If he had eaten quietly what he had obtained; if he had not boasted of his good fortune, before he was completely in possession of it, he might have enjoyed it unmolested; but by proclaiming it he has stirred up rivals for the situation, with whom he will find it difficult to contend, and who may probably supplant him. The idea is taken from the fable of the stag who had escaped the hunters and eluded their search by concealing himself among the vines, but thinking himself safe, he began to browse upon the leaves; the hunters, led to the place by the noise and by the motion of the boughs, took and killed him. Or from the crow, who, overcome by the flattery of the fox, attempting to sing, let fall the cheese that he held in his mouth, which the fox seized upon and devoured. Can't you fare well, we say, without crying roast meat?

The subject is as familiar and as well known to me, as are my fingers; to be perfectly conversant with a business, or to have it, as we say, "at our fingers' ends."

He is as proud of the transaction, as if he had despoiled a Grecian warrior of his shield. The Greeks and Romans defended their shields with the greatest pertinacity, it being held in the highest degree dishonourable to suffer them to be taken from them. The adage was used to be applied to persons boasting of some insignificant exploit, and magnifying it, as if they had saved a friend, or their country from destruction.

It is a subject I am as well acquainted with, as I am with my own name, or with my fingers, was used to be said to persons repeating any well known story or circumstance.

«Totis diebus, Afer, hæc mihi narras,
Et teneo melius ista, quam meum nomen».

You are perpetually teasing me with a repetition of this story, which is as familiar to me as my own name.

He is like a cork, nothing will depress or sink him, was used to be said of persons who had passed through great trials, or escaped from imminent danger without mischief. Of such men we say, like a cat he has nine lives, or throw him as you will he will be sure to alight upon his feet, give a man luck and throw him into the sea.