[Editor: This is a chapter from The Eureka Stockade by Raffaello Carboni. A glossary has been provided to explain various words and phrases that may be unfamiliar to modern readers.]
XLIII.
La volpe cambia il pelo, ma non la pelle;
Cambia la pelle il serpe, non il veleno:
Il cane non abbaia col ventre pieno;
Vestesi il lupo in pecora tra liagnelle.
Antica storia;
Ma senza gloria.
By this time, the main road was crowded. The men were anxiously waiting to know our success. Mr. Black calmed their excitement as kindly as circumstances admitted. We returned to our camp at the Eureka. Mr. Black rendered an account of our mission with that candour which characterises him as a gentleman. I wished to correct him in one point only, and said, my impression was, that the Camp, choked with red-coats, would quash Mr. Rede’s “good judgment,” get the better of his sense, if he had any of either, and that he would come out licence-hunting on an improved style.
Peter Lalor adjourned the meeting to five o’clock in the morning.
Source:
Raffaello Carboni. The Eureka Stockade: The Consequence of Some Pirates Wanting on Quarter-Deck a Rebellion, Public Library of South Australia, Adelaide, 1962 [facsimile of the 1855 edition], page 57
Editor’s notes:
[Regarding the chapter heading:]
*la volpe cambia il pelo, ma non la pelle = (Italian) “the fox changes the hair, but not skin” (*rough translation) [from the Italian proverb “il lupo il pelo cambia ma non il vizio” (“the wolf may change his coat but not his vice/s”)]
*cambia la pelle il serpe, non il veleno = (Italian) “change the skin the snake, not the poison” (*rough translation)
*il cane non abbaia col ventre pieno = (Italian) “the dog does not bark with a full belly” (*rough translation)
*vestesi il lupo in pecora tra liagnelle [vesti il lupo in pecora tra li agnelle] = (Italian) “the wolf in sheep’s clothing among them lambs” (*rough translation)
*antica storia = (Italian) “ancient history” (*rough translation)
*ma senza Gloria = (Italian) “but without glory” (*rough translation)
References:
la volpe cambia il pelo, ma non la pelle:
Niccolo Amenta. Della Lingua Nobile d’Italia e del Modo di Leggiadramente Scrivere in essa non che di Perfettamente Parlare” [The Noble Language of Italy . . .], Antonia Muzio, Napoli [Naples, Italy], 1723, page 91 (“La Volpe cambia il pelo, ma non la pelle, La Vipera cambia laspoglia, via non lafeia il veleno” is located on the 8th and 9th last lines of the page) (accessed 8 January 2013)
Joseph Ricapito. “The Wisdom of Proverbs: Proverbs from Italy in Italian and in dialect from Giovinazzo in Apulia”, The Center for Technology-Enhanced Language Learning and Instruction, School of Languages and Cultures, Purdue University (accessed 8 January 2013)
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