Listen to him who has four ears. It is not known what gave birth to this adage, but it is understood, as advising to attend to old and experienced persons, who are slow in judging, who are more ready to hear than to speak; or, as the English proverb has it, «who have wide ears and short tongues».

«He that hears much, and speaks not at all,
Shall be welcome in parlour, in kitchen and hall».

«Oi, voye, et te taise,
Si tu veux vivre en pais».


That is, if you wish to live quietly, hear, see, and be silent; which is taken probably from the following monkish line. "Audi, vide, tace, si vis vivere in pace." A similar sense has, "prospectandum vetulo latrante cane," when the old dog barks, or opens, then attend.

You have explained that difficult passage, and rendered clear and luminous, what was before obscure and difficult.

From one act, or circumstance, you will readily judge what is the real character or disposition of the man. This may to a certain degree be admitted as a test; as, if a man be detected in any deliberate act of villany, where there has been an evident design to defraud or injure another, we may without hesitation pronounce the party to be a bad man: but the converse of this, may not be so surely depended on, and we may not with safety, from one single act of charity, or kindness, pronounce the party to be a good man, or trust him as much. So also, if a man from walking over Bagshot Heath, should take upon him to determine the state of this country, as to its fertility, and should describe it as in general barren and inhospitable, or from being deceived by an individual, with whom he had been engaged in business, should determine that the inhabitants are faithless, and not to be trusted, it is evident, that in both cases, he would be found to have passed a rash and precipitate judgment.

I warrant he will make something of it, he would get meal even from a statue, nor is there any thing so mean and worthless, but he will reap some profit from it. But the adage was more usually applied to princes, and governors, exacting large tributes from poor, and almost desolate places, or obliging the inhabitants of their principal cities to pay such immense sums as to reduce the most wealthy and prosperous of them, to beggary. Of both these, we have now abundant instances in the conduct of Buonaparte and his myrmidons. It was also applied, Erasmus says, to covetous priests, «apud quos ne sepulchrum quidem gratis conceclitur», who extracted profit even from funerals; but these dues are now usually paid readily enough, either out of respect to the deceased, or from the consoling consideration that it will be the last cost the survivor will be put to on their account.

Ill luck is good for something. From a small evil, to extract a considerable advantage, is the property of a sound and prudent mind. It is next to profiting by the errors and mischances of others, to take warning by some check we may meet with in our progress, and thence to alter our course. El hombre mancebo, perdiendo gana seso, a young man by losing, gains knowledge. If persons, who are living more expensively than their income permits, would be wanted by the first difficulty or disgrace they suffer, and would institute modes of living more suitable to their circumstances, they would soon recover what by their improvidence they had wasted. But pride, a fear of shewing to their companions they are not so wealthy as they had boasted, or had appeared to be, prevents their following this salutary counsel, and they go on until their fall becomes inevitable. «Si quid feceris honestum cum labore, labor abit, honestum manet. Si quid feceris turpe cum voluptate, voluptas abit, turpitude manet» which may be thus rendered: if by labour and difficulty you have procured to yourself an advantage, the benefit will remain, when the labour with which it was acquired will be forgotten. But if in pursuit of pleasure you have degraded yourself, the disgrace will remain, while no traces of the pleasure will be retained in your memory.

You have been fortunate in getting out of that difficulty, or that you did not engage in a business, which, however promising it might appear, could not but have involved you in much trouble. Literally it means, in drawing your feet out of the mud.

Beyond bow-shot, or the reach of darts. Out of harm's way. Out of debt, out of danger. Be concerned in no disputes, and neither say nor do any thing of which an advantage may be taken, is the direction of prudence; but from the mixed nature of human affairs, not to be completely followed, but by those who live only for themselves. Let those, however, who neglect this caution be sure that they have resolution enough to bear, or strength sufficient to overcome the difficulties they may have brought upon themselves by their imprudence. Socrates being asked, who was the wisest man, answered he who offends the least.

A devourer of beans. The man is become fat, was used to be said, by feeding on beans. Applying it to persons who had accepted a bribe, to put in his bean, which was their mode of voting, in favour of one of the candidates for a public office or magistracy. The manners therefore of the present times, if they are not mended in this respect, are not worse than they were formerly.

Hunger, if not speedily satisfied, or any unseasonable delay in obtaining what we earnestly desire, excites the bile in the nostrils. To raise or heat the bile, is used metaphorically for inflaming the passions; and as some men, and many animals, are observed to inflate or blow out their nostrils when angry, it is said to excite the bile in that organ. The bull, when enraged, is described as breathing fire from his nostrils, and of the horse it is said, «the glory of his nostrils is terrible». The impatience with which we support delay in gratifying our expectation is beautifully painted by Solomon in the following: « Hope deferred, maketh the heart sick, but when it is accomplished, it is a tree of life».

The Corinthian may, indeed, boast of the splendour of his city, but the soft and rustic beauties of Tenia please and satisfy me; may be said by any one, on hearing the praise of rank and large possessions too much insisted on, if he has sense enough to be contented and to see the advantages of a middling station. Tenea was a village in the neighbourhood of Corinth, remarkable for its mild and salubrious atmosphere, and for the beauty of its scenery.

May be said when any one has incautiously given information which may be turned to the disadvantage of themselves or their friends. Do you see what consequences may follow, what mischief may ensue? You have opened a door to a thousand evils.

Two of a trade can never agree, each of them fearing to be excelled by his rival. This passion might be turned to their mutual advantage, if they should be thence induced to labour to excel each other in their art. It would then become, «Cos ingeniorum», a whetstone to their wit. But it more often expends itself in envying and endeavouring to depress their rivals.
«The potter hates another of the trade,
If by his hands a finer dish is made;
The smith, his brother smith with scorn doth treat,
If he his iron strikes with brisker heat».

«Etiam mendicus mendico invidet».

«It is one beggar's woe,
To see another by the door go».

The passion is found also among animals, «Canes socium in culina nullum amant», or «Una domus non alit duos canes», the dog will have no companion in the kitchen, and «Mons cum monte non miscebitur», two proud and haughty persons are seldom found to agree.

If there were no fire, there could be no smoke. Common fame is seldom to blame. All that we have heard may not be true, but so much could not have been said, if there were no foundation. We should avoid the first approach to vice, or danger; though small at first, it may increase to an alarming magnitude. The smoke may soon be succeeded by flame. He who would keep his morals untainted, must not associate familiarly with the debauched and wicked.

«Vice is a monster of such frightful mien,
As to be hated needs but to be seen;
But seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first admire, next pity, then embrace».

The fox, when he first saw a lion, ran from him in great terror but meeting one a second, and then a third time, he had courage enough to approach, and salute him. The Spaniards and the French use the proverb somewhat differently. Cerca le anda el humo, tras la llama, and Il n'y a point de feu sans fumée, where there is fire, there will be some smoke; that is, where any foul action has been committed, it will by some outlet or other escape, and become known, Murder will out, we say.

The conquered lament their hard fate, and the conqueror is undone: a no uncommon consequence of war, in which, though the conqueror may not be reduced to the low state of his opponent, yet he usually finds his country so weakened by the conte'st, so drained of men and money, that it scarcely recovers itself in an age. The same often happens, on the termination of a suit at law. The adage took its rise from the result of the battle at Cheronæa, in which the Athenians and Thebans were destroyed; and Philip, of Macedon, who conquered them, was soon after assassinated, by a young man of the name of Pausanias.

Fly from that man, he has hay on his horns. This is said of persons of morose, quarrelsome, and malevolent dispositions, with whom it is dangerous to associate; alluding to the custom of fixing whisps of hay to the horns of vicious oxen. «Hic est niger, hunc tu, Romane, caveto». This is a dangerous fellow, beware of him.

Fortune assists the brave, «sed multo majus ratio», Cicero adds, but reason or consideration, is still more to be depended on; therefore, «antequam incipias consulto, et ubi consulueris, facto opus est», that is, think before you act, but having well considered, and formed your plan, go on resolutely to the end. To design well, and to persevere with vigour in the road we have chalked out for ourselves, is the almost certain way to attain our object. «At in rebus arduis», but in great and sudden difficulties, a bold and courageous effort will frequently succeed, where reason or deliberation could give no assistance, for «non est apud aram consultandum», when the enemy is within the walls, it is too late for consultation. When dangers urge he that is slow, Takes from himself, and adds to his foe. And, Quien no se aventura, no ha ventura, nothing venture nothing have. The proverb has been pretty generally adopted. A los osados ayuda la fortuna, the Spaniards say; and the French La Fortune aide aux audacieux. Which being the same as the Latin, need not to be explained.

By this enigmatical expression, that the forehead in which the eyes are placed, precedes the hind-head; the ancients meant to shew, that all business may be expected to be best performed, if attended to by the persons who are to be benefited by it. A philosopher being asked by his neighbour, what would best fatten his horse? answered «the eyes of its master», as his presence would make his fields most fertile and productive, the foot of the owner being the best manure for his land. «Cuando en casa no está el gato, extiendese el ratón», that is, When the cat is away, the mice will play. T. Livius, on the same subject, says, «Non satis feliciter solere procedere, quæ oculis agas alienis», that business is not likely to go on well, which is committed to the management of strangers. The Italians, French, and Spaniards, as well as ourselves, have adopted the answer given by the philosopher, among their proverbs, viz. L'occhio del Padrone, ingrassa il cavallo. It. L'oeil du maitre engraisse le cheval. Fr. El ojo del amo engorda el caballo. Sp. that is, The eye of the master makes the horse fat. A lusty man riding on a lean and sorry jade, being asked how it happened that he looked so well, and his horse so ill, said, it was because he provided for himself, but his servant had the care of the beast.
The word prior in the adage, is used in the sense of potior, or melior, better.

It is in vain that he possesses that of which he makes no use. Of what use are horses or carriages to persons who never go abroad, of wit or knowledge to those who do not employ them in the management of their affairs, or of money to the avaricious, who are averse to, or afraid of spending it, even for necessary sustenance.

That is, should any one call Hercules a coward, who would listen to him? The- adage was applied to anyone speaking ill of persons of known and approved integrity and character. When Cato, whose worth had been often tried, was accused of avarice; this, Plutarch said, was as if any one should reproach Hercules with want of courage.

The Milesians were once a brave and hard people. «Troja fuit». The magnificent city of Troy once existed, though no vestiges even of the ruins of its walls and temples now remain. I was once rich and powerful, but am now poor, miserable, and wretched; condemned to serve where I formerly commanded; may be said, particularly at this moment, by many fallen potentates; fallen, most or all of them, by their own misconduct and mistaken notions of government. For the great changes which have taken place in the condition of the princes of Europe could never have been effected, if their self-indulgences and want of energy in the exercise of their high authorities, frequently the consequence of a voluptuous life and wrong principles of action, had not co-operated, unfortunately, too powerfully with the force of their conqueror and brought on their ruin: they were enslaved by their inordinate passions which led to the oppression of their subjects, and was ultimately the occasion of losing their affections. The people were in the situation of the overloaded ass in the fable, who, when told to hasten for there were robbers at hand, answered, it mattered little whom he served since he must still carry his panniers. But to pursue my theme: I was once young, strong, and vigorous, may be said, but am now old, feeble, and decrepid. These reflections, though trite, may still have their utility; for as they teach us, by shewing what has happened, to expect reverses in our state, they tend to enforce upon us the propriety of using our prosperity with moderation. The Milesians, who have long since ceased to be a people, were not conquered by their enemies, until they had left off to be strong and courageous; until luxury, the consequence of their success, and opulence, had enervated and enfeebled them.