Page 1002

Miscellaneous Translations. (continued)

9695

Scylla and Charybdis. 1

9696

Sinew of war. 2

9697

Talk of nothing but business, and despatch that business quickly. 3

9698

The empire is peace. 4

9699

The guard dies, but never surrenders. 5

9700

The king reigns, but does not govern. 6

Note 1.
See Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Quotation 61. [back]

Note 2.
See Rabelais, Quotation 13.

Æschines (Adv. Ctesiphon, c. 53) ascribes to Demosthenes the expression [greek], “The sinews of affairs are cut.” Diogenes Laertius, in his Life of Bion (lib. iv. c. 7, sect. 3), represents that philosopher as saying, [greek],—“Riches were the sinews of business,” or, as the phrase may mean, “of the state.” Referring perhaps to this maxim of Bion, Plutarch says in his Life of Cleomenes (c. 27), “He who first called money the sinews of the state seems to have said this with special reference to war.” Accordingly we find money called expressly [greek], “the sinews of war,” in Libanius, Orat. xlvi. (vol. ii. p. 477, ed. Reiske), and by the scholiast on Pindar, Olymp. i. 4 (compare Photius, Lex. s. v. [greek]). So Cicero, Philipp. v. 2, “nervos belli, infinitam pecuniam.” [back]

Note 3.
A placard of Aldus on the door of his printing-office.—Dibdin: Introduction, vol. i. p. 436. [back]

Note 4.
This saying occurs in Louis Napoleon’s speech to the Chamber of Commerce in Bordeaux, Oct. 9, 1852. [back]

Note 5.
Words engraved upon the monument erected to Cambronne at Nantes.

This phrase, attributed to Cambronne, who was made prisoner at Waterloo, was vehemently denied by him. It was invented by Rougemont, a prolific author of mots, two days after the battle, in the “Indépendant.”—Fournier: L’Esprit dans l’Histoire. [back]

Note 6.
A motto adopted by Thiers for the “Nationale,” July 1, 1803. In the beginning of the seventeenth century Jan Zamoyski in the Polish parliament said, “The king reigns, but does not govern.” [back]

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