Pindar’s Nomos

Hercules battles Geyron on a red Attic kylix decorated by Euphronies (ca. 510 BCE)

Νόμος ό πάντων βασιλεύς

Θνατών τε καί άθανάτων

Άγει δικαιότατον τό βιαιοτατον

Ύπερτάτα χειρί τεκμαίρομαι

Έργοισιν Ήρακλέος˙

Law is the sovereign of all,

Of mortals and immortals,

It leads with the strongest hand,

And may justify the greatest violence.

I judge this from the works of Hercules.

–Pindar (Πίνδαρος), Fragment No. 169a (ca. 450 BCE) in the Loeb Classical Library vol. 485, p. 384-86 (W.H. Race transl.)