Quos ego

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Not to be confused with Quis-ego.

Quos ego (Latin, literally 'Whom I') are the words, in Virgil's Aeneid (I, 135), uttered by Neptune in threat to the disobedient and rebellious winds. Virgil's phrase is an example of the figure of speech called aposiopesis.

Cultural references[edit]

The words are used in the Vulgate (Ezekiel 2:4) in a reference to naughty children. Gustave Flaubert likens a teacher's punishment of misbehaving students to "the Quos ego" in the opening scene of Madame Bovary.

Depictions in art of Neptune threatening the winds include the engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi and paintings by Peter Paul Rubens and Simone Cantarini.

References[edit]