Meaning & Analysis
Based on the ancient belief that dogs drink from the Nile river in quick, hurried laps while running to avoid being caught by crocodiles lurking in the water.
Insights
Calculated Risk
Engaging with a necessary but dangerous resource or situation with extreme caution, taking only what is essential and then retreating quickly to minimize exposure to harm, as illustrated in Marston's 1606 quote referencing the crocodile.
Cautious Moderation
Partaking in something tempting or potentially harmful (like alcohol, as Lyly suggests) sparingly and with haste, in order to gain the benefit without succumbing to the negative consequences of overindulgence.
Superficial Engagement
Interacting with a subject or person on a surface level only, deliberately avoiding deep involvement out of fear, distrust, or strategic caution, essentially 'tasting and fleeing'.
Classical Allegory
Originating from classical antiquity and popularized by Erasmus, the proverb uses the well-known danger of the Nile crocodile to create a timeless and memorable allegory for managing necessary risks in a perilous environment.
Psychology of Survival
The proverb captures the psychological tension between need and fear, illustrating a primal survival strategy: act decisively and quickly when facing a known threat to satisfy a vital need, without lingering in the face of danger.
Elizabethan Literary Trope
The vivid, somewhat exotic imagery made it a popular trope in Elizabethan literature, used by authors like Lyly and Marston to illustrate prudent action in contexts of social intrigue, temptation, or political danger.
Rhetorical Devices
Simile
The phrase "like the dogs of Egypt" creates a direct and powerful comparison, grounding the abstract idea of caution in a concrete, dramatic scenario.
Vivid Imagery
The image of a dog drinking hastily from a crocodile-infested river is dramatic and memorable, effectively conveying a sense of urgency and peril.
Symbolism
The Nile symbolizes a source that is both life-sustaining (water) and deadly (crocodiles), representing any situation where opportunity is inextricably linked with danger.
Transcription
Quotations
Ut canis e Nilo.
Wine should be taken as the Dogs of Egypt drinke water, by snatches.
You must . . imitate the dogge of Aegypt, which drinketh at the river of Nyle, and then runneth his way.
A hunters feast. tanquam canis, bibens a Nilo, et fugiens.
The wittier sort tasteth, and flieth: as the Dog from Nilus.
I'll use this Zanthia, And trust her as our dogs drink dangerous Nile, (Only for thirst), that fly the crocodile.
[As in Eras.]
Like the thirsty swift Egyptian dogges, They scarcely taste of those faire seven-fold streames.
To do as the Egyptian dog, viz. to drink, and run away, to make no stay, but to bait, and be gone.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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