Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes
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“Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes” is a Latin phrase. Its author is Virgil, who wrote it in his work “Aeneid” (II, 49). It means “I fear the Dannans (Greeks) even if they bring gifts”.
[edit] Origin
This phrase has its origin in Roman or Greek mythology and more specifically in the Trojan War. Translated literally, it means "I fear Greeks and bearing gifts," an example of the figure of speech hendiadys, for the "and" is meant to be omitted. After warring on the beaches of Troy for over nine years, Calchas induces the leaders of the Danaans (Greeks) to offer the Trojan peoples the so-called “Trojan Horse”. The Trojan priest Laocoön, however, distrusts it and warns the Trojans not to accept the gift, crying, “Equo ne credite, Teucri! Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes”, which means “Do not trust the horse, Trojans! Whatever it is, I fear the Danaans [even if] bearing gifts”. When immediately afterward, Laocoön and his two sons are viciously slain by enormous twin serpents, the Trojans assume the horse has been offered at Minerva's (Athena's) prompting and interpret Laocoön's death as a sign of her displeasure. Incidentally, Minerva did send the serpents and help to nurture the idea of building the horse, but her intentions were certainly not peaceful, as the deceived Trojans imagined them to be. They agree unanimously to place the horse atop wheels and roll it through their impenetrable walls. Festivities follow under the assumption that the war is ended. The scout who has been sent to verify the too-good-to-be-true departure of the Greeks is killed after he discovers the Greek fleet hiding in an obscure harbor.
