small, but each produces great effect; and in v. 5, in both halves, James emphasizes this fundamentum comparationis not once but twice: “the tongue is a little member … how much forest (or, growing timber) a little fire sets ablaze.” With the correct text and interpretation, v. 6 (q.v.) explains the tongue’s multum in parvo power again quite clearly. Bit and rudder are useful inventions; the tongue is by nature pregnant with evil. This was a truism in Greek, and, more than in other oriental traditions,