Chapter Vindicate to Virgil of V by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

disenchant us; there's a “daisy” to caution you against expecting that such wanton love as yours will endure long; I would have given you a “violet” if I could, but now that my father is killed all of you are blood-guilty. (Shakespeare: Hamlet, iv. 5.)

Violet (Corporal). Napoleon Bonaparte. When Bonaparte was banished to Elba he told his friends he would return with the violets, and “Corporal Violet” was the favourite toast of his partisans. When he broke his parole and reached Frejus, a gang of women assembled with violets, which were freely sold. The shibboleth was, “Do you like violets?” If the answer given was “Oui,” the person was known not to be a confederate; but if the answer was “Eh bien,” the respondent was recognised as an adherent.
Violet- Crowned City Aristophne calls Athens $$$ (Equites, 1323 and 1329), and again in the Acharnians, 637. Macaulay uses the phrase, “city of the violet crown.” Ion (a violet) was a representative king of Athens, whose four sons gave names to the four Athenian classes; and Greece in Asia Minor was called “Ionia.” Athens was the city of Ion, crowned king, and hence the “Ion crowned” or violet-crowned.
   Similarly Paris is called the “City of Lilies,” by a pun on the word Louis (lys, a lily).

Violin The following musicians are very celebrated: Arcangelo Corelli, noted for the melodious tones he produced (1653-1713); Pierre Gaviniés, native of Bordeaux, founder of the French school of violinists, noted for the sweetness of his tones (1722-1800); Nicolo Paganini, whose mastery over the instrument has never been equalled, especially known for his musical feats on one string (1784-1840); Gaetan Pugnani, of Turin, founder of the Italian school of violinists; his playing was “wild, noble, and sublime” (1727-1803); Giuseppe Tartini, of Padua, whose performance was plaintive but full of grace (1698-1770); G. B. Viotti, of Piedmont, whose playing was noted for grandeur and audacity, fire and excitement (1753-1824). (See Cremonas. )
   The best makers of violins. Gaspar di Salo (1560-1610); Nicholas Amati, of Cremona (1596-1684); Antonio Stradivari, his pupil (1670-1728); Joseph A. Guarneri (1683-1745). Almost equal. Joseph Steiner (1620- 1667); Matthias Klotz (1650-1696). (See Fiddle.)

Violon' A temporary prison. Galignani says: “In the time of Louis XI. the Salle-de-Perdus was so full of turbulent clerks and students that the bailiff of the palace shut many up in the lower room of the conciergerie (prison) while the courts were sitting; but as they were guilty of no punishable offence, he allowed them a violin to wile away the tedium of their temporary captivity.”
   M. Génin says the seven penitential psalms were called in the Middle Ages the psalterion, and to put one to penance was in French expressed by mettre au psalterion. As the psaltery was an instrument of music, some witty Frenchman changed psalterion to violon, and in lieu of mettre au psalterion wrote mettre au violon.

“A prisonnier et lui furent mis au salterion.”
Antiquités Nationales de Millin, iv. p. 6.

Viper and File The biter bit. AEsop says a viper found a file, and tried to bite it, under the supposition that it was good food; but the file said that its province was to bite others, and not to be bitten. (See Serpent. ) The viper of real life does not bite or masticate its food, but swallows it whole.

“I fawned and smiled to plunder and betray,
Myself betrayed and plundered all the while;
So gnawed the viper the corroding file.”
Beattie: Minstrel.

“Thus he realised the moral of the fable: the viper sought to bite the file, but broke his own teeth.”- The Times.

Virgil In the Gesta Romanorum Virgil is represented as a mighty but benevolent enchanter. This is the character that Italian tradition always gives him, and it is this traditional character that furnishes Dante with his conception of making Virgil his guide through the infernal regions. From the AEneid grammarians illustrated their rules, rhetoricians selected the subjects of their declamations, and Christians looked on the poet as half-inspired; hence the use of his poems in divination. (See Sortes Virgilianae. )
    Dante makes Virgil the personification of human wisdom, Beatrice of that wisdom which comes of faith, and St. Bernard of spiritual wisdom. Virgil conducts Dante through the Inferno, Beatrice through Purgatory, and St. Bernard through Paradise
    Virgil was wise, and as craft was considered a part of wisdom, especially over-reaching the spirits of evil, so he is represented by mediaeval writers as out- witting the demon. On one occasion, it is said, he saw an imp in a hole of a mountain, and the imp promised to teach the poet the black art if he released him. Virgil did so, and after learning all the imp