On p. 190 of Arntzen's variorum edition of the 'Disticha ' (Amst., 1754) is a note by Daumius ( = Christian Daum), who refers to John of Salisbury's ' Epistulæ,' I. xii. p. 203, "Jacula minus lædunt, quæ prævidentur." Burton, 'Anat.,' 2, 3, 5, quotes, "Prævisum est levius quod fuit ante malum" (first added in the fifth edition, 1638). A. R. Shilleto compares Seneca, 'Consolatio ad Marciam,' ix. 2, "Quæ multo ante praevisa sunt, languidius incurrunt."
EDWARD BENSLY. University College, Aberystwyth.
1. This is given by Erasmus in the 'Adagia' as a proverbial saying (ed. 1670, p. 636) in the chapter on " Sera pœenitentia,"' s.v. " Optimum aliena insania frui."' The latter saying is quoted by Pliny in his ' Natural History, l xviii. 6 (or 5), as a common proverb used by Cato.
Erasmus also refers to
Feliciter is sapit, qui periculo alieno sapit
as from Plautus. The reference is 'Mercator,' IV. vii. 40 in some editions; in others the scene is ix.; in others it is the second "Supposita " following sc. v. The writer gives the saying as an old one.
Erasmus also gives
Ex vitio alterius sapiens emendat suum.
See the 'Sententiæ' of Publius Syrus and others. He also gives as the probable origin 1. 79 of the ' Ajax ' of Sophocles, which (the mistakes or misprints corrected) is
(
Greek characters)
The connexion does not appear to be obvious.
In Whitney's ' A Choice of Emblemes,' 1586, a facsimile reprint, edited by Henry Green (London, Chester, Nantwich, 1866), p. 154, I find
Aliena pericula, cautiones nostræ.
The English verses which follow tell how the lion, the ass, and the fox having hunted down their quarry, the ass was commanded by the lion to divide the prey. The ass divided it into three equal parts. The lion in a rage tore him into pieces. The fox commanded by the lion to arrange the division, put all the best upon one heap, and kept only a little of the worst for himself.
to carue?
This spectacle (quoth hee) which I behoulde with care:
Which showes, those happie that can bee by others harmes beware.
Owen Felltham has another version of the proverb in his 'Resolves Divine, Moral, Political' (11th ed., >696, p. 217), Century II. chap. 42:
He throws his Interest into a Gulph, that trusts it in such hands as have been formerly the Ship-wrack of others.
Infelix, quern non aliena pericula cautum.
Unhappy he whom the dangers of other men don't cause to be wary.
No reference is given, though on the title-page it is stated that " in this Eleventh Edition, References are made to the Poetical Citations, heretofore much wanted." It appears from this that Felltham regarded the line as a common proverb.
2. The following appears in the 'Adagia ' (" Erasmi et aliorum "), p. 609, as from ' Joannis Ulpii Adagiorum Epitome ' : —
Tempore pacis cogitandum de bello.
'(Greek characters).
Admonet proverbium, in tempore de necessariis prospiciendum esse.
"Qui desiderat pacem, prseparet bellum," is quoted from Vegetius, ' De Re Militari,' 3 Prolog., at 9 S. i. 198, s.v. " Si vis pacem, para bellum."
Alciatus in his ' Emblemata ' quotes Vegetius as follows :
" Qui desiderat pacem prseparat [sic] bellum : qui victoriam cupit, milites imbuat diligenter." — Emblema 177, ' Ex bello pax,' last paragraph, ed. 1608, p. 797.
ROBERT PIERPOINT.
The fourth quotation sought by MR. CAPPEL (ante, p. 68),
Who cares if the lightning is burning the corn?
is from Elizabeth Barrett Browning's ' Rhapsody of Life's Progress.'
WILLIAM BARNARD.
MR. CAPPEL' s fifth inquiry,
If the sea-horse on the ocean, &c.
is incorrectly quoted from Wordsworth's ' Song for the Wandering Jew. ' The verse runs :
Yield him no domestic cave,
Slumbers without sense of motion,
Couched upon the rocking wave.
JOHN WILLCOCK.
Lerwick.
7. The Greek iambics quoted by MR. APPEL are in Stobæus's ' Florilegium, 1 69, 2, where they are given as Susarion's (6th cent. B.C.), but the attribution seems doubtful. See Bentley's 'Dissertation upon the Epistles of Phalaris,' p. 202 (1699), and
