Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad

Last updated

The saying Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad, sometimes given in Latin as Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat (literally: Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first deprives of reason) or Quem Iuppiter vult perdere, dementat prius (literally: Those whom Jupiter wishes to destroy, he first deprives of reason) has been used in English literature since at least the 17th century. Although sometimes falsely attributed to Euripides, the phrase does have classical Greek antecedents.

Contents

The phrase "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad" first appears in English in exactly this form in the Reverend William Anderson Scott's book Daniel, a Model for Young Men (1854) and is attributed to a "heathen proverb." The phrase later appears in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Masque of Pandora" (1875) and other places.

Classical origins

An early version of the phrase Whom the gods would destroy... appears in verses 620–623 of Sophocles' play Antigone : τὸ κακὸν δοκεῖν ποτ᾽ ἐσθλὸν τῷδ᾽ ἔμμεν' ὅτῳ φρένας θεὸς ἄγει πρὸς ἄταν; translated "Evil appears as good in the minds of those whom god leads to destruction."

Plato's Republic (380a) quotes a fragment attributed to Aeschylus (but otherwise unattested): θεὸς μὲν αἰτίαν φύει βροτοῖς, / ὅταν κακῶσαι δῶμα παμπήδην θέλῃ; [1] translated "A god implants the guilty cause in men / When he would utterly destroy a house." [2]

17th- and 18th-century use

In the 17th century the phrase was used in the neo-Latin form Quem Iuppiter vult perdere, dementat prius (Whom Jupiter would ruin, he first makes mad); [3] in a Christianized Greek version, iuppiter was replaced by "lord" as in μωραίνει Κύριος ον βούλεται απολέσαι . Benjamin Franklin quotes this phrase in his essay "On Civil War", delivered to the printer of the London Public Advertiser, August 25, 1768.

A prior Latin version is Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat ( Life of Samuel Johnson , 1791) but this involves God, not "the gods".

Jean-Jacques Rousseau quotes this phrase in The Confessions in the form of Quos vult perdere Jupiter dementet (Whom Jupiter destroys, he first make mad), authored in 1769 but published in 1782.

Modern usage

The phrase is used towards the end of Act 5 of Nikolai Gogol's Russian play The Government Inspector (1836), by the Mayor when he and other characters realise how they have been deceived by Khlestakov. [4]

"Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad" is quoted as a "heathen proverb" in Daniel, a Model for Young Men (1854) by the Reverend William Anderson Scott (1813-1885). [5]

Brigham Young quoted the phrase in a discourse delivered on March 16, 1856, attributing it as an "ancient proverb". [6]

Leo Tolstoy uses the latin sentence “Quos vult perdere dementat” in reference to Napoleon, closing the second chapter of the third book of his 1869 novel War and Peace .

In Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1868 novel The Idiot , in a garbled account of the loss of 400 roubles in part 3 chapter 9, Lukyan Timofeich Lebedev tells Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin "Truly, when God wishes to punish a man, he first deprives him of reason." [7]

In American literature, the character of Prometheus speaks the phrase: Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad in the poem "The Masque of Pandora" (1875), by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. [8]

W. Somerset Maugham uses the phrase in his short story "Mackintosh" (1921), leaving the Latin as an untranslated warning from the protagonist: Quem deus vult perdere prius dementat.

Adolf Hitler uses the phrase in his 1922 speech "Freedom or Slavery" at the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich, Germany.

Sri Lankan Sinhala Catholic priest Father Simon Gregory Perera, S. J. utilizes the phrase untranslated in reference to the belief of Portuguese colonialists that the loss of Sri Lanka to the Dutch was divine punishment. [9]

"Whom the gods destroy, they first make mad" Emily Brent, in the 1945 movie "And Then There Were None" based on the Agatha Christie play "Ten Little Indians". About 33:20 minutes into the film.

This phrase was also used by British politician (and classicist) Enoch Powell in his 1968 speech on immigration commonly known as the "Rivers of Blood" speech. [10]

Ian Fleming's James Bond appropriates the phrase to express a related meaning: "Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make bored" in Chapter 11 of From Russia With Love .

In the final chapter of Agatha Christie's 1969 novel Hallowe'en Party , detective Hercule Poirot says of the murderer, "Whom the Gods destroy, they first drive mad."

First airing in early 1969, the original series Star Trek episode Whom Gods Destroy depicted the psychotic descent of a formerly brilliant Star Fleet commander.

The 1988 Marvel Graphic Novel, The Mighty Thor: I, Whom the Gods Would Destroy, starring Thor, is named after this quote. [11]

The character named Xzar in the 1998 game Baldurs Gate uses this as one of his responses when you click him many times.

The title of the 2007 Series 1, Episode 1 of the British television mystery Lewis (TV series) is "Whom the Gods Would Destroy"

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jupiter (god)</span> Chief deity of Roman state religion

Jupiter, also known as Jove, is the god of the sky and thunder, and king of the gods in ancient Roman religion and mythology. Jupiter was the chief deity of Roman state religion throughout the Republican and Imperial eras, until Christianity became the dominant religion of the Empire. In Roman mythology, he negotiates with Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, to establish principles of Roman religion such as offering, or sacrifice.

Trophonius was a Greek hero or daimon or god—it was never certain which one—with a rich mythological tradition and an oracular cult at Lebadaea in Boeotia, Greece.

In classical Latin, the epithet Indiges, singular in form, is applied to Sol and to Jupiter of Lavinium, later identified with Aeneas. One theory holds that it means the "speaker within", and stems from before the recognition of divine persons. Another, which the Oxford Classical Dictionary holds more likely, is that it means "invoked" in the sense of "pointing at", as in the related word indigitamenta.

In ancient Roman religion, Dius Fidius was a god of oaths associated with Jupiter. His name was thought to be related to Fides.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Di Penates</span>

In ancient Roman religion, the Di Penates or Penates were among the dii familiares, or household deities, invoked most often in domestic rituals. When the family had a meal, they threw a bit into the fire on the hearth for the Penates. They were thus associated with Vesta, the Lares, and the Genius of the pater familias in the "little universe" of the domus.

In ancient Roman religion, Sancus was a god of trust, honesty, and oaths. His cult, one of the most ancient amongst the Romans, probably derived from Umbrian influences. Cato and Silius Italicus wrote that Sancus was a Sabine god and father of the eponymous Sabine hero Sabus. He is thus sometimes considered a founder-deity.

<i>Deus ex machina</i> Contrived device to resolve the plot of a dramatic work

Deus ex machina is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly or abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence. Its function is generally to resolve an otherwise irresolvable plot situation, to surprise the audience, to bring the tale to a happy ending or act as a comedic device.

"Whom Gods Destroy" is the fourteenth episode of the third season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by Lee Erwin and directed by Herb Wallerstein, it was first broadcast on January 3, 1969.

<i>Interpretatio graeca</i> Methodology for cultural comparison

Interpretatio graeca, or "interpretation by means of Greek [models]", refers to the tendency of the ancient Greeks to identify foreign deities with their own gods. It is a discourse used to interpret or attempt to understand the mythology and religion of other cultures; a comparative methodology using ancient Greek religious concepts and practices, deities, and myths, equivalencies, and shared characteristics.

God the Son is the second Person of the Trinity in Christian theology. According to Christian doctrine, God the Son, in the form of Jesus Christ, is the incarnation of the eternal, pre-existent divine Logos through whom all things were created. Although the precise term "God the Son" does not appear in the Bible, it serves as a theological designation expressing the understanding of Jesus as a part of the Trinity, distinct yet united in essence with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

"Know thyself" is a philosophical maxim which was inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo in the ancient Greek precinct of Delphi. The best-known of the Delphic maxims, it has been quoted and analyzed by numerous authors throughout history, and has been applied in many ways. Although traditionally attributed to the Seven Sages of Greece, or to the god Apollo himself, the inscription likely had its origin in a popular proverb.

<i>Deus vult</i> Western Christian motto associated with the Crusades

Deus vult is a Christian motto relating to Divine providence. It was first chanted by Catholics during the First Crusade in 1096 as a rallying cry, most likely under the form Deus le veult or Deus lo vult, as reported by the Gesta Francorum and the Historia Belli Sacri.

Deus is the Latin word for "god" or "deity". Latin deus and dīvus ("divine") are in turn descended from Proto-Indo-European *deiwos, "celestial" or "shining", from the same root as *Dyēus, the reconstructed chief god of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon.

Whom the Gods Would Destroy is a 1970 novel by Richard P. Powell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epithets of Jupiter</span>

The numerous epithets of Jupiter indicate the importance and variety of the god's functions in ancient Roman religion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mills of God</span> Aphorism

The proverbial expression of the mills of God grinding slowly refers to the notion of slow but certain divine retribution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dusios</span> Celtic divine being

In the Gaulish language, Dusios was a divine being among the continental Celts who was identified with the god Pan of ancient Greek religion and with the gods Faunus, Inuus, Silvanus, and Incubus of ancient Roman religion. Like these deities, he might be seen as multiple in nature, and referred to in the plural (dusioi), most commonly in Latin as dusii. Although the Celtic Dusios is not described in late-antique sources independently of Greek and Roman deities, the common functionality of the others lay in their ability to impregnate animals and women, often by surprise or force. Dusii continue to play a role in the magico-religious belief systems of Gaul and Francia as a type of incubus in early-medieval paganism and Christianity.

<i>Ad maiorem Dei gloriam</i> "For the greater glory of God."

Ad maiorem Dei gloriam or Ad majórem Dei glóriam, also rendered as the abbreviation AMDG, is a Latin quote which can be translated as "For the greater glory of God." It has been used as a rallying cry for Catholics throughout history, especially during the Thirty Year's War, and is currently the motto of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), an order of the Catholic Church.

References

  1. ↑ Plato (1903). John Burnet (ed.). Platonis Opera. Oxford University Press. p. 380a.
  2. ↑ Plato in Twelve Volumes. Translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1969. p. 380a.
  3. ↑ Sophocles (1900), Jebb (ed.), The Plays and Fragments, vol. 3–4, Cambridge: University Press, p. 256, The use of dementat as = dementem facit proves of course a post-classical origin.
  4. ↑ "The Insector-General, A Comedy in Five Acts, by Nicolay Gogol, translated by Thomas Seltzer".
  5. ↑ Scott, William Anderson (1854). "Daniel, a Model for Young Men: A Series of Lectures".
  6. ↑ Young, Brigham. "Journal of Discourses". Mormonism Research Ministry. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  7. ↑ Dostoyevsky, Fyodor (2004). The idiot. David McDuff, William Mills Todd. London. ISBN   0-14-044792-X. OCLC   56129600.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ↑ Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (1893), The Complete Poetical Works, Houghton, Mifflin & Co, p. 303.
  9. ↑ Perera, Simon Gregory (1941), The Jesuits In Ceylon (In the XVI and XVII Centuries), De Nobili Press, p. 139.
  10. ↑ Is "those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad" a classical quotation?, Roger Pearse, 2015-10-31.
  11. ↑ "The Mighty Thor: I, Whom the Gods Would Destroy by Marvel Comics Group: Very Good Soft cover (1987) First Edition | Westside Stories".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.