But the gods, I think, make sure that, when people have arrogant expectations, the outcome is the opposite of what they had hoped.
ἀλλ', οἶμαι, τὸ δαιμόνιον ὥσπερ ἐπίτηδες τοῖς ὑπερηφάνως διαλογιζομένοις τὸ τέλος τῶν κατελπισθέντων εἰς τοὐναντίον μετατίθησιν.
"A peculiar anthologic maze, an amusing literary chaos, a farrago of quotations, a mere olla podrida of quaintness, a pot pourri of pleasant delites, a florilegium of elegant extracts, a tangled fardel of old-world flowers of thought, a faggot of odd fancies, quips, facetiae, loosely tied" (Holbrook Jackson, Anatomy of Bibliomania) by a "laudator temporis acti," a "praiser of time past" (Horace, Ars Poetica 173).
Pages
▼
Wednesday, February 01, 2023
The Unexpected
Diodorus Siculus 20.13.3 (tr. Robin Waterfield):