 |
The Changeling.
The thing we long for, that we are For one transcendent moment.
Longing.
She doeth little kindnesses Which most leave undone, or despise.
My Love. iv.
Not only around our infancy Doth heaven with all its splendors lie; Daily, with souls that cringe and plot, We Sinais climb and know it not.
The Vision of Sir Launfal. Prelude to Part First.
'T is heaven alone that is given away; 'T is only God may be had for the asking.
The Vision of Sir Launfal. Prelude to Part First.
And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days; Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune, And over it softly her warm ear lays.
The Vision of Sir Launfal. Prelude to Part First.
Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it; We are happy now because God wills it.
The Vision of Sir Launfal. Prelude to Part First.
Joy comes, grief goes, we know not how.
The Vision of Sir Launfal. Prelude to Part First.
Who gives himself with his alms feeds three,— Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me.
The Vision of Sir Launfal. Part Second. viii.
There comes Emerson first, whose rich words, every one, Are like gold nails in temples to hang trophies on.
A Fable for Critics.
Nature fits all her children with something to do.
A Fable for Critics.
Ez fer war, I call it murder,— There you hev it plain an' flat; I don't want to go no furder Than my Testyment fer that. . . . . . An' you 've gut to git up airly Ef you want to take in God.
The Biglow Papers. First Series. No. i.
Laborin' man an' laborin' woman Hev one glory an' one shame; Ev'y thin' thet 's done inhuman Injers all on 'em the same.
The Biglow Papers. First Series. No. i.
This goin' ware glory waits ye haint one agreeable feetur.[659-1]
The Biglow Papers. First Series. No. ii.
Gineral C. is a dreffle smart man; He 's ben on all sides thet give places or pelf; But consistency still wuz a part of his plan,— He 's ben true to one party, an' thet is himself.
The Biglow Papers. First Series. No. ii.
We kind o' thought Christ went agin war an' pillage.
The Biglow Papers. First Series. No. iii.
But John P. Robinson, he Sez they did n't know everythin' down in Judee.
The Biglow Papers. First Series. No. iii.
I don't believe in princerple, But oh I du in interest.
The Biglow Papers. First Series. No. vi.
Of my merit On thet pint you yourself may jedge; All is, I never drink no sperit, Nor I haint never signed no pledge.
The Biglow Papers. First Series. No. vii.
Ez to my princerples, I glory In hevin' nothin' o' the sort.
The Biglow Papers. First Series. No. vii.
Zekle crep' up quite unbeknown An' peeked in thru' the winder, An' there sot Huldy all alone, 'Ith no one nigh to hender.
The Biglow Papers. Second Series. The Courtin'.
The very room, coz she was in, Seemed warm from floor to ceilin'.
The Biglow Papers. Second Series. The Courtin'.
'T was kin' o' kingdom-come to look On sech a blessed cretur.
The Biglow Papers. Second Series. The Courtin'.
His heart kep' goin' pity-pat, But hern went pity-Zekle.
The Biglow Papers. Second Series. The Courtin'.
All kin' o' smily round the lips, An' teary round the lashes.
The Biglow Papers. Second Series. The Courtin'.
Like streams that keep a summer mind Snow-hid in Jenooary.
The Biglow Papers. Second Series. The Courtin'.
Our Pilgrim stock wuz pithed with hardihood.
The Biglow Papers. Second Series. No. vi.
Soft-heartedness, in times like these, Shows sof'ness in the upper story.
The Biglow Papers. Second Series. No. vii.
Earth's biggest country 's gut her soul, An' risen up earth's greatest nation.
The Biglow Papers. Second Series. No. vii.
Under the yaller pines I house, When sunshine makes 'em all sweet-scented, An' hear among their furry boughs The baskin' west-wind purr contented.
The Biglow Papers. Second Series. No. x.
Wut 's words to them whose faith an' truth On war's red techstone rang true metal; Who ventered life an' love an' youth For the gret prize o' death in battle?
The Biglow Papers. Second Series. No. x.
From lower to the higher next, Not to the top, is Nature's text; And embryo Good, to reach full stature, Absorbs the Evil in its nature.
Festina Lente. Moral.
Though old the thought and oft exprest, 'T is his at last who says it best.[660-1]
For an Autograph.
Nature, they say, doth dote, And cannot make a man Save on some worn-out plan, Repeating us by rote.
Ode at the Harvard Commemoration, July 21, 1865.
Here was a type of the true elder race, And one of Plutarch's men talked with us face to face.
Ode at the Harvard Commemoration, July 21, 1865.
Safe in the hallowed quiets of the past.
The Cathedral.
The one thing finished in this hasty world.
The Cathedral.
These pearls of thought in Persian gulfs were bred, Each softly lucent as a rounded moon; The diver Omar plucked them from their bed, Fitzgerald strung them on an English thread.
In a copy of Omar Khayyam.
The clear, sweet singer with the crown of snow Not whiter than the thoughts that housed below.
To George William Curtis.
But life is sweet, though all that makes it sweet Lessen like sound of friends' departing feet; And Death is beautiful as feet of friend Coming with welcome at our journey's end. For me Fate gave, whate'er she else denied, A nature sloping to the southern side; I thank her for it, though when clouds arise Such natures double-darken gloomy skies.
To George William Curtis.
In life's small things be resolute and great To keep thy muscle trained: know'st thou when Fate Thy measure takes, or when she 'll say to thee, "I find thee worthy; do this deed for me"?
Epigram.
In vain we call old notions fudge, And bend our conscience to our dealing; The Ten Commandments will not budge, And stealing will continue stealing.
Motto of the American Copyright League (written Nov. 20, 1885).
Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character.
Among my Books. First Series. Dryden.
A wise scepticism is the first attribute of a good critic.
Among my Books. First Series. Shakespeare Once More.
One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning.
Among my Books. First Series. Shakespeare Once More.
Aspiration sees only one side of every question; possession many.
Among my Books. First Series. New England Two Centuries ago.
Truly there is a tide in the affairs of men; but there is no gulf-stream setting forever in one direction.
Among my Books. First Series. New England Two Centuries ago.
There is no better ballast for keeping the mind steady on its keel, and saving it from all risk of crankiness, than business.
Among my Books. First Series. New England Two Centuries ago.
Puritanism, believing itself quick with the seed of religious liberty, laid, without knowing it, the egg of democracy.
Among my Books. First Series. New England Two Centuries ago.
It was in making education not only common to all, but in some sense compulsory on all, that the destiny of the free republics of America was practically settled.
Among my Books. First Series. New England Two Centuries ago.
Talent is that which is in a man's power; genius is that in whose power a man is.
Among my Books. First Series. Rousseau and the Sentimentalists.
There is no work of genius which has not been the delight of mankind, no word of genius to which the human heart and soul have not sooner or later responded.
Among my Books. First Series. Rousseau and the Sentimentalists.
Every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.
Among my Books. First Series. Rousseau and the Sentimentalists.
Sentiment is intellectualized emotion,—emotion precipitated, as it were, in pretty crystals by the fancy.
Among my Books. First Series. Rousseau and the Sentimentalists.
No man can produce great things who is not thoroughly sincere in dealing with himself.
Among my Books. First Series. Rousseau and the Sentimentalists.
In all literary history there is no such figure as Dante, no such homogeneousness of life and works, such loyalty to ideas, such sublime irrecognition of the unessential.
Among my Books. Second Series. Dante.
Whoever can endure unmixed delight, whoever can tolerate music and painting and poetry all in one, whoever wishes to be rid of thought and to let the busy anvils of the brain be silent for a time, let him read in the "Faery Queen."
Among my Books. Second Series. Spenser.
The only faith that wears well and holds its color in all weathers, is that which is woven of conviction and set with the sharp mordant of experience.
My Study Windows. Abraham Lincoln, 1864.
It is by presence of mind in untried emergencies that the native metal of a man is tested.
My Study Windows. Abraham Lincoln, 1864.
What a sense of security in an old book which Time has criticised for us!
Library of Old Authors.
There is no good in arguing with the inevitable. The only argument available with an east wind is to put on your overcoat.
Democracy and Addresses.
Let us be of good cheer, however, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come.
Democracy and Addresses.
The soil out of which such men as he are made is good to be born on, good to live on, good to die for and to be buried in.
Garfield.
A great man is made up of qualities that meet or make great occasions.
Garfield.
It ["The Ancient Mariner"] is marvellous in its mastery over that delightfully fortuitous inconsequence that is the adamantine logic of dreamland.
Coleridge.
He gives us the very quintessence of perception,—the clearly crystalized precipitation of all that is most precious in the ferment of impression after the impertinent and obtrusive particulars have evaporated from the memory.
Coleridge.
If I were asked what book is better than a cheap book, I should answer that there is one book better than a cheap book,—and that is a book honestly come by.
Before the U. S. Senate Committee on Patents, Jan. 29, 1886.
FOOTNOTES:
[659-1] See Moore, page 519.
[660-1] See Emerson, page 604.
CHARLES KINGSLEY. 1819-1875.
O Mary, go and call the cattle home, And call the cattle home, And call the cattle home, Across the sands o' Dee!
The Sands of Dee.
Men must work, and women must weep.
The Three Fishers.
Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever; Do noble things, not dream them, all day long: And so make life, death, and that vast forever One grand sweet song.
A Farewell.
The world goes up and the world goes down, And the sunshine follows the rain; And yesterday's sneer and yesterday's frown Can never come over again.
Dolcino to Margaret.
ULYSSES S. GRANT. 1822-1885.
No other terms than unconditional and immediate surrender. I propose to move immediately upon your works.
To Gen. S. B. Buckner, Fort Donelson, Feb. 16, 1862.
I propose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer.
Despatch to Washington. Before Spottsylvania Court House, May 11, 1864.
Let us have peace.
Accepting a Nomination for the Presidency, May 29, 1868.
I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effectual as their strict construction.
From the Inaugural Address, March 4, 1869.
Let no guilty man escape, if it can be avoided. No personal considerations should stand in the way of performing a duty.
Indorsement of a Letter relating to the Whiskey Ring, July 29, 1875.
MATTHEW ARNOLD. 1822-1888.
Others abide our question. Thou art free. We ask and ask. Thou smilest and art still, Out-topping knowledge.
Shakespeare.
Strew on her roses, roses, And never a spray of yew! In quiet she reposes; Ah, would that I did too!
Requiescat.
To hear the world applaud the hollow ghost Which blamed the living man.
Growing Old.
Time may restore us in his course Goethe's sage mind and Byron's force; But where will Europe's latter hour Again find Wordsworth's healing power?
Memorial Verses.
Wandering between two worlds,—one dead, The other powerless to be born.
Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse.
The kings of modern thought are dumb.
Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse.
Philistine must have originally meant, in the mind of those who invented the nickname, a strong, dogged, unenlightened opponent of the children of the light.
Essays in Criticism. Heinrich Heine.
There is no better motto which it [culture] can have than these words of Bishop Wilson, "To make reason and the will of God prevail."
Culture and Anarchy. P. 8.
RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 1822- ——.
He serves his party best who serves the country best.[665-1]
Inaugural Address, March 5, 1877.
FOOTNOTES:
[665-1] See Pope, page 339.
LEONARD HEATH.
On a lone barren isle, where the wild roaring billows Assail the stern rock, and the loud tempests rave, The hero lies still, while the dew-drooping willows, Like fond weeping mourners, lean over his grave. The lightnings may flash and the loud thunders rattle; He heeds not, he hears not, he 's free from all pain; He sleeps his last sleep, he has fought his last battle; No sound can awake him to glory again![666-1]
The Grave of Bonaparte.
Yet spirit immortal, the tomb cannot bind thee, But like thine own eagle that soars to the sun Thou springest from bondage and leavest behind thee A name which before thee no mortal hath won. Tho' nations may combat, and war's thunders rattle, No more on thy steed wilt thou sweep o'er the plain: Thou sleep'st thy last sleep, thou hast fought thy last battle, No sound can awake thee to glory again.
The Grave of Bonaparte.
FOOTNOTES:
[666-1] This song was composed and set to music, about 1842, by Leonard Heath, of Nashua, who died a few years ago.—BELA CHAPIN: The Poets of New Hampshire, 1883, p. 760.
BAYARD TAYLOR. 1825-1878.
Till the sun grows cold, And the stars are old, And the leaves of the Judgment Book unfold.
Bedouin Song.
They sang of love, and not of fame; Forgot was Britain's glory; Each heart recall'd a different name, But all sang Annie Lawrie.
The Song of the Camp.
The bravest are the tenderest,— The loving are the daring.
The Song of the Camp.
DINAH M. MULOCK. 1826- ——.
Two hands upon the breast, And labour 's done;[667-1] Two pale feet crossed in rest, The race is won.
Now and Afterwards.
FOOTNOTES:
[667-1] Two hands upon the breast, and labour is past.—Russian Proverb.
ALEXANDER SMITH. 1830-1867.
Like a pale martyr in his shirt of fire.
A Life Drama. Sc. ii.
In winter, when the dismal rain Comes down in slanting lines, And Wind, that grand old harper, smote His thunder-harp of pines.
A Life Drama. Sc. ii.
A poem round and perfect as a star.
A Life Drama. Sc. ii.
H. F. CHORLEY. 1831-1872.
A song to the oak, the brave old oak, Who hath ruled in the greenwood long!
The Brave Old Oak.
Then here 's to the oak, the brave old oak, Who stands in his pride alone! And still flourish he a hale green tree When a hundred years are gone!
The Brave Old Oak.
ELIZABETH AKERS ALLEN. 1832- ——.
Backward, turn backward, O Time, in your flight! Make me a child again, just for to-night!
Rock me to sleep.
Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years! I am so weary of toil and of tears,— Toil without recompense, tears all in vain! Take them, and give me my childhood again!
Rock me to sleep.
BISHOP HENRY C. POTTER. 1835- ——.
We have exchanged the Washingtonian dignity for the Jeffersonian simplicity, which was in truth only another name for the Jacksonian vulgarity.
Address at the Washington Centennial Service in St. Paul's Chapel, New York, April 30, 1889.
If there be no nobility of descent, all the more indispensable is it that there should be nobility of ascent,—a character in them that bear rule so fine and high and pure that as men come within the circle of its influence they involuntarily pay homage to that which is the one pre-eminent distinction, the royalty of virtue.
Address at the Washington Centennial Service in St. Paul's Chapel, New York, April 30, 1889.
FRANCIS M. FINCH.
Under the sod and the dew, Waiting the judgment day; Love and tears for the Blue, Tears and love for the Gray.[668-1]
The Blue and the Gray.
FOOTNOTES:
[668-1] This poem first appeared in the "Atlantic Monthly."
GROVER CLEVELAND. 1837- ——.
After an existence of nearly twenty years of almost innocuous desuetude these laws are brought forth.
Message, March 1, 1886.
It is a condition which confronts us—not a theory.[669-1]
Annual Message, 1887.
I have considered the pension list of the republic a roll of honor.
Veto of Dependent Pension Bill, July 5, 1888.
Party honesty is party expediency.
Interview in New York Commercial Advertiser, Sept. 19, 1889.
FOOTNOTES:
[669-1] See Disraeli, page 607.
FRANCIS BRET HARTE. 1839- ——.
Which I wish to remark,— And my language is plain,— That for ways that are dark And for tricks that are vain, The heathen Chinee is peculiar.
Plain Language from Truthful James.
Ah Sin was his name.
Plain Language from Truthful James.
With the smile that was childlike and bland.
Plain Language from Truthful James.
FRANCIS W. BOURDILLON. 1852- ——.
The night has a thousand eyes, And the day but one; Yet the light of the bright world dies With the dying sun. The mind has a thousand eyes, And the heart but one; Yet the light of a whole life dies When love is done.
Light.
MISCELLANEOUS.
It may well wait a century for a reader, as God has waited six thousand years for an observer.
JOHN KEPLER (1571-1630). Martyrs of Science (Brewster). P. 197.
Needle in a bottle of hay.
FIELD (—— -1641): A Woman's a Weathercock. (Reprint, 1612, p. 20.)
He is a fool who thinks by force or skill To turn the current of a woman's will.
SAMUEL TUKE (—— -1673): Adventures of Five Hours. Act v. Sc. 3.
Laugh and be fat.
JOHN TAYLOR (1580?-1684). Title of a Tract, 1615.
Diamond cut diamond.
JOHN FORD (1586-1639): The Lover's Melancholy. Act i. Sc. 1.
A liberty to that only which is good, just, and honest.
JOHN WINTHROP (1588-1649): Life and Letters. Vol. ii. p. 341.
I preached as never sure to preach again, And as a dying man to dying men.
RICHARD BAXTER (1615-1691): Love breathing Thanks and Praise.
Though this may be play to you, 'T is death to us.
ROGER L' ESTRANGE (1616-1704): Fables from Several Authors. Fable 398.
And there 's a lust in man no charm can tame Of loudly publishing our neighbour's shame; On eagles' wings immortal scandals fly, While virtuous actions are but born and die.
STEPHEN HARVEY (circa 1627): Juvenal, Satire ix.
May I govern my passion with absolute sway, And grow wiser and better as my strength wears away.
WALTER POPE (1630-1714): The Old Man's Wish.
When change itself can give no more, 'T is easy to be true.
CHARLES SEDLEY (1639-1701): Reasons for Constancy.
The real Simon Pure.
SUSANNAH CENTLIVRE (1667-1723): A bold Stroke for a Wife.
When all the blandishments of life are gone, The coward sneaks to death, the brave live on.
GEORGE SEWELL (—— -1726): The Suicide.
Studious of ease, and fond of humble things.
AMBROSE PHILLIPS (1671-1749): From Holland to a Friend in England.
My galligaskins, that have long withstood The winter's fury, and encroaching frosts, By time subdued (what will not time subdue!), A horrid chasm disclosed.
JOHN PHILIPS (1676-1708): The Splendid Shilling. Line 121.
For twelve honest men have decided the cause, Who are judges alike of the facts and the laws.
WILLIAM PULTENEY (1682-1764): The Honest Jury.
Farewell to Lochaber, farewell to my Jean, Where heartsome wi' thee I hae mony days been; For Lochaber no more, Lochaber no more, We 'll maybe return to Lochaber no more.
ALLAN RAMSAY (1686-1758): Lochaber no More.
Busy, curious, thirsty fly, Drink with me, and drink as I.
WILLIAM OLDYS (1696-1761): On a Fly drinking out of a Cup of Ale.
Thus Raleigh, thus immortal Sidney shone (Illustrious names!) in great Eliza's days.
THOMAS EDWARDS (1699-1757): Canons of Criticism.
One kind kiss before we part, Drop a tear and bid adieu; Though we sever, my fond heart Till we meet shall pant for you.
ROBERT DODSLEY (1703-1764): The Parting Kiss.
A charge to keep I have, A God to glorify; A never dying soul to save, And fit it for the sky.
CHARLES WESLEY: Christian Fidelity.
Love divine, all love excelling, Joy of heaven to earth come down.
Divine Love.
Of right and wrong he taught Truths as refined as ever Athens heard; And (strange to tell!) he practised what he preached.
JOHN ARMSTRONG (1709-1779): The Art of Preserving Health. Book iv. Line 301.
Gentle shepherd, tell me where.
SAMUEL HOWARD (1710-1782).
Pray, Goody, please to moderate the rancour of your tongue! Why flash those sparks of fury from your eyes? Remember, when the judgment 's weak the prejudice is strong.
KANE O'HARA (—— -1782): Midas. Act i. Sc. 4.
Where passion leads or prudence points the way.
ROBERT LOWTH (1710-1787): Choice of Hercules, i.
And he that will this health deny, Down among the dead men let him lie.
—— DYER (published in the early part of the reign of George I.).
Each cursed his fate that thus their project crossed; How hard their lot who neither won nor lost!
RICHARD GRAVES (1715-1804): The Festoon (1767).
Cease, rude Boreas, blustering railer! List, ye landsmen all, to me; Messmates, hear a brother sailor Sing the dangers of the sea.
GEORGE A. STEVENS (1720-1784): The Storm.
That man may last, but never lives, Who much receives, but nothing gives; Whom none can love, whom none can thank,— Creation's blot, creation's blank.
THOMAS GIBBONS (1720-1785): When Jesus dwelt.
In this awfully stupendous manner, at which Reason stands aghast, and Faith herself is half confounded, was the grace of God to man at length manifested.
RICHARD HURD (1720-1808): Sermons. Vol. ii. p. 287.
There is such a choice of difficulties that I am myself at a loss how to determine.
JAMES WOLFE (1726-1759): Despatch to Pitt, Sept. 2, 1759.
Kathleen mavourneen! the grey dawn is breaking, The horn of the hunter is heard on the hill.
ANNE CRAWFORD (1734-1801): Kathleen Mavourneen.
Who can refute a sneer?
WILLIAM PALEY (1743-1805): Moral Philosophy. Vol. ii. Book v. Chap. 9.
Why should the Devil have all the good tunes?
ROWLAND HILL (1744-1833).
Ho! why dost thou shiver and shake, Gaffer Grey? And why does thy nose look so blue?
THOMAS HOLCROFT (1745-1809): Gaffer Grey.
Millions for defence, but not one cent for tribute.
CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY (1746-1825),—when Ambassador to the French Republic, 1796.
And ye sall walk in silk attire, And siller hae to spare, Gin ye 'll consent to be his bride, Nor think o' Donald mair.
SUSANNA BLAMIRE (1747-1794): The Siller Croun.
A glass is good, and a lass is good, And a pipe to smoke in cold weather; The world is good, and the people are good, And we 're all good fellows together.
JOHN O'KEEFE (1747-1833): Sprigs of Laurel. Act ii. Sc. 1.
The moon had climb'd the highest hill Which rises o'er the source of Dee, And from the eastern summit shed Her silver light on tower and tree.
JOHN LOWE (1750- ——): Mary's Dream.
Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise, The queen of the world and child of the skies! Thy genius commands thee; with rapture behold, While ages on ages thy splendors unfold.
TIMOTHY DWIGHT (1752-1817): Columbia.
Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing, Hope, and comfort from above; Let us each, thy peace possessing, Triumph in redeeming love.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Benediction.
Roy's wife of Aldivalloch, Wat ye how she cheated me, As I came o'er the braes of Balloch?
ANNE GRANT (1755-1838): Roy's Wife.
Bounding billows, cease your motion, Bear me not so swiftly o'er.
MARY ROBINSON (1758-1799): Bounding Billows.
While Thee I seek, protecting Power, Be my vain wishes stilled; And may this consecrated hour With better hopes be filled.
HELEN MARIA WILLIAMS (1762-1827): Trust in Providence.
The glory dies not, and the grief is past.
SAMUEL EGERTON BRYDGES (1762-1837): Sonnet on the Death of Sir Walter Scott.
Oh swiftly glides the bonnie boat, Just parted from the shore, And to the fisher's chorus-note Soft moves the dipping oar.
JOANNA BAILLIE (1762-1857): Oh swiftly glides the Bonnie Boat.
'T was whisper'd in heaven, 't was mutter'd in hell, And echo caught faintly the sound as it fell; On the confines of earth 't was permitted to rest, And the depths of the ocean its presence confess'd.
CATHERINE M. FANSHAWE (1764-1834): Enigma. The letter H.
Oh, it 's a snug little island! A right little, tight little island.
THOMAS DIBDIN (1771-1841): The snug little Island.
And ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, While the earth bears a plant or the sea rolls its waves.
ROBERT TREAT PAINE (1772-1811): Adams and Liberty.
They [the blacks] had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.
ROGER B. TANEY (1777-1864): The Dred Scott Case (Howard, Rep. 19, p. 407).
To make a mountain of a mole-hill.
HENRY ELLIS (1777-1869): Original Letters. Second Series, p. 312.
March to the battle-field, The foe is now before us; Each heart is Freedom's shield, And heaven is shining o'er us.
B. E. O'MEARA (1778-1836): March to the Battle-Field.
Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong.
STEPHEN DECATUR (1779-1820): Toast given at Norfolk, April, 1816.
Here shall the Press the People's right maintain, Unaw'd by influence and unbrib'd by gain; Here patriot Truth her glorious precepts draw, Pledg'd to Religion, Liberty, and Law.
JOSEPH STORY (1779-1845): Motto of the "Salem Register." (Life of Story, Vol. i. p. 127.)
Let there be no inscription upon my tomb; let no man write my epitaph: no man can write my epitaph.
ROBERT EMMET (1780-1803): Speech on his Trial and Conviction for High Treason, September, 1803.
Imitation is the sincerest flattery.
C. C. COLTON (1780-1832): The Lacon.
Behold how brightly breaks the morning! Though bleak our lot, our hearts are warm.
JAMES KENNEY (1780-1849): Behold how brightly breaks.
Unthinking, idle, wild, and young, I laugh'd and danc'd and talk'd and sung.
PRINCESS AMELIA (1783-1810).
A sound so fine, there 's nothing lives 'Twixt it and silence.
JAMES SHERIDAN KNOWLES (1784-1862): Virginius, Act v. Sc. 2.
We have met the enemy, and they are ours.
OLIVER H. PERRY (1785-1820): Letter to General Harrison (dated "United States Brig Niagara. Off the Western Sisters. Sept. 10, 1813, 4 P. M.").
Not she with trait'rous kiss her Saviour stung, Not she denied him with unholy tongue; She, while apostles shrank, could danger brave, Last at his cross and earliest at his grave.
EATON S. BARRETT (1785-1820): Woman, Part i. (ed. 1822).
They see nothing wrong in the rule that to the victors belong the spoils of the enemy.
WILLIAM L. MARCY (1786-1857): Speech in the United States Senate, January, 1832.
Say to the seceded States, "Wayward sisters, depart in peace."
WINFIELD SCOTT (1786-1861): Letter to W. H. Seward, March 3, 1861.
Rock'd in the cradle of the deep, I lay me down in peace to sleep.
EMMA WILLARD (1787-1870): The Cradle of the Deep.
Right as a trivet.
R. H. BARHAM (1788-1845): The Ingoldsby Legends. Auto-da-fe.
My life is like the summer rose That opens to the morning sky, But ere the shades of evening close Is scattered on the ground—to die.
RICHARD HENRY WILDE (1789-1847): My Life is like the Summer Rose.
Grand, gloomy, and peculiar, he sat upon the throne a sceptred hermit, wrapped in the solitude of his own originality.
CHARLES PHILLIPS (1789-1859): The Character of Napoleon.
Rise up, rise up, Xarifa! lay your golden cushion down; Rise up! come to the window, and gaze with all the town.
JOHN G. LOCKHART (1794-1854): The Bridal of Andalla.
By the margin of fair Zurich's waters Dwelt a youth, whose fond heart, night and day, For the fairest of fair Zurich's daughters In a dream of love melted away.
CHARLES DANCE (1794-1863): Fair Zurich's Waters.
I saw two clouds at morning Tinged by the rising sun, And in the dawn they floated on And mingled into one.
JOHN G. C. BRAINARD (1795-1828): I saw Two Clouds at Morning.
On thy fair bosom, silver lake, The wild swan spreads his snowy sail, And round his breast the ripples break As down he bears before the gale.
JAMES G. PERCIVAL (1795-1856): To Seneca Lake.
What fairy-like music steals over the sea, Entrancing our senses with charmed melody?
MRS. C. B. WILSON (—— -1846): What Fairy-like Music.
Her very frowns are fairer far Than smiles of other maidens are.
HARTLEY COLERIDGE (1796-1849): She is not Fair.
I would not live alway: I ask not to stay Where storm after storm rises dark o'er the way.
WILLIAM A. MUHLENBERG (1796-1877): I would not live alway.
Oh, leave the gay and festive scenes, The halls of dazzling light.
H. S. VANDYK (1798-1828): The Light Guitar.
If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot.
JOHN A. DIX (1798-1879): An Official Despatch, Jan. 29, 1861.
I envy them, those monks of old; Their books they read, and their beads they told.
G. P. R. JAMES (1801-1860): The Monks of Old.
A place in thy memory, dearest, Is all that I claim; To pause and look back when thou hearest The sound of my name.
GERALD GRIFFIN (1803-1840): A Place in thy Memory.
Sparkling and bright in liquid light Does the wine our goblets gleam in; With hue as red as the rosy bed Which a bee would choose to dream in.
CHARLES FENNO HOFFMAN (1806-1884): Sparkling and Bright.
The very mudsills of society. . . . We call them slaves. . . . But I will not characterize that class at the North with that term; but you have it. It is there, it is everywhere; it is eternal.
JAMES H. HAMMOND (1807-1864): Speech in the U. S. Senate, March, 1858.
It would be superfluous in me to point out to your Lordship that this is war.
CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS (1807-1886): Despatch to Earl Russell, Sept. 5, 1863.
We are swinging round the circle.
ANDREW JOHNSON (1808-1875): On the Presidential Reconstruction Tour, August, 1866.
We have been friends together In sunshine and in shade.
CAROLINE E. S. NORTON (1808-1877): We have been Friends.
All we ask is to be let alone.
JEFFERSON DAVIS (1808-1889): First Message to the Confederate Congress, March, 1861.
'T is said that absence conquers love; But oh believe it not! I 've tried, alas! its power to prove, But thou art not forgot.
FREDERICK W. THOMAS (1808- ——): Absence conquers Love.
Oh would I were a boy again, When life seemed formed of sunny years, And all the heart then knew of pain Was wept away in transient tears!
MARK LEMON (1809-1870): Oh would I were a Boy again.
Wee Willie Winkie rins through the toun, Upstairs and dounstairs, in his nicht-goun, Tirlin' at the window, cryin' at the lock, "Are the weans in their bed? for it 's nou ten o'clock."
WILLIAM MILLER (1810-1872): Willie Winkie.
We are Republicans, and don't propose to leave our party and identify ourselves with the party whose antecedents have been Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion.
SAMUEL D. BURCHARD (1812- ——),—one of the deputation visiting Mr. Blaine, Oct. 29, 1884.
A life on the ocean wave! A home on the rolling deep, Where the scattered waters rave, And the winds their revels keep!
EPES SARGENT (1813-1881): Life on the Ocean Wave.
What are the wild waves saying, Sister, the whole day long, That ever amid our playing I hear but their low, lone song?
JOSEPH E. CARPENTER (1813- ——): What are the wild Waves saying?
Well, General, we have not had many dead cavalrymen lying about lately.
JOSEPH HOOKER (1813-1879): A remark to General Averill, November, 1862.
Come in the evening, or come in the morning; Come when you 're looked for, or come without warning.
THOMAS O. DAVIS (1814-1845): The Welcome.
But whether on the scaffold high Or in the battle's van, The fittest place where man can die Is where he dies for man!
MICHAEL J. BARRY (Circa 1815): The Dublin Nation, Sept. 28, 1844, Vol. ii. p. 809.
Oh the heart is a free and a fetterless thing,— A wave of the ocean, a bird on the wing!
JULIA PARDOE (1816-1862): The Captive Greek Girl.
Let wealth and commerce, laws and learning die, But leave us still our old nobility.
LORD JOHN MANNERS (1818- ——): England's Trust. Part iii. Line 227.
Why thus longing, thus forever sighing For the far-off, unattain'd, and dim, While the beautiful all round thee lying Offers up its low, perpetual hymn?
HARRIET W. SEWALL (1819-1889): Why thus longing?
Don't you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt? Sweet Alice, whose hair was so brown; Who wept with delight when you gave her a smile, And trembl'd with fear at your frown!
THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH (1819- ——): Ben Bolt.
The Survival of the Fittest.
HERBERT SPENCER (1820- ——): Principles of Biology, Vol. i. Chap. xii. (American edition, 1867.)
Who fears to speak of Ninety-eight? Who blushes at the name? When cowards mock the patriot's fate, Who hangs his head for shame?
JOHN K. INGRAM (1820- ——): The Dublin Nation, April 1, 1843, Vol. ii. p. 339.
On Fame's eternal camping-ground Their silent tents are spread, And Glory guards with solemn round The bivouac of the dead.
THEODORE O'HARA (1820-1867): The Bivouac of the Dead. (August, 1847.)
Hold the fort! I am coming!
WILLIAM T. SHERMAN (1820-1891),—signalled to General Corse in Allatoona from the top of Kenesaw, Oct. 5, 1864.
For every wave with dimpled face That leap'd upon the air, Had caught a star in its embrace And held it trembling there.
AMELIA B. WELBY (1821-1852): Musings. Stanza 4.
To look up and not down, To look forward and not back, To look out and not in, and To lend a hand.
EDWARD EVERETT HALE (1822- ——): Rule of the "Harry Wadsworth Club" (from "Ten Times One is Ten," 1870).
Listen! John A. Logan is the Head Centre, the Hub, the King Pin, the Main Spring, Mogul, and Mugwump of the final plot by which partisanship was installed in the Commission.
ISAAC H. BROMLEY (1833- ——): Editorial in the "New York Tribune," Feb. 16, 1877.
A mugwump is a person educated beyond his intellect.
HORACE PORTER (1837- ——), —a bon-mot in the Cleveland-Blaine campaign of 1884.
I never could believe that Providence had sent a few men into the world, ready booted and spurred to ride, and millions ready saddled and bridled to be ridden.
RICHARD RUMBOLD, on the scaffold, 1685. History of England (Macaulay), Chap. v.
The last link is broken That bound me to thee, And the words thou hast spoken Have render'd me free.
FANNY STEERS: Song.
Old Simon the cellarer keeps a rare store Of Malmsey and Malvoisie.
G. W. BELLAMY: Simon the Cellarer.
Babylon in all its desolation is a sight not so awful as that of the human mind in ruins.[682-1]
SCROPE DAVIES: Letter to Thomas Raikes, May 25, 1835.
She 's all my fancy painted her; She 's lovely, she 's divine.
WILLIAM MEE: Alice Gray.
Stately and tall he moves in the hall, The chief of a thousand for grace.
KATE FRANKLIN: Life at Olympus, Lady's Book, Vol. xxiii. p. 33.
When the sun's last rays are fading Into twilight soft and dim.
THEODORE L. BARKER: Thou wilt think of me again.
Thou hast wounded the spirit that loved thee And cherish'd thine image for years; Thou hast taught me at last to forget thee, In secret, in silence, and tears.
MRS. (DAVID) PORTER: Thou hast wounded the Spirit.
Rattle his bones over the stones! He 's only a pauper, whom nobody owns!
THOMAS NOEL: The Pauper's Ride.
In the days when we went gypsying A long time ago; The lads and lassies in their best Were dress'd from top to toe.
EDWIN RANSFORD: In the Days when we went Gypsying.
Speak gently! 't is a little thing Dropp'd in the heart's deep well; The good, the joy, that it may bring Eternity shall tell.
G. W. LANGFORD: Speak gently.
Hope tells a flattering tale,[683-1] Delusive, vain, and hollow. Ah! let not hope prevail, Lest disappointment follow.
MISS —— WROTHER: The Universal Songster. Vol. ii. p. 86.
Nose, nose, nose, nose! And who gave thee that jolly red nose? Sinament and Ginger, Nutmegs and Cloves, And that gave me my jolly red nose.
RAVENSCROFT: Deuteromela, Song No. 7.[683-2] (1609.)
The mother said to her daughter, "Daughter, bid thy daughter tell her daughter that her daughter's daughter hath a daughter."
GEORGE HAKEWILL: Apologie. Book iii. Chap. v. Sect. 9.[683-3]
Betwixt the stirrup and the ground, Mercy I ask'd; mercy I found.[684-1]
WILLIAM CAMDEN: Remains.
Begone, dull Care! I prithee begone from me! Begone, dull Care! thou and I shall never agree.
PLAYFORD: Musical Companion. (1687.)
Much of a muchness.
VANBRUGH: The Provoked Husband, Act i. Sc. 1.
Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John, The bed be blest that I lye on.
THOMAS ADY: A Candle in the Dark, p. 58. (London, 1656.)
Junius, Aprilis, Septemq; Nouemq; tricenos, Vnum plus reliqui, Februs tenet octo vicenos, At si bissextus fuerit superadditur vnus.
WILLIAM HARRISON: Description of Britain (prefixed to Holinshed's "Chronicle," 1577).
Thirty dayes hath Nouember, Aprill, June, and September, February hath xxviii alone, And all the rest have xxxi.
RICHARD GRAFTON: Chronicles of England. (1590.)
Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November, February has twenty-eight alone, All the rest have thirty-one; Excepting leap year,—that 's the time When February's days are twenty-nine.
The Return from Parnassus. (London, 1606.)
Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November; All the rest have thirty-one, Excepting February alone, Which hath but twenty-eight, in fine, Till leap year gives it twenty-nine.
Common in the New England States.
Fourth, eleventh, ninth, and sixth, Thirty days to each affix; Every other thirty-one Except the second month alone.
Common in Chester County, Penn., among the Friends.
"Be of good comfort, Master Ridley," Latimer cried at the crackling of the flames. "Play the man! We shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out."[685-1]
There is a garden in her face, Where roses and white lilies show; A heavenly paradise is that place, Wherein all pleasant fruits do grow. There cherries hang that none may buy, Till cherry ripe themselves do cry.
An Howres Recreation in Musike. (1606. Set to music by Richard Alison. Oliphant's "La Messa Madrigalesca," p. 229.)
Those cherries fairly do enclose Of orient pearl a double row; Which when her lovely laughter shows, They look like rosebuds filled with snow.
An Howres Recreation in Musike. (1606. Set to music by Richard Alison. Oliphant's "La Messa Madrigalesca," p. 229.)
A vest as admired Voltiger had on, Which from this Island's foes his grandsire won, Whose artful colour pass'd the Tyrian dye, Obliged to triumph in this legacy.[685-2]
The British Princes, p. 96. (1669.)
When Adam dolve, and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman?
Lines used by John Ball in Wat Tyler's Rebellion.[685-3]
Now bething the, gentilman, How Adam dalf, and Eve span.[686-1]
MS. of the Fifteenth Century (British Museum).
Use three Physicians,— Still-first Dr. Quiet; Next Dr. Mery-man, And Dr. Dyet.[686-2]
Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum (edition of 1607).
The King of France went up the hill With twenty thousand men; The King of France came down the hill, And ne'er went up again.
Pigges Corantoe, or Newes from the North.[686-3]
* * * * *
From The New England Primer.[686-4]
In Adam's fall We sinned all.
My Book and Heart Must never part.
Young Obadias, David, Josias,— All were pious.
Peter denyed His Lord, and cryed.
Young Timothy Learnt sin to fly.
Xerxes did die, And so must I.
Zaccheus he Did climb the tree Our Lord to see.
Our days begin with trouble here, Our life is but a span, And cruel death is always near, So frail a thing is man.
Now I lay me down to take my sleep,[687-1] I pray the Lord my soul to keep; If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.
His wife, with nine small children and one at the breast, following him to the stake.
Martyrdom of John Rogers. Burned at Smithfield, Feb. 14, 1554.[687-2]
* * * * *
And shall Trelawny die? Here 's twenty thousand Cornish men Will know the reason why.[687-3]
Mater ait natae, dic natae, natam Ut moneat natae, plangere filiolam.
The mother to her daughter spake: "Daughter," said she, "arise! Thy daughter to her daughter take, Whose daughter's daughter cries."
A Distich, according to Zwingler, on a Lady of the Dalburg Family who saw her descendants to the sixth generation.
A woman's work, grave sirs, is never done.
Poem spoken by Mr. Eusden at a Cambridge Commencement.[688-1]
Count that day lost whose low descending sun Views from thy hand no worthy action done.[688-2]
Author unknown.[688-3]
The gloomy companions of a disturbed imagination, the melancholy madness of poetry without the inspiration.[688-4]
Letters of Junius. Letter vii. To Sir W. Draper.
I do not give you to posterity as a pattern to imitate, but as an example to deter.
Letters of Junius. Letter xii. To the Duke of Grafton.
The Americans equally detest the pageantry of a king and the supercilious hypocrisy of a bishop.[688-5]
Letters of Junius. Letter xxxv.
The heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, or the hand to execute.[688-6]
Letters of Junius. Letter xxxvii. City Address, and the King's Answer.
Private credit is wealth; public honour is security. The feather that adorns the royal bird supports its flight; strip him of his plumage, and you fix him to the earth.
Letters of Junius. Letter xlii. Affair of the Falkland Islands.
'T is well to be merry and wise, 'T is well to be honest and true; 'T is well to be off with the old love Before you are on with the new.
Lines used by Maturin as the motto to "Bertram," produced at Drury Lane, 1816.
Still so gently o'er me stealing, Mem'ry will bring back the feeling, Spite of all my grief revealing, That I love thee,—that I dearly love thee still.
Opera of La Sonnambula.
Happy am I; from care I 'm free! Why ar' n't they all contented like me?
Opera of La Bayadere.
It is so soon that I am done for, I wonder what I was begun for.
Epitaph on a child who died at the age of three weeks (Cheltenham Churchyard).
An Austrian army, awfully array'd, Boldly by battery besiege Belgrade; Cossack commanders cannonading come, Deal devastation's dire destructive doom; Ev'ry endeavour engineers essay, For fame, for freedom, fight, fierce furious fray. Gen'rals 'gainst gen'rals grapple,—gracious God! How honors Heav'n heroic hardihood! Infuriate, indiscriminate in ill, Just Jesus, instant innocence instill! Kinsmen kill kinsmen, kindred kindred kill. Labour low levels longest, loftiest lines; Men march 'midst mounds, motes, mountains, murd'rous mines. Now noisy, noxious numbers notice nought, Of outward obstacles o'ercoming ought; Poor patriots perish, persecution's pest! Quite quiet Quakers "Quarter, quarter" quest; Reason returns, religion, right, redounds, Suwarrow stop such sanguinary sounds! Truce to thee, Turkey, terror to thy train! Unwise, unjust, unmerciful Ukraine! Vanish vile vengeance, vanish victory vain! Why wish we warfare? wherefore welcome won Xerxes, Xantippus, Xavier, Xenophon? Yield, ye young Yaghier yeomen, yield your yell! Zimmerman's, Zoroaster's, Zeno's zeal Again attract; arts against arms appeal. All, all ambitious aims, avaunt, away! Et caetera, et caetera, et caetera.
Alliteration, or the Siege of Belgrade: a Rondeau.[690-1]
But were it to my fancy given To rate her charms, I 'd call them heaven; For though a mortal made of clay, Angels must love Ann Hathaway; She hath a way so to control, To rapture the imprisoned soul, And sweetest heaven on earth display, That to be heaven Ann hath a way; She hath a way, Ann Hathaway,— To be heaven's self Ann hath a way.
Attributed to Shakespeare.[690-2]
FOOTNOTES:
[682-1] Babylon in ruins is not so melancholy a spectacle (as a distracted person). ADDISON: Spectator, No. 421.
[683-1] Hope told a flattering tale, That Joy would soon return; Ah! naught my sighs avail, For Love is doomed to mourn.
ANONYMOUS (air by Giovanni Paisiello, 1741-1816): Universal Songster, vol. i. p. 320.
[683-2] BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER: The Knight of the Burning Pestle, act i. sc. 3.
[683-3] Hakewill translated this from the "Theatrum Vitae Humanae," vol. iii.
[684-1] Altered by Johnson (1783),—
Between the stirrup and the ground, I mercy ask'd; I mercy found.
[685-1] I shall light a candle of understanding in thine heart, which shall not be put out.—2 Esdras xiv. 25.
[685-2] The oft-quoted lines,—
A painted vest Prince Voltiger had on, Which from a naked Pict his grandsire won,
have been ascribed to Blackmore, but suppressed in the later editions of his poems.
[685-3] HUME: History of England, vol. i. chap. xvii. note 8.
[686-1] The same proverb existed in German:—
So Adam reutte, und Eva span, Wer war da ein eddelman?
AGRICOLA: Proverbs. No. 254.
[686-2] See Swift, page 293.
[686-3] A quarto tract printed in London in 1642, p. 3. This is called "Old Tarlton's Song."
[686-4] As early as 1691, Benjamin Harris, of Boston, advertised as in press the second impression of the New England Primer. The oldest copy known to be extant is 1737.
[687-1] It is said that in the earliest edition of the New England Primer this prayer is given as above, which is copied from the reprint of 1777. In the edition of 1784 it is altered to "Now I lay me down to sleep." In the edition of 1814 the second line of the prayer reads, "I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep."
[687-2] The true date of his death is Feb. 4, 1555.
[687-3] Robert Stephen Hawker incorporated these lines into "The Song of the Western Men," written by him in 1825. It was praised by Sir Walter Scott and Macaulay under the impression that it was the ancient song. It has been a popular proverb throughout Cornwall ever since the imprisonment by James II. of the seven bishops,—one of them Sir Jonathan Trelawny.
[688-1] It was printed for the second time, in London, 1714.
[688-2] In the Preface to Mr. Nichols's work on Autographs, among other albums noticed by him as being in the British Museum is that of David Krieg, with James Bobart's autograph (Dec. 8, 1697) and the verses,—
Virtus sui gloria. "Think that day lost whose descending sun Views from thy hand no noble action done."
Bobart died about 1726. He was a son of the celebrated botanist of that name. The verses are given as an early instance of their use.
[688-3] This is found in Staniford's "Art of Reading," third edition, p. 27 (Boston, 1803).
[688-4] See Burke, page 412.
[688-5] See Choate, page 588.
[688-6] See Clarendon, page 255.
[690-1] These lines having been incorrectly printed in a London publication, we have been favoured by the author with an authentic copy of them.—Wheeler's Magazine, vol. i. p. 244. (Winchester, England, 1828.)
[690-2] This poem entire may be found in Rossiter Johnson's "Famous Single and Fugitive Poems."
TRANSLATIONS.
PILPAY (OR BIDPAI.)[691-1]
We ought to do our neighbour all the good we can. If you do good, good will be done to you; but if you do evil, the same will be measured back to you again.[691-2]
Dabschelim and Pilpay. Chap. i.
It has been the providence of Nature to give this creature [the cat] nine lives instead of one.[691-3]
The Greedy and Ambitious Cat. Fable iii.
There is no gathering the rose without being pricked by the thorns.[691-4]
The Two Travellers. Chap. ii. Fable vi.
Wise men say that there are three sorts of persons who are wholly deprived of judgment,—they who are ambitious of preferments in the courts of princes; they who make use of poison to show their skill in curing it; and they who intrust women with their secrets.
The Two Travellers. Chap. ii. Fable vi.
Men are used as they use others.
The King who became Just. Fable ix.
What is bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh.[691-5]
The Two Fishermen. Fable xiv.
Guilty consciences always make people cowards.[691-6]
The Prince and his Minister. Chap. iii. Fable iii.
Whoever . . . prefers the service of princes before his duty to his Creator, will be sure, early or late, to repent in vain.
The Prince and his Minister. Chap. iii. Fable iii.
There are some who bear a grudge even to those that do them good.
A Religious Doctor. Fable vi.
There was once, in a remote part of the East, a man who was altogether void of knowledge and experience, yet presumed to call himself a physician.
The Ignorant Physician. Fable viii.
He that plants thorns must never expect to gather roses.[692-1]
The Ignorant Physician. Fable viii.
Honest men esteem and value nothing so much in this world as a real friend. Such a one is as it were another self, to whom we impart our most secret thoughts, who partakes of our joy, and comforts us in our affliction; add to this, that his company is an everlasting pleasure to us.
Choice of Friends. Chap. iv.
That possession was the strongest tenure of the law.[692-2]
The Cat and the two Birds. Chap. v. Fable iv.
FOOTNOTES:
[691-1] Pilpay is supposed to have been a Brahmin gymnosophist, and to have lived several centuries before Christ. The earliest form in which his Fables appear is in the Pancha-tantra and Hitopadesa of the Sanskrit. The first translation was into the Pehlvi language, and thence into the Arabic, about the seventh century. The first English translation appeared in 1570.
[691-2] And with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.—Matthew vii. 2.
[691-3] See Heywood, page 16.
[691-4] See Herrick, page 203.
[691-5] See Heywood, page 19.
[691-6] See Shakespeare, page 136.
[692-1] See Butler, page 214.
[692-2] See Cibber, page 296.
HESIOD. Circa 720 (?) B. C.
(Translation by J. Banks, M. A., with a few alterations.[692-3])
We know to tell many fictions like to truths, and we know, when we will, to speak what is true.
The Theogony. Line 27.
On the tongue of such an one they shed a honeyed dew,[692-4] and from his lips drop gentle words.
The Theogony. Line 82.
Night, having Sleep, the brother of Death.[692-5]
The Theogony. Line 754.
From whose eyelids also as they gazed dropped love.[693-1]
The Theogony. Line 910.
Both potter is jealous of potter and craftsman of craftsman; and poor man has a grudge against poor man, and poet against poet.[693-2]
Works and Days. Line 25.
Fools! they know not how much half exceeds the whole.[693-3]
Works and Days. Line 40.
For full indeed is earth of woes, and full the sea; and in the day as well as night diseases unbidden haunt mankind, silently bearing ills to men, for all-wise Zeus hath taken from them their voice. So utterly impossible is it to escape the will of Zeus.
Works and Days. Line 101.
They died, as if o'ercome by sleep.
Works and Days. Line 116.
Oft hath even a whole city reaped the evil fruit of a bad man.[693-4]
Works and Days. Line 240.
For himself doth a man work evil in working evils for another.
Works and Days. Line 265.
Badness, look you, you may choose easily in a heap: level is the path, and right near it dwells. But before Virtue the immortal gods have put the sweat of man's brow; and long and steep is the way to it, and rugged at the first.
Works and Days. Line 287.
This man, I say, is most perfect who shall have understood everything for himself, after having devised what may be best afterward and unto the end.
Works and Days. Line 293.
Let it please thee to keep in order a moderate-sized farm, that so thy garners may be full of fruits in their season.
Works and Days. Line 304.
Invite the man that loves thee to a feast, but let alone thine enemy.
Work and Days. Line 342.
A bad neighbour is as great a misfortune as a good one is a great blessing.
Works and Days. Line 346.
Gain not base gains; base gains are the same as losses.
Works and Days. Line 353.
If thou shouldst lay up even a little upon a little, and shouldst do this often, soon would even this become great.
Works and Days. Line 360.
At the beginning of the cask and at the end take thy fill, but be saving in the middle; for at the bottom saving comes too late. Let the price fixed with a friend be sufficient, and even dealing with a brother call in witnesses, but laughingly.
Works and Days. Line 366.
Diligence increaseth the fruit of toil. A dilatory man wrestles with losses.
Works and Days. Line 412.
The morn, look you, furthers a man on his road, and furthers him too in his work.
Works and Days. Line 579.
Observe moderation. In all, the fitting season is best.
Works and Days. Line 694.
Neither make thy friend equal to a brother; but if thou shalt have made him so, be not the first to do him wrong.
Works and Days. Line 707.
FOOTNOTES:
[692-3] Bohn's Classical Library.
[692-4] See Coleridge, page 500.
[692-5] See Shelley, page 567.
[693-1] See Milton, page 246.
[693-2] See Gay, page 349.
[693-3] Pittacus said that half was more than the whole.—DIOGENES LAERTIUS: Pittacus, ii.
[693-4] One man's wickedness may easily become all men's curse.—PUBLIUS SYRUS: Maxim 463.
THEOGNIS. 570(?)-490(?) B. C.
Wine is wont to show the mind of man.
Maxims. Line 500.
No one goes to Hades with all his immense wealth.[694-1]
Maxims. Line 725.
FOOTNOTES:
[694-1] For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away, his glory shall not descend after him.—Psalm xlix. 17.
[These selections from the most famous gnomic sayings of the great tragic writers of Greece—AEschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides—are chiefly from the fragments and not from their complete plays. The numbers of the fragments refer to the edition of Nauck. They are selected and translated by M. H. Morgan, Ph. D., of Harvard University.]
AESCHYLUS. 525-456 B. C.
I would far rather be ignorant than wise in the foreboding of evil.[695-1]
Suppliants, 453.
"Honour thy father and thy mother" stands written among the three laws of most revered righteousness.[695-2]
Suppliants, 707.
Words are the physicians of a mind diseased.[695-3]
Prometheus, 378.
Time as he grows old teaches many lessons.
Prometheus, 981.
God's mouth knows not to utter falsehood, but he will perform each word.[695-4]
Prometheus, 1032.
Learning is ever in the freshness of its youth, even for the old.[695-5]
Agamemnon, 584.
Few men have the natural strength to honour a friend's success without envy. . . . I well know that mirror of friendship, shadow of a shade.
Agamemnon, 832.
Exiles feed on hope.
Agamemnon, 1668.
Success is man's god.
Choephorae, 59.
So in the Libyan fable it is told That once an eagle, stricken with a dart, Said, when he saw the fashion of the shaft, "With our own feathers, not by others' hands, Are we now smitten."[696-1]
Frag. 135 (trans. by Plumptre).
Of all the gods, Death only craves not gifts: Nor sacrifice, nor yet drink-offering poured Avails; no altars hath he, nor is soothed By hymns of praise. From him alone of all The powers of heaven Persuasion holds aloof.
Frag. 146 (trans. by Plumptre).
O Death the Healer, scorn thou not, I pray, To come to me: of cureless ills thou art The one physician. Pain lays not its touch Upon a corpse.
Frag. 250 (trans. by Plumptre).
A prosperous fool is a grievous burden.
Frag. 383.
Bronze is the mirror of the form; wine, of the heart.
Frag. 384.
It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath.
Frag. 385.
FOOTNOTES:
[695-1] See Gray, page 382.
[695-2] The three great laws ascribed to Triptolemus are referred to,—namely, to honour parents; to worship the gods with the fruits of the earth; to hurt no living creature. The first two laws are also ascribed to the centaur Cheiron.
[695-3] Apt words have power to suage The tumours of a troubl'd mind.
MILTON: Samson Agonistes.
[695-4] God is not a man that he should lie; . . . hath he said, and shall he not do it?—Numbers xxiii. 19.
[695-5] See Shakespeare, page 64.
[696-1] See Waller, page 219.
SOPHOCLES. 496-406 B. C.
Think not that thy word and thine alone must be right.
Antigone, 706.
Death is not the worst evil, but rather when we wish to die and cannot.
Electra, 1007.
There is an ancient saying, famous among men, that thou shouldst not judge fully of a man's life before he dieth, whether it should be called blest or wretched.[696-2]
Trachiniae, 1.
In a just cause the weak o'ercome the strong.[696-3]
OEdipus Coloneus, 880.
A lie never lives to be old.
Acrisius. Frag. 59.
Nobody loves life like an old man.
Acrisius. Frag. 63.
A short saying oft contains much wisdom.[697-1]
Aletes. Frag. 99.
Do nothing secretly; for Time sees and hears all things, and discloses all.
Hipponous. Frag. 280.
It is better not to live at all than to live disgraced.
Peleus. Frag. 445.
War loves to seek its victims in the young.
Scyrii. Frag. 507.
If it were possible to heal sorrow by weeping and to raise the dead with tears, gold were less prized than grief.
Scyrii. Frag. 510.
Children are the anchors that hold a mother to life.
Phaedra. Frag. 619.
The truth is always the strongest argument.
Phaedra. Frag. 737.
The dice of Zeus fall ever luckily.
Phaedra. Frag. 809.
Fortune is not on the side of the faint-hearted.
Phaedra. Frag. 842.
No oath too binding for a lover.
Phaedra. Frag. 848.
Thoughts are mightier than strength of hand.
Phaedra. Frag. 854.
A wise player ought to accept his throws and score them, not bewail his luck.
Phaedra. Frag. 862.
If I am Sophocles, I am not mad; and if I am mad, I am not Sophocles.
Vit. Anon. p. 64 (Plumptre's Trans.).
FOOTNOTES:
[696-2] The saying "Call no man happy before he dies" was ascribed to Solon. Herodotus, i. 32.
[696-3] See Marlowe, page 40.
[697-1] See Shakespeare, page 133.
EURIPIDES. 484-406 B. C.
Old men's prayers for death are lying prayers, in which they abuse old age and long extent of life. But when death draws near, not one is willing to die, and age no longer is a burden to them.
Alcestis. 669.
The gifts of a bad man bring no good with them.
Medea. 618.
Moderation, the noblest gift of Heaven.
Medea. 636.
I know, indeed, the evil of that I purpose; but my inclination gets the better of my judgment.[698-1]
Medea. 1078.
There is in the worst of fortune the best of chances for a happy change.[698-2]
Iphigenia in Tauris. 721.
Slowly but surely withal moveth the might of the gods.[698-3]
Bacchae. 882.
Thou didst bring me forth for all the Greeks in common, not for thyself alone.
Iphigenia in Aulis. 1386.
Slight not what 's near through aiming at what 's far.[698-4]
Rhesus. 482.
The company of just and righteous men is better than wealth and a rich estate.
AEgeus. Frag. 7.
A bad beginning makes a bad ending.
AEolus. Frag. 32.
Time will explain it all. He is a talker, and needs no questioning before he speaks.
AEolus. Frag. 38.
Waste not fresh tears over old griefs.
Alexander. Frag. 44.
The nobly born must nobly meet his fate.[698-5]
Alcmene. Frag. 100.
Woman is woman's natural ally.
Alope. Frag. 109.
Man's best possession is a sympathetic wife.
Antigone. Frag. 164.
Ignorance of one's misfortunes is clear gain.[698-6]
Antiope. Frag. 204.
Try first thyself, and after call in God; For to the worker God himself lends aid.[699-1]
Hippolytus. Frag. 435.
Second thoughts are ever wiser.[699-2]
Hippolytus. Frag. 436.
Toil, says the proverb, is the sire of fame.
Licymnius. Frag. 477.
Cowards do not count in battle; they are there, but not in it.
Meleager. Frag. 523.
A woman should be good for everything at home, but abroad good for nothing.
Meleager. Frag. 525.
Silver and gold are not the only coin; virtue too passes current all over the world.
OEdipus. Frag. 546.
When good men die their goodness does not perish, But lives though they are gone. As for the bad, All that was theirs dies and is buried with them.
Temenidae. Frag. 734.
Every man is like the company he is wont to keep.
Phoenix. Frag. 809.
Who knows but life be that which men call death,[699-3] And death what men call life?
Phrixus. Frag. 830.
Whoso neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead for the future.
Phrixus. Frag. 927.
The gods visit the sins of the fathers upon the children.
Phrixus. Frag. 970.
FOOTNOTES:
[698-1] See Shakespeare, page 60. Also Garth, page 295.
[698-2] The darkest hour is that before the dawn.—HAZLITT: English Proverbs.
[698-3] See Herbert, page 206.
[698-4] See Heywood, page 15.
[698-5] Noblesse oblige.—BOHN: Foreign Proverbs.
[698-6] See Davenant, page 217.
[699-1] See Herbert, page 206.
[699-2] See Henry, page 283.
[699-3] See Diogenes Laertius, page 766.
MIMNERMUS (TRAGEDIAN).
We are all clever enough at envying a famous man while he is yet alive, and at praising him when he is dead.
Frag. 1.
HIPPOCRATES. 460-359 B. C.
Life is short and the art long.[700-1]
Aphorism i.
Extreme remedies are very appropriate for extreme diseases.[700-2]
Aphorism i.
FOOTNOTES:
[700-1] See Chaucer, page 6.
[700-2] See Shakespeare, page 141.
For a desperate disease a desperate cure.—MONTAIGNE: Chap. iii. The Custom of the Isle of Cea.
DIONYSIUS THE ELDER. 430-367 B. C.
Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent.
Frag. 6.
PLAUTUS. 254(?)-184 B. C.
(Translated by Henry Thomas Riley, B. A., with a few variations. The references are to the text of Ritschl's second edition.[700-3])
What is yours is mine, and all mine is yours.[700-4]
Trinummus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 48. (329.)
Not by years but by disposition is wisdom acquired.
Trinummus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 88. (367.)
These things are not for the best, nor as I think they ought to be; but still they are better than that which is downright bad.
Trinummus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 111. (392.)
He whom the gods favour dies in youth.[700-5]
Bacchides. Act iv. Sc. 7, 18. (816.)
You are seeking a knot in a bulrush.[701-1]
Menaechmi. Act ii. Sc. 1, 22. (247.)
In the one hand he is carrying a stone, while he shows the bread in the other.[701-2]
Aulularia. Act ii. Sc. 2, 18. (195.)
I had a regular battle with the dunghill-cock.
Aulularia. Act iii. Sc. 4, 13. (472.)
It was not for nothing that the raven was just now croaking on my left hand.[701-3]
Aulularia. Act iv. Sc. 3, 1. (624.)
There are occasions when it is undoubtedly better to incur loss than to make gain.
Captivi. Act ii. Sc. 2, 77. (327.)
Patience is the best remedy for every trouble.[701-4]
Rudens. Act ii. Sc. 5, 71.
If you are wise, be wise; keep what goods the gods provide you.
Rudens. Act iv. Sc. 7, 3. (1229.)
Consider the little mouse, how sagacious an animal it is which never entrusts its life to one hole only.[701-5]
Truculentus. Act iv. Sc. 4, 15. (868.)
Nothing is there more friendly to a man than a friend in need.[701-6]
Epidicus. Act iii. Sc. 3, 44. (425.)
Things which you do not hope happen more frequently than things which you do hope.[701-7]
Mostellaria. Act i. Sc. 3, 40. (197.)
To blow and swallow at the same moment is not easy.
Mostellaria. Act iii. Sc. 2, 104. (791.)
Each man reaps on his own farm.
Mostellaria. Act iii. Sc. 2, 112. (799.)
FOOTNOTES:
[700-3] Bohn's Classical Library.
[700-4] See Shakespeare, page 50.
[700-5] See Wordsworth, page 479.
[701-1] A proverbial expression implying a desire to create doubts and difficulties where there really were none. It occurs in Terence, the "Andria," act v. sc. 4, 38; also in Ennius, "Saturae," 46.
[701-2] What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?—Matthew vii. 9.
[701-3] See Gay, page 349.
[701-4] Patience is a remedy for every sorrow.—PUBLIUS SYRUS: Maxim 170.
[701-5] See Chaucer, page 4.
[701-6] A friend in need is a friend indeed.—HAZLITT: English Proverbs.
[701-7] The unexpected always happens.—A common proverb.
TERENCE. 185-159 B. C.
(From the translation of Henry Thomas Riley, B. A., with occasional corrections. The references are to the text of Umpfenbach.[702-1])
Do not they bring it to pass by knowing that they know nothing at all?
Andria. The Prologue. 17.
Of surpassing beauty and in the bloom of youth.
Andria. Act i. Sc. 1, 45. (72.)
Hence these tears.
Andria. Act i. Sc. 1, 99. (126.)
That is a true proverb which is wont to be commonly quoted, that "all had rather it were well for themselves than for another."
Andria. Act ii. Sc. 5, 15. (426.)
The quarrels of lovers are the renewal of love.[702-2]
Andria. Act iii. Sc. 3, 23. (555.)
Look you, I am the most concerned in my own interests.[702-3]
Andria. Act iv. Sc. 1, 12. (636.)
In fine, nothing is said now that has not been said before.
Eunuchus. The Prologue. 41.
It is up with you; all is over; you are ruined.
Eunuchus. Act i. Sc. 1, 9. (54.)
If I could believe that this was said sincerely, I could put up with anything.
Eunuchus. Act i. Sc. 2, 96. (176.)
Immortal gods! how much does one man excel another! What a difference there is between a wise person and a fool!
Eunuchus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 1. (232.)
I have everything, yet have nothing; and although I possess nothing, still of nothing am I in want.[702-4]
Eunuchus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 12. (243.)
There are vicissitudes in all things.
Eunuchus. Act ii. Sc. 2, 45. (276.)
The very flower of youth.
Eunuchus. Act ii. Sc. 3, 28. (319.)
I did not care one straw.
Eunuchus. Act iii. Sc. 1, 21. (411.)
Jupiter, now assuredly is the time when I could readily consent to be slain,[703-1] lest life should sully this ecstasy with some disaster.
Eunuchus. Act iii. Sc. 5, 2. (550.)
This and a great deal more like it I have had to put up with.
Eunuchus. Act iv. Sc. 6, 8. (746.)
Take care and say this with presence of mind.[703-2]
Eunuchus. Act iv. Sc. 6, 31. (769.)
It behooves a prudent person to make trial of everything before arms.
Eunuchus. Act iv. Sc. 7, 19. (789.)
I know the disposition of women: when you will, they won't; when you won't, they set their hearts upon you of their own inclination.
Eunuchus. Act iv. Sc. 7, 42. (812.)
I took to my heels as fast as I could.
Eunuchus. Act v. Sc. 2, 5. (844.)
Many a time, . . . from a bad beginning great friendships have sprung up.
Eunuchus. Act v. Sc. 2, 34. (873.)
I only wish I may see your head stroked down with a slipper.[703-3]
Eunuchus. Act v. Sc. 7, 4. (1028.)
I am a man, and nothing that concerns a man do I deem a matter of indifference to me.[703-4]
Heautontimoroumenos. Act i. Sc. 1, 25. (77.)
This is a wise maxim, "to take warning from others of what may be to your own advantage."
Heautontimoroumenos. Act i. Sc. 2, 36. (210.)
That saying which I hear commonly repeated,—that time assuages sorrow.
Heautontimoroumenos. Act iii. Sc. 1, 12. (421.)
Really, you have seen the old age of an eagle,[704-1] as the saying is.
Heautontimoroumenos. Act iii. Sc. 2, 9. (520.)
Many a time a man cannot be such as he would be, if circumstances do not admit of it.
Heautontimoroumenos. Act iv. Sc. 1, 53. (666.)
Nothing is so difficult but that it may be found out by seeking.
Heautontimoroumenos. Act iv. Sc. 2, 8. (675.)
What now if the sky were to fall?[704-2]
Heautontimoroumenos. Act iv. Sc. 3, 41. (719.)
Rigorous law is often rigorous injustice.[704-3]
Heautontimoroumenos. Act iv. Sc. 5, 48. (796.)
There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it with reluctance.
Heautontimoroumenos. Act iv. Sc. 6, 1. (805.)
How many things, both just and unjust, are sanctioned by custom!
Heautontimoroumenos. Act iv. Sc. 7, 11. (839.)
Fortune helps the brave.[704-4]
Phormio. Act i. Sc. 4, 25. (203.)
It is the duty of all persons, when affairs are the most prosperous,[704-5] then in especial to reflect within themselves in what way they are to endure adversity.
Phormio. Act ii. Sc. 1, 11. (241.)
As many men, so many minds; every one his own way.
Phormio. Act ii. Sc. 4, 14. (454.)
As the saying is, I have got a wolf by the ears.[705-1]
Phormio. Act iii. Sc. 2, 21. (506.)
I bid him look into the lives of men as though into a mirror, and from others to take an example for himself.
Adelphoe. Act iii. Sc. 3, 61. (415.)
According as the man is, so must you humour him.
Adelphoe. Act iii. Sc. 3, 77. (431.)
It is a maxim of old that among themselves all things are common to friends.[705-2]
Adelphoe. Act v. Sc. 3, 18. (803.)
What comes from this quarter, set it down as so much gain.
Adelphoe. Act v. Sc. 3, 30. (816.)
It is the common vice of all, in old age, to be too intent upon our interests.[705-3]
Adelphoe. Act v. Sc. 8, 30. (953.)
FOOTNOTES:
[702-1] Bonn's Classical Library.
[702-2] See Edwards, page 21.
[702-3] Equivalent to our sayings, "Charity begins at home;" "Take care of Number One."
[702-4] See Wotton, page 174.
[703-1] If it were now to die, 'T were now to be most happy.
SHAKESPEARE: Othello, act ii. sc. 1.
[703-2] Literally, "with a present mind,"—equivalent to Caesar's praesentia animi (De Bello Gallico, v. 43, 4).
[703-3] According to Lucian, there was a story that Omphale used to beat Hercules with her slipper or sandal.
[703-4] Cicero quotes this passage in De Officiis, i. 30.
[704-1] This was a proverbial expression, signifying a hale and vigorous old age.
[704-2] See Heywood, page 11.
Some ambassadors from the Celtae, being asked by Alexander what in the world they dreaded most, answered, that they feared lest the sky should fall upon them.—ARRIANUS: lib. i. 4.
[704-3] Extreme law, extreme injustice, is now become a stale proverb in discourse.—CICERO: De Officiis, i. 33.
Une extreme justice est souvent une injure (Extreme justice is often injustice).—RACINE: Freres Ennemies, act iv. sc. 3.
Mais l'extreme justice est une extreme injure.—VOLTAIRE: OEdipus, act iii. sc. 3.
[704-4] Pliny the Younger says (book vi. letter xvi.) that Pliny the Elder said this during the eruption of Vesuvius: "Fortune favours the brave."
[704-5] CICERO: Tusculan Questions, book iii. 30.
[705-1] A proverbial expression, which, according to Suetonius, was frequently in the mouth of Tiberius Caesar.
[705-2] All things are in common among friends.—DIOGENES LAERTIUS: Diogenes, vi.
[705-3] Cicero quotes this passage (Tusculan Questions, book iii.), and the maxim was a favourite one with the Stoic philosophers.
CICERO. 106-43 B. C.
For as lack of adornment is said to become some women, so this subtle oration, though without embellishment, gives delight.[705-4]
De Oratore. 78.
Thus in the beginning the world was so made that certain signs come before certain events.[705-5]
De Divinatione. i. 118.
He is never less at leisure than when at leisure.[705-6]
De Officiis. iii. 1.
While the sick man has life there is hope.[705-7]
Epistolarum ad Atticum. ix. 10, 4.
FOOTNOTES:
[705-4] See Thomson, page 356.
[705-5] See Coleridge, page 504.
[705-6] See Rogers, page 455.
[705-7] See Gay, page 349.
LUCRETIUS. 95-55 B. C.
Continual dropping wears away a stone.[706-1]
De Rerum Natura. i. 313.
What is food to one man may be fierce poison to others.[706-2]
De Rerum Natura. iv. 637.
In the midst of the fountain of wit there arises something bitter, which stings in the very flowers.[706-3]
De Rerum Natura. iv. 1133.
FOOTNOTES:
[706-1] See Lyly, page 32.
[706-2] See Beaumont and Fletcher, page 199.
[706-3] See Byron, page 540.
HORACE. 65-8 B. C.
Brave men were living before Agamemnon.[706-4]
Odes. iv. 9, 25.
In peace, as a wise man, he should make suitable preparation for war.[706-5]
Satires, ii. 2. (111.)
You may see me, fat and shining, with well-cared-for hide, . . . a hog from Epicurus's herd.[706-6]
Satires, ii. 4, 15.
What the discordant harmony of circumstances would and could effect.[706-7]
Epistles, i. 12, 19.
If you wish me to weep, you yourself must feel grief.[706-8]
Ars Poetica. 102.
The mountains will be in labour; an absurd mouse will be born.[706-9]
Ars Poetica. 139.
Even the worthy Homer sometimes nods.[706-10]
Ars Poetica. 359.
FOOTNOTES:
[706-4] See Byron, page 555.
[706-5] See Washington, page 425.
[706-6] See Mason, page 393.
[706-7] See Burke, page 409.
[706-8] See Churchill, page 412.
[706-9] A mountain was in labour, sending forth dreadful groans, and there was in the region the highest expectation. After all, it brought forth a mouse.—PHAEDRUS: Fables, iv. 22, 1.
The old proverb was now made good: "The mountain had brought forth a mouse."—PLUTARCH: Life of Agesilaus II.
[706-10] See Pope, page 323.
OVID. 43 B. C.-18 A. D.
They come to see; they come that they themselves may be seen.[707-1]
The Art of Love. i. 99.
Nothing is stronger than custom.
The Art of Love. ii. 345.
Then the omnipotent Father with his thunder made Olympus tremble, and from Ossa hurled Pelion.[707-2]
Metamorphoses. i.
It is the mind that makes the man, and our vigour is in our immortal soul.[707-3]
Metamorphoses. xiii.
The mind, conscious of rectitude, laughed to scorn the falsehood of report.[707-4]
Fasti. iv. 311.
FOOTNOTES:
[707-1] See Chaucer, page 3.
[707-2] See Pope, page 344.
I would have you call to mind the strength of the ancient giants, that undertook to lay the high mountain Pelion on the top of Ossa, and set among those the shady Olympus.—RABELAIS: Works, book iv. chap. xxxviii.
[707-3] See Watts, page 303.
[707-4] And the mind conscious of virtue may bring to thee suitable rewards.—VIRGIL: AEneid, i. 604.
OF UNKNOWN AUTHORSHIP.
Love thyself, and many will hate thee.
Frag. 146.
Practice in time becomes second nature.[707-5]
Frag. 227.
When God is planning ruin for a man, He first deprives him of his reason.[707-6]
Frag. 379.
When I am dead let fire destroy the world; It matters not to me, for I am safe.
Frag. 430.
Toil does not come to help the idle.
Frag. 440.
FOOTNOTES:
[707-5] Custom is almost a second nature.—PLUTARCH: Rules for the Preservation of Health, 18.
[707-6] See Dryden, page 269.
This may have been the original of the well known (but probably post-classical) line, "Quem Jupiter vult perdere, dementat prius." Publius Syrus has, "Stultum facit fortuna quem vult perdere."
PUBLIUS SYRUS.[708-1] 42 B. C.
(Translation by Darius Lyman. The numbers are those of the translator.)
As men, we are all equal in the presence of death.
Maxim 1.
To do two things at once is to do neither.
Maxim 7.
We are interested in others when they are interested in us.[708-2]
Maxim 16.
Every one excels in something in which another fails.
Maxim 17.
The anger of lovers renews the strength of love.[708-3]
Maxim 24.
A god could hardly love and be wise.[708-4]
Maxim 25.
The loss which is unknown is no loss at all.[708-5]
Maxim 38.
He sleeps well who knows not that he sleeps ill.
Maxim 77.
A good reputation is more valuable than money.[708-6]
Maxim 108.
It is well to moor your bark with two anchors.
Maxim 119.
Learn to see in another's calamity the ills which you should avoid.[708-7]
Maxim 120.
An agreeable companion on a journey is as good as a carriage.
Maxim 143.
Society in shipwreck is a comfort to all.[708-8]
Maxim 144.
Many receive advice, few profit by it.
Maxim 149.
Patience is a remedy for every sorrow.[709-1]
Maxim 170.
While we stop to think, we often miss our opportunity.
Maxim 185.
Whatever you can lose, you should reckon of no account.
Maxim 191.
Even a single hair casts its shadow.
Maxim 228.
It is sometimes expedient to forget who we are.
Maxim 233.
We may with advantage at times forget what we know.
Maxim 234.
You should hammer your iron when it is glowing hot.[709-2]
Maxim 262.
What is left when honour is lost?
Maxim 265.
A fair exterior is a silent recommendation.
Maxim 267.
Fortune is not satisfied with inflicting one calamity.
Maxim 274.
When Fortune is on our side, popular favour bears her company.
Maxim 275.
When Fortune flatters, she does it to betray.
Maxim 277.
Fortune is like glass,—the brighter the glitter, the more easily broken.
Maxim 280.
It is more easy to get a favour from fortune than to keep it.
Maxim 282.
His own character is the arbiter of every one's fortune.[709-3]
Maxim 283.
There are some remedies worse than the disease.[709-4]
Maxim 301.
Powerful indeed is the empire of habit.[709-5]
Maxim 305.
Amid a multitude of projects, no plan is devised.[709-6]
Maxim 319.
It is easy for men to talk one thing and think another.
Maxim 322.
When two do the same thing, it is not the same thing after all.
Maxim 338.
A cock has great influence on his own dunghill.[710-1]
Maxim 357.
Any one can hold the helm when the sea is calm.[710-2]
Maxim 358.
No tears are shed when an enemy dies.
Maxim 376.
The bow too tensely strung is easily broken.
Maxim 388.
Treat your friend as if he might become an enemy.
Maxim 401.
No pleasure endures unseasoned by variety.[710-3]
Maxim 406.
The judge is condemned when the criminal is acquitted.[710-4]
Maxim 407.
Practice is the best of all instructors.[710-5]
Maxim 439.
He who is bent on doing evil can never want occasion.
Maxim 459.
One man's wickedness may easily become all men's curse.
Maxim 463.
Never find your delight in another's misfortune.
Maxim 467.
It is a bad plan that admits of no modification.
Maxim 469.
It is better to have a little than nothing.
Maxim 484.
It is an unhappy lot which finds no enemies.
Maxim 499.
The fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself.[711-1]
Maxim 511.
A rolling stone gathers no moss.[711-2]
Maxim 524.
Never promise more than you can perform.
Maxim 528.
A wise man never refuses anything to necessity.[711-3]
Maxim 540.
No one should be judge in his own cause.[711-4]
Maxim 545.
Necessity knows no law except to conquer.[711-5]
Maxim 553.
Nothing can be done at once hastily and prudently.[711-6]
Maxim 557.
We desire nothing so much as what we ought not to have.
Maxim 559.
It is only the ignorant who despise education.
Maxim 571.
Do not turn back when you are just at the goal.[711-7]
Maxim 580.
It is not every question that deserves an answer.
Maxim 581.
No man is happy who does not think himself so.[711-8]
Maxim 584.
Never thrust your own sickle into another's corn.[711-9]
Maxim 593.
You cannot put the same shoe on every foot.
Maxim 596.
He bids fair to grow wise who has discovered that he is not so.
Maxim 598.
A guilty conscience never feels secure.[712-1]
Maxim 617.
Every day should be passed as if it were to be our last.[712-2]
Maxim 633.
Familiarity breeds contempt.[712-3]
Maxim 640.
Money alone sets all the world in motion.
Maxim 656.
He who has plenty of pepper will pepper his cabbage.
Maxim 673.
You should go to a pear-tree for pears, not to an elm.[712-4]
Maxim 674.
It is a very hard undertaking to seek to please everybody.
Maxim 675.
We should provide in peace what we need in war.[712-5]
Maxim 709.
Look for a tough wedge for a tough log.
Maxim 723.
How happy the life unembarrassed by the cares of business!
Maxim 725.
They who plough the sea do not carry the winds in their hands.[712-6]
Maxim 759.
He gets through too late who goes too fast.
Maxim 767.
In every enterprise consider where you would come out.[712-7]
Maxim 777.
It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity.
Maxim 780.
The highest condition takes rise in the lowest.
Maxim 781.
It matters not what you are thought to be, but what you are.
Maxim 785.
No one knows what he can do till he tries.
Maxim 786.
The next day is never so good as the day before.
Maxim 815.
He is truly wise who gains wisdom from another's mishap.
Maxim 825.
Good health and good sense are two of life's greatest blessings.
Maxim 827.
It matters not how long you live, but how well.
Maxim 829.
It is vain to look for a defence against lightning.[713-1]
Maxim 835.
No good man ever grew rich all at once.[713-2]
Maxim 837.
Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it.[713-3]
Maxim 847.
It is better to learn late than never.[713-4]
Maxim 864.
Better be ignorant of a matter than half know it.[713-5]
Maxim 865.
Better use medicines at the outset than at the last moment.
Maxim 866.
Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them.
Maxim 872.
Whom Fortune wishes to destroy she first makes mad.[713-6]
Maxim 911.
Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage.
Maxim 914.
He knows not when to be silent who knows not when to speak.
Maxim 930.
You need not hang up the ivy-branch over the wine that will sell.[714-1]
Maxim 968.
It is a consolation to the wretched to have companions in misery.[714-2]
Maxim 995.
Unless degree is preserved, the first place is safe for no one.[714-3]
Maxim 1042.
Confession of our faults is the next thing to innocency.
Maxim 1060.
I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.[714-4]
Maxim 1070.
Keep the golden mean[714-5] between saying too much and too little.
Maxim 1072.
Speech is a mirror of the soul: as a man speaks, so is he.
Maxim 1073.
FOOTNOTES:
[708-1] Commonly called Publius, but spelled Publilius by Pliny (Natural History, 35, sect. 199).
[708-2] We always like those who admire us.—ROCHEFOUCAULD: Maxim 294.
[708-3] See Edwards, page 21.
[708-4] It is impossible to love and be wise.—BACON: Of Love (quoted).
[708-5] See Shakespeare, page 154.
[708-6] A good name is better than riches.—CERVANTES: Don Quixote, part ii. book ii. chap. xxxiii.
[708-7] The best plan is, as the common proverb has it, to profit by the folly of others.—PLINY: Natural History, book xviii. sect. 31.
[708-8] See Maxim 995.
[709-1] See Plautus, page 701.
[709-2] See Heywood, page 10.
[709-3] See Bacon, page 167.
[709-4] See Bacon, page 165.
Marius said, "I see the cure is not worth the pain."—PLUTARCH: Life of Caius Marius.
[709-5] Habit is second nature.—MONTAIGNE: Essays, book iii. chap. x.
[709-6] He that hath many irons in the fire, some of them will cool.—HAZLITT: English Proverbs.
[710-1] See Heywood, page 14.
[710-2] The sea being smooth, How many shallow bauble boats dare sail Upon her patient breast.
SHAKESPEARE: Troilus and Cressida, act i. sc. 3.
[710-3] See Cowper, page 419.
[710-4] Judex damnatur cum nocens absolvitur,—the motto adopted for the "Edinburgh Review."
[710-5] Practice makes perfect.—Proverb.
[711-1] See Shakespeare, page 48.
[711-2] See Heywood, page 14.
[711-3] Yet do I hold that mortal foolish who strives against the stress of necessity.—EURIPIDES: Hercules Furens, line 281.
[711-4] It is not permitted to the most equitable of men to be a judge in his own cause.—PASCAL: Thoughts, chap. iv. 1.
[711-5] See Milton, page 232.
[711-6] See Chaucer, page 3.
[711-7] When men are arrived at the goal, they should not turn back.—PLUTARCH: Of the Training of Children.
[711-8] No man can enjoy happiness without thinking that he enjoys it.—JOHNSON: The Rambler, p. 150.
[711-9] Did thrust as now in others' corn his sickle.—DU BARTAS: Divine Weekes and Workes, part ii. Second Weeke.
Not presuming to put my sickle in another man's corn.—NICHOLAS YONGE: Musica Transalpini. Epistle Dedicatory. 1588.
[712-1] See Shakespeare, page 136.
[712-2] Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in life as though it were thy last.—MARCUS AURELIUS: Meditations, ii. 5.
[712-3] See Shakespeare, page 45.
[712-4] You may as well expect pears from an elm.—CERVANTES: Don Quixote, part ii. book ii. chap. xl.
[712-5] See Washington, page 425.
[712-6] The pilot cannot mitigate the billows or calm the winds.—PLUTARCH: Of the Tranquillity of the Mind.
[712-7] In every affair consider what precedes and what follows, and then undertake it.—EPICTETUS: That everything is to be undertaken with circumspection, chap. xv.
[713-1] Syrus was not a contemporary of Franklin.
[713-2] No just man ever became rich all at once.—MENANDER: Fragment.
[713-3] See Butler, page 213.
[713-4] See Shakespeare, page 64.
[713-5] See Bacon, page 166.
[713-6] See Dryden, page 269.
[714-1] See Shakespeare, page 72.
[714-2] See Maxim 144.
[714-3] See Shakespeare, page 102.
[714-4] Simonides said "that he never repented that he held his tongue, but often that he had spoken."—PLUTARCH: Rules for the Preservation of Health.
SENECA. 8 B. C.-65 A. D.
Not lost, but gone before.[714-6]
Epistolae. 63, 16.
Whom they have injured they also hate.[714-7]
De Ira. ii. 33.
Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.[714-8]
De Providentia. 5, 9.
There is no great genius without a tincture of madness.[714-9]
De Tranquillitate Animi. 17.
Do you seek Alcides' equal? None is, except himself.[714-10]
Hercules Furens. i. 1, 84.
Successful and fortunate crime is called virtue.[715-1]
Hercules Furens. 255.
A good man possesses a kingdom.[715-2]
Thyestes. 380.
I do not distinguish by the eye, but by the mind, which is the proper judge of the man.[715-3]
On a Happy Life. 2. (L' Estrange's Abstract, Chap. i.)
FOOTNOTES:
[714-5] See Cowper, page 424.
[714-6] See Rogers, page 455.
[714-7] See Dryden, page 275.
[714-8] See Beaumont and Fletcher, page 197.
[714-9] See Dryden, page 267.
[714-10] See Theobald, page 352.
[715-1] See Harrington, page 39.
[715-2] See Dyer, page 22.
[715-3] See Watts, page 303.
PHAEDRUS. 8 A. D.
(Translation by H. T. Riley, B. A.[715-4])
Submit to the present evil, lest a greater one befall you.
Book i. Fable 2, 31.
He who covets what belongs to another deservedly loses his own.
Book i. Fable 4, 1.
That it is unwise to be heedless ourselves while we are giving advice to others, I will show in a few lines.
Book i. Fable 9, 1.
Whoever has even once become notorious by base fraud, even if he speaks the truth, gains no belief.
Book i. Fable 10, 1.
By this story [The Fox and the Raven] it is shown how much ingenuity avails, and how wisdom is always an overmatch for strength.
Book i. Fable 13, 13.
No one returns with good-will to the place which has done him a mischief.
Book i. Fable 18, 1.
It has been related that dogs drink at the river Nile running along, that they may not be seized by the crocodiles.[715-5]
Book i. Fable 25, 3.
Every one is bound to bear patiently the results of his own example.
Book i. Fable 26, 12.
Come of it what may, as Sinon said.
Book iii. The Prologue, 27.
Things are not always what they seem.[716-1]
Book iv. Fable 2, 5.
Jupiter has loaded us with a couple of wallets: the one, filled with our own vices, he has placed at our backs; the other, heavy with those of others, he has hung before.[716-2]
Book iv. Fable 10, 1.
A mountain was in labour, sending forth dreadful groans, and there was in the region the highest expectation. After all, it brought forth a mouse.[716-3]
Book iv. Fable 23, 1.
A fly bit the bare pate of a bald man, who in endeavouring to crush it gave himself a hard slap. Then said the fly jeeringly, "You wanted to revenge the sting of a tiny insect with death; what will you do to yourself, who have added insult to injury?"
Book v. Fable 3, 1.
"I knew that before you were born." Let him who would instruct a wiser man consider this as said to himself.
Book v. Fable 9, 4.
FOOTNOTES:
[715-4] Bohn's Classical Library.
[715-5] Pliny in his "Natural History," book viii. sect. 148, and AElian in his "Various Histories" relate the same fact as to the dogs drinking from the Nile. "To treat a thing as the dogs do the Nile" was a common proverb with the ancients, signifying to do it superficially.
[716-1] See Longfellow, page 612.
[716-2] Also alluded to by Horace, Satires, ii. 3, 299; Catullus, 22, 21; and Persius, 4, 24.
[716-3] See Horace, page 706.
PLINY THE ELDER. 23-79 A. D.
(Translation by J. Bostock, M. D., and H. T. Riley, B. A., with slight alterations.[716-4])
In comparing various authors with one another, I have discovered that some of the gravest and latest writers have transcribed, word for word, from former works, without making acknowledgment.
Natural History. Book i. Dedication, Sect. 22.
The world, and whatever that be which we call the heavens, by the vault of which all things are enclosed, we must conceive to be a deity, to be eternal, without bounds, neither created nor subject at any time to destruction. To inquire what is beyond it is no concern of man; nor can the human mind form any conjecture concerning it.
Natural History. Book ii. Sect. 1.
It is ridiculous to suppose that the great head of things, whatever it be, pays any regard to human affairs.
Natural History. Book ii. Sect. 20.
Everything is soothed by oil, and this is the reason why divers send out small quantities of it from their mouths, because it smooths every part which is rough.[717-1]
Natural History. Book ii. Sect. 234.
It is far from easy to determine whether she [Nature] has proved to him a kind parent or a merciless stepmother.[717-2]
Natural History. Book vii. Sect. 1.
Man alone at the very moment of his birth, cast naked upon the naked earth, does she abandon to cries and lamentations.[717-3]
Natural History. Book vii. Sect. 2.
To laugh, if but for an instant only, has never been granted to man before the fortieth day from his birth, and then it is looked upon as a miracle of precocity.[718-1]
Natural History, Book vii. Sect. 2.
Man is the only one that knows nothing, that can learn nothing without being taught. He can neither speak nor walk nor eat, and in short he can do nothing at the prompting of nature only, but weep.[718-2]
Natural History, Book vii. Sect. 4.
With man, most of his misfortunes are occasioned by man.[718-3]
Natural History, Book vii. Sect. 5.
Indeed, what is there that does not appear marvellous when it comes to our knowledge for the first time?[718-4] How many things, too, are looked upon as quite impossible until they have been actually effected?
Natural History, Book vii. Sect. 6.
The human features and countenance, although composed of but some ten parts or little more, are so fashioned that among so many thousands of men there are no two in existence who cannot be distinguished from one another.[718-5]
Natural History, Book vii. Sect. 8.
All men possess in their bodies a poison which acts upon serpents; and the human saliva, it is said, makes them take to flight, as though they had been touched with boiling water. The same substance, it is said, destroys them the moment it enters their throat.[718-6]
Natural History, Book vii. Sect. 15.
It has been observed that the height of a man from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot is equal to the distance between the tips of the middle fingers of the two hands when extended in a straight line.
Natural History. Book vii. Sect. 77.
When a building is about to fall down, all the mice desert it.[719-1]
Natural History. Book viii. Sect. 103.
Bears when first born are shapeless masses of white flesh a little larger than mice, their claws alone being prominent. The mother then licks them gradually into proper shape.[719-2]
Natural History. Book viii. Sect. 126.
It is asserted that the dogs keep running when they drink at the Nile, for fear of becoming a prey to the voracity of the crocodile.[719-3]
Natural History. Book viii. Sect. 148.
It has become quite a common proverb that in wine there is truth.[719-4]
Natural History. Book xiv. Sect. 141.
Cincinnatus was ploughing his four jugera of land upon the Vaticanian Hill,—the same that are still known as the Quintian Meadows,—when the messenger brought him the dictatorship, finding him, the tradition says, stripped to the work.
Natural History. Book xviii. Sect. 20.
The agricultural population, says Cato, produces the bravest men, the most valiant soldiers, and a class of citizens the least given of all to evil designs. . . . A bad bargain is always a ground for repentance.
Natural History. Book xviii. Sect. 26.
The best plan is, as the common proverb has it, to profit by the folly of others.[720-1]
Natural History. Book xviii. Sect. 31.
Always act in such a way as to secure the love of your neighbour.[720-2]
Natural History. Book xviii. Sect. 44.
It is a maxim universally agreed upon in agriculture, that nothing must be done too late; and again, that everything must be done at its proper season; while there is a third precept which reminds us that opportunities lost can never be regained.
Natural History. Book xviii. Sect. 44.
The bird of passage known to us as the cuckoo.
Natural History. Book xviii. Sect. 249.
Let not things, because they are common, enjoy for that the less share of our consideration.
Natural History. Book xix. Sect. 59.
Why is it that we entertain the belief that for every purpose odd numbers are the most effectual?[720-3]
Natural History. Book xxviii. Sect. 23.
It was a custom with Apelles, to which he most tenaciously adhered, never to let any day pass, however busy he might be, without exercising himself by tracing some outline or other,—a practice which has now passed into a proverb.[720-4] It was also a practice with him, when he had completed a work, to exhibit it to the view of the passers-by in his studio, while he himself, concealed behind the picture, would listen to the criticisms. . . . Under these circumstances, they say that he was censured by a shoemaker for having represented the shoes with one latchet too few. The next day, the shoemaker, quite proud at seeing the former error corrected, thanks to his advice, began to criticise the leg; upon which Apelles, full of indignation, popped his head out and reminded him that a shoemaker should give no opinion beyond the shoes,[721-1]—a piece of advice which has equally passed into a proverbial saying.
Natural History. Book xxxv. Sect. 84.
FOOTNOTES:
[716-4] Bohn's Classical Library.
[717-1] Why does pouring oil on the sea make it clear and calm? Is it for that the winds, slipping the smooth oil, have no force, nor cause any waves?—PLUTARCH: Natural Questions, ix.
The venerable Bede relates that Bishop Adain (A. D. 651) gave to a company about to take a journey by sea "some holy oil, saying, 'I know that when you go abroad you will meet with a storm and contrary wind; but do you remember to cast this oil I give you into the sea, and the wind shall cease immediately.'"—Ecclesiastical History, book iii. chap. xiv.
In Sparks's edition of Franklin's Works, vol. vi. p. 354, there are letters between Franklin, Brownrigg, and Parish on the stilling of waves by means of oil.
[717-2] To man the earth seems altogether No more a mother, but a step-dame rather.
DU BARTAS: Divine Weekes and Workes, first week, third day.
[717-3] He is born naked, and falls a whining at the first.—BURTON: Anatomy of Melancholy, part i. sect. 2, mem. 3, subsect. 10.
And when I was born I drew in the common air, and fell upon the earth, which is of like nature; and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do.—The Wisdom of Solomon, vii. 3.
It was the custom among the ancients to place the new-born child upon the ground immediately after its birth.
[718-1] This term of forty days is mentioned by Aristotle in his Natural History, as also by some modern physiologists.
[718-2] See Tennyson, page 632.
[718-3] See Burns, page 446.
[718-4] Omne ignotum pro magnifico (Everything that is unknown is taken to be grand).—TACITUS: Agricola, 30.
[718-5] See Sir Thomas Browne, page 218.
[718-6] Madame d'Abrantes relates that when Bonaparte was in Cairo he sent for a serpent-detecter (Psylli) to remove two serpents that had been seen in his house. He having enticed one of them from his hiding-place, caught it in one hand, just below the jaw-bone, in such a manner as to oblige the mouth to open, when spitting into it, the effect was like magic: the reptile appeared struck with instant death.—Memoirs, vol. i. chap. lix. |
|
