Deus ex Machina

• ‘Deus ex Machina’ means ‘God from the machine’ and was a plot device used in Greek Tragedy.

Euripides

• The Latin phrase refers to the plot device frequently used by Euripides in Greek Tragedy, where a crane or a lift brings a Greek God onto the stage, to save the character from an impossible situation.

Horace

• Horace (65-8 BCE) refers to this plot device in his ‘Ars Poetica’, verses 191-192, where he urges Poets where possible, never to use it.

Back to Famous Latin Quotes