Those whom the gods destroy they first make mad?

Question

What does this mean?

Another nice one wolftone

Answer 1

I think it is definitely open to many interpretations. Here are some variations of the saying and one man's thoughts which everyone seems to apply their thoughts to a particular issue of the day.

"When falls on man the anger of the gods, first from his mind they banish understanding."
Lycurgus

"When divine power plans evil for a man, it first injures his mind."
Sophocles

"Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first deprives of their senses."
Euripides

"Whom God wishes to destroy he first makes mad."
Seneca

"For those whom God to ruin has design'd, He fits for fate, and first destroys their mind."
John Dryden

"Whom the Gods would destroy they first make mad."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"We must be mad, literally mad, as a nation to be permitting the annual inflow of some 50,000 dependents, who are for the most part the material of the future growth of the immigrant-descended population. It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre."
Enoch Powell (1912-1998), British Conservative Member of Parliament, in a 1968 speech on the dangers of nonwhite immigration that effectively ended his chances for higher office.

"As Plato informs us in his famous allegory of the cave, all people are not gifted with the same vision, the same ability to see, to understand or to comprehend. What is clear and obvious to some can neither be seen nor understood by others. People often find it difficult to believe what they cannot comprehend, and often distrust or fear what they do not understand. They cannot appreciate the value of something they are unaware of, or love something they are unconscious of."..
"There is another reason to avoid reality, embrace ignorance and fear knowledge. People frequently wish to be spared knowledge that will cause them pain. The ability to perceive reality, when one's people are undergoing a process of destruction by a ruling power so dominant it seems impossible to stop, is a source of great pain and suffering to those who have it, and who care."

Answer 2

I don't know the actual origin of the quote, however many of the ancient tales suggest that the madness is not so much caused by the Gods, but embraced by the man. In Euripides play the Bachae, the Divine Madness is symbolized by the thyrsos, the scepter of the God Dionysos. In the course of the play the God holds out the thyrsos for the King to take or not, as he wills. The King takes it, and seals his own doom. Hubris, the conviction that man can be as perfect as the Gods, and the inevitable tragedy to which embracing it leads, were a common theme in Ancient Greek literature.

Answer 3

Ask Euripides. Some versions of the quote replace "mad" with "proud" or even "great". The general idea is that a person's public downfall is often precipitated by losing his sense of humility and reasonableness. The more important a person comes to believe he is, the crazier he will act, until people can't stand it anymore. The word they applied to this egomaniacal syndrome was "hubris". It was all too common among the more famous political and military leaders. The "gods" angle suggested that the consequence was unavoidable, since the victims egos are often overfed by the very people they lead.

Answer 4

It's Seneca junior.. he was railing against Nero who not unsurprisingly accused him of treason and plotting against his life. After various botched attempts involving cutting up and poison, SJ went for a hot tub where he suffocated from steam inhalation.
Euripides said ' those whom the gods would destroy, they first deprive of their senses'..or wtte..He apparently wrote ancient Greek soap operas.. and got mad 'cos Sophocles and Aeschylus won more prizes in poetry and drama competitions...

Answer 5

Belief in the existence of God / gods, proves the point Plato

Answer 6

See T Blair, G Bush et al.

Answer 7

It means you always have to watch your back, because the Gods have their own schemes and you might be just a pawn in their battle field.

Answer 8

Well I know I'd be mad if the gods destroyed me first. What'd I do, dudes!?

Answer 9

Ask Jade Goody

Answer 10

Bush...