On The Meaning of “mus in pice”

I chose “mus in pice” as the title of this blog for reasons I will explain shortly. One thing I did not foresee then was that I would end up with the top hits on Google for this expression. Now I feel responsible for it and I worry that I'm making it difficult for people wishing to know what it means to do just that. This is my attempt at making things right.

“Mus in pice” is a Latin phrase meaning “a mouse in pitch” — the Latin word for “pitch” is pix (picis; f.) by the way. I came across it reading Michel de Montaigne's Essays (complete text in English from Project Gutenberg and in French from the Project for American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language). The passage in question is from Book III, Chapter XIII, “Of Experience”:

Men misconceive the natural disease of their mind: it does nothing but ferret and inquire and keeps whirling about, pilling things up, and wrapping itself in its own handiwork, like our silkworms, until it suffocates. “Mus in pice.” It believes it spotted some pretense of clarity and imaginary truth; but as it runs towards it so many obstacles stand in its way, so many difficulties and so many new questions, that they misguide it and confuse it.

The expression itself predates Montaigne and seems to be in fact a classical adage, “getting stuck like a mouse in pitch.” Montaigne uses it in a particular context, that of our endless curiosity, the “natural disease of [the] mind,” but it could just as easily apply to our thirst for material goods.

I have always liked this expression as it describes me pretty well so it seemed appropriate to use it when I was looking for a title for this blog. It's even more appropriate if you think that blogs are by nature one of the worst kinds of information “pitch” there is. I felt then that “mus in pice” applied not just to me individually but also to me as a participant in this giant broacasting mess we call blogs.