_Quem Deus vult perdere, &c._--Prescot, in his _History of the
Conquest of Peru_ (vol. ii., p. 404., 8vo. ed.), says, while remarking
on the conduct of Gonzalo Pisaro, that it may be accounted for by "the
insanity," as the Roman, or rather Grecian proverb calls it, "with
which the gods afflict men when they design to ruin them." He quotes
the Greek proverb from a fragment of Euripides, in his note:--
"[Greek: Otan de Daimon andri parsunei kaka
Ton noun eblapse proton.]"
I wish to know whether the Roman proverb, _Quem vult perdere Deus
prius dementat_, is merely a translation of this, or whether it is to
be found in a Latin author? If the latter, in what author? Is it in
Seneca?