Plato, Greater Hippias, section 282a

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Epinomis, or Nocturnal Council

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[282a] he would be a laughing-stock in comparison with you, just as the sculptors say that Daedalus,¹ if he were to be born now and were to create such works as those from which he got his reputation, would be ridiculous.

Hippias
That, Socrates, is exactly as you say. I, however, am in the habit of praising the ancients and our predecessors rather than the men of the present day, and more greatly, as a precaution against the envy of the living and through fear of the wrath of those who are dead.

1 Daedalus, the traditional inventor of sculpture.

Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 9 translated by W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1925.

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