Who said this? "One work is best completed by one"

[Christusregnat]

Beza cites a saying that I'm having trouble finding.

Beza is explaining the church's duty to teach the civil laws before they are officially recognized, and he cites the following saying:


unum autem opus (ut rectè dixit quidam) ab uno optimè perficitur



This roughly translates to:

but one work (how rightly a certain one has said) is best completed by one



Does anyone have any clue whom Beza is citing? Has anyone read anything like this in classical literature, among the schoolmen or fathers, or among contemporary 16th century scholars?

Thanks,

 

[JennyG]

Adrian says, apologies, but he doesn't recognize it
From the way it's phrased he would expect it to be from an author who was very widely read and generally known - such as Cicero, Seneca or Jerome - sorry that doesn't give much to go on!

 

[Christusregnat]

Adrian says, apologies, but he doesn't recognize it
From the way it's phrased he would expect it to be from an author who was very widely read and generally known - such as Cicero, Seneca or Jerome - sorry that doesn't give much to go on!

As usual, pass on my gratitude! I'll try some narrower searches. I figured it was common parlance, based on how Beza said it, but I'll do a little deeper dig.

Praying for Adrian!

Cheers,

 

[Christusregnat]

Hello All,

With the help of a Huguenot from my home state, I was able to locate the precise location of this quotation:

Aristotle, Politics II.XI: "Surely work is best done when one task is performed by one man."

Cheers,

 

[JennyG]

Brilliant! felicitations on finding the exact quote!

 

[Herald]

I just said it.

Green Acres is the place to be. Faaaaaaarm living is the life for me.

 

[Christusregnat]

Brilliant! felicitations on finding the exact quote!

Jenny,

Well, to be honest with you, the Latin manuscript that I found quoting Aristotle used slightly different wording than Beza

Then again, since Aristotle wrote in Greek, it's possible that Beza was using an exact quotation from a different translation.

Thanks again for all of your help! We're still praying for Adrian!

Cheers,