Wiser than Cantharus

Explanation

the proverb is said of the wicked and malicious, since at Athens a certain shopkeeper called Cantharus was punished with death for wickedness and treason. Some say he was a shopkeeper who recklessly attempted tyranny and perished. Others derive it from the creature: inasmuch as the dung-beetle (kantharos), rolling itself in dung and climbing up to the eagle's nest, rolls out the eagle's eggs.