Meaning & Analysis
To literally return home via a place named 'Weeping Cross', which were actual wayside crosses in England, often associated with public penance or sorrow. One such cross was located near Stafford, making the journey a return to a place of lamentation.
Insights
The Path of Regret
The proverb signifies ending a venture or period of life with deep regret, sorrow, and repentance. The journey 'home' is not triumphant but a painful return to face the consequences of one's foolish or immoral actions.
Inevitable Consequences
It serves as a powerful warning that reckless, immoral, or ill-advised actions will ultimately lead to a painful and humiliating outcome. The pleasure or gain from such activities is temporary, and the final destination is invariably one of sorrow.
Failure and Disappointment
The phrase describes the experience of failure and bitter disappointment. An enterprise that begins with hope or excitement concludes in loss and sadness, forcing a humbling and sorrowful retreat.
Historical Landmark as Symbol
The proverb originates from actual wayside crosses in England, known as 'weeping crosses', which were sites for public penance and prayer. By referencing a real geographical feature (one is noted near Stafford), the proverb grounds the abstract concept of regret in a tangible, historical landmark, making the metaphor more potent.
Moral Geography
The phrase creates a 'moral geography,' where a physical journey home concludes at a destination symbolizing a specific emotional state. This transforms the landscape into a map of human experience, where one's path is defined by moral choices leading to either triumph or, in this case, a place of sorrow and repentance.
Psychology of Regret
The proverb captures the psychological arc from indulgence or recklessness to the inevitable pain of consequence. It speaks to the human experience of facing a 'day of reckoning', where the pleasure of a transgression gives way to the sorrow of its aftermath, as seen in the quotations linking it to illicit affairs and dishonest ends.
Rhetorical Devices
Symbolism
'Weeping Cross' functions as a powerful, condensed symbol for regret, penance, and the sorrowful consequences of one's actions. The cross itself adds a layer of religious connotation related to suffering and atonement.
Metaphor
The physical journey of 'coming home' is used as a metaphor for the conclusion of any endeavor, life stage, or course of action, which ends not in peace but in emotional turmoil.
Symbolic Place-Name
The use of a specific, capitalized place-name gives the abstract idea of regret a concrete, historical anchor, making the expression more vivid and memorable than a generic phrase.
Transcription
Quotations
In the ende thei go home . . by weepyng cross.
They returne home by weeping Crosse, and fewe of them come to an honest ende.
But the tyme will come when comming home by weeping crosse, thou shalt confesse.
Few men have wedded their . . paramours or mistresses, but have come home by weeping Crosse.
In the end they come home by weeping crosse, and crie Peccaui.
Goe not along, let my aduise enforce, Least thou returne (my boy) by weeping crosse.
You are like to come by weeping cross.
After a long pleasure, commonly one comes home by weeping Cross.
*This weeping cross which gave occasion to this phrase, is about two miles distant from the town of Stafford.
War comes home by weeping-cross.
They always meddle with him to their hurt, as well as shame and confusion, and come home by weeping-cross.
Cross References
- See New English Dictionary, s.v. Weeping Cross 2.
- L460 He that goes out with often loss at last comes home by Weeping Cross.
Annotations
- See Sugden, p. 559.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.