The Deeds of Wiprecht

Power Impatient!

because all power was always impatient with a partner,
Provided with these and many other estates and benefices (which it would be tedious to enumerate one by one), he gained extraordinary praise among the nobles of this province for his strength and integrity. But because praise accompanies strength and envy praise, many of the princes pursued him with manifest hatred, for all power is impatient with a partner.

Analysis

This Latin proverb of unknown origin (omnis potestas impatiens consortis est) appears twice in the text, the first time as a solitary insertion, the second intertwined with the theme of envy, which runs through the opening sections of the text and also appears as an inserted gloss later.