Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes. (I fear the Greeks even when they bear gifts.) These words of warning from Laocoon to the Trojans went unheeded -- to the Trojans' lasting regret. They accepted the ...

For nearly a century the French dictionary Larousse (a sort of Gallic Webster’s) defined “Greek” as meaning, among other things, roué, fripon, escroc—1) rakehell, 2) swindler, 3) crook. For nearly a ...