Editing Lesser of two evils principle (section)

== Mythology ==
[[Image:GillrayBritannia.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[James Gillray]], ''Britannia between Scylla and Charybdis'' (1793)]]
"[[Between Scylla and Charybdis]]" is an idiom derived from [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]''. In the story, [[Odysseus]] chose to go near [[Scylla]] as the lesser of two evils. He lost six of his companions, but if he had gone near [[Charybdis]] all would be doomed. Because of such stories, having to navigate between the two hazards eventually entered idiomatic use. 

An equivalent English seafaring phrase is "Between a rock and a hard place".<ref>Definition from the ''Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English'' [http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/Scylla-and-Charybdis available online]</ref> The Latin line ''incidit in scyllam cupiens vitare charybdim'' ("he runs into Scylla, wishing to avoid Charybdis") had earlier become proverbial, with a meaning much the same as [[jumping from the frying pan into the fire]]. [[Erasmus]] recorded it as an ancient proverb in his ''[[Adagia]]'', although the earliest known instance is in the ''[[Alexandreis]]'', a 12th-century Latin [[epic poetry|epic poem]] by [[Walter of Châtillon]].<ref>Noted by [[Edward Charles Harington]] in [https://books.google.com/books?id=7mIEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA10 ''Notes and Queries'' 5th Series, '''8''' (7 July 1877:14)].</ref>