Meaning & Analysis
The amount one possesses or has achieved ('mickle up with') is equal to the amount one stands to lose ('mickle down with'); essentially, what goes up must come down in equal measure.
Insights
The Cycle of Fortune
Symbolizes the cyclical nature of success and failure. It suggests that a great rise in fortune, status, or power carries the potential for an equally great and devastating fall.
The Price of Success
Implies that the burdens, anxieties, and responsibilities that accompany success are as significant as the rewards themselves. The weight of what one has is equal to the weight of what one has to protect and manage.
Inherent Risk and Reward
Functions as a fundamental principle of risk, asserting that the potential for significant gain is inextricably linked to the potential for significant loss. Every opportunity is balanced by a corresponding vulnerability.
The Law of Equilibrium
Reflects a universal law of balance, where every gain is offset by a corresponding liability or potential for reversal. It suggests a natural equilibrium in human affairs that corrects extremes of fortune.
The Wheel of Fortune
Echoes the medieval concept of 'Rota Fortunae' (the Wheel of Fortune), a powerful symbol of life's inherent instability and the inevitability that those at the top will eventually fall, suggesting a universe governed by cyclical fate rather than linear progress.
Psychological Symmetry
This proverb highlights the psychological reality that the joy of acquisition is often matched by the fear of loss. It serves as a stoic reminder to maintain emotional equilibrium, cautioning against the hubris of success and the despair of failure.
Folk Economics
Encapsulates a timeless economic principle that high rewards necessitate high risks. The proverb frames this complex financial concept in simple, memorable terms, functioning as a piece of folk wisdom about investment and speculation.
Contrast with Asymmetry
While this proverb suggests a perfect symmetry between the magnitude of a rise and a fall, it contrasts with related adages like 'One may sooner fall than rise', which emphasize the ease and speed of decline over the difficulty of ascent.
Rhetorical Devices
Parallelism and Antithesis
The balanced structure 'As mickle up with' and 'as mickle down with' creates a memorable, rhythmic cadence, while the core antithesis between 'up' and 'down' powerfully conveys the central theme.
Archaic Diction
The use of the word 'mickle' (meaning 'much' or 'a great amount') lends the proverb an air of ancient, time-tested wisdom and distinguishes it from more modern expressions.
Repetition
The repetition of 'mickle' and the prepositional structure '... with' reinforces the central idea of equivalence and direct correspondence between gain and potential loss.
Transcription
Quotations
Cross References
Annotations
- Spoken when a Man has got a quick Advancement, and as sudden Depression.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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