SCYLLA & CHARYBDIS
"-Monsieur de la Palisse, Stephen sneered, was alive fifteen minutes before his death." (U9.16)
In French, a 'Vérité de la Palisse' (or 'La Palissade') is a self-evident truth, as in the following verse:
"Monsieur de la Palisse is dead,
he died before Pavie,
Fifteen minutes before his death,
he was still quite alive.
He was by sorry fate
wounded by a cruel hand
Since he died of it, we fear
the wound was a mortal one."
