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Home  »  Familiar Quotations  »  8584 Horae 65 BC-8 BC John Bartlett

John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

8584 Horae 65 BC-8 BC John Bartlett

 
NUMBER:8584
AUTHOR:Horace (65 B.C.–8 B.C.)
QUOTATION:The mountains will be in labour; an absurd mouse will be born. 1
ATTRIBUTION:Ars Poetica. 139.
 
Note 1.
A mountain was in labour, sending forth dreadful groans, and there was in the region the highest expectation. After all, it brought forth a mouse.—Phædrus: Fables, iv. 22, 1.

The old proverb was now made good: “The mountain had brought forth a mouse.”—Plutarch: Life of Agesilaus II. [back]