Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-02-20
ORIGIN OF PROVERBS.
FAMILIAR SAYINGS TRACED To AGES
OF ANTIQUITY.

Among the many ways in which
wisdom manifests itself there is
probably no form she assumes 60 ac-
ceptable to the world as when she
comes to US in the garb Of proverbs.
Reading and observation make
some impression on minds Of any
caliber, but the most lasting and
popular form Of wisdom and learn
ing and practical philosophy is the
proverb. 1t is true, the coiner may
not, in fact seldom does, become
known, but he enjoys the nameless
pleasure at finding himself handed
down to fame that is not vouchsafed
to the most famous orator, poet or
essayist.
To accurately define anything IL
difficult; but especially is this true
o. proverb. Some define proverbs
as "wisdcm in brief" Aristotle
says Of proverbs they are remnants
which, on account of their shortness
and correctness, have been saved
out Of the wreck and ruin Of ancient
philosophy" while Agricola de-
clares them TO be .1short sentences
Into which, rs in rules, the ancients
have compressed life" This last
seems to be both forcible and pretty.
Thomas Fuller has quantity defined
them as ''much matter decocted
into few words, F." and James Howell,
in his London edition Of "Proverbs,
Old Sayed Saws, and Adages, f" pub
lished in 1863, calls them "a great
deal Of weight wrapt up in little"
from which came our modern ''pre-
ciOus articles always come in small
packages"
THE LATIN AND GREEK.
1t is possible that the Latin and
Greek proverbs may owe q debt we
know not Of to outside sources,
sacred and profane; Notwithstanding
il is not so much to sacred sources,
or to Solomon, as TO classic writers
that we must look for light in trac-
ing the genealogy OF modern pro-
verbs. The Greek language was the
key to all international intercourse
from the establishment Of the Mace
DOMAIN empire. 1t became the We
hicle through which, in the septua-
gint, the Old Testament found
its greatest proof of having been
regarded by all nations ada
cent to the Hebrews as being
divine, and it was the language Of
the New Testament. Yet This Ian
guage has preserved TO us a far
larger proportion Of proverbs than
has the Egyptian, Persian, Indian |
or Hebrew-the original language |
OF the Old Testament. And, the |
the question is but natural, how do |
we know that many Of the Old Tes-
lament proverbs were not originally |
from the Greek writers! And some |
go 50 far as TO assert that Christ
drew largely on Greek classics for
his proverbial sayings.
Thus, an old Greek proverb has il
"a scorpion for perch, /" and Christ
asks ''If a son ask broad, will he
give him a stone? Or If he ask a
fish, will he give him n serpent?"
And the assembled Savior addressed
Saul Of Tarsus in an adage familiar to
all the world, unless it were the
Jews, from the odes of Pindar,
the tragedies of fssehylus and
Euripides, and from the Latin
comic poets, at is hard for thee to
kick against the goads." This re-
ferred to the refractory oxen kicking
and hitting their legs against the
sharp goads used to drive them, and
thus hurting themselves all the
more. Thus, also, Esop has an adage
about "washing the blackamoOr
white, +" and the prophet in the Old
Testament asks: "Can an Ethlop-
inn change his skin?" The Span
ish has it: "The bath hath sworn
not to make n negro white" while
the French put it: "Wash a dog,
comb a dog, still dog is but a dog"
and our modern proverb preserves
the idea in: "There's no getting
white -four out of coal SACK" Our
''set a thief to catch n
theft is found in Zenobius /, 40:
ssTn NAV the fox IN anothar fox -