Building a Better Vocabulary

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volcanoes. But Sisyphus tricked Hades into trying on the handcuffs

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the underworld.

z For a time, mortals on earth didn’t die, but eventually, Hades was

freed and Sisyphus was taken to the underworld. However, he

managed to trick Hades again and returned to earth, where he lived

to a ripe old age.

z After a long and happy life, Sisyphus eventually returned to the

underworld yet again, where the gods had devised a particularly

torturous punishment for him: He was given the job of pushing a

huge boulder up a steep hill; each time he reached the top of the

hill, the boulder would slip out of his hands and roll back down.

This task gives us the word Sisyphean, referring to jobs that are

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Sword of Damocles (noun phrase)

A constant and imminent peril; an impending disaster.

z The phrase sword of Damocles comes to us from a Greek parable.

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Dionysius the Elder, a 4th-century-B.C.E. tyrant of Syracuse. While

pandering to the king, Damocles remarked that Dionysius was truly

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Dionysius offered to switch places with Damocles for a day, and

without a second thought, the courtier agreed.

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on the throne, ate sumptuous meals, and was waited on hand

and foot. But Damocles soon had a feeling that something was

wrong. He turned his gaze upward and saw a sword hanging

point down above his head, suspended by a single horsehair.

Damocles immediately asked to switch back with Dionysius,

saying that he no longer had any desire to be so fortunate.