Meaning & Analysis
A single sheep afflicted with a contagious disease like scabies can quickly infect and thus ruin an entire flock of sheep.
Insights
Corrupting Influence
A single individual with a negative attitude, poor morals, or corrupting influence can undermine the integrity and well-being of an entire group, organization, or community.
Systemic Vulnerability
Warns that a single flaw, weakness, or point of failure within a system can compromise the entire structure, highlighting the need for vigilance and quality control.
Social and Ideological Contagion
Negative ideas, behaviors, and attitudes can spread through a community like a disease. One person's dissent, gossip, or unethical conduct can quickly 'infect' others and destroy group cohesion.
Danger of Bad Company
The proverb serves as a cautionary tale about the company one keeps, implying that association with a single corrupting person can tarnish one's own reputation and moral standing.
Agrarian and Xenophobic Roots
Rooted in agrarian life, where flock health was paramount, the proverb reflects a deep-seated fear of contagion. The 1630 quotation by T. Adams, blaming a Spanish sheep for rotting all of England's, reveals how this idea could be mapped onto national and xenophobic anxieties about foreign corruption.
The Politics of Purity
This proverb has often been invoked to justify social and political purges, framing dissenters or nonconformists as a disease that threatens the health of the collective 'body'. It provides a powerful, if dangerous, metaphor for enforcing conformity and marginalizing undesirable elements.
Psychology of Social Contagion
The proverb speaks to the psychological power of social contagion. A single individual expressing negativity, cynicism, or unethical behavior can disproportionately poison a group's morale and culture, demonstrating how easily destructive attitudes can be normalized within a social system.
Cross-Cultural Resonance
The concept is not limited to livestock, as shown by the cross-reference to 'one rotten apple'. This theme of a single corrupting element is a near-universal moral trope, appearing in religious texts and folklore worldwide as a warning against bad company.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
The central metaphor equates a person's negative moral or social character with a physical disease, effectively portraying corruption as a contagious and destructive force.
Imagery
The image of a 'scabbed sheep' is visceral and repulsive, creating a strong emotional impact that reinforces the proverb's warning about the ugliness and danger of corruption.
Causal Statement
The proverb's structure is a simple, powerful statement of cause and effect, making its warning clear, memorable, and easily applicable to various social situations.
Transcription
Quotations
(One scabbed shepe [as they saye]).
(infectith all the folde).
(infeckis all the haill flok).
(wyl marre).
(infects).
(fylis all the flock).
(will marre).
(will marre).
(One rotten sheepe will marre).
(marreth all the folde).
(infecteth all the flocke).
They report, that once one scabbed sheepe from Spaine rotted all the Sheepe of England.
(spoils the whole flock).
(fyles all the flock).
(will marr).
(will Smite [infect] all the Flock).
And one facetious Fellow will mislead a whole Community.
One scabby Sheep is enough to infect the whole Flock.
Cross References
- See DÜR., I, no. 366.
- A294 One rotten apple corrupts all those apples that lie near it.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.