St. John's Wood, March 19. 1850.
* * * * *
PROVERBIAL SAYINGS AND THEIR ORIGINS--PLAGIARISMS AND PARALLEL
PASSAGES.
"[Greek: 'On oi Theoi philousin apothnaeskei neos]."
Brunck, _Poëtæ Gnomici_, p. 231., quoted by Gibbon, _Decl. and Fall_
(Milman. Lond. 1838. 8vo.), xii. 355. (_note_ 65.)
"Quem Jupiter vult perdere, priùs dementat."
These words are Barnes's translation of the following fragment of
Euripides, which is the 25th in Barnes' ed. (see _Gent.'s Mag._, July,
1847, p. 19, _note_):--
"[Greek: 'Otan de Daimon andri porsynae kaka,
Ton noun exlapse proton]."
This, or a similar passage, may have been employed proverbially in
the time of Sophocles. See l. 632. et seq. of the _Antigone_ (ed.
Johnson. Londini. 1758. 8vo.); on which passage there is the following
scholium:--
"[Greek: Meta sophias gar upo tinos aoidimou kleinon epos pephantai,
'Otan d' o daimon andri porsynae kaka,
Ton noun exlapse proton o bouleuetai.]" {348}
Respecting the lines referred to in the Chorus, Dr. Donaldson makes
the following remarks, in his critical edition of the _Antigone_,
published in 1848:--
"The parallel passages for this adage are fully given by
Ruhnken on Velleius Paterculus, ii. 57. (265, 256.), and by
Wyttenbach on Plutarch, _De Audiendis Poetis_, p. 17. B. (pp.
190, 191.)"
* * * * *
"Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak."
Congreve's _Mourning Bride_, act i. sc. i. l. 1.
* * * * *
"L'appetit vient en mangeant."
Rabelais, _Gargantua_, Liv. i. chap. 5. (vol. i. p. 136, ed. Variorum.
Paris, 1823. 8vo.)
This proverb had been previously used by Amyot, and probably also
by Jerome le (or de) Hangest, who was a Doctor of the Sorbonne, and
adversary of Luther, and who died in 1538.--Ibid. p. 136 (_note_ 49.).
* * * * *
I know not how old may be "to put the cart before the horse." Rabelais
(i. 227.) has--
"Il mettoyt la charrette devant les beufz."
* * * * *
"If the sky falls, we shall catch larks."