Section V.EMBLEMS IN CONNEXION WITH PROVERBS.

“The other sons of the Greeks crowded around;And admired Hector’s stature and splendid form;Nor was there one standing by who did not inflict a wound.”

“The other sons of the Greeks crowded around;

And admired Hector’s stature and splendid form;

Nor was there one standing by who did not inflict a wound.”

Claude Mignault, in his notes to Alciatus (Emb. 153), quotes an epigram, from an unknown Greek author, which Hector is supposed to have uttered as he was dragged by the Grecian chariot,—

“Now after my death ye pierce my body;The very hares are bold to insult a dead lion.”

“Now after my death ye pierce my body;

The very hares are bold to insult a dead lion.”

TheTroilus and Cressida(act v. sc. 8, l. 21, vol. vi. p. 259) exhibits the big, brutal Achilles exulting over his slain enemy, and giving the infamous order,—

“Come, tie his body to my horse’s tail;Along the field I will the Trojan trail.”

“Come, tie his body to my horse’s tail;

Along the field I will the Trojan trail.”

And afterwards (act v. sc. 10, l. 4, vol. vi. p. 260) the atrocities are recounted to which Hector’s body was exposed,—

“He’s dead, and at the murderer’s horse’s tailIn beastly sort dragg’d through the shameful field.”

“He’s dead, and at the murderer’s horse’s tail

In beastly sort dragg’d through the shameful field.”

The description thus given accords with that of Alciatus, Reusner, and Whitney, in reference to the saying, “We mustnot struggle with phantoms.” Alciat’s stanzas (Emb. 153) are,—

Cum laruis non luctandum.Æacidæmoriens percussu cuspidis HectorQui toties hosteis vicerat ante suos;Comprimere haud potuit vocem, insultantibus illis,Dum curru & pedibus nectere vincla parant.Distrahite vt libitum est: sic cassi luce leonisConuellunt barbam vel timidi lepores.

Cum laruis non luctandum.

Æacidæmoriens percussu cuspidis HectorQui toties hosteis vicerat ante suos;Comprimere haud potuit vocem, insultantibus illis,Dum curru & pedibus nectere vincla parant.Distrahite vt libitum est: sic cassi luce leonisConuellunt barbam vel timidi lepores.

Æacidæmoriens percussu cuspidis Hector

Qui toties hosteis vicerat ante suos;

Comprimere haud potuit vocem, insultantibus illis,

Dum curru & pedibus nectere vincla parant.

Distrahite vt libitum est: sic cassi luce leonis

Conuellunt barbam vel timidi lepores.

Thus rendered by Whitney (p. 127), with the same device,—

Cùm laruis non luctandum.Whitney, 1586.

Cùm laruis non luctandum.

Whitney, 1586.

“When Hectors force, throughe mortall wounde did faile,And life beganne, to dreadefull deathe to yeelde:The Greekes moste gladde, his dyinge corpes assaile,Who late did flee before him in the fielde:Which when he sawe, quothe hee nowe worke your spite,For so, the hares the Lion dead doe byte.Looke here vpon, you that doe wounde the dead,With slaunders vile, and speeches of defame:Or bookes procure, and libelles to be spread,When they bee gone, for to deface theire name:Who while they liu’de, did feare you with theire lookes,And for theire skill, you might not beare their bookes.”

“When Hectors force, throughe mortall wounde did faile,

And life beganne, to dreadefull deathe to yeelde:

The Greekes moste gladde, his dyinge corpes assaile,

Who late did flee before him in the fielde:

Which when he sawe, quothe hee nowe worke your spite,

For so, the hares the Lion dead doe byte.

Looke here vpon, you that doe wounde the dead,With slaunders vile, and speeches of defame:Or bookes procure, and libelles to be spread,When they bee gone, for to deface theire name:Who while they liu’de, did feare you with theire lookes,And for theire skill, you might not beare their bookes.”

Looke here vpon, you that doe wounde the dead,

With slaunders vile, and speeches of defame:

Or bookes procure, and libelles to be spread,

When they bee gone, for to deface theire name:

Who while they liu’de, did feare you with theire lookes,

And for theire skill, you might not beare their bookes.”

Reusner’s lines, which have considerable beauty, may thus be rendered,—

“Since man is mortal, the dead it becomes usNeither by word nor reproachful writing to mock at.Theseus, mindful of mortal destiny, the bones of his friendsBoth laves, and stores up in the tomb, and covers with earth.’Tis the mark of a weak mind, to wage war with phantoms,And after death to good men insult to offer.So when overcome by the strength of AchillesThe scullions of the camp struck Hector with darts.So whelps bite the lion laid prostrate by death;So his weapon any one bloods in the boar that is slain.Better ’tis, ye gods, well to speak, of those deserving well;And wickedness great indeed, to violate sacred tombs.”

“Since man is mortal, the dead it becomes us

Neither by word nor reproachful writing to mock at.

Theseus, mindful of mortal destiny, the bones of his friends

Both laves, and stores up in the tomb, and covers with earth.

’Tis the mark of a weak mind, to wage war with phantoms,

And after death to good men insult to offer.

So when overcome by the strength of Achilles

The scullions of the camp struck Hector with darts.

So whelps bite the lion laid prostrate by death;

So his weapon any one bloods in the boar that is slain.

Better ’tis, ye gods, well to speak, of those deserving well;

And wickedness great indeed, to violate sacred tombs.”

The device itself, in these three authors, is a representation of Hares biting a dead Lion; and in this we find an origin for the words used inKing John(act ii. sc. 1, l. 134, vol. iv. p. 17), to reprove the Archduke of Austria. Austria demands of Philip Faulconbridge, “What the devil art thou?” and Philip replies,—

“One that will play the devil, sir, with you,An a’ may catch your hide and you alone:You are the hare of whom the proverb goes,Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard.”

“One that will play the devil, sir, with you,

An a’ may catch your hide and you alone:

You are the hare of whom the proverb goes,

Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard.”

Immediately references follow to other fables, or to their pictorial representations,—

“I’ll smoke your skin-coat, an I catch you right:”

in allusion to the fable of the fox or the ass hunting in a lion’s skin. Again (l. 141),—

“Blanch.O, well did he become that lion’s robeThat did disrobe the lion of that robe.Bast.It lies as sightly on the back of himAs great Alcides’ shows upon an ass:”

“Blanch.O, well did he become that lion’s robeThat did disrobe the lion of that robe.

“Blanch.O, well did he become that lion’s robe

That did disrobe the lion of that robe.

Bast.It lies as sightly on the back of himAs great Alcides’ shows upon an ass:”

Bast.It lies as sightly on the back of him

As great Alcides’ shows upon an ass:”

a sentiment evidently suggested to the poet’s mind by some device or emblem in which the incongruity had found a place. Farther research might clear up this and other unexplainedallusions in Shakespeare to fables or proverbs; but there is no necessity for attempting this in every instance that occurs.

“Friendship enduring even after death,” might receive a variety of illustrations. The conjugal relation of life frequently exemplifies its truth; and occasionally there are friends who show still more strongly how death hallows the memory of the departed, and makes survivors all the more faithful in their love. As the emblem of such fidelity and affection Alciat (Emb. 159) selects the figures of the elm and the vine.[143]

Amicitia etiam poſt mortem durans.Emblema clix.Alciat, 1581.

Amicitia etiam poſt mortem durans.Emblema clix.

Amicitia etiam poſt mortem durans.

Emblema clix.

Alciat, 1581.

The consociation in life is not forgotten; and though the supporting tree should die, the twining plant still grasps it round and adorns it with leaves and fruit.

Arentemſenio, nudam quoque frondibus vlmum,Complexa eſt viridi vitis opaca coma:Agnoſcitq́₃quevices naturæ, & grata parentiOfficij; reddit mutua iura ſuo.Exemploq́₃quemonet, tales nos quærere amicos,Quos neque disſiungat fædere summa dies.

Arentemſenio, nudam quoque frondibus vlmum,

Complexa eſt viridi vitis opaca coma:

Agnoſcitq́₃quevices naturæ, & grata parenti

Officij; reddit mutua iura ſuo.

Exemploq́₃quemonet, tales nos quærere amicos,

Quos neque disſiungat fædere summa dies.

To which lines Whitney (p. 62) gives for interpretation the two stanzas,—

“A Withered Elme, whose boughes weare bare of leauesAnd sappe, was sunke with age into the roote:A fruictefull vine, vnto her bodie cleaues,Whose grapes did hange, from toppe vnto the foote:And when the Elme, was rotten, drie, and dead,His braunches still, the vine abowt it spread.Which showes, wee shoulde be linck’de with such a frende,That might reuiue, and helpe when wee bee oulde:And when wee stoope, and drawe vnto our ende,Our staggering state, to helpe for to vphoulde:Yea, when wee shall be like a sencelesse block,That for our sakes, will still imbrace our stock.”

“A Withered Elme, whose boughes weare bare of leaues

And sappe, was sunke with age into the roote:

A fruictefull vine, vnto her bodie cleaues,

Whose grapes did hange, from toppe vnto the foote:

And when the Elme, was rotten, drie, and dead,

His braunches still, the vine abowt it spread.

Which showes, wee shoulde be linck’de with such a frende,That might reuiue, and helpe when wee bee oulde:And when wee stoope, and drawe vnto our ende,Our staggering state, to helpe for to vphoulde:Yea, when wee shall be like a sencelesse block,That for our sakes, will still imbrace our stock.”

Which showes, wee shoulde be linck’de with such a frende,

That might reuiue, and helpe when wee bee oulde:

And when wee stoope, and drawe vnto our ende,

Our staggering state, to helpe for to vphoulde:

Yea, when wee shall be like a sencelesse block,

That for our sakes, will still imbrace our stock.”

The Emblems of Joachim Camerarius,—Ex Re Herbaria(edition 1590, p. 36),—have a similar device and motto,—

“Quamlibet arenti vitis tamen hæret in ulmo,Sic quoque post mortem verus amicus amat.”

“Quamlibet arenti vitis tamen hæret in ulmo,

Sic quoque post mortem verus amicus amat.”

i.e.

“Yet as it pleases the vine clings to the withered elm,So also after death the true friend loves.”

“Yet as it pleases the vine clings to the withered elm,

So also after death the true friend loves.”

And in the Emblems of Otho Vænius (Antwerp, 1608, p. 244), four lines of Alciat being quoted, there are both English and Italian versions, to—

“Loue after death.”“The vyne doth still embrace the elme by age ore-past,Which did in former tyme those feeble stalks vphold,And constantly remaynes with it now beeing old,Loue is not kil’d by death, that after death doth last.”

“Loue after death.”

“The vyne doth still embrace the elme by age ore-past,Which did in former tyme those feeble stalks vphold,And constantly remaynes with it now beeing old,Loue is not kil’d by death, that after death doth last.”

“The vyne doth still embrace the elme by age ore-past,

Which did in former tyme those feeble stalks vphold,

And constantly remaynes with it now beeing old,

Loue is not kil’d by death, that after death doth last.”

And,—

“Ne per morte muore.”“s’Auiticchia la vite, e l’olmo abbraccia,Anchor che il tempo secchi le sue piante;Nopo morte l’Amor tiensi constante.Non teme morte Amore, anzi la scaccia.”

“Ne per morte muore.”

“s’Auiticchia la vite, e l’olmo abbraccia,Anchor che il tempo secchi le sue piante;Nopo morte l’Amor tiensi constante.Non teme morte Amore, anzi la scaccia.”

“s’Auiticchia la vite, e l’olmo abbraccia,

Anchor che il tempo secchi le sue piante;

Nopo morte l’Amor tiensi constante.

Non teme morte Amore, anzi la scaccia.”

It is in theComedy of Errors(act ii. sc. 2, l. 167, vol. i. p. 417) that Shakespeare refers to this fable, when Adriana addresses Antipholus of Syracuse,—

“How ill agrees it with your gravityTo counterfeit thus grossly with your slave,Abetting him to thwart me in my mood!Be it my wrong, you are from me exempt,But wrong not that wrong with a more contempt.Come, I will fasten on this sleeve of thine:Thou art an elm, my husband, I a vine,Whose weakness, married to thy stronger state,Makes me with thy strength to communicate.”

“How ill agrees it with your gravity

To counterfeit thus grossly with your slave,

Abetting him to thwart me in my mood!

Be it my wrong, you are from me exempt,

But wrong not that wrong with a more contempt.

Come, I will fasten on this sleeve of thine:

Thou art an elm, my husband, I a vine,

Whose weakness, married to thy stronger state,

Makes me with thy strength to communicate.”

With a change from the vine to the ivy a very similar comparison occurs in theMidsummer Night’s Dream(act iv. sc. 1, l. 37, vol. ii. p. 250). The infatuated Titania addresses Bottom the weaver as her dearest joy,—

“Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms.Fairies begone, and be all ways away.So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckleGently entwist; the female ivy soEnrings the barky fingers of the elm.O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee!”

“Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms.

Fairies begone, and be all ways away.

So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle

Gently entwist; the female ivy so

Enrings the barky fingers of the elm.

O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee!”

The fable of the Fox and the Grapes is admirably represented in Freitag’sMythologia Ethica(p. 127), to themotto, “Feigned is the refusal of that which cannot be had,”—

Ficta eius quod haberi nequitrecuſatio.Freitag, 1579.Fatuus ſtatim indicat iram ſuam: qui autem diſſimulat iniuriam, callidus eſt.Prouerb.12, 16.“A fool’s wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covereth shame.”

Ficta eius quod haberi nequitrecuſatio.

Ficta eius quod haberi nequit

recuſatio.

Freitag, 1579.

Fatuus ſtatim indicat iram ſuam: qui autem diſſimulat iniuriam, callidus eſt.Prouerb.12, 16.

Fatuus ſtatim indicat iram ſuam: qui autem diſſimulat iniuriam, callidus eſt.

Prouerb.12, 16.

“A fool’s wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covereth shame.”

The fable itself belongs to an earlier work by Gabriel Faerni, and there exemplifies the thought, “to glut oneself with one’s own folly,”—

“Stultitia sua seipsum saginare.”“Vulpesesuriens, alta de vite racemosPendentes nulla quum prensare arte valeret,Nec pedibus tantum. aut agili se tollere saltu.Re infecta abscedens, hæc secum, Age, desine, dixit.Immatura vva est, gustuque insuavis acerbo.Consueuere homines, eventu si qua sinistroVota cadunt, iis sese alienos velle videri.”

“Stultitia sua seipsum saginare.”

“Vulpesesuriens, alta de vite racemosPendentes nulla quum prensare arte valeret,Nec pedibus tantum. aut agili se tollere saltu.Re infecta abscedens, hæc secum, Age, desine, dixit.Immatura vva est, gustuque insuavis acerbo.Consueuere homines, eventu si qua sinistroVota cadunt, iis sese alienos velle videri.”

“Vulpesesuriens, alta de vite racemos

Pendentes nulla quum prensare arte valeret,

Nec pedibus tantum. aut agili se tollere saltu.

Re infecta abscedens, hæc secum, Age, desine, dixit.

Immatura vva est, gustuque insuavis acerbo.

Consueuere homines, eventu si qua sinistro

Vota cadunt, iis sese alienos velle videri.”

Whitney takes possession of Faerni’s fable, and gives the following translation (p. 98), though by no means a literal one,—

“The Foxe, that longe for grapes did leape in vayne,With wearie limmes, at lengthe did sad departe:And to him selfe quoth hee, I doe disdayneThese grapes I see, bicause their taste is tarte:So thou, that hunt’st for that thou longe hast mist,Still makes thy boast, thou maist if that thou list.”

“The Foxe, that longe for grapes did leape in vayne,

With wearie limmes, at lengthe did sad departe:

And to him selfe quoth hee, I doe disdayne

These grapes I see, bicause their taste is tarte:

So thou, that hunt’st for that thou longe hast mist,

Still makes thy boast, thou maist if that thou list.”

Plantin, the famed printer of Antwerp, had, in 1583, put forth an edition of Faerni’s fables,[144]and thus undoubtedly it was that Whitney became acquainted with them; and from the intercourse then existing between Antwerp and London it would be strange if a copy had not fallen into Shakespeare’s hands.

Owing to some malady, the King of France, inAll’s Well that Ends Well(act ii. sc. 1, l. 59, vol. iii. p. 133), is unable to go forth to the Florentine war with those whom he charges to be “the sons of worthy Frenchmen.” Lafeu, an old lord, has learned from Helena some method of cure, and brings the tidings to the king, and kneeling before him is bidden to rise,—

“King.I’ll fee thee to stand up.Laf.Then here’s a man stands, that has brought his pardon.I would you had kneel’d, my lord, to ask me mercy;And that at my bidding you could so stand up.King.I would I had; so I had broke thy pate,And ask’d thee mercy for’t.Laf.Good faith, across: but, my good lord, ’tis thus;Will you be cured of your infirmity?King.No.Laf.O, will you eat no grapes, my royal fox?Yes, but you will my noble grapes, an ifMy royal fox could reach them: I have seen a medicineThat’s able to breathe life into a stone,Quicken a rock, and make you dance canaryWith spritely fire and motion.”

“King.I’ll fee thee to stand up.

Laf.Then here’s a man stands, that has brought his pardon.

I would you had kneel’d, my lord, to ask me mercy;

And that at my bidding you could so stand up.

King.I would I had; so I had broke thy pate,

And ask’d thee mercy for’t.

Laf.Good faith, across: but, my good lord, ’tis thus;

Will you be cured of your infirmity?

King.No.

Laf.O, will you eat no grapes, my royal fox?

Yes, but you will my noble grapes, an if

My royal fox could reach them: I have seen a medicine

That’s able to breathe life into a stone,

Quicken a rock, and make you dance canary

With spritely fire and motion.”

The fox, indeed, has always been a popular animal, and is the subject of many fables which are glanced at by Shakespeare;—as in theTwo Gentlemen of Verona(act iv. sc. 4, l. 87, vol. i. p. 143), when Julia exclaims,—

“Alas, poor Proteus! thou hast entertainedA fox to be the shepherd of thy lambs.”

“Alas, poor Proteus! thou hast entertained

A fox to be the shepherd of thy lambs.”

Or in2 Henry VI.(act iii. sc. 1, l. 55, vol. v. p. 153), where Suffolk warns the king of “the bedlam brain-sick duchess” of Gloucester,—

“Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep.”“The fox barks not when he would steal the lamb.”

“Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep.”

“The fox barks not when he would steal the lamb.”

And again, in3 Henry VI.(act iv. sc. 7, l. 24, vol. v. p. 312), the cunning creature is praised by Gloucester in an “aside,”—

“But when the fox hath once got in his nose,He’ll soon find means to make the body follow.”

“But when the fox hath once got in his nose,

He’ll soon find means to make the body follow.”

The bird in borrowed plumes, or the Jackdaw dressed out in Peacock’s feathers, was presented, in 1596, on a simple device, not necessary to be produced, with the motto,“Qvod sis esse velis,”—Be willing to be what thou art.

“Mutatis de te narratur fabula verbis,Qui ferre alterius parta labore ſtudes.”

“Mutatis de te narratur fabula verbis,

Qui ferre alterius parta labore ſtudes.”

i.e.

“By a change in the words of thyself the fable is told,Who by labour of others dost seek to bear off the gold.”

“By a change in the words of thyself the fable is told,

Who by labour of others dost seek to bear off the gold.”

It is in theThirdCentury of the Symbols and Emblems of Joachim Camerarius (No. 81), and by him is referred to Æsop,[145]Horace, &c.; and the recently publishedMicrocosm, the 1579 edition of which contains Gerard de Jode’s fine representation of the scene.

Shakespeare was familiar with the fable. In2 Henry VI.(act iii. sc. 1, l. 69, vol. v. p. 153), out of his simplicity the king affirms,—

“Our kinsman Gloucester is as innocentFrom meaning treason to our royal personAs is the sucking lamb or harmless dove.”

“Our kinsman Gloucester is as innocent

From meaning treason to our royal person

As is the sucking lamb or harmless dove.”

But Margaret, his strong-willed queen, remarks (l. 75),—

“Seems he a dove? his feathers are but borrow’d,For he’s disposed as the hateful raven.Is he a lamb? his skin is surely lent him,For he’s inclined as is the ravenous wolf.”

“Seems he a dove? his feathers are but borrow’d,

For he’s disposed as the hateful raven.

Is he a lamb? his skin is surely lent him,

For he’s inclined as is the ravenous wolf.”

InJulius Cæsar(act i. sc. 1, l. 68, vol. vii. p. 322), Flavius, the tribune, gives the order,—

“Let no imagesBe hung with Cæsar’s trophies;”

“Let no images

Be hung with Cæsar’s trophies;”

and immediately adds (l. 72),—

“These growing feathers pluck’d from Cæsar’s wingWill make him fly an ordinary pitch,Who else would soar above the view of menAnd keep us all in servile fearfulness.”

“These growing feathers pluck’d from Cæsar’s wing

Will make him fly an ordinary pitch,

Who else would soar above the view of men

And keep us all in servile fearfulness.”

But more forcibly is the spirit of the fable expressed, when of Timon of Athens (act ii. sc. 1, l. 28, vol. vii. p. 228)a Senator, who was one of his importunate creditors, declares,—

“I do fear,When every feather sticks in his own wing,Lord Timon will be left a naked gull,Which flashes now a phœnix.”

“I do fear,

When every feather sticks in his own wing,

Lord Timon will be left a naked gull,

Which flashes now a phœnix.”

The fable of the Oak and the Reed, or, the Oak and the Osier, has an early representation in the Emblems of Hadrian Junius, Antwerp, 1565, though by him it is applied to the ash. “Εἴξας νικᾶ,” or,Victrix animi equitas,—“By yielding conquer,” or, “Evenness of mind the victrix,”—are the sentiments to be pictured forth and commented on. The device we shall take from Whitney; but the comment of Junius runs thus (p. 49),—

“Ad Victorem Giselinum.”“Vis Boreæ obnixas violento turbine sternitOrnos: Arundo infracta eandem despicit.Fit victor patiens animus cedendo furori:Insiste, Victor, hanc viam & re, & nomine.”

“Ad Victorem Giselinum.”

“Vis Boreæ obnixas violento turbine sternitOrnos: Arundo infracta eandem despicit.Fit victor patiens animus cedendo furori:Insiste, Victor, hanc viam & re, & nomine.”

“Vis Boreæ obnixas violento turbine sternit

Ornos: Arundo infracta eandem despicit.

Fit victor patiens animus cedendo furori:

Insiste, Victor, hanc viam & re, & nomine.”

i.e.

“The stout ash trees, with violent whirlThe North-wind’s force is stretching low;The reeds unbroken rise againAnd still in full vigour grow.Yielding to rage, the patient mindVictor becomes with added fame;That course, my Victor, thou pursueReality, as well as name.”

“The stout ash trees, with violent whirl

The North-wind’s force is stretching low;

The reeds unbroken rise again

And still in full vigour grow.

Yielding to rage, the patient mind

Victor becomes with added fame;

That course, my Victor, thou pursue

Reality, as well as name.”

Whitney adopts the same motto (p. 220), “He conquers who endures;” but while retaining from Junius the ash-tree in the pictorial illustration, he introduces into his stanzas “the mightie oke,” instead of the “stout ash.” From Erasmus (in Epist.) he introduces an excellent quotation, that “it is truly the mark of a great mind to pass over some injuries, nor to have either ears or tongue ready for certain revilings.”

Vincit qui patitur.Whitney, 1586.“The mightie oke, that shrinkes not with a blaste.But stiflie standes, when Boreas moste doth blowe,With rage thereof, is broken downe at laste,When bending reedes, that couche in tempestes loweWith yeelding still, doe safe, and sounde appeare:And looke alofte, when that the cloudes be cleare.When Enuie, Hate, Contempte, and Slaunder, rage:Which are the stormes, and tempestes, of this life;With patience then, wee must the combat wage,And not with force resist their deadlie strife:But suffer still, and then wee shall in fine,Our foes subdue, when they with shame shall pine.”

Vincit qui patitur.

Whitney, 1586.

“The mightie oke, that shrinkes not with a blaste.But stiflie standes, when Boreas moste doth blowe,With rage thereof, is broken downe at laste,When bending reedes, that couche in tempestes loweWith yeelding still, doe safe, and sounde appeare:And looke alofte, when that the cloudes be cleare.When Enuie, Hate, Contempte, and Slaunder, rage:Which are the stormes, and tempestes, of this life;With patience then, wee must the combat wage,And not with force resist their deadlie strife:But suffer still, and then wee shall in fine,Our foes subdue, when they with shame shall pine.”

“The mightie oke, that shrinkes not with a blaste.

But stiflie standes, when Boreas moste doth blowe,

With rage thereof, is broken downe at laste,

When bending reedes, that couche in tempestes lowe

With yeelding still, doe safe, and sounde appeare:

And looke alofte, when that the cloudes be cleare.

When Enuie, Hate, Contempte, and Slaunder, rage:Which are the stormes, and tempestes, of this life;With patience then, wee must the combat wage,And not with force resist their deadlie strife:But suffer still, and then wee shall in fine,Our foes subdue, when they with shame shall pine.”

When Enuie, Hate, Contempte, and Slaunder, rage:

Which are the stormes, and tempestes, of this life;

With patience then, wee must the combat wage,

And not with force resist their deadlie strife:

But suffer still, and then wee shall in fine,

Our foes subdue, when they with shame shall pine.”

On several occasions Shakespeare introduces this fable, and once moralises on it quite in Whitney’s spirit, if not in his manner. It is in the song of Guiderius and Arviragus from theCymbeline(act iv. sc. 2, l. 259, vol. ix. p. 257),—

“Gui.Fear no more the heat o’ the sun,Nor the furious winter’s rages;Thou thy worldly task hast done,Home art gone and ta’en thy wages:Golden lads and girls all must,As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.Arv.Fear no more the frown o’ the great;Thou art past the tyrant’s stroke;Care no more to clothe and eat;To thee the reed is as the oak:The sceptre, learning, physic, mustAll follow this and come to dust.”

“Gui.Fear no more the heat o’ the sun,

Nor the furious winter’s rages;

Thou thy worldly task hast done,

Home art gone and ta’en thy wages:

Golden lads and girls all must,

As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

Arv.Fear no more the frown o’ the great;

Thou art past the tyrant’s stroke;

Care no more to clothe and eat;

To thee the reed is as the oak:

The sceptre, learning, physic, must

All follow this and come to dust.”

Less direct is the reference in the phrase fromTroilus and Cressida(act i. sc. 3, l. 49, vol. vi. p. 143),—

“when the splitting windMakes flexible the knees of knotted oaks.”

“when the splitting wind

Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks.”

To the same purport are Cæsar’s words (Julius Cæsar, act i. sc. 3, l. 5, vol. vii. p. 334),—

“I have seen tempests, when the scolding wingsHave rived the knotty oaks.”

“I have seen tempests, when the scolding wings

Have rived the knotty oaks.”

InLove’s Labour’s Lost(act iv. sc. 2, l. 100, vol. ii. p. 138), the Canzonet, which Nathaniel reads, recognises the fable itself,—

“If love make me forsworn, how shall I swear to love?Ah, never faith could hold, if not to beauty vow’d!Though to myself forsworn, to thee I’ll faithful prove;Those thoughts to me were oaks, to thee like osiers bow’d.”

“If love make me forsworn, how shall I swear to love?

Ah, never faith could hold, if not to beauty vow’d!

Though to myself forsworn, to thee I’ll faithful prove;

Those thoughts to me were oaks, to thee like osiers bow’d.”

We have, too, inCoriolanus(act v. sc. 2, l. 102, vol. vi. p. 403) the lines, “The worthy fellow is our general: He is the rock; the oak not to be wind shaken.”

This phrase is to be exampled from Otho Vænius (p. 116), where occur the English motto and stanza, “Strengthened by trauaile,”—

“Eu’n as the stately oke whome forcefull wyndes do moue,Doth fasten more his root the more the tempest blowes,Against disastres loue or firmness greater growes,And makes each aduers change a witness to his loue.”

“Eu’n as the stately oke whome forcefull wyndes do moue,

Doth fasten more his root the more the tempest blowes,

Against disastres loue or firmness greater growes,

And makes each aduers change a witness to his loue.”

In several instances it is difficult to determine whether expressions which have the appearance of glancing at fables really do refer to them, or whether they are current sayings, passing to and fro without any defined ownership. Also it is difficult to make an exact classification of what belongs to the fabulous and what to the proverbial. Of both we might collect many more examples than those which we bring forward; but the limits of our subject remind us that we must, as a general rule, confine our researches and illustrations to the Emblem writers themselves. We take this opportunity of saying that we may have arranged our instances in an order which some may be disposed to question; but mythology, fable, and proverb often run one into the other, and the knots cannot easily be disentangled. Take a sword and cut them; but the sword though sharp is not convincing.

Horapollo, ed. 1551.

Section V.EMBLEMS IN CONNEXION WITH PROVERBS.

PROVERBS are nearly always suggestive of a little narrative, or of a picture, by which the sentiment might be more fully developed. The brief moral reflections appended to many fables partake very much of the nature of proverbs. Inasmuch, then, as there is this close alliance between them, we might consider the Proverbial Philosophy of Shakespeare only as a branch of the Philosophy of Fable; still, as there are in his dramas many instances of the use of the pure proverb, and instances too of the same kind in the Emblem writers, we prefer making a separate Section for the proverbs or wise sayings.

Occasionally, like the Sancho Panza of his renowned contemporary, Michael de Cervantes Saavedra, 1549–1616,[146]Shakespeare launches “a leash of proverbial philosophies at once;” but with this difference, that the dramatist’s application of them is usually suggestive either of an Emblem-book origin, or of an Emblem-book destination. The example immediately in view is from the scene (3 Henry VI., act i. sc. 4, l. 39, vol. v. p. 245) in which Clifford and Northumberland lay hands of violence onRichard Plantagenet, duke of York; the dialogue proceeds in the following way, York exclaiming,—

“Why come you not? what! multitudes, and fear?Clif.So cowards fight, when they can fly no further.So doves do peck the falcon’s piercing talons.”

“Why come you not? what! multitudes, and fear?

Clif.So cowards fight, when they can fly no further.

So doves do peck the falcon’s piercing talons.”

The queen entreats Clifford, “for a thousand causes,” to withhold his arm, and Northumberland joins in the entreaty,—

“North.Hold, Clifford! do not honour him so much,To prick thy finger, though to wound his heart:What valour were it, when a cur doth grin,For one to thrust his hand between his teeth,When he might spurn him with his foot away?”

“North.Hold, Clifford! do not honour him so much,

To prick thy finger, though to wound his heart:

What valour were it, when a cur doth grin,

For one to thrust his hand between his teeth,

When he might spurn him with his foot away?”

Clifford and Northumberland seize York, who struggles against them (l. 61),—

“Clif.Ay, ay, so strives the woodcock with the gin.[147]North.So doth the cony struggle in the net.”

“Clif.Ay, ay, so strives the woodcock with the gin.[147]

North.So doth the cony struggle in the net.”

York is taken prisoner, as he says (l. 63),—

“So triumph thieves upon their conquer’d booty;So true men yield, with robbers so o’ermatch’d.”

“So triumph thieves upon their conquer’d booty;

So true men yield, with robbers so o’ermatch’d.”

The four or five notions or sayings here enunciated a designer or engraver could easily translate into as many Emblematical devices, and the mind which uses them, as naturally as if he had invented them, must surely have had some familiarity with the kind of writing of which proverbs are the main source and foundation.

In this connection we will quote the proverb which “Clifford of Cumberland” (2 Henry VI., act v. sc. 2, l. 28, vol. vi. p. 217) utters in French at the very moment of death, and which agreesvery closely with similar sayings in Emblem-books by French authors,—Perriere and Corrozet,—and still more in suitableness to the occasion on which it was spoken, the end of life.

York and Clifford,—it is the elder of that name,—engage in mortal combat (l. 26),—

“Clif.My soul and body on the action both!York.A dreadful lay! address thee instantly.”[They fight, andCliffordfalls.

“Clif.My soul and body on the action both!

York.A dreadful lay! address thee instantly.”

[They fight, andCliffordfalls.

At the point of death Clifford uses the words (l. 28),La fin couronne les œuvres.[148]—“The end crowns the work.” It was, no doubt, a common proverb; but it is one which would suggest to the Emblem writer his artistic illustration, and, with a little change, from some such illustration it appears to have been borrowed. Whitney (p. 130) records a resemblance to it among the sayings of the Seven Sages, dedicated “to SirHvghe CholmeleyKnight,”—

“AndSolonsaid,Remember still thy ende.”

Perriere, 1539.

The two French Emblems alluded to above are illustrative of the proverb, “The end makes us all equal,” and both use a very appropriate and curious device from the game of chess. Take, first, Emb. 27 from Perriere’sTheatre des Bons Engins: Paris, 1539,—

XXVII.Le Roy d’eſchez, pendant que le ieu dure,Sur ses ſubiectz ha grande preference,Sy l’on le matté̩[e/]̩, il conuiẽt qu’il endureQue l’on le metté̩[e/]̩ au ſac ſans difference.Cecy nous faict notable demonſtrance,Qu’ apres le ieu de vie tranſitoire,Quãd mort nous a mis en ſõ repertoire,Les roys ne ſõt pluſgrãs que les vaſſaulx;Car dans le ſac (cõmé̩[e/]̩ à tous eſt notoire),Roys & pyons en hõneur ſont eſgaulx.

XXVII.

Le Roy d’eſchez, pendant que le ieu dure,Sur ses ſubiectz ha grande preference,Sy l’on le matté̩[e/]̩, il conuiẽt qu’il endureQue l’on le metté̩[e/]̩ au ſac ſans difference.Cecy nous faict notable demonſtrance,Qu’ apres le ieu de vie tranſitoire,Quãd mort nous a mis en ſõ repertoire,Les roys ne ſõt pluſgrãs que les vaſſaulx;Car dans le ſac (cõmé̩[e/]̩ à tous eſt notoire),Roys & pyons en hõneur ſont eſgaulx.

Le Roy d’eſchez, pendant que le ieu dure,

Sur ses ſubiectz ha grande preference,

Sy l’on le matté̩[e/]̩, il conuiẽt qu’il endure

Que l’on le metté̩[e/]̩ au ſac ſans difference.

Cecy nous faict notable demonſtrance,

Qu’ apres le ieu de vie tranſitoire,

Quãd mort nous a mis en ſõ repertoire,

Les roys ne ſõt pluſgrãs que les vaſſaulx;

Car dans le ſac (cõmé̩[e/]̩ à tous eſt notoire),

Roys & pyons en hõneur ſont eſgaulx.

The other, from Corrozet, is in his“Hecatomgraphie:”Paris, 1540,—

Corrozet, 1540.

Svr l’eſchiquier ſont les eſchez aſſis,Tous en leur rẽg par ordre biẽ raſſis,Les roys en hault pour duyre les combatz,Les roynes pres, les cheualiers plus bas,Les folz deſſoubz, puis apres les pions,Les rocz auſſy de ce ieu champions.Et quand le tout eſt aſſis en ſon lieuSubtilement ou commence le ieu.* Or vault le roy au ieu de l’eſchiquier,Mieulx que la royné̩[e/]̩ & moins le cheualier.Chaſcun pion de tous ceulx la moins vault,Mais quand c’eſt faict & que le ieu deffaultIl n’ya roy, ne royne, ne le roc,Qu’ enſemblement tout né̩[e/]̩ ſoit à vng bloc,Mis dans vng ſac, ſans ordre ne degré,Et ſans auoir l’ung plus que l’aultre à gré.Ainſi eſt il de nous pauures humains,Aulcuns ſont grands Empereurs des Romains,Les aultres roys, les aultres ducz & comtes,Aultres petis dont on ne faict grandz comptes.Nous iouons tons aux eſchez en ce monde,Entre les biens ou l’ung plusqu’ aultré̩[e/]̩ abonde,Mais quand le iour de la vié eſt paſſe,Tout corps humain eſt en terre muſſé,Autant les grands que petis terre cœurre,Tant ſeulement nous reſte la bonné̩[e/]̩ œuure.

Svr l’eſchiquier ſont les eſchez aſſis,

Tous en leur rẽg par ordre biẽ raſſis,

Les roys en hault pour duyre les combatz,

Les roynes pres, les cheualiers plus bas,

Les folz deſſoubz, puis apres les pions,

Les rocz auſſy de ce ieu champions.

Et quand le tout eſt aſſis en ſon lieu

Subtilement ou commence le ieu.

* Or vault le roy au ieu de l’eſchiquier,

Mieulx que la royné̩[e/]̩ & moins le cheualier.

Chaſcun pion de tous ceulx la moins vault,

Mais quand c’eſt faict & que le ieu deffault

Il n’ya roy, ne royne, ne le roc,

Qu’ enſemblement tout né̩[e/]̩ ſoit à vng bloc,

Mis dans vng ſac, ſans ordre ne degré,

Et ſans auoir l’ung plus que l’aultre à gré.

Ainſi eſt il de nous pauures humains,

Aulcuns ſont grands Empereurs des Romains,

Les aultres roys, les aultres ducz & comtes,

Aultres petis dont on ne faict grandz comptes.

Nous iouons tons aux eſchez en ce monde,

Entre les biens ou l’ung plusqu’ aultré̩[e/]̩ abonde,

Mais quand le iour de la vié eſt paſſe,

Tout corps humain eſt en terre muſſé,

Autant les grands que petis terre cœurre,

Tant ſeulement nous reſte la bonné̩[e/]̩ œuure.

Corrozet’s descriptive verses conclude with thoughts to which old Clifford’s dying words might well be appended: “When the game of life is over,[149]every human body is hidden in the earth; as well great as little the earth covers; what alone remains to us is the good deed.”“La fin couronne les œuvres.”

But Shakespeare uses the expression, “the end crowns all,” almost as Whitney (p. 230) does the allied proverb, “Time terminates all,”—

Tempus omnia terminat.Whitney, 1586.The longeſt daye, in time reſignes to nighte.The greateſt oke, in time to duſte doth turne:The Rauen dies, the Egle failes of flighte.The Phœnix rare, in time her ſelfe doth burne.The princelie stagge at lengthe his rave doth ronne.And all muſt ende, that euer was begonne.

Tempus omnia terminat.

Whitney, 1586.

The longeſt daye, in time reſignes to nighte.The greateſt oke, in time to duſte doth turne:The Rauen dies, the Egle failes of flighte.The Phœnix rare, in time her ſelfe doth burne.The princelie stagge at lengthe his rave doth ronne.And all muſt ende, that euer was begonne.

The longeſt daye, in time reſignes to nighte.

The greateſt oke, in time to duſte doth turne:

The Rauen dies, the Egle failes of flighte.

The Phœnix rare, in time her ſelfe doth burne.

The princelie stagge at lengthe his rave doth ronne.

And all muſt ende, that euer was begonne.

A sentiment this corresponding nearly with Hector’s words, in theTroilus and Cressida(act iv. sc. 5, l. 223, vol. vi. p. 230),—

“The fall of every Phrygian stone will costA drop of Grecian blood: the end crowns all,And that old common arbitrator, Time,Will one day end it.”

“The fall of every Phrygian stone will cost

A drop of Grecian blood: the end crowns all,

And that old common arbitrator, Time,

Will one day end it.”

Prince Henry (2 Henry IV., act ii. sc. 2, l. 41, vol. iv. p. 392), in reply to Poins, gives yet another turn to the proverb: “By this hand, thou thinkest me as far in the devil’s books as thou and Falstaff for obduracy and persistency; let the end try the man.”

In Whitney’s address “to the Reader,” he speaks of having collected “sondrie deuises” against several great faults whichhe names, “bycause they are growẽ so mightie that one bloe will not beate them downe, but newe headdes springe vp likeHydra, thatHerculesweare not able to subdue them.” “But,” he adds, using an old saying, “manie droppes pierce the stone, and with manie blowes the oke is ouerthrowen.”

Near Mortimer’s Cross, in Herefordshire, a messenger relates how “the noble Duke of York was slain” (3 Henry VI., act ii. sc. 1, l. 50, vol. v. p. 252), and employs a similar, almost an identical, proverb,—

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