The Wise and Ingenious Companion, French and English;: or, A Collection of the Wit of the Illustrious Persons, Both Ancient and ModernBoyer, Abel
General
The Wise and Ingenious Companion, French and English;: or, A Collection of the Wit of the Illustrious Persons, Both Ancient and Modern
Boyer, Abel
Anecdotes; Wit and humor
Comme les Rois sont environnez de Flateurs, & que les seuls Chevaux
ne gardent point avec eux de mesures, _Carneades_ disoit: _que les
Princes n’apprennent rien comme il faut qu’à bien manier un Cheval_.
48
_Sesostris_ King of _Ægypt_, having caused four of his Captive
Kings, instead of Horses, to draw his Triumphal Chariot, one of
these four cast his Eyes contiually upon the two foremost Wheels
next him, which _Sesostris_ observing, ask’d him what he found
worthy of his Admiration in that Motion; to whom the Captive King
answer’d, _That in those Wheels he beheld the mutability of all
worldly Things; for that the lowest part of the Wheel was suddenly
carried above and became the highest, and the uppermost part was as
suddenly turned downwards_; which when _Sesostris_ had judiciosly
weighed, he dismist those Kings from their Servitude.
48
_Sesostris_ Roy d’_Egypte_, ayant fait tirer son char de Triomphe
par quatre Rois Captifs, au lieu de Chevaux, un d’eux tenoit la
veuë attachée sur les Roües de devant qui ètoient prés de lui, ce
que _Sesostris_ remarquant, il lui demanda ce qu’il trouvoit digne
d’admiration dans ce mouvement. A quoi le Roy Captif répondit:
_je contemple dans ces Roües l’inconstance des choses humaines,
d’autant que la partie la plus basse de la rouë est tout d’un coup
portée en haut, & devient la plus élevée; & la plus haute est
portée en bas avec autant de vitesse_; _Sesostris_ ayant meurement
reflechi là dessus, mit ces Rois en liberté.
49
Some Body twitting _Hiero_ the Tyrant with a stinking Breath,
he chid his Wife for not telling him of it before: _I thought_,
answered she, _all Mens Breaths smelled like yours_.
49
On reprocha au Tiran _Hieron_ qu’il avoit l’haleine puante, il
reprit sa Femme de ne l’en avoir jamais averti; _Je croyois_,
répondit-elle, _que tous les Hommes eussent l’haleine de même odeur
que vous_.
50
One asked _Charillus_, why at _Lacedemon_ Maids went bare-faced,
when Married Women were vailed: _Because_, answered he, _the first
look for Husbands, and the others are afraid to lose them by
Jealousie and Divorce,_
50
On demandoit à _Charillus_ pourquoi à _Lacedemone_ les Filles
marchoient le visage decouvert, veu que les Femmes ètoient voilées,
c’est répondit il: _parce que les unes cherchent un mari, & que les
autres ont peur de le perdre par la jalousie & par le divorce_.
51
_Diogenes_ seeing over the Door of a new Married Man, these written
Words, _Hence all Evil_; said he, _After Death the Physician_.
The same Philosopher perceiving one Day some Women hanged on an
Olive-tree: _Would to God_, cried he, _all other Trees bore the
like Fruit_.
51
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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