Chapter Æra to Agag of A by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

a Phrygian slave, very deformed, and the writer of fables. He was contemporary with Pythagoras, about B.C. 570.

Almost all Greek and Latin fables are ascribed to Æsop, as all our Psalms are ascribed to David. The Latin fables of Phædrus are supposed to be translations of Æsopian fables.

Æsop of Arabia. Lokman (?). Nasser, who lived in the fifth century, is generally called the "Arabian Æsop."

Æsop of England. John Gay. (1688--1732.)

Æsop of France. Jean de la Fontaine. (1621--1695.)

Æsop of Germany, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. (1729--1781.)

Æsop of India. Bidpay or Pilpay. (About three centuries before the Christian era.)

Aetites (3 syl.) Eagle -- stones. (Greek, aetos, an eagle.) Hollow stones composed of several crusts, one within another. Supposed at one time to form part of an eagle's nest. Pliny mentions them. Kirwan applies the name to clay ironstones having a globular crust of oxide investing an ochreous kernel. Mythically, they are supposed to have the property of detecting theft.

Ætolian Hero (The).Diomede, who was king of Ætolia. Ovid.

Affable means "one easy to be spoken to." (Latin, ad fari, to speak to.)

Affect To love, to desire. (Latin, affecto.)

"Some affect the light, and some the shade." Blair: Grave.

l'Affection aveugle raison (French).

Cassius says to Brutus, "A friendly eye could never see such faults." "L'esprit est presque toujours la dupe du coeur." (La Rochefoucauld: Maximes.)

Again, "a mother thinks all her geese are swans."

Italian: A ogni grolla paion belli i suoi grollatini. Ad ogni uccello, suo nido è bello.

French: A chaque oiseau son nid parait beau.

Latin: Asinus asino, sus sui, pulcher. Sua cuique res est carissima.

Affront properly means to stand front to front. In savage nations opposing armies draw up front to front before they begin hostilities, and by grimaces, sounds, words, and all conceivable means, try to provoke and terrify their vis-à-vis. When this "affronting" is over, the adversaries rush against each other, and the fight begins in earnest.

Affront. A salute; a coming in front of another to salute.

"Only, sir, this I must caution you of, in your affront, or salute, never to move your hat." - Green: Tu Quoque, vii. 95.

Afraid He who trembles to hear a leaf fall should keep out of the wood. This is a French proverb: "Qui a peur de feuilles, ne doit aller au bois." Our corresponding English proverb is, "He who fears scars shouldn't go the wars." The timid should not voluntarily expose themselves to danger.

"Little boats should keep near shore,
Larger ones may venture more."

Africa Teneo te, Africa (I take possession of thee, O Africa). When Cæsar landed at Adrumetum, in Africa, he tripped and fell - a bad omen; but, with wonderful presence of mind, he pretended that he had done so intentionally, and kissing the soil, exclaimed, "Thus do I take possession of thee, O Africa." Told also of Scipio. (See Don Quixote, Pt. II. Bk. vi. ch.6.)