Here we find the ancient Greek notions of compensation, moderation
and nothing to excess:
You know, my lord,
that amongst living creatures it is the great ones that God smites with his thunder,
out of envy of their pride. The little
ones do not vex him. It is always the
great buildings and the tall trees which are struck by lightning. It is God’s way to bring the lofty low. Often a great army is destroyed by a little
one, when God in his envy puts fear into men’s hearts, or sends a thunderstorm,
and they are cut to pieces in a way they do not deserve. For God tolerates pride in none but himself.[1]
Herodotus, The
Histories, circa 440 B.C.
[1]
Herodotus, The Histories, tr. Aubrey
de Sélincourt, revised ed. (Toronto: Penguin, 1996), p. 378. (VII 10 e). Cicero named Herodotus the ‘the Father
of History.’
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