Meaning & Analysis
Receive payment (open your purse) before handing over goods (opening your sack); ensure you are paid before delivering what you are selling.
Insights
Practical Caution
The proverb urges caution and prudence in business: secure payment before providing goods or services, guarding against loss or deceit.
Value of Trust but Verify
Highlights the importance of not relying solely on trust in commercial dealings, advocating for safeguarding one's interests by insisting on fair exchange.
Principle of Reciprocity
Emphasizes the foundational economic principle of reciprocal exchange—each party gives value and receives value in turn, ensuring fairness.
Historical and Economic Context
Originating in a time when informal markets and itinerant trade were common, the proverb reflects the perennial risk of bad debts and the need for straightforward, protective business practices.
Cultural Parallel
Similar sayings are found in many languages ('cash on the nail,' 'money in hand'), underscoring the universality of this commercial wisdom.
Psychological Dimension
Speaks to the anxiety and uncertainty inherent in trade, revealing the instinct to seek assurance and minimize risk when livelihood is at stake.
Rhetorical Devices
Imperative Voice
Gives direct, actionable advice, increasing the proverb’s authority and urgency.
Parallelism
The mirrored structure ('open thy purse and then thy sack') strengthens the logical sequence and makes the rule memorable.
Synecdoche
'Purse' stands for money/payment, 'sack' for goods/wares—using concrete objects to represent abstract commercial actions.
Transcription
Quotations
Open thy purse (viz. to receive thy money) and then thy sack; i.e. then deliver thy goods.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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