quos ego
Preserved but no longer current.
A threat of punishment for disobedience. The words, from Virgil's /Eneid (1,135), were uttered by Neptune to the disobedient and rebellious winds, and are sometimes given as an example of aposiopesis, i.e. a stopping short for rhetorical effort, "Whom I — ," said Neptune, the "will punish" being left to the imagination.
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 “quos ego” mean?
A threat of punishment for disobedience. The words, from Virgil's /Eneid (1,135), were uttered by Neptune to the disobedient and rebellious winds, and are sometimes given as an example of aposiopesis, i.e. a stopping short for rhetorical effort, "Whom I — ," said Neptune, the "will punish" being left to the imagination.
Is “quos ego” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.