Meaning & Analysis
The phrase literally describes animals, like dogs, physically fighting and grabbing each other by the ears. 'To set' them together means to make them fight, while 'to fall' together means to begin fighting spontaneously.
Insights
Inciting Conflict
The proverb metaphorically refers to the act of inciting a fierce and chaotic argument or conflict between individuals or groups who were previously at peace.
Violent Disagreement
It describes a state of entering into a bitter, disorderly, and often public dispute. The expression emphasizes the lack of civility and the descent into aggressive quarreling.
Cynical Manipulation
The act of 'setting' people to fight suggests a deliberate and malicious manipulation, where a third party exploits tensions to create discord for their own advantage or amusement.
Animalistic Imagery
The proverb's imagery is rooted in the primal, chaotic violence of animal combat, such as dog or bear fights, common spectacles in earlier eras. This comparison strips human conflict of its intellectual pretensions, portraying it as fundamentally brutish and undignified.
Psychology of Provocation
Psychologically, the phrase distinguishes between instigating conflict ('to set') and engaging in it ('to fall'). This highlights the role of the provocateur—a third party who manipulates others into dispute for their own ends, a timeless feature of social and political intrigue.
Literary and Political Context
The proverb's use by writers like Shakespeare to describe political turmoil ('The Florentines and Senoys are by th' Ears') demonstrates its function as a concise and vivid shorthand for a state of war, civil unrest, or intense factionalism.
Rhetorical Devices
Animalistic Imagery
The phrase uses the vivid, kinetic imagery of a physical animal brawl to create a powerful and memorable metaphor for human conflict.
Synecdoche
The 'ears' stand in for the entire person or group, a form of synecdoche that focuses the action on a vulnerable point, emphasizing the viciousness of the engagement.
Verb Contrast
The dual verbs 'set' and 'fall' add versatility, allowing the proverb to describe both an instigated conflict (set) and a spontaneous one (fall), broadening its applicability.
Transcription
Quotations
Together by the eares they come.
When is the law profitable? Assuredly . . especially in this age, where all men goe together by the eares, for this matter, and that matter.
Set them by the eares.
Or set them and other reverend preists together by the eares.
Hee hath set them together by the eares.
[As in 1616 Dr.]
To set rage among the dogs, viz. to sow discord in the neighbour-hood, or any where to set people together by the ears.
To fall together by the ears.
He set them together by the ears.
They are going together by the Ears about Logic and Reason.
Shakespeare Citations
The Florentines and Senoys are by th' Ears.
Were half to half the world by th' ears, and he Upon my party, i'd revolt, to make Only my wars with him.
Cross References
- See St., no. 757.
- F250 Cut not the fire with a sword.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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