Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 38:152 (Oct 1881)
Article: A Chapter On Proverbs
Author: J. I. Mombert

BSac 38:152 (Oct 1881) p. 593

A Chapter On Proverbs

Rev. J. I. Mombert

A good definition is a very precious thing, and the following of a proverb, one of the best I have met, may appropriately introduce the subject. “A proverb,” says Eiselein, “is a sentence coined with the public stamp, current, and of acknowledged value among the people,” of which we have this old English metrical form:

“The people’s voice the voice of God we call,
And what are proverbs but the people’s voice?
Coined first, and current made by public choice,
Then sure they must have weight and truth withal.”

In brief, a proverb is a household word of the people. Using the term “people “in a very wide sense, a glance at the subject of proverbs of acknowledged currency among the people in different ages, different climes, and different tongues may prove an instructive entertainment.

A very old proverb, in familiar use in most modern languages, is the homely phrase, “Hunger is the best sauce,”1 which owes its celebrity to a Spartan cook. Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, having heard a certain Spartan dish highly praised, secured the services of a Lacedemonian cook, and desired him to prepare it. The dish, made after the Spartan

BSac 38:152 (Oct 1881) p. 594

recipe, was set before the king, who tasted it with tokens of unmistakable disgust. The cook remarked, “King, I am not surprised at your feelings, for you have taken the dish without the Spartan sauce.” “And what is that?” rejoined the king. “Work, exercise, hunger, and thirst is the delicious sauce with which they season their food at Sparta,” was the cook’s reply. But the very form in which we use the proverb now was employed by Socrates, who said, “Hunger is the best sauce, for it makes all food palatable, and costs nothing’.” A friend, seeing him one day walk rapidly in front of his house, asked the philosopher what he was about. “I prepare,” he said,” the sauce for my supper.”

The origin of “No shoemaker beyond his last,” or “Cobbler, stick to your shoes,”2 is ascribed to Apelles, who was in the habit, while exhibiting his pictures to the public, to hide behind them in order to hear the criticisms of the people. A cobbler’s practised eye one day detected a fault in the shoes of a figure in the painting of the “Trojan Shepherd,” one of his master-pieces. The artist forthwith corrected the blemish. Elated with vanity, the cobbler now passed from the sandal to the leg, and made it the theme of his censure. Apelles then stepped forth, and indignantly bade him s...