HUBRIS • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Hubris

... aberration of the human spirit under the shock of sudden, unexpected attainment, and they realized that both the accumulated achievement of generations and the greater promise of the future might be lost irretrievably by failure at this critical moment. 'Surfeit (κορος {koros}) breeds sin ὑβρις {hubris} when prosperity visits unbalanced minds.' In slightly different words, the proverb recurs in the collections of verses attributed to Theognis and to Solon. Its maker refrained from adding what was in his and his hearers' thoughts, that ὑβρις {hubris}, once engendered, breeds αιη {aiê}—the ...

— The Legacy of Greece • Various