Meaning & Analysis
Everything is going so well that even an old man—typically associated with frailty or caution—feels joyful enough to dance, signaling unexpected delight or success.
Insights
Unexpected Joy
The proverb conveys that when circumstances are especially favorable, even those who are typically cautious, weary, or restrained (like the old) become exuberant—revealing joy’s power to transcend limitations.
Fortune Rejuvenates
Implies that prosperity or good fortune has a revitalizing effect, metaphorically 'reawakening' even the most worn or dispirited among us.
Symbol of Surprising Turnaround
The old man dancing becomes a symbol of reversal: where decline was expected, vitality emerges. It suggests that favorable outcomes can defy expectations rooted in age, decay, or pessimism.
Classical Provenance
The Latin original—'Omnia secunda, saltat senex'—comes from Erasmus's *Adagia*, reinforcing a long-standing European cultural belief that prosperity transforms behavior, even among the unlikely.
Ben Jonson’s Irony
In *Epicœne*, Jonson evokes the proverb with wry theatricality, hinting that behind jubilation may lie folly or hubris. The dancing elder becomes both comic relief and a cautionary emblem of overexuberance.
Philosophical Underpinning
Reflects a humanist insight: that well-being affects not only external conditions but internal states. The proverb links fortune to mood, behavior, and perceived vitality.
Aging and Affect
Psychologically, it points to how aging is not purely physical—it is also emotional and situational. Joy, hope, and optimism can temporarily restore youthful energy, even in old age.
Rhetorical Devices
Symbolism
The dancing old man symbolizes unexpected vitality or joy breaking through established constraints—offering a vivid emblem of reversal or triumph.
Irony
There is an implicit irony in depicting a traditionally sedate or frail figure dancing—heightening the surprise and emphasizing the extent of good fortune.
Personification
The proverb animates abstract well-being ('all is well') by giving it visible form in the actions of the old man—making emotional or situational change tangible and memorable.
Transcription
Quotations
Omnia secunda saltat senex.
[As in Eras.]
Succeedes it, or no?—Past imagination, sir, omnia secunda; you could not haue pray'd to haue had it so wel: Saltat senex, as it is i' the prouerbe.
All will do wel, the old man danceth.
Cross References
- See Orro, no. 1628.
- A76 When age is jocund it makes sport for death.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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