From the Greek: Circumstance, P.B. Shelley . "A man about to hang himself". Στατύλλιος Φλάκκος

From the Greek

A man who was about to hang himself,

   Finding a purse, then threw away his rope;

The owner, coming to reclaim his pelf,

   The halter found, and used it. So is Hope

Changed for Despair - one laid upon the shelf,                       

   We take the other. Under Heaven's high cope

Fortune is God - all you endure and do

Depends on circumstance as much as you.

Percy Bysshe Shelley


(an epigram from The Greek Anthology or from the story of Mercuria/Avarice in chapter 7 of The Famous and Renown Morindos a King of Spaine, 1609?)

Most likely source, the Greek Anthology epigram once ascribed to Plato, but probably by Statyllius Flaccus.

"A man, intending to hang himself, discovered hidden gold and left the rope behind him; the man who had hidden the gold, not finding it, hanged himself with the noose he found in its place".

The Greek Anthology III, London 1917, pp 25-26. See No. 44 below:

Ο Φλάκκος ή Στατύλλιος Φλάκκος ήταν ποιητής του 1ου π.Χ. αιώνα, ρωμαϊκής κατά πάσαν πιθανότητα καταγωγής, όπως υποδηλώνει το επίθετό του. Δεν είναι τίποτα γνωστό για την ζωή του (Wikipedia).