E. M. Cope, Commentary on the Rhetoric of Aristotle

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‘Some proverbs also are γνῶμαι; for example, “an Attic neighbour” is a proverb (and also may be used as a γνώμη）’. νήπιος ὅς κ.τ.λ. is quoted as a proverb in I 15. 14; here it is a γνώμη. It may be added to the list of Trench's ‘immoral proverbs’, On Proverbs, p. 82 seq.

On the παροιμία, its definition and character, see Erasmus, Adag. Introd.: and Trench, “on the lessons in Proverbs.”

What sort of neighbour an Attic neighbour was, may be best gathered from the description of the Athenian character drawn by the Corinthians, and contrasted with that of their Lacedaemonian rivals, in their speech at the Congress at Sparta. Thuc. I 70. The restless, excitable, intriguing spirit, the love of novelty and foreign adventure, the sanguine temper, quick wit, and daring audacity, therein described, must necessarily have made them the most troublesome and dangerous of neighbours; ever ready to interfere in their neighbours' affairs, and form schemes of aggrandisement at their neighbours' expense. Another proverb of the same kind is mentioned by Schrader as having been applied to the Franks, Francum amicum habeas, vicinum non habeas: it is found in Eginherd's Life of Charlemagne. Gibbon also refers to it, without naming his authority. In the 10th century at Constantinople, “a proverb, that the Franks were good friends and bad neighbours, was in every one's mouth.” Decline and Fall, ch. XLIX. Vol. IV. p. 509 (Murray, 1846).