> On 29 Apr 2020, at 19:06, Paul Eggert <[email protected]> wrote: > > On 4/28/20 10:58 PM, Akim Demaille wrote: >> I think >> the cure is worse than the disease, as some "great" leader loves to >> put it... > > I know this is irrelevant but I tried to chase down the first use of the > phrase > "cure is worse than the disease". Here's the earliest I found in Google Books: > > "Foure rules were offered by the Reverend Brother, as tending to Unity, and to > the healing of the preſent Controverſies about Church-Government. But in > truth > his cure is worſe than the diſeaſe : and inſtead of making any agreement, he > is > like to have his hand againſt every man,and every mans hand againſt him." > > This quote is from: > > George Gillespie. A Brotherly Examination of ſome paſſages of Mr. Colemans > late > Sermon upon Iob 11.20. London: Robert Bostock (1645).
The phrase itself is translation of Latin aegrescit medendo, from Virgil, Aeneid XII, 46, The combat between Aeneas and Turnus. https://latin.stackexchange.com/questions/5147/what-is-the-opposite-of-aegrescit-medendo
