Thus in demanding _shortness_, it errs in excess. It is indeed quite certain that a good proverb will be short, as short, that is, as is compatible with the full and forcible conveying of that which it intends. Brevity, “the soul of wit,” will be eminently the soul of a proverb’s wit; it will contain, according to Fuller’s definition, “much matter decocted into few words.” Oftentimes it will consist of two, three, or four, and these sometimes monosyllabic, words. Thus _Extremes meet_;—_Right wrongs no man_;—_Forewarned, forearmed_;—with a thousand more.[3] But still shortness is only a relative term, and it would perhaps be more accurate to say that a proverb must be _concise_, cut down, that is, to the fewest possible words; condensed, quintessential wisdom.[4] But that, if only it fulfil this condition of being as short as possible, it need not be absolutely very short, there are sufficient examples to prove. Thus Freytag has admitted the following, which indeed hovers on the confines of the fable, into his great collection of Arabic proverbs: _They said to the camel-bird_, [i. e., the ostrich,] _“Carry:” it answered, ‘I cannot, for I am a bird.’ They said, “Fly;” it answered, ‘I cannot, for I am a camel.’_ This could not be shorter, yet, as compared with the greater number of proverbs, is not short.[5] Even so the _sense_ and _salt_, which are ascribed to the proverb as other of its necessary conditions, can hardly be said to be such; seeing that flat, saltless proverbs, though comparatively rare, there certainly are; while yet, be it remembered, we are not considering now what are the ornaments of a _good_ proverb, but the essential marks of all. And then moreover it errs in defect; for it has plainly omitted one quality of the proverb, and that the most essential of all—I mean _popularity_, acceptance and adoption on the part of the people. Without this popularity, without these suffrages and this consent of the many, no saying, however brief, however wise, however seasoned with salt, however worthy on all these accounts to have become a proverb, however fulfilling all other its conditions, can yet be esteemed as such. This popularity, omitted in that enumeration of the essential notes of the proverb, is yet the only one whose presence is absolutely necessary, whose absence is fatal to the claims of any saying to be regarded as such. [Sidenote: Aphorisms not proverbs.]