Sub cultro liquit.

He is under the knife, in great danger or extremity. Our phrase, he is under the hatchet, is of similar import. The adage was applied when any one who had fallen into an ambush, into the sea, or into any other peril, was left to wade through, or extricate himself by his own strength or ingenuity. The metaphor is taken from a victim standing at the altar, ready to be sacrificed.

––«fugit improbus et me sub cultro liquit».

Instead of assisting, he fled, and left me to struggle through my difficulties unaided. Occasions offer too frequently of applying this apothegm.