hic, phas si sit adhuc hora subsistere parva,
omnia nota dabit philosophia michi,
ac cum prodiero, puto me sapientior inter
terrigenas omnes non erit unus homo.
pectore clausa meo latet orbita totius anni,
sic quoque siderei fabrica tota poli,
lumina magna duo complector vi rationis,
nec sensus fugient astra minora meos.
sed neque me signa possent duodena latere,
quas vires habeant, quas et arena maris.
flatus ventorum bene cognovi variorum,
cuilibet et morbo quae medicina valet;[1]
vires herbarum bene cognovi variarum,
et quae sit volucrum vis simul et lapidum,
septem per partes cognovi quaslibet artes;
si foret hic Catho cederet atque Plato.
quid dicam plura? novi bene singula jura,
caesareas leges hic studui varias.
qualiter et fraudes vitare queam muliebres,[2]
gratulor hoc isto me didicisse loco.
hic totum didici, quod totus continet orbis,
hoc totum saccus continet iste meus;
nobilis hic saccus precioso dignior ostro,
de cujus gremio gratia tanta fluit.
si semel intrares, daret experientia nosse
hic quantum saccus utilitatis habet."
In a negro story, wisdom is shut up in a sack which is tied fast; a weasel opens it and takes some for himself (Kölle, No. 10.)
Told by Hans Sachs, (4. 3. 152, 153, Kempt, edit.). It verges on the popular jests. The rejuvenation of aged people as well as the unsuccessful attempts to imitate it, forcibly recalls the Greek fable of Medea, Æson, and Pelias. The story is also in Hans Folz. See Haupt's Zeitschrift, 8. 537. In Norwegian, see Asbjörnsen, p. 537.
Related by Hans Sachs in the year 1557. (Kempt, edit. 1. 5. 1006-1007). The wolves as God's dogs coincide strikingly with the dogs of Odin (Vidris, grey), which are likewise wolves. For putting in other eyes, comp. The Three Army Surgeons (No. 118). The marking the time by the phrase, "when the leaves fall," viz. in autumn, is still usual in Switzerland; there they say, "until the
