English idioms originating from Classical history

[Anonymous]

hi! i really need some help regarding lation idioms in english. the thing is, i'm writing my diploma paper on "latin and greek idioms in english and their bosnian equivalents", and i am stuck. i need about one hundred idioms and i only have around thirty so far. i was wondering if someone could help me, either by posting some links where i can find a list of latin and/or greek idioms translated into english, or by posting them on this thread.

so, to clarify, i need english idioms that originate from latin and/or greek.
if i am steel unclear, i'll provide some examples and hopefully you will understand me better. some of those that i have found so far are:
-a Pyrrhic victory - an unprofitable victory, where losses are greater than is justified by anything gained
-fear the Greek, bearing gifts (reffering to the Trojan horse) - be suspicious about gifts or benefits offered by certain people
-the most unkindest cut of all (referring to Brutu's part in the assassination of Ceaser) - the worst insult, case of ill treatment
-cross one's Rubicon (julius ceaser, crossing the river Rubicon, started a civil war) - take an action, start a process which is important and which cannot be reversed

i hope you understand what i am in need of, i and i really hope that you can help me!

thanks

 

[Iynx]

I have a few suggestions:

Pandora's Box
Herculean Task
Sisyphean Task
Augean stable
To tantalize
An atlas

Oedipus Complex
Spartan

A Cincinnatus
An Horatius at the Bridge
A Demosthenes
Socratic method
Hannibal at the gates
A Cannae
Bread and Circuses

Rome wasn't built in a day
A marathon
A phillipic
helot

There are a number of expressions that are, so to speak, on the cusp: some would argue that they are not yet English, but they would be familiar to a large proportion of educated Anglophones:

rara avis
tabula rasa
hoi polloi

Are these the sort of thing you are looking for?

And can you tell us a little about how things are going in Bosnia these days?

 

[Anonymous]

thanks mate, these are exactly the ones i am looking for. some of these i already had, but some are new. once again, thank you!

as for bosnia, i guess things are starting to go back to normal (though very slow). unfortunately, many young people wish to leave the country because they do not see any future here since the unemployment rate is skyhigh, and i guess to some extent that is true, but i have always been of the opinion that you have to fight for yourself, no matter how hard.

if you have any more questions about bosnia, please let me know!
thank you again, for your help.