This is the basest thing for mortals, caused by God,

And of all things the hardest to detect,”—

Euripides writes:

“Oh Zeus, why hast thou given to men clear tests

Of spurious gold, while on the body grows

No mark sufficing to discover clear

The wicked man?”

Hyperides himself also says, “There is no feature of the mind impressed on the countenance of men.”

Again, Stasinus having composed the line:

“Fool, who, having slain the father, leaves the children,”—