Quotations about:
    divine anger


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Remember for me, Muse. Tell me the reasons. What pain,
what insult to her power, moved the queen of gods
to drive a man famous for piety through misery
on misery? Can such anger grip gods’ minds?

[Mūsa, mihī causās memorā, quō nūmine laesō,
quidve dolēns, rēgīna deum tot volvere cāsūs
īnsīgnem pietāte virum, tot adīre labōrēs
impulerit. Tantaene animīs caelestibus īrae?]

Virgil the Poet
Virgil (70-19 BC) Roman poet [b. Publius Vergilius Maro; also Vergil]
The Aeneid [Ænē̆is], Book 1, l. 8ff (1.8-11) (29-19 BC) [tr. Bartsch (2021)]
    (Source)

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

Say Muse the cause, what God prophan'd, or why
Heaven's Queen incens'd, one fam'd for piety
Did to such royles, dangers so great compell?
What I can in heavenly minds such passions dwell?
[tr. Ogilby (1649)]

O Muse! the causes and the crimes relate;
What goddess was provok'd, and whence her hate;
For what offense the Queen of Heav'n began
To persecute so brave, so just a man;
Involv'd his anxious life in endless cares,
Expos'd to wants, and hurried into wars!
Can heav'nly minds such high resentment show,
Or exercise their spite in human woe?
[tr. Dryden (1697)]

Declare to me, O Muse! the causes, in what the deity being offended, by what the queen of heaven was provoked to drive a man of distinguished piety to struggle with so many calamities, to encounter so many hardships. Is there such resentment in heavenly minds?
[tr. Davidson/Buckley (1854)]

Say, Muse, for godhead how disdained,
Or wherefore wroth, Heaven’s queen constrained
That soul of piety so long
To turn the wheel, to cope with wrong.
Can heavenly natures nourish hate
So fierce, so blindly passionate?
[tr. Conington (1866)]

O Muse, the causes tell, for what affront,
And why incensed, the queen of gods compelled
A hero for his piety renowned
To undergo such sufferings and such toils.
Is there such anger in celestial minds?
[tr. Cranch (1872)]

Muse, tell me why, for what attaint of her deity, or in what vexation, did the Queen of heaven drive one so excellent in goodness to circle through so many afflictions, to face so many toils? Is anger so fierce in celestial spirits?
[tr. Mackail (1885)]

Say, Muse, what wound of godhead was whereby all this must come,
How grieving, she, the Queen of Gods, a man so pious drave
To win such toil, to welter on through such a troublous wave:
-- Can anger in immortal minds abide so fierce and fell?
[tr. Morris (1900)]

O Muse, assist me and inspire my song,
The various causes and the crimes relate,
For what affronted majesty, what wrong
To injured Godhead, what offence so great
Heaven's Queen resenting, with remorseless hate,
Could one renowned for piety compel
To brave such troubles, and endure the weight
Of toils so many and so huge. O tell
How can in heavenly minds such fierce resentment dwell?
[tr. Taylor (1907), st. 2]

O Muse, the causes tell! What sacrilege,
or vengeful sorrow, moved the heavenly Queen
to thrust on dangers dark and endless toil
a man whose largest honor in men's eyes
was serving Heaven? Can gods such anger feel?
[tr. Williams (1910)]

Tell me, O Muse, the cause; wherein thwarted in will or wherefore angered, did the Queen of heaven drive a man, of goodness so wondrous, to traverse so many perils, to face so many toils. Can resentment so fierce dwell in heavenly breasts?
[tr. Fairclough (1916)]

Help me, O Muse, recall the reasons: why,
Why did the queen of heaven drive a man
So known for goodness, for devotion, through
So many toils and perils? Was there slight,
Affront, or outrage? Is vindictiveness
An attribute of the celestial mind?
[tr. Humphries (1951)]

Where lay the cause of it all? How was her godhead injured?
What grievance made the queen of heaven so harry a man
Renowned for piety, through such toils, such a cycle of calamity?
Can a divine being be so persevering in anger?
[tr. Day Lewis (1952)]

Tell me the reason, Muse: what was the wound
to her divinity, so hurting her
that she, the queen of gods, compelled a man
remarkable for his goodness to endure
so many crises, meet so many trials?
Can such resentment hold the minds of gods?
[tr. Mandelbaum (1971)]

Tell me the causes now, O Muse, how galled
In her divine pride, and how sore at heart
From her old wound, the queen of gods compelled him --
A man apart, devoted to his mission --
To undergo so many perilous days
And enter on so many trials. Can anger
Black as this prey on the minds of heaven?
[tr. Fitzgerald (1981)]

Tell me, Muse, the causes of her anger. How did he violate the will of the Queen of the Gods? What was his offense? Why did she drive a man famous for his piety to such endless hardship and such suffering? Can there be so much anger in the hearts of the heavenly gods?
[tr. West (1990)]

Muse, tell me the cause: how was she offended in her divinity,
how was she grieved, the Queen of Heaven, to drive a man,
noted for virtue, to endure such dangers, to face so many
trials? Can there be such anger in the minds of the gods?
[tr. Kline (2002)]

Muse, tell me why the Queen of Heaven
Was so aggrieved, her godhead so offended,
That she forced a man of faultless devotion
To endure so much hardship. Can there be
Anger so great the hearts of gods on high?
[tr. Lombardo (2005)]

     Tell me,
Muse, how it all began. Why was Juno outraged?
What could wound the Queen of the Gods with all her power?
Why did she force a man, so famous for his devotion,
to brave such rounds of hardship, bear such trials?
Can such rage inflame the immortals' hearts?
[tr. Fagles (2006)]

 
Added on 15-Dec-21 | Last updated 21-Jun-23
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More quotes by Virgil

Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad.

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
(Misattributed)

Frequently cited as a fragment, but not actually in his known writings. Similar phrases, attributed to old sayings, predate Euripides. For more see here.

See also Oates and Beard.
 
Added on 14-Nov-17 | Last updated 14-Nov-17
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When struck by a thunderbolt it is unnecessary to consult the Book of Dates as to the precise meaning of the omen.

Ernest Bramah (1868-1942) English author [Ernest Brammah Smith]
“The Transformation of Ling,” The Wallet of Kai Lung (1900)
 
Added on 15-Apr-15 | Last updated 15-Apr-15
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Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make famous.

Joyce Carol Oates (b. 1938) American author
“Down the Road,” New Yorker (27 Mar 1985)

See Euripides.
 
Added on 6-Sep-11 | Last updated 14-Nov-17
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If your enemies fall, do not exult;
If they trip, let your heart not rejoice,
Lest GOD see it and be displeased,
And avert God’s wrath from them.

The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Proverbs 24:17-18 [RJPS (2023 ed.)]
    (Source)

Alternate translations:

Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:
Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.
[KJV (1611)]

Should your enemy fall, do not rejoice, when he stumbles do not let your heart exult; for fear that at the sight Yahweh will be displeased and turn his anger away from him.
[JB (1966)]

Don't be glad when your enemies meet disaster, and don't rejoice when they stumble. The Lord will know if you are gloating, and he will not like it; and then maybe he won't punish them.
[GNT (1976)]

Should your enemy fall, do not rejoice, when he stumbles do not let your heart exult: for fear that Yahweh will be displeased at the sight and turn his anger away from him.
[NJB (1985)]

When your enemies fall, don’t rejoice.
When they stumble, don’t let your heart be glad,
or the Lord will see it and be displeased,
and he will turn his anger from them.
[CEB (2011)]

Do not rejoice when your enemies fall,
and do not let your heart be glad when they stumble,
lest the Lord see it and be displeased
and turn away his anger from them.
[NRSV (2021 ed.)]

 
Added on 3-Feb-10 | Last updated 20-Feb-24
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More quotes by Bible, vol. 1, Old Testament

Why should man be afraid to think, and why should he fear to express his thoughts? Is it possible that an infinite Deity is unwilling that a man should investigate the phenomena by which he is surrounded? Is it possible that a god delights in threatening and terrifying men? What glory, what honor and renown a god must win on such a field! The ocean raving at a drop; a star envious of a candle; the sun jealous of a fire-fly.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
“Heretics and Heresies” (1874)
    (Source)
 
Added on 7-Feb-08 | Last updated 2-Feb-16
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