Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad.
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Anonymous ancient proverb, wrongly attributed to Euripides. The version here is quoted as a "heathen proverb" in Daniel, a Model for Young Men (1854) by William Anderson Scott. The origin of the misattribution to Euripides is unknown. Several variants are quoted in ancient texts, as follows.
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For cunningly of old was the celebrated saying revealed: evil sometimes seems good to a man whose mind a god leads to destruction.
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Sophocles, Antigone 620-3, a play pre-dating any of Euripides' surviving plays. An ancient commentary explains the passage as a paraphrase of the following, from another, earlier poet.Euripides
Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.
Euripides
Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.
Euripides
Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.
Anonymous
Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad—but they don't bother about the working classes.
Anonymous
Nor do the gods appear in warrior's armour clad
To strike them down with sword and spear
Those whom they would destroy
They first make mad.Euripides
Euripides
Eusebius of Caesarea
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