Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad is a saying that has appeared in English literature in varying forms since the 17th century. In some variations, "gods" is replaced with "God" or "Jupiter," and the saying is sometimes rendered in Latin: Quos Deus / Quem Iuppiter vult perdere, prius dementat. Although sometimes falsely attributed to Euripides, the phrase does have classical Greek antecedents.
The saying first appears in English in exactly the above form in the Reverend William Anderson Scott's book Daniel, a Model for Young Men (1854) and is attributed to a "heathen proverb." It later appears in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Masque of Pandora" (1875) and other places.
An early precedent appears in verses 620âÂÂ623 of Sophocles' play Antigone: ÃÂὸ úñúὸý ôÿúÃ栨Âý ÃÂÿÃÂá¾½ á¼ÂÃÂøûὸý ÃÂῷô᾽ á¼Âüüõý' á½ ÃÂῳ ÃÂÃÂÃÂýñàøõὸàá¼Âóõù ÃÂÃÂὸàá¼ÂÃÂñý; translated "Evil appears as good in the minds of those whom god leads to destruction."
Plato's Republic (380a) quotes a fragment attributed to Aeschylus (but otherwise unattested): øõὸàüὲý ñἰÃÂïñý ÃÂÃÂõù òÃÂÿÃÂÿá¿ÂÃÂ, / á½ ÃÂñý úñúῶÃÂñù ôῶüñ ÃÂñüÃÂîô÷ý øÃÂûá¿Â; translated "A god implants the guilty cause in men / When he would utterly destroy a house."
In the 17th century the phrase was used in the neo-Latin form Quem Iuppiter vult perdere, dementat prius (Whom Jupiter would ruin, he first makes mad); in a Christianized Greek version, iuppiter was replaced by "lord" as in üÃÂÃÂñïýõù ÃÂÃÂÃÂùÿàÿý òÿÃÂûõÃÂñù ñÃÂÿûÃÂÃÂñù. Benjamin Franklin quotes this phrase in his essay "On Civil War", delivered to the printer of the London Public Advertiser, August 25, 1768.
A prior Latin version is Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat (Life of Samuel Johnson, 1791) but this involves God, not "the gods".
Jean-Jacques Rousseau quotes this phrase in The Confessions in the form of Quos vult perdere Jupiter dementet (Whom Jupiter destroys, he first make mad), authored in 1769 but published in 1782.