He seized the lightning from Heaven and the scepter from the Tyrants.

Statement in Latin about Benjamin Franklin, as quoted in The Monthly Anthology, and Boston Review, Vol. X (March 1811). This has also been quoted in several other variants of Latin or French expression, and been translated into English in various ways. Though it has probably incorrectly been cited as a remark of 1775, the earliest published reference to it appears to have occurred in April 1778. | Eripuit coelo fulmen sceptrumque tyrannis. | He snatched lightning from the heavens and the scepter from the tyrants. | He snatched lightning from the sky and scepters from tyrants.