Κακοῦ κόρακος κακὸν ᾠόν

Some say this proverb derives from the winged creature [of this name], because it is not edible itself, and nor is the egg which it lays. But others say it comes from Corax [Crow] the Syracusan,¹ who was the first to teach rhetorical technique. For they say that a pupil, named Tisias,² taken to court by him for his fee, said: 'If you win, I have not learned anything; but if you lose, you will not get your fee.' The jurors were astonished by the young man's sophism, and called out 'bad crow's bad egg'.