SECRECY SECRECY
January grey is here,
Like a sexton by her grave;
February bears the bier,
March with grief doth howl and rave,
And April weeps—but, O ye hours!
Follow with May's fairest flowers.
Ah! well away!
Seasons flower and fade.
SECRECY
For this thing was not done in a corner.
A man can hide all things, excepting twain—
That he is drunk, and that he is in love.
Antiphanes—Fragmenta. See Meineke's
Fragmenta Comicorum Grcecorum. Vol. III.
P. 3. Seq. Also in Didot's Poet. Com. Grce.
P. 407.
When we desire to confine our words, we
commonly say they are spoken under the rose.
Sib Thomas Browne—Vulgar Errors. Of
Speaking Under the Rose.—Pseudodoxia.
. 23.
Est rosa flos Veneris cujus quo furta laterent.
As given in Burmann's Anthohgia. Bk. V.
. (1778)
Sub rosa. Under the rose (i.e., secretly).
The rose was emblematic of secrecy with the
ancients. Cupid bribed Harpocrates, god of
silence, with a rose, not to divulge the amours of
Venus. Hence a host hung a rose over his tables
that bis guests might know that under it words
spoken were to remain secret. Harpocrates is
Horus, god of the rising sun.
Found in Gregory Nazianzen—Carmen. Vol.
H. P. 27. (Ed. 1611)
| seealso = (See also Swift)
For thre may kepe a counsel, if twain be awaie.
Chaucer—The Ten Commandments of Love.
41. Herbert—Jacula Prudentum. Heywood—Proverbs. Pt. II. Ch. V.
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>The secret things belong unto the Lord our God.
Deuteronomy. XXIX. 29.
Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead.
Benj. Franklin—Poor Richard. (1735)
| seealso = (See also Chaucer)
| topic =
| page = 695
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>As witnesses that the things were not done in
a corner.
Gen. Thomas Harrison—Defence at his trial.
Account of the Trial of Twenty Regicides.
(1660) P. 39.
| seealso = (See also {{sc|Acts)
Arcanum neque tu scrutaveris ullius unquam, commissumve teges et vino tortus et ira.
Never inquire into another man's secret;
but conceal that which is intrusted to you,
though pressed both by wine and anger to
reveal it.
Horace—Epistles. I. 18. 37.
There is a skeleton on every house.
Saying from story in Italian Tales of Humour,
Gallantry and Romance.
L'on confie son secret dans l'amitie mais il
e;happe dans l'amour.
We trust our secrets to our friends, but they
escape from us in love.
La Bruyère—Les Caractères. IV.
u
Toute revelation d'un secret est la faute de
celui qui l'a confie
When a secret is revealed, it is the fault of the man who confided it.
La Bruyère—Les Caractères. V.
Rien ne pese tant qu'un secret:
Le porter loin est difficile aux dames;
Et je sais m&ne sur ce fait
Bon nombre d'hommes que sont femmes.
Nothing is so oppressive as a secret: women
find it difficult to keep one long; and I know a
goodly number of men who are women in this
La Fontaine—Fables. VIII. 6.
How can we expect another to keep our
secret if we cannot keep it ourselves.
La Rochefoucauld—Maxims. No. 90.
Vitae poscsnia celant.
Men conceal the past scenes of their lives.
Lucretius—Re Rerum Natura. IV. 1,182.
Nothing is secret which shall not be made
manifest.
Luke. VEIL 17.
I have play'd the fool, the gross fool, to believe
The bosom of a friend will hold a secret
Mine own could not contain.
| author = Massinger
| work = Unnatural Combat. Act V. Sc.
2.
A secret at home is like rocks under tide.
D. M. Mulock—Magnus and Morna. Sc. 2.
Wer den kleinsten Theil eines Geheimnisses
hingibt, hat den andem nicht mehr in der
Gewalt.
He who gives up the smallest part of a secret
has the rest no longer in his power.
Jean Paul Richter—Titon. Zykel 123.
Tell it not in Gath; publish it not in the streets
of Askelon.
II Samuel. I. 20.
Alium silere quod voles, primus sile.
If you wish another to keep your secret,
first keep it yourself.
Seneca—Hippolytus. 876. Also St. Martin
ofr
Latere semper patere, quod latuit diu.
Leave in concealment what has long been
concealed.
Seneca—Œdipus. 826.
