Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes is a Latin phrase from Virgil's Aeneid (II, 49). It has been paraphrased in English as the aphorism "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts", though its literal meaning, "I fear the Greeks, even those bearing gifts", carries a somewhat different nuance to the usual English representation of the phrase.
As related in the Aeneid, after a nine-year war on the beaches of Troy between the Danaans (Greeks from the mainland) and the Trojans, the Greek seer Calchas induces the leaders of the Greek army to offer the Trojan people a huge wooden horse, the so-called Trojan Horse, while seemingly departing. The Trojan priest Laocoön, distrusting this gesture, warns the Trojans not to accept the gift, crying, Equo ne credite, Teucri! Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentis. ("Do not trust the horse, Trojans! Whatever it is, I fear the Danaans, even when bringing 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. 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. The Trojans 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 departure of the Greeks is killed after he discovers the Greek fleet hiding in an obscure harbor.
Although the commonly used form of this quotation has ferentēs (with a long ē), the original text has ferentīs (with a long ī). The "-ēs" form is more common in classical Latin.
In most cases the Latin word et is used as a conjunction, meaning "and", but in this phrase et is used as an adverb, meaning "even".
The Asterix books regularly make jokes on classical culture. In the book Asterix the Legionary, the main character Asterix spends much of the time looking for a fellow Gaul named Tragicomix. Whenever he asks a Roman for the whereabouts of Tragicomix, the reply is "Tragicomix with a 'T' as in 'timeo danaos et dona ferentes'?"
In the 1996 film The Rock, Sean Connery's character John Mason is impressed by Nicolas Cage's character Stanley Goodspeed, when Stanley recognizes the meaning of this quote.
It is sometimes parodied as "Beware of geeks bearing gifts" (a deliberate alteration of the usual English translation).
In Xena: Warrior Princess, Xena "originally" coins the phrase "Beware Greeks bearing gifts" when she warns Paris upon news the Greek army has left a gift of peace at the gates.
Flann O'Brien's anarchic comedy At Swim Two Birds features two Greek sailors, called Timeo Danaos and Dona Ferentes.