[sc. A proverbial phrase] in reference to unexpected and unbelievable things. For the tragic poets, when they brought onto the stage a bold move designed to make the spectators disturbed at the things that were said, and to lead them to take pity on those who seemed to have fallen afoul of fortune (since what they suffered was undeserved), or to hate the perpetrators [of injustice] and those who commit transgressions, were accustomed to bring on gods; not setting them out on the stage itself, but on high by means of some kind of machine. The spectators would see this machine beforehand, but at the appointed time he [the poet] would have it turned to reveal the mask of the god. And this was the climax of the play. It was called 'god from a machine.'[1]