Latin Via Proverbs 135

I hope these notes will help you tackle this group of proverbs in Latin Via Proverbs. This group includes more third conjugation verbs with third declension nouns.

Please note: to read the proverbs in Latin, you need to acquire a copy of the book from lulu.com! What I am providing here in the blog are notes to help people who are making their way through the book either in a Latin class or on their own. You can find more help at the LatinViaProverbs.com wiki website.

Group 135

1753. The lazy man says: There is a lion in the way. (You can find this saying in the Biblical Book of Proverbs.)

1754. He's offering a comb to a bald head. (Compare the Aesop's fable about the bald men and the comb.)

1755. He's catching rainwater in a sieve. (You can find this saying in Plautus.)

1756. He's digging a well right by the stream. (This is another of those fool's errands, like our "carrying coals to Newcastle.")

1757. He's looking for gold in the dung. (There is a wonderful discussion of this saying at Laudator Temporis Acti.)

1758. He's making a citadel out of a sewer. (You can find this saying in Erasmus's Adagia, 4.5.94.)

1759. He's yoking foxes to the plow. (Compare the similar idea in Vergil: iungat vulpes et mulgeat hircos, "he would yoke the foxes and milk the billy-goats.")

1760. He's showing a mouse instead of a lion. (You can find this saying in Erasmus's Adagia, 3.1.20.)

1761. An elephant doesn't catch a mouse. (A fuller version of this phrase pairs the great land animal with the great bird of the air: Elephantus non capit murem, nec aquila muscas, "The elephant does not catch a mouse, nor the eagle flies.")

1762. Orcus reaps the great things together with the small. (Orcus is the god of the underworld. You can find this particular saying about Orcus in Horace.)

1763. Earth covers up the errors of the doctors. (This is one of my favorite Latin sayings. The English alliteration of 'earth-errors' matches at least in part the alliteration in the Latin, terra-tegit.)

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This blog post is part of an evolving online guide for users of the book Latin Via Proverbs.

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