Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi
Latin phrase
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Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi is a Latin phrase. Its literal meaning is "what is permissible for Jupiter is not permissible for a cow". "Permissible" here refers to Jupiter's abduction of Europa.
The phrase is often translated as "Gods may do what cattle may not".[citation needed] It indicates the existence of a double standard (justifiable or otherwise), and essentially means "what is permitted to one important person or group, is not permitted to everyone."[1]
The origin of the phrase is unknown. It appears in 1784 in a play by Joseph Friedrich von Keppler[2], 1791 in a libretto by Karl Alexander Herklots [3] and 1826 in the novella Memoirs of a Good-for-Nothing by Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff. In his play Heauton Timorumenos,[4] Terence, a playwright of the Roman Republic, coined a similar phrase: Aliis si licet, tibi non licet ("to others it is permitted; to you it is not permitted").
Hannah Arendt used the phrase as a title and theme for a well-known profile of Bertolt Brecht.[5][6][7]
