<P> The same sentiment is also expressed by the phrase "the last drop makes the cup run over", first found in English as "When the Cup is brim full before, the last (though least) superadded drop is charged alone to be the cause of all the running over" (1655). The image of the last drop is also found in many other languages . </P> <P> The phrase has been compared with Seneca's discussion on why death is not to be feared . Starting with a mention of the commonplace "we do not suddenly fall on death, but advance towards it by slight degrees; we die every day" (non repente nos in mortem incidere, sed minutatim procedere; cotidie morimur), Seneca compares life to a water - clock: </P> <P> It is not the last drop that empties the water - clock, but all that which previously has flowed out; similarly, the final hour when we cease to exist does not of itself bring death; it merely of itself completes the death - process . We reach death at that moment, but we have been a long time on the way . </P> <P> Quemadmodum clepsydram non extremum stillicidium exhaurit, sed quicquid ante defluxit, sic ultima hora, qua esse desinimus, non sola mortem facit, sed sola consummat; tunc ad illam pervenimus, sed diu venimus . </P>

Where did the straw that broke the camel's back come from