The Adagia
is a collection of Roman and Greek proverbs compiled by Erasmus and first
published in 1500, one of which is:
Figulus figulō
invidet, faber fabrō │ The potter envieth the potter, the
smith the smith
The original Elizabethan explanation of this is as follows …
The Englishe
man pronounceth this Proverbe in this sort: The potter enuyeth the potter,
ye smythe ye smythe. Assuredly where men exercise one science, there
comonly the lykenes of the science doth rather gender hart brenyng then it
dothe loue or beneuolence.
A more concise interpretation appeared in 1814:
“Two of a trade can never agree” each of them fearing to be excelled by his rival.
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