Alright, so it appears that Ari was in the dead center of the Plame affair. He was seen with the memo in his hands--can't do much better than that. Unlike the other players, though, Ari quit--and he quit early--like five days after the outing.
So why?
Buyers remorse?
Sellers remorse?
Augenbite of Inwit?
Or did he just decide, early on, that this whole affair was going to sink the ship?
Did he cooperate with the proscecution?
Was there anything in his non-best-selling autobiography that gives us a clue?
and as a bonus for being up early on Sunday morning:
A definition of Augenbite of Inwit:
an archaic phrase that originated as the title of a French treatise on morality. It was translated into English in 1340 by Dan Michel, a monk at Canterbury. The title (originally spelled "Ayenbite of Inwyt") means 'the remorse of conscience', literally, 'the again-biting of inner wit'. The English word agenbite is a translation of both elements of the Latin verb remordere 'to bite again', the source of English remorse. The English word inwit usually means 'an inner sense of right or wrong', but its more general meaning is 'reason, intellect, understanding, or wisdom'.
The phrase agenbite of inwit has been revived by modern writers. James Joyce used it at least eight times in Ulysses to portray Leopold Bloom's character as being afflicted by the repeated bite or wound of introspection, self-analysis, and self-awareness: "They wash and tub and scrub. Agenbite of inwit. Conscience....Venus had twisted her lips in prayer. Agenbite of inwit: remorse of conscience. It is an age of exhausted whoredom groping for its god....Agenbite of inwit. Inwit's agenbite. Misery! Misery!"
(definition courtesy: http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000118)