Say What? No man can serve two masters/You can't run with the hare and hunt with the hounds

[chiroho.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the latest episode of "Say What?" This time we'll be looking at two sayings that speak to how it's impossible to effectively divide your loyalties.


No man can serve two masters

Like many proverbs, our first example is drawn from the Bible:

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve both God and mammon. (Matthew 6:24, King James Version)

The proverb in question makes up only the first part of the verse, but the rest provides a greater insight into the true meaning. And while the Greek word douleuō, translated into the English serve, indicates the work of a slave who must give their master exclusive service, the meaning is clear in that it is impossible to effectively serve two masters. This is especially true when, as in the verse, serving those masters may require entirely different priorities.

Although the King James Version was published in 1611, the Bible's first consistent Latin translation was published in the 4th Century. By the 13th Century that translation was known as the versio vulgata, or 'commonly used translation'. So it makes sense that the first published use of the proverb in English would pre-date the KJV, and was in the 1330 book Political Songs by T. Wright, which reads:

No man may wel serve tweie lordes to queme [please]

Even though I don't have any idea what a book of political songs might be about, it's obvious that even back in the 1300s there was an implicit understanding that politicians couldn't both maintain their seats in office while effectively serving the people. =D

Seriously, this proverb isn't difficult to work into your stories since the concept of not being able to effectively serve two potentially conflicting goals exists today.

"Jenny, whatever you're doing with Tony is wearing him out," Gibbs said, storming into the Director's office unannounced.
Director Sheppard looked up at him over her glasses. "That project is classified, Jethro. You don't need to know."
"I do when it's one of my team members," Gibbs replied brusquely. "No man can serve two masters, and you know it."

You cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hounds

While our first proverb was about serving, the second is about being on both sides of a position -- in this case the hare that is running away from the hounds that are hunting it. The meaning of the saying is obvious given the physical impossibility of doing both these things, but the saying is also used in the metaphorical phrase to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds, which implies someone is trying to do both things. In fact, the first time the proverb is used in print, in J. Lydgate's Minor Poems from 1449, is in that metaphorical sense:

He... holdeth both with hounde and hare.

In fact, it wasn't until 1975 in Women in Wall by J. O'Faolain that we see proverb as it is written above:

Clotair's henchmen say: 'You cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.' The peasants have an even clearer way of putting this: 'You cannot', they say, 'side with the cow and the clover'.

This one might be a little more difficult to work into your stories simply because it doesn't really sound like something that would be said by someone outside the British aristocracy. However, that doesn't mean it's impossible:

McGee was in a quandary. Ever since finding out that his sister was a suspect in their latest case, all he'd wanted to do was be there for her. A proverb he'd once read definitely applied to his situation: 'you cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hounds'. Eventually he'd have to choose a side because Gibbs and the rest of the team definitely represented the hounds, and his sister was very much the hare.

And that about wraps things up. While both sayings have a very similar meaning -- that of not being able to divide your loyalties between two masters, tasks, or conflicting situations -- the first is definitely something which you'll find easier to use. Of course, maybe your stories are ideally suited for something a little more refined, and in that case the second may be more appropriate. Either way, I hope that this helps with your future writing.


Sources
Simpson, John and Speake, Jennifer. A Dictionary of Proverbs, Oxford University Press, 2008.