[We are indebted for a similar reply to C. B., who quotes the line from
Euripides, _Fragm. Inc._ B. xxvii.]
"_Apres moi_," or "_apres nous le Deluge_" sounds like a modernisation of
the ancient verse,--
"[Greek: Emou thanontos gaia michtheto puri,]"
the use of which has been imputed to the emperor Nero. The spirit of Madame
de Pompadour's saying breathes the same selfish levity; and it amounts to
the same thing. But it merits remark that the words of Metternich were of
an entirely distinct signification. They did not imply that he _cared_ only
for himself and the affairs of his own life; but that he anticipated the
inability of future ministers to avert revolution, and _foreboded_ the
worst. Two persons may use the same words, and yet their sayings be as
different as the first line of Homer from the first of Virgil. The omission
of the French verb disguises the fact, that the one was said in the
optative, and the other in the future indicative.