I was skimming through Ars Poetica to see where this phrase occurs, but I couldn't find the line. Does this phrase actually occur verbatim, and if so, on what line? Thanks.Deus ex machina in Horace's Ars Poetica?
Deus ex machina
A deus ex machina (pronounced /?de?.?s ?ks ?mɑ?kin?/ or [?di?.?s ?ks ?m?k?n?], or day oos ayks makinah literally "god from the machine") is a plot device in which a person or thing appears "out of the blue" to help a character to overcome a seemingly insolvable difficulty. Alternatively a person or object may have a property not revealed before. It is generally considered to be a poor storytelling technique. However it is popular in fairy tale and science fiction (for instance the fairy godmother in Cinderella or Doctor Who's sonic screwdriver).
Linguistic considerations
The Latin phrase "deus ex machina" comes to English usage from Horace's Ars Poetica, where he instructs poets that they must never resort to a god from the machine to solve their plots. He is referring to the conventions of Greek tragedy, where a crane (mekhane) was used to lower actors playing a God or Gods onto the stage. The machine referred to in the phrase could be either the crane employed in the task, a calque from the Greek "God from the machine" ("?π? μηχαν?? θε??," apò mēkhan?s theós), or the riser that brought a god up from a trap door.
Deus ex machina is a device that came from Greek Tragedy. It was the intervention of the Gods upon the affairs of the living. Originally, they used some kind of a pulley being lowered to the stage where the God would appear during the intervention.Deus ex machina in Horace's Ars Poetica?
What language is that?
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