Brewer's: Pelion

Heaping Ossa upon Pelion. Adding difficulty to difficulty, embarassment to embarrassment, etc. When the giants tried to scale heaven, they placed Mount Ossa upon Mount Pelion for a scaling ladder.

“Ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossam”

Virgil: Georgics, i. 281.

A noteworthy hexameter verse. The i of “conati” does not elide, nor yet the o of “Pelio.”

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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