Meaning & Analysis
Literally, the proverb describes a fictional illness, a 'silver sickness' or 'silver dropsy'. 'Dropsy' was an old term for edema, a condition involving fluid retention. The phrase combines this medical concept with 'silver' (money) to create a vivid, though non-existent, diagnosis.
Insights
Insatiable Greed
The proverb is a potent metaphor for insatiable greed (avarice). Just as a person with dropsy might feel unquenchably thirsty and swell with fluid, a person with 'silver dropsy' has a bottomless desire for money and is never satisfied, no matter how much they accumulate.
Corruption and Bribery
It specifically diagnoses corruption and bribery. The related term 'silver-squinsey' suggests that a person's voice or principles can be 'choked' or silenced by a bribe, framing corruption as a debilitating ailment that prevents one from speaking truth.
Malingering for Financial Gain
The phrase can describe a feigned illness used to mask greed-motivated actions. A person 'sick' with this dropsy might use their condition as an excuse for inaction or betrayal, when in reality their behavior is dictated by the money they have received.
Medical Metaphor for Avarice
The proverb ingeniously uses the historical medical condition of 'dropsy'—characterized by insatiable thirst and fluid retention—as a powerful metaphor for avarice. This framing pathologizes greed, portraying it not merely as a moral failing but as a consuming, incurable disease.
Classical Roots of Corruption
The variations 'silver-squincy' and 'Argentangina' (from Latin 'argentum' for silver) specifically diagnose bribery, where a bribe 'chokes' an orator into silence. This is enriched by allusions to the classical story of Demosthenes, who feigned laryngitis after accepting a bribe.
Psychology of Materialism
The proverb reflects a deep-seated cultural anxiety about the corrupting power of money. By labeling greed a 'sickness', it suggests that the pursuit of wealth can become an unnatural, pathological force that infects and disables a person's moral and even physical functions.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
The central device is a powerful metaphor that equates a moral vice (greed) with a physical disease (dropsy), making the abstract concept of avarice tangible and visceral.
Pathologizing Language
The proverb frames greed as a pathology, an illness with symptoms. This rhetorical strategy elevates the critique from a simple moral judgment to a diagnosis of a deeper, more consuming condition.
Neologism
The phrases 'silver dropsy' and the pseudo-Latin 'Argentangina' are creative coinages. These neologisms are memorable and effectively fuse the concepts of money and sickness into a single, impactful idea.
Transcription
Quotations
Ye ar siluer seik, I wait richt weill.
The siluer sicknesse.
Sick of the silver dropsie.
Argentangina dicitur, the silver-squincy, when a pleader being bribed by the other side, feigns himself sick, and not able to speak.
I, wou'd sooner sell you Silence, tho' at a dearer Rate, as Demosthenes formerly sold it, by the means of his Angentangina or Silver Squinsey.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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