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
