Father of Choral Epode
Preserved but no longer current.
Stesichoros of Sicily (632-552 BC). Eppur si muove! (e poor se mu 6' vi) (Ital., and yet it [i.e. the earth] does move). The phrase said by a fable that dates only from 1757 to have been uttered m an undertone by Galileo immediately after his recantation of belief in the Copermcan theory of the earth, which was made before the Inquisition in 1633. It is certainly apocryphal.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Father of Choral Epode” mean?
Stesichoros of Sicily (632-552 BC). Eppur si muove! (e poor se mu 6' vi) (Ital., and yet it [i.e. the earth] does move). The phrase said by a fable that dates only from 1757 to have been uttered m an undertone by Galileo immediately after his recantation of belief in the Copermcan theory of the earth, which was made before the Inquisition in 1633. It is certainly apocryphal.
Is “Father of Choral Epode” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.