An ambitious person who failed at what he wanted to do and lives in despair, reminds me of Ixion, who was tied to a wheel for having embraced a cloud.
L'ambitieux qui a manqué son objet, et qui vit dans le désespoir, me rapelle Ixion is sur la roue pour avoir embrassé un nuage.
- Chamfort, Maxims and Thoughts, aphorism 95
Ixion tortured on his wheel. Zeus invited Ixion to Olympus where he became amorous of Zeus' wife Hera. When Zeus found out, he made a copy of Hera out of a cloud and sent it to Ixion, who seduced it. In the middle of the act, Zeus walked in, the cloud turned back to smoke and Ixion was punished by being tied to a wheel that rolled around the world.
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