Ἄπαγέ με εἰς τὰς λατομίας

A proverb in reference to those not prepared to put up with what is unworthy.¹ For they say that Philoxenus the dithyrambic poet was staying at the court of Dionysius the tyrant, and when the tyrant read out his hackneyed verses refused to praise them. Furious at this [Dionysius] ordered that he be thrown into the quarries.² He later recalled him, in the hope that he would praise his poems, but he, not wishing to praise them, made the statement above.