person
Damocles
also: Damocle, Damoclem, Damocles
A flatterer at the court of Dionysius I of Syracuse who praised the tyrant as the happiest of men. To teach him otherwise, Dionysius seated him at a lavish banquet beneath a sword suspended by a single hair, the origin of the proverbial "Sword of Damocles" for ever-present peril amid apparent good fortune.
Reading notes
- Tusculan Disputations §5.61 Damocles
A flatterer at the court of Dionysius I whose name became proverbial. To teach him the true nature of a tyrant's happiness, Dionysius seated him at a sumptuous banquet beneath a sword hung by a single hair.