John Trapp on Proverbs 26:17-18

Verſ. 17. He that paſſeth by and medleth, &c.] Two kind of ſtudies have I alwayes hated (ſaith one) ſtudium partium, & ſtudius novarum rerum. They that enter ſtrife without calling (ſaith another) doe commonly hazzard themſelves into trouble without comfort. This was Jehoſaphats folly at Jabeſh Gilead, and (as ſome think) Joſiah's when he went up againſt Pharah Necho: thinking thereby to ingratiate with the Aſſyrian, Pharaohs profeſt enemy. It is from idleneſs uſually, that men are thus buſie in other mens matters, without thank, or other benefit. 1 Tim. 5.13. and 1 Theſſ. 4.11. and therefore this Proverb fitly follows the former. Howbeit this is not alwayes true: for charity may move men to interpoſe for a right underſtanding, and a good accord betwixt diſagreeing parties. Neither in this caſe muſt a man affect to be held no medler, ſith bleſſed are the peace-makers. And though it bee for moſt part a thankleſs office (for if a man have two friends, he oft loſeth one of them) yet our reward is with God: and if by ſeeking to part the ſcuffle, we derive ſome blows upon our ſelves, yet the Euge of a good conſcience will ſalve that well enough. That which is here forbidden, is, for a man to make himſelf a party and maintain one ſide againſt another. And yet where it is for God and his truth, this may be done too: as when Queen Elizabeth not only ſate as Umpire betwixt the Spaniard, French, and Hollanders (ſo as ſhe might well have taken up that ſaying of her Father,Camdens Eliz. 196. Cuiadhaereo, praeeſt, He whom I ſide with, carries it) but afterwards, when ſhe ſaw her time, undertook the protection of the Netherlanders againſt the Spaniard: wherein all Princes admired her fortitude; and the King of Sweden ſaid, that ſhe had now taken the Diadem from her head, and ſet it upon the doubtful chance of war.Ibid. This was done, Anno 1585.

Is like one that taketh a Dog by the ears] Where he loves not to bee handled, but about the neck rather. The Dutch have a like Proverb, To take a dogge by the tayl. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. The Greeks, To take a Lion by the beard, or a Bear by the tooth, to thruſt ones hand into a Waſpes-neſt, to ſtir up a Scorpion, &c.