Adages: Old & New

by Sabrina Almeida

An Attempt to Recapture Erasmus's 16th Century Treatment of Proverbs While Exploring Modern Proverbs

For over a quarter century, Desiderius Erasmus worked on many editions of his Adages, a book that started with 818 adages and expanded to 4151 adages by the time of his death. The book, Adagia, "is much more than an anthology: it is a collection of essays on topics ranging through textual criticism, archeological discussion, social comment, and personal reminiscence." 2 The text's primary intention is to familiarize the reader, particularly the "Greekless" reader, with the great authors of antiquity. While fulfilling this purpose, Erasmus manages to produce a work with rich variety in style. At times, the casual, conversational tone changes into serious eloquence and deeply felt sentiment of belief. Occasionally, Erasmus even adds raciness to his prose.

In my document, I will attempt to undertake a similar task as that which Erasmus undertook in writing Adagia. Erasmus used the most advanced communication technology of his day, print, to help people gain access to great works (or at least excerpts from great works) which were previously difficult to obtain, since they were only available through manuscripts or orations. Likewise, I shall use today's new communication technology, the Worldwide Web, to increase access to great works. First of all, through this document, people--YOU-- will get excerpts from Erasmus's Adagia. In addition to being exposed to Erasmus, you will be introduced to other great authors/creators as I proceed to analyze adages related to their works. Like Erasmus, I plan to revise and lengthen my list of adages as my life proceeds. In this first edition of my work, I have decided to limit myself to eight adages. I have taken great care in choosing these adages. Some adages I use to illustrate different categories of adages. Others I use to compare modern day adages with Erasmian adages. Finally, I use adages to help you familiarize yourself with great works from the twentieth century. These great works include works from print and film.

Although some of the adages I discuss do relate to books and film, I did not identify the adages through these sources. To research adages I talked to collegues and ran searches on the Worldwide Web. While the web helped me find adages, currently it is not the source of most (if any) of today's adages. However, some of today's adages come from other relatively new media such as television, film, and radio. These forms of media can get a lot more circulation than books. Erasmus, on the other hand, used books from antiquity as his primary way of identifying adages.

What Is An Adage?

According to Erasmus, an adage has to have two attributes, common usage and novelty. Erasmus notes, "A proverb is a saying in popular use, remarkable for some shrewd and novel turn." 1 The novelty in proverbs often appears in the form of a metaphor, an allegory, a hyperbole, or an allusion. Sometimes, sheer ambiguity gives a proverb its grace. In Erasmus's time, adages were used most freely in the works of the most learned and eloquent. Today such is not the case. While people enjoy novelty in expression, common usage is not valued. In older cultures, common usage was much more important. Erasmus notes how proverbs are the oldest form of teaching, for they are sayings that could be remembered (partly due to their conciseness) in oral cultures.

Erasmus lived in a time when print culture was beginning to flourish (at the expense of orality); nevertheless his time still valued adages. A knowledge of proverbs was regarded as helpful in contributing to philosophy, persuasiveness, grace and charm in speaking, and the understanding of the best authors. Today, the best authors do not insert adages in their work, but rather strive to express concepts in novel, unusual ways. In explaining how proverbs help persuasiveness, Erasmus asks, "what could be more convincing, I ask you, than what is said by everyone?" 1 His question is quite provocative. Yet today people are taught to avoid cliches at all costs when defending their arguments, whether in written work or in oral debate. Erasmus discusses the proper use of adages in the introduction of Adagia. He warns people not to use adages too often. Perhaps it is because of an over-saturation in the use of adages that today's adages have lost some of their esteem. Nevertheless, adages do find their places. Many popular songs make good use of adages.

Despite the diminished role of adages in today's society, adages are worth examining because they are still pervasive. After all, they would not be adages if they lacked common usage. Common usage is a tricky concept to define. Erasmus's last version of Adagia had over 4000 adages. I doubt that the average person knows 4000 adages. Therefore, one must question if all of the adages that Erasmus wrote about were commonly used. They might all have been commonly used, but by different communities. What communities commonly used the adages Erasmus analyzed? I would guess that all of the communities were European. Furthermore, some of the adages, particularly those that tended to appear in literary circles, were probably foreign to uneducated minds. Today it is often said that we live in a global community. Yet most adages have national boundaries. For example, I cannot think of one Brazilian adage that coincides with an American adage. When dealing with adages, I will assume an American community of literate movie consumers who also watch television. Furthermore, I shall feel free to include adages that are commonly used amongst my friends, even if the average American has been unfortunate enough to have missed out on using and knowing the adage.

Common Types of Adages

In his introduction to Adagia, Erasmus mentions various different types of adages, giving examples of each type, but not analyzing each adage that he uses as an example. Likewise, I shall list adages of various categories, but not analyze every one of these adages, for all of them do not deeply interest me at the moment.

Category Erasmian Example My Example
1. Proverbs taken from important fields, "such as seafaring and war."1 To fight hand to hand Some day my ship will come in
2. The impossible But it were equal labour to measure the waves on the seashore When hell freezes over
3. The inevitable While turn the lucid stars of this world It's as sure as done
4. The absurd Let him yoke foxes too and milk he goats That's whack
5. Likeness The goat pursues the clover, and the wolf pursues the goat Monkey see, monkey do
6. Contraries The waves are silent, silent are the gales,
But in my breast nothing will silence care 		Wicked good
7. Hyperbole from the thing itself Wicked as wickedness Cool as coolness itself
8. Hyperbole from similar things Sweet as honey Ugly as sin
9. Hyperbole from living creatures Tender as an Acarnanian sucking-pig Sly as a fox
10. Hyperbole from the character of the gods Eloquent as Mercury He is the anti-Christ
11. Hyperbole from characters in comedy Fawning as Gnatho He pulled an O.J.
12. Hyperbole from characters in history Muscular as Milo Richer than Midas
13. Hyperbole from names of peoples Rough as a Scythian She is such a J.A.P. (Jewish-American princess)
14. Hyperbole from Occupation Boastful as a soldier Mad as a hatter

All types of adages have a characteristic in common--their pervasiveness. This pervasiveness allows adages to get passed down through many generations. For instance, the following adages have retained their meaning and use since their sixteenth century appearances in Adagia:

Some adages in Adagia have become so ingrained into our daily use that we no longer consider them to be adages. In other words, the following adages no longer contain novelty, though they have retained common usage:

In contrast, some adages have remained the same in expression while changing in meaning. For example, compare Erasmus's analysis of "to be in heaven" with my modern analysis.

Erasmus's analysis My modern analysis
To be in heaven To be in heaven

Other adages have changed in expression over time. There are many adages in Adagia that seem very familiar although the expressions are not quite what we know. We can guess at the meaning of these adages by figuring out the modern equivalent to these adages. For example:

Old New
Between the hammer and the anvil Between a rock and a hard place
To teach an old man a new language (You can't) teach an old dog new tricks

However, we must be careful, for there are adages that seem similar to current expressions while actually being quite different. For example, today we have the adage Talk to the hand (along with it's accompanying hand signal), while the old adage You are talking to the wall seems to be of a similar format and thus have a similar meaning. However, these adages have completely unrelated meanings. Likewise, the adage Fire follows smoke is very different from today's Where there is smoke, there is fire.

There are old adages that strike the modern person as extremely strange or humorous. To demonstrate this phenomenon, I interviewed several of my friends and asked them to provide me with their best guess as to the meaning of By the Lesbian rule. Here is what they came up with:

Sean:

Well, "rule" can have several meanings, but "by" implies either a legal restriction or a natural law. . . I'm guessing the latter. So I'll guess that the phrase was used to classify as a lesbian a woman who had reached a certain age without marrying. (OK, I completely pulled that out of my butt. The simplest guess would have been an anti-gay law, but that just sounds incongruous.)

Minnie:

I would guess that it means not to tell others your true feeling because back then, people were conservative, and it was inappropriate-- improper to discuss gender and sexuality openly.

Rusty:

Sounds like something you'd say during an argument: "By the Lesbian rule, I deserve four of your sheep in exchange for your youngest daughter."...or some sort of perverse romantic twist: "He courted her by the Lesbian rule."

Danilo (the over-achiever):

By the rule of Lesbos...hmm...what the heck is Lesbos...let me think... That's my guess...by the rule of Lesbos.. (if you want a more concrete guess, I'd like a sample sentence...) another potential guess... by a rule that people should be homosexual ...but I don't think that's right... I don't know where Lesbos is...except that it's probably a place somewhere... Unfortunately, I don't know anything about Lesbos... If you put it in a sentence, then I can come up with a less silly guess than this second one...Otherwise, it will be a very wild guess... i.e., by the rule that you should pass on opposite sides of the street. Oh...how about, by the rule that likes attract? that sounds less lame than the homosexual one... yeah, I like that last guess...it sounds like a plausible guess (though I bet it's wrong...)

Pierre:

"Bark! Bark! Growl...."

As one can see, context can really matter when trying to understand an adage.

While I find some of the adages in Adagia quirky or awkward, others seem great and I only wish that they were still in use. For instance, I particularly enjoy the adage, Neither swim nor read.

Hopefully my exploration of adages has been beneficial to you. Perhaps you have discovered a great new adage to add to your life, such as the delightful Talk to the hand.

Even if this page has not helped you, it has helped me. Much like Erasmus, I have used my collection of adages for several purposes:

Now all I need to do is leave a legacy in print, or perhaps cyberspace, to carry my name into the future....

Bibliography

Acknowledgements