Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1890-01-26

ORIGIN OF PROVERBS.
FAMILIAR SAYINGS TRACED TO AGES
OF ANTIQUITY.

Latin and Greek Races Especially Prolific
In the Matter Of Trite Expressioos-Did
the Old Philosophers Originate Sayings
Used In the Bible?
Among the many ways in which wisdom
mannests herself there is probably no form
she assumes SO acceptable to the world as
when She comes to us in the garb of proverbs.
Reading and observation make some impress
sion on minds of any caliber, but the most
lasting and popular form of wisdom and
learning and practical philosophy is the prov
erh. 1t L. 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 is difficult;
but especially is this true of aproverb. Some
define proverbs as wisdom in brief" Aris-
totle says of proverbs they are remnants
which, on account of their shortness and cor
rectness, have been saved out of the wreck
and ruin of ancient philosophy" while
Agricola declares them to be ''short sentences
into which, as 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 de-
cocted into few words and James Howell,
in his London edition of Proverbs, Old
Sayed Saws, and Adages," published in 1863,
calls them "a great deal Of weight wrapt up
in little" from which came our modern
precious articles always come in small pack
ages"
TIE LATIN AND GREEK.
1t is possible that the Latin and Greek
proverbs may owe debt we know not of to
outside sources, sacred and profane; notwith-
standing it is not 50 much to sacred sources,
or to Solomon, as TO classic writers that we
must look for light in tracing the genealogy
Of modern proverbs The Greek language
was the key to all international intercourse
from the establishment of the Macedonian
empire 1t became the vehicle through which,
in the septuagint, the Old Testament found
its greatest proof Of having been regarded by
all nations ad jacent to the Hebrews as being
divine, and it was the language of the New
Testament. Yet this language has preserved
to US far larger proportion Of proverbs
than has the Egyptian, Persian, Indian or
Hebrew-the original language Of the Old
Testament And the question Is but natural,
how do we know that many Of the Old Testa-
ment proverbs were not originally from the
Greek writersl And some even go so far as
TO assert that Christ drew largely on Greek
classics for his proverbial sayings
Thus, an old Greek proverb has it ga
scorpion for perch" and Christ asks: "f a
son ask bread, VIII he give him stone? Or
if he ask fish, viii he give him a serpentf"
And the assembled Saviour addressed Saul of
Tarsus an adage familiar 10 all the world, I'M
less it were the Jews, from the odesof Pindar,
the tragedies of -Eschylus and Euripides, and
from the Latin comic poets, at is hard for
thee to kick against the goads." This referred
TO the refractory oxen kicking and hitting
their legs against the sharp goads used to
drive them, and thus hurting themselves ali
the more. Thus, also, Hssop has an adage
about washing the blackamoor white,n and
the prophet in the Old Testament asks: "Can
an Ethiopian change his skin?" The Spanish
has it: 1.-The bath hath sworn not to make
negro white" while the French put it:
Wash dog, comb dog, still dog is but
a dog" and our modern proverb preserves
the idea in: There's no getting white flour
out of coal sack" Our modern "set thief
to catch a thief is found in Zenobius i, 20:
ITO play the fox to another fox"
SOME COMMON ONES
But those proverbs from the Greek which
are now common to all nations VIII be most
interesting Some have labored, others
profted,n is found in some form in almost
every language of the earth. 1t is as old as
Hesiod, who, in his ''Theogony," applies it to
the bees and drones. Callimachus, the Alex
andrian poet, 300 B. c., wrote: "And those
who plowed the field shall reap the corn" as
If he would shadow forth rectifcation of
the universal injustice set forth in the prov
erb The French and Spanish have it, ''One
man beats the bush and another catches the
Bird and the Italians put it, lone man
starteth the game and another kills it." In
the New Testament it is recognized by the
Saviour thus: Herein is that saying true,
One soweth and another reapeth.'" Also it is
set forth in Galatians, vi, z, and in II CORN
thians, tx, G. When man was seen rushing
into fascinating but certain rum, the Greeks
hkened his ''to the moths fate" and sudden
destruction was pictured as "destruction's
wing" q phrase that beautifully ends q
striking line in "Marmion;" and Of thin
man, whose leanness seemed incurabfe, they
imagined Us drawn through ring, or Its
as much use to try and fatten a milestone.
Hence our modern phrase, in an attempt
of some one TO be original, "As fat as a
match
Our modern Friends, like your shadow.
are only seen in the sunshine" is traced 70
MenanderAs when mans in trouble friends
stand aloof" Early English had it, trans
lated by Erasmus, Boil pot, boil friendship. "
From this it is easy 10 infer we get another
common proverb, The way to mans heart
is through his stomach, made so forcible by
De Quincy.
Every one has repeated at some time or
other, "a burnt child breads the fire" Soph-
ocleS saws it sprang from a fisherman who, in
his over anxiety TO see what he had in his
net, was stung by scorpion and explained:
'Now that I'm stung she'll be wiser" And
Chapman renders a passage from Homer;
"A fool knows naught before It's done, and
still too late is wise The Spaniards have
it: "A scaided CIT breads cold water" and
also ale who is bit by a scorpion is alarmed
at it's shadow Burton gives us this from
MS Oil language: He whom a serpent has
bitten breads q slow worm, harmless rep
tile. From this II VIII be seen we get another
modern proverb: Experience is a dear
school hut fools VIII learn in no other