The Latin phrase "incidit in scyllam, cupiens vitare charybdim" comes from Greek
mythology in the story of Odysseus known also as Ulysses. Scylla and Charybdis were rocks on either side of a narrow inlet. The phrase means trying to avoid Charybdis one founders on Scylla. It represents the idea of having to choose between two evils and has the force of being "
on the horns of a dilemma," "between the devil and the
deep blue sea."