Oedipus Rex and the Partial U.S. Government Shutdown

Pride breeds the tyrant
violent pride, gorging, crammed to bursting
     with all that is overripe and rich with ruin --
clawing up to the heights, headlong pride
crashes down the abyss – sheer doom.[1]

Sophocles, Oedipus the King, circa. 428 BC

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[1] Sophocles, Oedipus the King, tr. Robert Fagles in The Norton Anthology of Drama. Shorter Third Edition, J. Ellen Gainor, Stanton B. Garner Jr, Martin Puchner (New York: W.W. Norton, 2018), p.  117. These are the words of the Chorus in the play.