Erasmus, Adagia 1.41
A Pig Has Undertaken a Contest with Minerva
This saying is the same or at least as close as possible to what we read in Theocritus’ Travelers: Ὗς ποτ᾽ Ἀθηναίαν ἔριν ἤρισε, that is, A pig has dared to compete with the goddess Minerva. How often the uneducated and the stupid and those prepared for a fight are not afraid to provoke the most eminent men in every discipline to a literary contest. The interpreter of Theocritus says that this saying is circulated among the common people thus: Ὗς ὢν πρὸς Ἀθήνην ἐρίζεις, that is, Though you are a pig, you contend with Minerva. Some scholiast or other adds that those are said to ἐρίζειν who contend with words, and those who content with facts are said to ἐρείδειν. So it’s all the more ridiculous if an unteachable pig vies with Minerva, the custodian of learning.
1.41
SVS CVM MINERVA CERTAMEN SVSCEPIT
Cum hoc aut idem aut certe quam maxime finitimum, quod apud Theocritum legitur in Hodoeporis: Ὗς ποτ᾽ Ἀθηναίαν ἔριν ἤρισε, id est Cum diua est ausus sus decertare Minerua. Quoties indocti stolidique et depugnare parati non verentur summos in omni doctrina viros in certamen literarium prouocare. Theocriti enarrator sic efferri vulgo παροιμίαν scribit: Ὗς ὢν πρὸς Ἀθήνην ἐρίζεις, id est Sus cum sis, cum Minerua contendis. Scholiastes nescio quis addit eos ἐρίζειν dici, qui verbis certant, ἐρείδειν, qui factis, quo magis ridiculum est, si sus indocilis certet cum Minerua disciplinarum praeside.
