Netherlandish Proverbs 16

"He has more in him than an empty herring." 

There is more to it than meets the eye. 

Netherlandish Proverbs 15

"The herring hangs by its own gills." 

You must accept responsibility for your own actions. 

Netherlandish Proverbs 14

"To get the lid on the head." 

To end up taking responsibility. 

Works of Mercy

Master of Alkmaar, The Seven Works of Mercy (c. 1504) 

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Caritas (1559) 

Frans Francken the Younger, The Seven Works of Mercy (1605) 

Caravaggio, The Seven Works of Mercy (1607) 

Pierre Montallier, Works of Mercy (1680) 

Netherlandish Proverbs 13

"To fry the whole herring for the sake of the roe." 

To do too much to achieve a little. 

Netherlandish Proverbs 12

"The herring does not fry here." 

It's not going according to plan. 

Netherlandish Proverbs 11

"Shear them, but do not skin them." 

Do not press your advantage too far. 

Netherlandish Proverbs 10

"One shears sheep, the other shears pigs." 

One has all the advantages, the other none. 

Proverbs 3:5-12

[5] Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own insight.
[6] In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
[7] Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
[8] It will be healing to your flesh
and refreshment to your bones.
[9] Honor the Lord with your substance
and with the first fruits of all your produce;
[10] then your barns will be filled with plenty,
and your vats will be bursting with wine.
[11] My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline
or be weary of his reproof,
[12] for the Lord reproves him whom he loves,
as a father the son in whom he delights. 

IMAGE: Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Hay Harvest (1565) 

Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 5.31

M. For even as trading is said to be lucrative, and farming advantageous, not because the one never meets with any loss, nor the other with any damage from the inclemency of the weather, but because they succeed in general; so life may be properly called happy, not from its being entirely made up of good things, but because it abounds with these to a great and considerable degree. 
 
By this way of reasoning, then, a happy life may attend virtue even to the moment of execution; nay, may descend with her into Phalaris’s bull, according to Aristotle, Xenocrates, Speusippus, Polemon; and will not be gained over by any allurements to forsake her. Of the same opinion will Calliphon and Diodorus be; for they are both of them such friends to virtue as to think that all things should be discarded and far removed that are incompatible with it. 
 
The rest seem to be more hampered with these doctrines, but yet they get clear of them; such as Epicurus, Hieronymus, and whoever else thinks it worthwhile to defend the deserted Carneades: for there is not one of them who does not think the mind to be judge of those goods, and able sufficiently to instruct him how to despise what has the appearance only of good or evil. For what seems to you to be the case with Epicurus is the case also with Hieronymus and Carneades, and, indeed, with all the rest of them; for who is there who is not sufficiently prepared against death and pain? 
 
I will begin, with your leave, with him whom we call soft and voluptuous. What! Does he seem, to you to be afraid of death or pain when he calls the day of his death happy; and who, when he is afflicted by the greatest pains, silences them all by recollecting arguments of his own discovering? 
 
And this is not done in such a manner as to give room for imagining that he talks thus wildly from some sudden impulse; but his opinion of death is, that on the dissolution of the animal all sense is lost; and what is deprived of sense is, as he thinks, what we have no concern at all with. And as to pain, too, he has certain rules to follow then: if it be great, the comfort is that it must be short; if it be of long continuance, then it must be supportable. 
 
What, then? Do those grandiloquent gentlemen state anything better than Epicurus in opposition to these two things which distress us the most? And as to other things, do not Epicurus and the rest of the philosophers seem sufficiently prepared? Who is there who does not dread poverty? And yet no true philosopher ever can dread it. 

—from Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 5.31 
 
It is impossible to make it through the day without a concept of what is “good”, and yet we will be hard-pressed to find anyone willing to define it with more than a blank stare. Though our words might fail us, to be aware of what we want, and why we might want it, is surely a matter of some importance. 
 
And for all of our wishing, we will hardly expect everything to be absolutely perfect, being quite willing to tolerate some unpleasant bits slipping their way into a general picture of contentment. In practice, I suppose it is a matter of proportion, the lesser parts being outweighed by the greater whole, or, in a strictly Stoic manner, the hardships becoming the very opportunities for excellence. 
 
The investor takes some losses here, while he wins more profits there. The farmer abandons this field to vermin, and that field to drought, and through his toil he still brings home an adequate harvest. The other day, I thoroughly enjoyed a steak dinner, even if the baked potato was slightly cold. I worry that this becomes a slippery slope of constantly fretting over a balance sheet, but I recognize why most of us will settle for a blended model of happiness, uncertain if we are capable of anything purer. 
 
And even when the philosophers speak of the good as a mixture of many components, it inevitably ends up being virtue that has to come out on top, however else they express their goals. When push comes to shove, is it not character that allows us to endure pain with courage, and to face death with dignity? Where is the benefit of extensive riches if they are not employed with prudence? What is the satisfaction in refined luxuries if they are not guided by temperance? In any case, who will ever find peace without the balance of justice? 
 
As for those thinkers who focus on the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain, they must always fall back on the power of understanding as a measure for the most gratifying acts, which once again makes the appetites subservient to the intellect. Our feelings, therefore, no longer define what is good, and it is rather our knowledge of the good that ends up defining the worth of our feelings. 
 
I am hesitant to dump the Epicureans in with the “soft” crowd, since their behavior often revealed an incredible capacity for self-discipline. Indeed, their sort of “hedonism” is a far cry from the excesses commonly associated with the term, and the true sensualists I have met, of the unbridled type, have also swiftly brought themselves to total misery, precisely because they lack any kind of filter to their desires. If they manage to survive the ordeal, they are likely to seek out a far more restrained and responsible form of fulfillment. 
 
How odd that one philosopher would claim to need the goods of fortune, and yet he distances himself from his circumstances when he recognizes their frailty. How strange that another philosopher would embrace the primacy of his passions, but then he turns around to praise moderation and sacrifice. 
 
It is almost as if any pursuit of wisdom, however diverse and roundabout, cannot help but gradually arrive at the hunch that every other value in this life somehow hinges upon the merit of the virtues. 

—Reflection written in 3/1999 

IMAGE: Jan Brueghel the Younger, Adam at Work in the Field (c. 1650) 

Netherlandish Proverbs 9

"To put your armor on." 

To be angry. 

Netherlandish Proverbs 8

"To be armed to the teeth." 

To be heavily armed. 

Netherlandish Proverbs 7

"To bell the cat." 

To carry out a dangerous or impractical plan. 

Netherlandish Proverbs 6

"The sow pulls the bung." 

Negligence will be rewarded with disaster. 

Netherlandish Proverbs 5

"One foot shod, the other bare." 

Balance is paramount. 

Netherlandish Proverbs 4

"To bang one's head against a brick wall." 

To waste one's time on an impossible task. 

Netherlandish Proverbs 3

"Never believe someone who carries fire in one hand and water in the other." 

To be two-faced and to stir up trouble. 

Sayings of Publilius Syrus 160

The good to which we have become accustomed, is often an evil. 

IMAGE: Pieter Bruegel the Younger, Paying the Tax Collector (c. 1630) 

Epictetus, Discourses 2.6.2

Suppose you did not get what you wanted? Surely that was his business and not yours. Why then do you claim what is another's? If you always remember what is yours and what is not yours, you will never be put to confusion. 
 
Therefore, Chrysippus well says, “As long as the consequences are unknown to me, I always hold fast to what is better adapted to secure what is natural, for God Himself created me with the faculty of choosing what is natural.” 
 
Nay, if I really knew that it was ordained for me now to be ill, I should wish to be ill; for the foot too, if it had a mind, would wish to get muddy.
 
For instance, why do ears of corn grow? Is it not that they may ripen in the sun? And if they are ripened, is it not that they may be reaped, for they are not things apart? If they had feelings then, ought they to pray never to be reaped at any time? But this is a curse upon corn—to pray that it should never be reaped. 
 
In like manner know that you are cursing men when you pray for them not to die: it is like a prayer not to be ripened, not to be reaped. 
 
But we men, being creatures whose fate it is to be reaped, are also made aware of this very fact, that we are destined for reaping, and so we are angry; for we do not know who we are, nor have we studied human things as those who are skilled in horses study the concerns of horses. 

—from Epictetus, Discourses 2.6 
 
In finding myself awkwardly out of place in this world, and in also having a melancholic disposition, I often feel inclined to gripe and moan. If I then foolishly choose to surround myself with those who have a perverse pride in their many dissatisfactions, I merely compound the matter. Do I not see how my misery is entirely of my own making? 
 
I perceive this section of the text to be achingly beautiful, though whenever I share it with others, they usually just see doom and gloom. The way Epictetus writes, and the whole context of what I call the Stoic Turn, can only be uplifting when I have joyfully embraced a whole new set of values. All of those crippling diversions out there? They are as nothing. Instead, look within to the invincible dignity of this little soul. 
 
Just as the world was made to be as it is for a perfectly good reason, so my own intellect and will were given to me so that I might come to know and to love my place within the whole. My particular nature is completed by working in harmony with the Universal Nature, and I am gifted with awareness so that I can arrive at this insight through my own free choice. 
 
Now this all sounds perfectly nice, one could say, as long as the circumstances of Nature are pleasant, but I will surely change my tune once the world starts to scratch and bite. If that is indeed how I respond, I have hardly learned the lesson, because I still remain attached to outside conditions, valuing convenience over character. No, once I discover the source of my happiness in what is rightly my own, I do not need to depend upon what rightly belongs to another. 
 
Epictetus is not trying to one-up Chrysippus, and he is instead clarifying how radical and transformative such a true commitment to Nature must be. If it has happened, what good will come from any rage or despair? Let me rather ask myself how I can modify my own thoughts and deeds to cooperate with Providence; every purpose is joined to every other, and my part is defined by what I decide to do, not by what is done to me. 
 
Whatever is sown is meant to be reaped, so the crop does not feel the need to complain. Opening my mind to the inner worth of every creature is what makes it possible for me to love both myself and others, whatever the accidents may be. Pleasure or pain, riches or poverty, health or sickness are all on the table—accepting this is the first step to serenity. 
 
If I knew myself morally even half as well as I am expected to know my worldly trade, this would not be such a difficult task. 

—Reflection written in 6/2001 

IMAGE: Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Harvesters (1565) 

Netherlandish Proverbs 2

"To be a pillar-biter." 

To be a religious hypocrite.