much authority or beauty

is added to style by the timely use of proverbs. In the first place who does not
see what dignity they confer on style by their antiquity alone? And then, if
there is any figure of speech that can confer breadth and sublimity on 5
language, any again that contributes to grace of expression, if finally there is
any reason for humour, a proverb, being able normally to adapt itself to all
kinds of rhetorical figures and all aspects of humour and wit, will of course
contribute whatever they are wont to contribute and on top of that will add
its own intrinsic and peculiar charm. And so to interweave adages deftly and 10
appropriately is to make the language as a whole glitter with sparkles from

62 Quintilian] 6.3.8-9
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB ii 8c 18

Antiquity, please us with the colours of the art of rhetoric, gleam with
jewel-like words of wisdom, and charm us with titbits of wit and humour. In
a word, it will wake interest by its novelty, bring delight by its concision,
convince by its decisive power. 15

ix / The proverb as an aid to understanding literature

Even if there were no other use for proverbs, at the very least they are not
only helpful but necessary for the understanding of the best authors, that is,
the oldest. Most of these are textually corrupt, and in this respect they are
particularly so, especially as proverbs have a touch of the enigmatic, so that 5
they are not understood even by readers of some learning; and then they are
often inserted disconnectedly, sometimes even in a mutilated state, like
'Upwards flow the streams' [i iii 15]. Occasionally they are alluded to in one
word, as in Cicero in his Letters to Atticus: 'Help me, I beg you; "prevention,"
you know/ where he refers to the proverb 'Prevention is better than cure' 10
[i ii 40]. Thus a great darkness is cast by these if they are not known, and
again they throw a great deal of light, once they are understood. This is the
cause of those monstrous mistakes in both Greek and Latin texts; hence the
abominable errors of translators from Greek into Latin; hence the absurd
delusions of some writers, even learned ones, in their interpretation of 15
authors, mere ravings in fact. Indeed, I would mention some of these here
and now, if I did not think it more peaceable and more suited to my purpose
to leave everyone to draw his own conclusions, after reading my notes, as to
the extent to which writers of great reputation have sometimes fallen into
wild error. And then it sometimes happens that an author makes a con- 20
cealed allusion to a proverb; and if it escapes us, even though the meaning
will seem clear, yet ignorance of the proverb will take away a great part of
our pleasure. That remark in Horace is of this type: 'A horse to carry me, a
king to feed me' [i vii 20]. And in Virgil: 'And Camarina shows up far away, /
Ne'er to be moved; so have the fates decreed' [i i 64], In one of these is the 25
proverb 'A horse carries me, a king feeds me,' in the other 'Move not
Camarina/

viii
15 convince ... power] These words were added in 1517/8.

ix
9 Cicero] Ad Atticurmo.io.^
25 In one of these ... Camarina] This sentence was added in 1515.
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB ii 9A 19

x / The difficulty of proverbs calls for respect

If according to the proverb 'Good things are difficult' [n i 12], and the things
which seem easy are scorned and held cheap by the popular mind, let no
one imagine it is so simple a task either to understand proverbs or to
interweave them into discourse, not to mention myself and how much 5
sweat this work has cost me. Just as it requires no mean skill to set a jewel
deftly in a ring or weave gold thread into the purple cloth, so (believe me) it
is not everyone who can aptly and fittingly insert a proverb into what he has
to say. You might say of the proverb with justice what Quintilian said of
laughter, that it is a very risky thing to aim for. For in this kind of thing, as in 10
music, unless you put on a consummate performance, you would be ridicu-
lous, and you must either win the highest praise or be a laughingstock.

xi / How far the use of adages is advisable

In the light of all this I will point out to what extent and in which ways adages
should be used. In the first place, it is worth remembering that we should
observe the same rule in making use of our adages as Aristotle elegantly
recommended in his work on rhetoric with regard to the choice of epithets: 5
that is to say, we should treat them not as food but as condiments, not to
sufficiency but for delight. Then we must not insert them just where we like;
there are some places where it would be ridiculous to put jewels, and it is
equally absurd to apply an adage in the wrong place. Indeed, what Quin-
tilian teaches in the eighth book of his Institutions about the use of aphorisms 10
can be applied in almost exactly the same terms to proverbs. First, as has
been said, we must not use them too often. Overcrowding prevents them
from letting their light shine, just as no picture catches the eye in which
nothing is clear in profile, and so artists too, when they bring several figures
together in one picture, space them out so that the shadow of one body does 15
not fall on another. For every proverb stands by itself, and for that reason
must anyway be followed by a new beginning. This often causes the writing
to be disconnected, and because it is put together from bits and pieces, not
articulated, it lacks structure. And then it is like a purple stripe, which gives

X
9 Quintilian] Perhaps a reminiscence of 6.3.6-7

xi
4 Aristotle] Rhetoric 3.3.3. (1406319)
9 Quintilian] InstitutiooratoriaS.^.j
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB n 90 20

an effect of brilliance in the right place; but a garment with many stripes in 20
the weave would suit nobody. There is also another disadvantage, that the
man who sets out to use proverbs frequently is bound to bring in some that
are stale or forced; choice is not possible when the aim is numbers. Finally,
when anything is exaggerated or out of place, charm is lost. In letters to
one's friends, however, it will be permissible to amuse oneself in this way a 25
little more freely; in serious writing they should be used both more sparingly
and with more thought.

xii / The varied use of proverbs

Here I think it is not beside the point to indicate shortly the ways in which
the use of proverbs can vary, so that you can put forward the same adage
now in one shape and now in another. To begin with, there is no reason why
you should not occasionally fit the same wording with different meanings, 5
as for instance 'A great jar with holes' [i x 33] can be applied to forgetfulness,
extravagance, miserliness, futility or ingratitude: whatever you have told to
a forgetful person slips from the mind, with the spendthrift nothing lasts, a
miser's greed is insatiable, a silly chatterer can keep nothing to himself, a gift
to an ungrateful man is lost. Sometimes a saying can be turned ironically to 10
mean the opposite: if you are speaking of an arrant liar, you can say Listen to
the oracle 'straight from the tripod' [i vii 90]. Occasionally it happens that the
change of one small word may make the proverb fit several meanings: for
instance 'Gifts of enemies are no gifts' [i iii 35] can be shifted to fit gifts from
the poor, from flatterers, from poets; for presents from an enemy are 15
believed to bring ruin, and when poor people, sycophants or poets give
anything away, they are fortune-hunting rather than giving. In a word, you
may freely arrange this comparison in any way which it will fit. This method
applies to almost every instance where a transference is made from a person
to a thing or vice versa. Here is an example, applied to a person. The 2O
proverb says Not even Hercules can take on two [i v 39]; but I am Thersites
rather than Hercules; how can I answer both?' It can be twisted to refer to a
thing in this way: 'Not even Hercules can take on two; how can I stand up to
both illness and poverty?' Or the proverb can be turned the other way, as in
'It is said Not even Hercules can take on two; and do you dare to stand up 25
against two Herculeses?' Or in this way: 'It is the opposite of the familiar

xii
7 ingratitude] The reference to the ungrateful man here and at the end of the
sentence was added in 1517/8.
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB n IOA 21

Greek proverb [i ix 30]: I expected coals and I have found treasure.' And: 'I
have exchanged, not gold for bronze but, quite simply, bronze for gold'
[i ii i]. Sometimes the adage is explained and held up for comparison,
sometimes it is an allegory pure and simple which is related. Occasionally 30
even a truncated form is offered, as when you might say to a person whose
answer was quite off the point 'Sickles I asked for' [n ii 49], and in Cicero
'Make the best of it' [iv ii 43]. At times it is enough to make an allusion with a
single word, as when Aristotle says that 'all such men are potters to one
another' [i ii 25]. There are other methods of varying the use of proverbs; but 35
if anyone wishes to follow them out more closely, he may get what he wants
from my compilation De duplici copia.

xiii / On proverbial metaphors

It remains to set to work on the task of making a catalogue of proverbs, but

after first pointing out some proverbial metaphors. For there are some
sayings which do not much resemble proverbs at first sight, and some take
a proverbial shape, so that they can easily be added to the category of 5
proverbs. Generally speaking, every aphorism approaches the genus
proverb, and in addition metaphor and in particular allegory, and among
these especially such as are taken from important fields which are generally
familiar, such as seafaring and war. Examples of these are: to sail with a
following wind, to be shipwrecked, to turn one's sails about, to hold the 10
tiller, to bale out the bilge-water, to spread one's sails to the wind and to take
in sail. And these: to give the signal to attack, to fight at the sword's point, to
sound the retreat, to fight at long range or hand to hand, to set to, to join
battle, and hundreds of others of the same kind, which only need to be
drawn out a little to assume the form of a proverb. In the same way there are 15
those which are taken from well-known things and exceedingly familiar in
everyday experience, as for instance whenever there is a transference from
the physical to the mental, as to turn the thumb down (to show support), to
wrinkle one's brow (to take offence), to snarl (to be displeased), to clear
one's brow (to grow cheerful). And there are those which come from the 20
bodily senses: to smell out (to get to know), to taste (to investigate). They
normally have the look of a proverb about them, whenever expressions
peculiar to the arts are used in another sense, as 'the double diapason' from
music, 'diametrically' from geometry (another instance is 'words half a yard
long'), 'to put it back on the anvil' from blacksmiths, 'by rule' from stone- 25
masons, T haven't done a stroke' from painters, 'to add a last act' from the
stage. Sometimes without metaphor a tacit allusion contributes something
of a proverbial nature. Such an allusion will be most successful when it
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB n IDE 22

concerns an author or fact very famous and known to everybody, Homer for
instance in Greek and Virgil in Latin. An example of this is that phrase in 30
Plutarch: 'Since many good men and true are here to support Plato/ The
allusion is to a liturgical custom: at a sacrifice the priest would say 'Who's
here?' and the assembled company would reply 'Many good men and true/
Then there is that phrase in Cicero's Letters to Atticus: Two heads together'
and in Lucian 'the sons of physic' used for physicians. 35
There is also a resemblance to proverbs in those expressions often
met with in pastoral poetry, the impossible, the inevitable, the absurd,
likenesses and contraries. The impossible is like this: 'But it were equal
labour to measure the waves on the seashore,' and in Virgil: 'Ere this the
light-foot stag shall feed in air, / And naked fish be beach-strewn by the sea/ 40
The inevitable like this: 'While boars love mountain-crests and fish the
streams/ and in Seneca: 'While turn the lucid stars of this old world/ An
example of the absurd: 'Let him yoke foxes too and milk he-goats/ An
instance of contraries: 'E'en the green lizards shelter in the brakes; / But I - I
burn with love/ and so in Theocritus: 'The waves are silent, silent are the 45
gales, / But in my breast nothing will silence care/ Of likeness: 'Wolf chases
goat, and in his turn is chased / By the fierce lioness/ and in Theocritus: The
goat pursues the clover, and the wolf pursues the goat/
There are two other formulae very close to the proverb type, formed
either by repetition of the same or a similar word, or by the putting together 50
of opposite words. Examples of this are: To bring a bad man to a bad end, an
ill crow lays an ill egg, and A wise child has a wise father. This is almost
normal in Greek drama, both comedy and tragedy. Further, The deserving
get their deserts; Friend to friend; Evil to the evil, good to the good; Each
dear to each; To every queen her king is fair. Also: Hand rubs hand; Jackdaw 55
sits by jackdaw. The type of opposites goes like this: Just and unjust; Rightly
or wrongly, in Aristophanes; Will he nill he, in Plato; and again, Neither

xni
31 Plutarch] Moralia 698?; see Adagia i vi 31.
34 Cicero] Ad Atticum 9.6.6; see m i 51.
35 Lucian] Quomodo historia conscribenda sit 7
38 like this] Theocritus 16.60, used again in i iv 45
39 Virgil] Eclogues 1.59-60, followed by 5.76
42 Seneca] Oedipus 503
43 absurd] Eclogues 3.91, followed by 2.9 and 68 run together
45 Theocritus] 2.38-9
46 likeness] Eclogues 2.63
47 Theocritus] 10.30
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB n nc 23

word nor deed. So too in our own poets: 'With right and wrong confounded'
and 'She truth and falsehood spread/ (This figure was used by Valerius
Maximus without keeping to its true sense, merely as a means of emphasis: 60
'protesting' he says 'that against all right and wrong, when he held high
command, he was butchered by you, a Roman knight/ For how can it make
sense to say that a nefarious outrage was committed 'against all wrong'?)
With what justice and what injustice; To do and suffer anything; Worthy
and unworthy; What did he say or not say?; At home and at the war; Publicly 65
and privately; What you know, you don't know; Openly and in secret; In jest
and in earnest; With hands and feet; Night and day; What you put first or
last; Neither great nor small; Young and old; To the applause of gods and
men.
To this type belong all those phrases found everywhere in the poets: A 70
maid and no maid, A bride and no bride, A wedding and no wedding, A city
and no city, Paris ill-Paris, Happiness unhappy, Gifts that are no gifts, Fear
unfearsome, War that is no war, Adorned when unadorned, Thankless
thanks, Wealth that is no wealth. This opposition sometimes happens in
compound words, like morosophos, foolishly wise, and glukupikros, bitter- 75
sweet. So lovers, as Plutarch assures us, call their passion, which is a
mixture of pleasure and pain, such that they willingly pine. To this belongs
that riddling type of contradiction, for example: I carry and carry not, I have
and have not; 'A man no man that sees and sees not / With stone that's no

58 our own poets] Virgil Georgics 1.505 and Aeneid 4.190

59 Valerius Maximus] Facta et dicta memorabilia 6.2.8. This is a manual of historical
anecdotes for the use of speakers compiled in the early first century AD, cited in
the Adagia twenty-seven times. These two sentences in parentheses were
added here in 1533.
64 With what justice] There is some overlap between this list and n i 24.
73 Adorned ... thanks] This was added (with the Latin versions of those that
preceded) in 1515; 'Wealth that is no wealth' in 1528.
75 glukupikros] This, and the following sentence referring to Plutarch Moralia 68iB,
were added in 1515.
79 A man no man] The most famous of Greek riddles, ascribed to Panarces, of
whom nothing is known, by Clearchus, an early collector of proverbs quoted
by Athenaeus 10.452C (frag 95 in F. Wehrli Die Schule des Aristoteles 3,1969). It is
mentioned by Plato Republic 5-479C, and recorded in the De tropis, a late
rhetorical treatise ascribed to Tryphon (Rhetores graeci ed L. Spengel, Leipzig
1853-6, 3.194.16) and in Suidas AI 230; see Iambi et elegi graeci ed M.L. West,
Oxford 1972, 2.91. Erasmus' text seems closest to that given by Tryphon. The
answer is: A one-eyed eunuch throws a lump of pumice-stone at a bat hanging
on a tall reed, and misses it. ('Hits' has to represent two senses of the Greek
ballein, which normally means 'to hit,' but can carry a colour of 'to throw at with
the intention of hitting/)
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB n HF 24

stone hits and hits not / A bird no bird that on a sapling / That is no sapling 80
sits and sits not/ This riddle is recorded both by Athenaeus, citing Clear-
chus, and by Tryphon, and is also mentioned by Plato. Others of this type
are: tongue-tied chatterer, vulnerable invulnerable, hairy smooth, son that
was no son. Many things of the kind are put forward and expounded by
Athenaeus in his tenth book. The nature of adages does not rule out a 85
riddling obscurity, which is otherwise not recommended; on the contrary,
the obscurity is welcome, as though there was some family relationship. An
example of this would be to tell a man who was talking nonsense 'to set sail
for Anticyra' or 'to sacrifice a pig' or 'to pluck squills from the tombs'; the
first of these is in Horace, the second in Plautus and the third in Theocritus. 90
So too many oracular responses have been naturalized as proverbs, and the
precepts of Pythagoras [i i 2] clearly belong naturally among the proverbs.
One thing specially appropriate to adages as a class is hyperbole, as in
'With his arms affrights the sky' and 'Cracks rocks with his clamour' and 'I
dissolve in laughter/ especially if there is an admixture of any kind of 95
metaphor. This can be done in various ways, either by using a proper name
or with a comparison or with an epithet. Examples are: A second Aristarchus
[i v 57], This Phalaris of ours [i x 86], As noisy as Stentor [n iii 37], Like a
lioness on a sword-hilt [n ix 82], A Stentorian voice [n iii 37], Eloquence like
Nestor's [i ii 56]. And I am quite prepared to point out some of the springs, 100
so to say, from which this kind of figure can be drawn.
i i From the thing itself. The figure is sometimes taken from the thing
itself, whenever we call a very wicked person wickedness personified, or an
infamous person infamy, a pernicious one a pest, a glutton a sink, a swindler
shady, a morally vile man a blot, a dirty fellow filth, a despicable man trash, 105

an unclean one a dung-heap, a monstrous one a monster, a trouble-maker

an ulcer, a man who ought to be in prison a jail-bird. Every one of these
almost can be also expressed by a comparison: for instance, Golden as gold

82 Others ... tenth book] Added in 1517/8

89 Anticyra] Proverbial as the source of hellebore, a drug used in the treatment of
insanity. These are three ways of dealing with madness, offered in Adagia i viii
52, i viii 55 and n iii 42.
93 hyperbole] The first example given is from Virgil Aeneid 11.351 (Adagia n iv 6);
for the third there is a parallel in Apuleius Metamorphoses 3.7 (cf iv i 86).
100 I am quite prepared] The reservoir of examples from which this cataract of
phrases flows was tapped also for the De copia (LB 1.34-6), and we have taken
advantage of Betty I. Knott's version and notes in CWE 24.385-95, where more
references will be found. Only, as we are concerned with proverbs in English
and not with the art of writing Latin, we have adopted the English form of the
proverbs; for English says 'As deaf as a post' where Erasmus writing Latin
would be bound to put 'Deafer than a post/
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB n 120 25

itself, Wicked as wickedness, Blind as blindness, Garrulous as garrulity,

Ugly as ugliness, Thirsty as thirst itself, Poor as poverty, As unlucky as no
ill-luck personified, As infantile as infancy. To this category belong phrases
like Father of all famines and Fount of all eloquence and More than entirely
speechless and Worse than abandoned.
2 / From similar things. Nearest to these are phrases derived from similar
things, such as: Sweet as honey, Black as pitch, White as snow, Smooth as 115
oil [i vii 35], Soft as the ear-lobe [i vii 36], Pure as gold [iv i 58], Dull as lead,
Stupid as a stump, Unresponsive as the sea-shore [i iv 84], Stormy as the
Adriatic [iv vi 89], Deaf as the Ocean, Bibulous as a sponge, Thirsty as the
sands, Parched as pumice-stone [i iv 75], Noisy as the bronze of Dodona
[i i 7], Fragile as glass, Unstable as a ball, Accommodating as a buskin 120
[i i 94], Thin as Egyptian clematis [i i 22], Tall as an alder, Hard as a whet-
stone [i i 20], Bright as the sun, Fair as a star, Pale as boxwood, Bitter as
Sardonic herbs [in v i], Despised as seaweed, Seething as Etna, Tasteless as
beetroot [n iv 72], As just as a pair of scales [n v 82], As crooked as a thorn,
As empty as a bladder, Light as a feather, Changeable as the wind, Hateful 125
as death, Capacious as the abyss [in vii 41], Twisted as the labyrinth [u x 51],
Worthless as blue pimpernel [i vii 21], Light as cork [n iv 7!, Leaky as a great
jar full of holes [i x 33], Transparent as a lantern, Dripping like a water-clock,
Pure as a crystal spring, Inconstant as the Euripus [i ix 62], Dear as a man's
own eyes, Beloved as the light, Precious as life itself, Inflexible as a dry 130
bramble [n i 100], Revolting as warmed-up cabbage [i v 38], Bright as a
purple stripe, Licentious as the carnival of Flora.
3 / From living creatures. Similarly from living creatures: Talkative as a
woman [iv i 97], Salacious as a sparrow, Lecherous as a billy-goat, Long-
lived as a stag, Ancient as an old crow [i vi 64], Noisy as a jackdaw [i vii 22], 135

112 Father of all famines] Catullus 21.1

123 Despised as seaweed] This phrase comes, with the Sardonic herbs, from Virgil
Eclogues 7.41-2, and they stood together in the Collectanea no 741 with 'rougher
than butcher's broom.' It can hardly be other than accidental that the third of
these should not appear in the Chiliades at all and the second only here, while
the Sardonic herbs rate a long article (in v i) on their own. Exact completeness
for its own sake is not part of Erasmus' programme.
125 a bladder] The Latin word ampulla properly means a bottle, especially an
oil-flask; but there is no reason why an oil-flask should be proverbially empty,
which seems to be the meaning here, and Erasmus knew that the word was
used metaphorically for 'bombast' in writing. It seems likely therefore that he
had in mind a bladder filled with wind.
128 lantern] In 1508 Erasmus wrote Tunic lantern' as in his source, which is
Plautus Aulularia 566 (possibly meaning glass, traditionally invented by
the Phoenicians, Poem); but the epithet was cut out in 1528; see in vi 59A.
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB n i2E 26

Melodious as a nightingale, Poisonous as a cobra, Venomous as a viper, Sly

as a fox [i ii 28], Prickly as a hedgehog [n iv 81], Tender as an Acarnanian
sucking-pig [n iii 59], Slippery as an eel [i iv 95], Timid as a hare [n i 80], Slow
as a snail, Sound as a fish [iv iv 93], Dumb as a fish [i v 29], Playful as a
dolphin, Rare as a phoenix [n vii 10], Prolific as a white sow, Rare as a black 140
swan [n i 21], Changeable as a hydra [i i 95], Rare as a white crow [iv vii 35],
Greedy as a vulture [i vii 14], Grim as scorpions, Slow as a tortoise [i viii 84],
Sleepy as a dormouse, Ignorant as a pig, Stupid as an ass, Cruel as water-
snakes, Fearful as a hind, Thirsty as a leech, Quarrelsome as a dog, Shaggy
as a bear, Light as a water-beetle. Lucian too collects some things of the kind: 145
'While they are as irritable as puppies, as timid as hares, as fawning as
monkeys, as lustful as donkeys, as thievish as cats, as quarrelsome as
fighting-cocks/ Plutarch in his essay 'On Running into Debt' has 'As un-
trustworthy as a jackdaw, as silent as a partridge, as lowborn and servile as a
dog/ 150
4 / From the characters of the gods. These arise from the characters of the
gods: Chaste as Diana, Elegant as the very Graces, Lecherous as Priapus,
Lovely as Venus, Eloquent as Mercury, Mordant as Momus [i v 74], Incon-
stant as Vertumnus [n ii 74], Mutable as Proteus [n ii 74], Changeable as
Empusa [111174]. 155
5 / From characters of legend. From legendary characters: Thirsty as
Tantalus [n vi 14], Cruel as Atreus [n vii 92], Savage as a Cyclops [i iv 5], Mad
as Orestes, Crafty as Ulysses [n viii 79], Eloquent as Nestor [i ii 56], Foolish
as Glaucus [i ii i], Destitute as Irus [i vi 76], Chaste as Penelope [i iv 42],
Handsome as Nireus, Long-lived as Tithonus [i vi 65], Hungry as Erysich- 160
thon, Prolific as Niobe [in iii 33], Loud as Stentor [n ii 37], Blind as Teiresias
[i iii 57], Ill-famed as Busiris, Enigmatic as the Sphinx [n iii 9], Intricate as the
Labyrinth [ii x 51], Inventive as Daedalus [n iii 62, in i 65], Daring as Icarus,

145 Lucian] Piscator 34

148 Plutarch] Moralia 8300; but these are genuine comparisons, drawn to suit the
context, not proverbial expressions in comparative form.
158 Orestes] He murdered his mother Clytemnestra, after she and her lover
Aegisthus had killed his father Agamemnon, and was driven mad by the
Furies. Erasmus himself uses the phrase (eg in Allen Ep 1342.768), but gave
Orestes no place of his own in the Adagia.
160 Nireus] By tradition, handsomest of all the Greeks who went to the Trojan War.
160 Erysichthon] He offended the goddess Ceres, and was punished with a bulimy
(i ix 67), an inextinguishable hunger.
162 Busiris] A mythical king in Egypt, who sacrificed all foreign visitors
163 Icarus] The son of Daedalus (in i 65), who perished through the failure of a pair
of wings invented by his father
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB n 136 27

Overweening as the Giants [in x 93], Stupid as Gryllus, Sharp-eyed as

Lynceus [n i 54], Unremitting as the Hydra [1x9]. 165
61 From characters in comedy. From characters in comedy come: Boastful
as Thraso in Terence, Quarrelsome as Demea, Good-natured as Micio,
Fawning as Gnatho, Confident as Phormio, Wily as Davus, Charming as
Thais, Miserly as Euclio.
7 / From characters in history. From historical characters come: Envious 170
as Zoilus [n v 8], Strict as Cato [i vii 89], Inhuman as Timon, Cruel as Phalaris
[i x 86], Lucky as Timotheus [i v 82], Despicable as Sardanapalus [in vii 27],
Religious as Numa, Just as Phocion, Incorruptible as Aristides, Rich as
Croesus [i vi 74], Wealthy as Crassus [i vi 74], Poor as Codrus [i vi 76],
Debauched as Aesop, Ambitious as Herostratus, Cautious as Fabius [i x 29], 175
Patient as Socrates, Muscular as Milo [i ii 57], Acute as Chrysippus, With as
fine a voice as Trachalus, Forgetful as Curio, The Aristarchus of our time
[i v 57], The Christian Epicurus, A Cato out of season [i viii 89].
81 From names of peoples. From peoples: Treacherous as a Carthaginian
[i viii 28], Rough as a Scythian [n iii 35], Inhospitable as the Scythotaurians, 180

164 Gryllus] One of the shipmates of Ulysses who were turned into animals by
Circe the sorceress in the tenth book of the Odyssey. Gryllus became a pig, and
defends his situation in Plutarch's Gryllus ('Beasts are Rational').
165 the Hydra] Of Lerna (i x 9). The word used, excetra, is thought to mean
'serpent,' but it is the Hydra in Plautus Persa 3, and the Hydra was indeed
'unremitting' and grew a new head for every one that Hercules cut off.
166 characters in comedy] These are all from three plays of Terence (Adelphoe,
Eunuchus, Phormio), except Euclio; he is an old man in the Aulularia of Plautus,
and was added in 1517/8.
171 Timon] The misanthrope; see for instance the Timon of Lucian.
173 Numa] Numa Pompilius, the mythical early king of Rome, to whom the Romans
attributed many of their religious ideas and practices
173 Phocion] Athenian general of the fourth century BC
173 Aristides] Athenian statesman of the fifth century BC. He and the two
preceding each have a life to themselves in Plutarch's Lives.
175 Aesop] Not the writer of Aesop's Fables, but a notorious spendthrift of the last
century BC; Horace Satires 2.3.239
175 Herostratus] The man who in order to secure immortality burnt down the great
temple of Diana at Ephesus in 356 BC - and was regrettably successful.
176 Chrysippus] The eminent Stoic philosopher
177 Trachalus] An orator in Rome particularly praised for his voice by Quintilian
10.1.119, 12.5.5. One wonders how many of Erasmus' contemporaries would
have caught the allusion.
177 Curio] A Roman orator who died in 53 BC; Cicero illustrates the badness of his
memory in the Brutus 60.216-8.
180 Scythotaurians] Inhabitants of the Crimea, the 'Tauric Chersonese,' who put
all strangers to death
 [INTRODUCTION] / LB n 130 28

Mendacious as a Cretan [i ii 29], Fugitive as the Parthians [i i 5], Vain as the

Greeks, Drunken as Thracians [n iii 17], Untrustworthy as a Thessalian
[i iii 10], Contemptible as a Carian [i vi 14], Haughty as a Sybarite [n ii 65],
Effeminate as the Milesians [i iv 8], Wealthy as the Arabs [i vi 74], Short as a
Pygmy [iv i 90], Stupid as an Arcadian [in iii 27]. 185
9 / From occupations. From occupations come: Perjured as a brothel-
keeper, Soft as a catamite, Boastful as a soldier, Severe as an Areopagite
[i ix 41], Violent as a tyrant, Brutal as a hangman.

xiv / Of the need for careful introduction of a proverb

This may seem a tiny and negligible thing, but since I have taken on the role
of a teacher, I shall not hesitate to issue a warning for the inexperienced. In
making use of adages we must remember what Quintilian recommends in
the use of newly-coined phrases or daring metaphors: that one should, as 5
Greek most eloquently expresses it, TrpoemTrA Turret i> TTJ VTrepfioXi], make an
advance correction of what seems excessive. Similarly we should 'make an
advance correction' of our proverb and, as it were, go halfway to meet it, if it
is likely to prove obscure, or to jar in some other way. For this class of
phrase, as I have pointed out just now, admits metaphors of any degree of 10
boldness, and unlimited innovation in the use of words and unashamed
hyperbole and allegory pushed to enigmatic lengths. Greek makes this
'advance correction' in ways like these: As the proverb runs, As they say (in
several forms), As the old saying goes, To put it in a proverb, As they say in
jest, It has been well said. And almost exactly the same methods are in use in 15
Latin: As they say, As the old proverb runs, As is commonly said, To use an
old phrase, As the adage has it, As they truly say.

181 Parthians] The Adagia-text gives 'As vain as the Parthians/ and does not
mention the Greeks. But the Parthian cavalry were as famous for their tactics
of appearing to run away and then turning round to shoot with deadly aim as
the Greeks were (in Rome) for unreliability. We think Erasmus intended, and
we have translated, Parthis \fugacior Graecis] vanior. So it is in the De copia. 'As
big a liar as a Parthian' appears in i ii 31, but not till 1533.

xiv
4 Quintilian] 8.3.37