Where the shoe pinches. Plutarch relates the story of a Roman being divorced from his wife. "This person being highly blamed by his friends, who demanded, -was she not chaste? was she not fair? holding out his shoe asked them whether it was not new, and well made. Yet, added he, none of you can tell where it pinches me.". Plutarch, Life of Æmilius Paulus. To smell of the lamp. Plutarch, Life of Demosthenes. Ch. 8. To call a spade a spade. Plutarch, Reg. et Imp. Apoph. Philip. xv. Τὰ σύκα σύκα, τὴν σκάφην δὲ σκάφην ὀνομάζων. — Brought up like a rude Macedon, and taught to Begging the question. This is a common logical fallacy, petitio principii; and the first explanation of the phrase is to be found in Aristotle's Topica, viii. 13, where the five ways of begging the question are set forth. The earliest English work in which the expression is found is The Arte of Logike plainlie set forth in our English Tongue, &c. 1584." See how these Christians love one another. Vide, inquiunt, ut invicem se diligant. Tertullian, Apologet. c. 39. I believe it, because it is impossible. Certum est, quia impossibile est. - Tertullian, Usually misquoted, Credo quia impossibile. The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church. Plures efficimur, quoties metimur a vobis ; semen est sanguis Christianorum. — Tertullian, Apologet. c. 50. In a note to this passage in Tertullian, ed. 1641, there is the following quotation from St. Jerome : "Est sanguis martyrum seminarium ecclesiarum." When at Rome, do as the Romans do. St. Augustine was in the habit of dining upon When they are at Rome, they do there as they see done. Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy. Part. iii. sec. 4, Mem. 2, Subs. 1. Beware of a man of one book. When St. Thomas Aquinas was asked in what manner a man might best become learned, he answered "by reading one book." The homo unius libri is indeed proverbially formidable to all conversational figurantes. - Southey, The Doctor, p. 164. Months without an R. It is unseasonable and unwholesome in all months that have not an R in their name to eat an oyster. Butler, Dyet's Dry Dinner. 1599. Wooden walls of England. The credite of the Realme, by defending the same with our Wodden Walles, as Themistocles called the Ship of Athens.- Preface to the English translation of Linschoten. London, 1598. The Art preservative of all arts. From the inscription upon the façade of the house at Harlem, formerly occupied by Laurent Koster or Coster, who is charged, among others, with the invention of printing. Mention is first made of this inscription about 1628. MEMORIÆ SACRUM TYPOGRAPHIA ARS ARTIUM OMNIUM CONSERVATRIX. HIC PRIMUM INVENTA CIRCA ANNUM MCCCCXL. Old wood to burn! Old wine to drink! Old friends to trust! Old authors to read! Alonso of Aragon was wont to say, in commen- Is not old wine wholesomest, old pippins tooth- Young men think old men fools, and old men know young men to be so. Quoted by Camden as a saying of one Dr. Metcalf. It is now in many people's mouths, and likely to pass into a proverb. — Ray's Proverbs, p. 145, ed. Bohn. The Gentle Craft. According to Brady (Clavis Calendaria), this Marry because you have drank with the King, As good as a play. An exclamation of Charles II. when in Parliament attending the discussion of Lord Russ's Divorce Bill. -a The king remained in the House of Peers while his speech was taken into consideration, common practice with him; for the debates amused his sated mind, and were sometimes, he used to say, as good as a comedy. - Macaulay, Review of the Life and Writings of Sir William Temple. Nullos his mallem ludos spectasse. Horace, Sat. ii. 8, 79. Die in the last ditch. To William of Orange may be ascribed this saying. When Buckingham urged the inevitable destruction which hung over the United Provinces, and asked him whether he did not see that the Commonwealth was ruined, "There is one certain means," replied the prince, "by which I can be sure never to see my country's ruin, I will die in the last ditch."— Hume, History of England. 1672. A Rowland for an Oliver. These were two of the most famous in the list of Charlemagne's twelve peers; and their exploits are rendered so ridiculously and equally extravagant by the old romancers, that from thence arose that saying, amongst our plain and sensible ancestors, of giving one a "Rowland for his Oliver," to signify the matching one incredible lie with another. Thomas Warburton. All is lost save honour. It was from the imperial camp near Pavia, that All the brothers were valiant, and all the sisters virtuous. From the inscription on the Tomb of the Duchess of Newcastle in Westminster Abbey. |