Laudator Temporis Acti

Horace, Odes 3.25.12-14:

To me, off the path, / it is pleasing to marvel at / rocks and deserted woods.

mihi devio / rupes et vacuum nemus / mirari libet.

rupes Muretus] ripas

Horace has strayed off (de) the beaten path (via), away from the strait and narrow. The Oxford Latin Dictionary, s.v. devius, gives the following senses:

1 (of places, etc.) Out-of-the-way, remote. b living or situated in a remote part; living in seclusion, sequestered. c [neut. pl. as sb.] remote parts or places.

2 Wandering off the road, straying; turning or swerving aside.

3 (of persons or conduct) Deviating from a straight course, erratic, inconstant.

We get English devious from Latin devius. The Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. devious, gives the following meanings:

1. Lying out of the way; off the high or main road; remote, distant, retired, sequestered.

2. Departing from the direct way; pursuing a winding or straying course; circuitous. b. Of persons or moving bodies: Following a winding or erratic course; rambling, roving.

3. fig. Deviating or swerving from the straight way; erring, straying.

4. quasi-adv. With wandering or straying course.

Asher Brown Durand, Kindred Spirits