- Sapere ande; incipe.
Begin: the getting out of doors is the greatest part of the
journey. Varro teaches us that Latin proverb, Portam itineri
longissimam esse. But to return to Horace,
- Sapere aude;
Incipe. Virendi qui recte prorogat horam
Rusticus expectat dum labitur amnis; at ille
Labitur, et labetur is omne volubilis aevum.
Begin, be bold, and venture to be wise;
He who defers the work from day to day,
Does on a river's bank expecting stay,
Till the whole stream which stopped him should be gone,
That runs, and as it runs, for ever will run on.
Caesar (the man of expedition above all others) was so far from this
folly, that whensoever in a journey he was to cross any river, he
never went one foot out of his way for a bridge, or a ford, or a
ferry; but flung himself into it immediately, and swam over; and
this is the course we ought to imitate if we meet with any stops in
our way to happiness. Stay till the waters are low, stay till some
boats come by to transport you, stay till a bridge be built for you;
you had even as good stay till the river be quite past. Persius
(who, you used to say, you do not know whether he be a good poet or
no, because you cannot understand him, and whom, therefore, I say, I
know to be not a good poet) has an odd expression of these
procrastinations, which, methinks, is full of fancy.
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