[89] Regulæ quæ inter _maximas_ numerari merentur.
[90] In German: Grau’ Hare sind Kirchhofsblumen.
[91] Il tempo è una lima sorda.
[92] Πομφόλυξ ὁ ἄνθρωπος.
[93] Cujus vita fulgor, ejus verba tonitrua. Cf. Mark iii. 17: υἱοὶ
βροντῆς.
[94] Admirably glossed in the _Guesses at Truth_: “Pluck up the stones,
ye sluggards, and break the devil’s head with them.”
[95] Quando i furbi vanno in processione, il diavolo porta la croce.
[96] Vaô á missa çapateiros, rogaô a Deos que morraô os carneiros.
[97] This is Swedish: Zu mera man stryken Katten pá Swanzen, zu mera
pyser pan.
[98] Si la locura fuese dolores, en cada casa darian voces.
[99] Tonto, sin saber latin, nunca es gran tonto.
[100] Qui rien ne sçait, de rien ne doute.
[101] An earnest preacher of righteousness just before the Reformation
quotes this one as current about them: Quod agere veretur obstinatus
diabolus, intrepide agit reprobus et contumax monachus.
[102] It is Huss who, denouncing the sins of the clergy of his day,
has preserved this proverb for us: Malum proverbium contra nos
confinxerunt, dicentes, Si offenderis clericum, interfice eum; alias
nunquam habebis pacem cum illo.
[103] Por los haldas del vicario sube el diablo al campanario.
[104] Ubi tres Medici, duo Athei. Of course those which imply that
they shorten rather than prolong the term of life, are numerous, as
for instance, the old French: Qui court après le mière, court après la
bière.
[105] In German: Juristen, bösen Christen.
[106] Bebel: Dicitur in proverbio nostro; nihil esse audacius indusio
molitoris, cum omni tempore matutino furem collo apprehendat.
[107] Se la superbia fosse arte, quanti Dottori avressimo.
[108] Tal sprezza la superbia con una maggior superbia.
[109] Ein Feind ist zu viel; und hundert Freunde sind zu wenig.
[110] Il est aisé d’aller à pied, quand on tient son cheval par la
bride.
[111] The Gallegan proverb, _You a lady, I a lady, who shall drive the
hogs a-field?_ (Vos dona, yo dona, quen botara a porca fora?) is only a
variation of this.
[112] Mulates qua battent, cabrites qua morts.
[113] A proverb of many tongues beside our own: thus in the Italian:
Quanto più la volpe è maladetta, tanto maggior preda fa.
[114] _Holy State_, b. 3, c. 5.
[115] B. 2, c. 23.
[116] B. 3, c. 2.
[117] Adagia, ad agendum apta; this is the etymology of the word given
by Festus.
[118] Chi parla semina, chi tace raccoglie; compare the Swedish: Bättre
tyga än illa tala (Better silence than ill speech).
[119] Il tacer non fù mai scritto.
[120] Palabra de boca, piedra de honda.—Palabra y piedra suelta no
tiene vuelta.
[121] El mal que de tu boca sale, en tu seno se cae.
[122] Quien con perros se echa, con pulgas se levanta.
[123] La ou la chèvre est attachée, il faut qu’elle broute.
[124] Por la calle de despues se va à la casa de nunca.
[125] Le vesti degl’avvocati sono fodrate dell’ostinazion dei
litiganti.
[126] Ogni cosa si sopporta, eccetto il buon tempo.
[127] Nella prosperità non fumano gl’altari.
[128] Quien con ropa agena se viste, en la calle se queda encueros.
[129] Chi non vede il fondo, non passi l’acqua.
[130] Avant traversé rivier, pas juré maman caiman. This and one or
two other Haytian proverbs quoted in this volume I have derived from a
curious article, _Les mœurs et la littérature négres_, by Gustave
D’Alaux, in the _Revue des deux Mondes_, Mai 15me, 1852.
[131] No me digas oliva, hasta que me veas cogida.
[132] Prends le premier conseil d’une femme, et non le second.
[133] Non v’è il peggior ladro d’un cattivo libro.
[134] Los muertos abren los ojos a los vivos.
[135] Es ist besser, das Kind weine denn der Vater.
[136] Nace en la huerta lo que no siembra el hortelano.
[137] Oro è, che oro vale;—and of the multitudes that are rushing to
the Australian gold-fields, some may find this also true: Più vale
guadagnar in loto che perder in oro.
[138] Una spada tien l’altra nel fodro.
[139] Qui porte épée, porte paix.
[140] Chi dinanzi mi pinge, di dietro mi tinge. The history of the
word “sycophant,” and the manner in which it has travelled from its
original to its present meaning, is a very striking confirmation of
this proverb’s truth.
[141] How and why it is that extremes here meet, and what are the inner
affinities between a democracy and a tyranny, Plato has wonderfully
traced, _Rep._, ii. p. 217.
[142] See Jeremy Taylor’s _Dissuasive from Popery_, part 2, b. 1. sect.
11, § 6.
[143] “_Extremes meet._ Truths, of all others the most awful and
interesting, are too often considered as _so_ true, that they lose all
the power of truths, and lie bed-ridden in the dormitory of the soul,
side by side with the most despised and exploded errors.”—COLERIDGE,
_Aids to Reflection_.