JOHN FLORIO, SHAKESPEARE, AND PROVERBS

Hi everyone and welcome back to John Florio channel! Today I want to talk about a topic that has been discussed several times and connects Shakespeare and Florio. This topic is very important and I would like to give an exhaustive explanation behind this connection Florio, John Florio was the master of Proverbs. He published a collection of Proverbs in 1591, a collection of 6,000 Italian Proverbs. He also included Proverbs in his first fruits and second and unlike his predecessors, Florio did something unique. Why? He believed that Proverbs could be included in everyday conversation, so molded in the dialogues. And this is something new that he created and that we find in Florio's works and in Shakespeare. Both Florio and Shakespeare were obsessed with Proverbs and we will see how both Florio and Shakespeare translated in English many Italian Proverbs that are still used today in Italy. So, Florio's predecessors published collections of Proverbs. What made Florio different from the others was quantity. His collection of Proverbs was the biggest collection of Proverbs ever published. Second, the unique technique that Florio used was to mold and include Proverbs in everyday conversation. So, basically characters talking to each other and suddenly they add a This is also something unique that connects Florio to Shakespeare because unlike Shakespeare's contemporaries, Florio too was obsessed with Proverbs and there aren't other writers, other dramatists who use Proverbs so frequently as Shakespeare and Florio did or if they did not as much as Shakespeare and Florio. Certainly, Florio used Proverbs in everyday conversation in his life and he wanted to transport, transmit this Italian culture of Proverbs. So, he did by publishing a collection of Proverbs and by translating Italian Proverbs in English, including these Proverbs in English everyday conversation. And this is what Shakespeare does. We will see today the stunning similarity between Florio's Proverbs and Shakespeare's Proverbs. Keep in mind that 90% if not all the Proverbs that you find in Shakespeare's works are borrowed from Florio's works. Let's make some examples. Fast buy, fast find. This is Florio in Second Fruits and Shakespeare in Merchants of Venice writes Fast buy, fast find. A proverb will never stay in Trifton's mind. All the glitters is not gold, Florio writes in Second Fruits and Shakespeare in Merchants of Venice writes All the glitters is not gold, golden tones do dust and fold. It is good to strike the arrow when it is hot. This is an Italian proverb that is still used today commonly. The Italian proverb is This is also what Shakespeare writes in Herod the Sixth. Strike now as the arrow cools. More water flows by the mill than the miller knows, Florio again in Second Fruits and Shakespeare to Debus Andronicus writes More water glitters by the mill than works the miller of. When the cat is a-brown, the mice play. Play the mouse in absence of the cat. A new weed grows apace. Shakespeare in Richard the Third. Small hives have grazed, but weeds do grow apace. Make of necessity virtue. This is also an Italian proverb. Faro vivi tu necessità and Shakespeare in Two Keep in mind that there are not just proverbs that here I included in this presentation. I wrote proverbs but there are also witty aphorisms, catching phrases that Florio wrote and that we find in Shakespeare. This is an example. Give losers leave to speak. This is not exactly a proverb. This is just a catching phrase and Shakespeare in Herod the Sixth writes But I can give the losers leave to cheat and where such losers may have leave to speak. Basically the same concept, the same idea that Florio wrote. It is love's loss to speak of love. Again this is not a proverb. This is just an ingenious phrase and Shakespeare takes as a title Love's Love's Loss. Much ado about nothing. This is a proverb that is still used today in Italy. Florio writes it in English and Shakespeare takes as a title Much ado about nothing. This is an example of a translation from Italian to English of a typical Italian proverb. This is also very common today. Tutto bene, qualche finisce bene. It's still used today nowadays in Italy and Shakespeare takes as a title All's well, ends well. Lombardy is the garden of the world. This is not a proverb. This is a witty saying. It's just a catchy phrase and Shakespeare in the Taming of the Shrew writes I am arrived for fruitful Lombardy, the pleasant garden of great Italy. This is a famous one. Florio's Second Fruits writes Venizia Venizia, chi non ti vede non ti prezia, ma chi ti vede veni costa. And Shakespeare's Love's Love's Loss writes A me sei Venizia Venizia, chi non ti vede non ti prezia. O Mantua, who understands not, loves not. Florio writes the same proverbs about Venice also in First Fruits in a slightly different way. Venice, he who see it not, Christ not. But he who see it, it cost him dear. And this is the same proverb that Shakespeare used in Love's Love's Loss. It makes me laugh that some Shakespeare scholars brought that since Shakespeare borrowed this proverb from Florio's works, then all fairness was Florio's. But what about other proverbs that we have seen before? So Florio should be the other characters in Shakespeare's plays just because Shakespeare borrowed that proverb, that which he's saying from Florio? It doesn't make any sense, does it? Now, this is an interesting one. It's a sexual innuendo, a sexual reference, that Florio writes in Giardino delle Creazioni d'Italia, in Collection of Proverbs. And he writes Falla bestia a due dossi, which is an image that has a sexual reference. And Shakespeare translates literally the same phrase in Otello, the beast with two backs. These are just some examples of the similarities between Florio's proverbs with the same fancy quotations that we find in Shakespeare's plays. But Shakespeare, as Florio, was obsessed about proverbs. And he also makes references to proverbs in his plays. Let's make some examples. Thereof comes the proverbs, Blessing on your heart, you brew good ale, In to gentlemen of Verona, in Hamlet, While the grass grows, the proverb is somewhat musty, In Macbeth, like the poor cat in that age, In Romeo and Juliet, I am proverbed with a grand side phrase. So, not just include proverbs, with the same technique that Florio used for the first time in his works, include proverbs in the dialogue and more than naturally in the speech, but also references to proverbs in his plays. There are also many publications, many books that discuss Shakespeare's obsession toward proverbs. And how this is something unique, connected to Shakespeare's style. These are just three examples of books that are about Shakespeare and proverbial language. It is very telling that there are so many books that discuss Shakespeare and proverbial language, literally zero books that discuss John Florio and proverbial language, who was the one who introduced this culture of proverbs in England through his works. I hope that you liked this presentation in which I showed you some examples of similarities between Florio's proverbs, aphorisms, witty sayings and Shakespeare. There are many, many others and I'll probably make other videos to show you other examples. Let me know if you have comments, if you have suggestions, if you have questions and stay resonant. Bye!