The Facts on File Dictionary of Allusions - Green Valley High School

ehold the man
46
landed on his desk he found himself behind the eight
ball, unwilling to approve it but not wanting to be taken
off the job.
behold the man See ecce homo.
Belial (beeleebl) Archetypal demon; a personifi
cation of wickedness or lawlessness. <strong>The</strong> word is
mentioned several times in the Old Testament,
where it is synonymous with “worthlessness” (1
Samuel 1:16 and 2 Samuel 25:17), and is also used
in the New Testament as another name for satan
(2 Corinthians 6:15). John Milton identifi ed Belial
in Paradise Lost as one of the fallen angels: “Belial
came last, than whom a spirit more lewd / Fell
not from heaven.” <strong>The</strong> word itself comes from the
Hebrew beliy (meaning “without”) and ya’al (meaning
“worth”). Rebellious, lawbreaking people are
sometimes referred to as sons of Belial. “<strong>The</strong>
Presbyterian sternly raised his eyes. ‘After the
world, and according to the fl esh, she is my daughter;
but when she became a child of Belial, and a
company- keeper, and a trader in guilt and iniquity,
she ceased to be a bairn of mine’ ” (Sir Walter,
Scott, <strong>The</strong> Heart of Midlothian, 1818).
bell, book, and candle <strong>The</strong> ceremony of excommunication
from the Roman Catholic Church. <strong>The</strong>
phrase alludes to features of the ceremony, namely,
the symbolic shutting of the Bible, the quenching
of a candle, and the tolling of a bell, all of which
represent the ending of a person’s life within the
church. She removed all trace of him from her life, as
though by bell, book, and candle.
belle dame sans merci, la See la belle dame
sans merci.
belle époque, la See la belle époque.
Bellerophon See letter of bellerophon.
bell the cat To undertake a dangerous mission.
<strong>The</strong> allusion is to the fable attributed to the Greek
writer aesop (c. 620–564 b.c.) that relates how
some mice agreed that it would be a good idea to
hang a bell around a cat’s neck so that they would
know when it was approaching but were then
faced with the daunting question of who should
attempt to attach the bell in the fi rst place. “. . . as
he was made of sterner stuff than they, so would it
be more diffi cult to reconcile him to the alterations
which were now proposed in the family
arrangements. Who was to bell the cat?” (Anthony
Trollope, Ayala’s Angel, 1881).
below the belt See hit below the belt.
below the salt Of humble, lower- class origins.
<strong>The</strong> allusion is to a custom observed in baronial
halls during the medieval period. This involved the
salt being placed at the center of the long tables at
which diners sat to eat. <strong>The</strong> better- connected
people sat at the end nearest the lord and his family
(above the salt) and the rest at the far end
(below the salt). “Cyrus Vance, the U.S. secretary
of state, the Ira ni an foreign minister, and other
se nior offi cials were well below the salt” (William
Shawcross, <strong>The</strong> Shah’s Last Ride, 1989).
Belphegor (belfegor) Archetype of a misanthropic
lecher. He is identifi ed in Numbers 25:3 as
the Assyrian version of baal, the pagan god whose
veneration took the form of licentious orgies. In
later medieval legend Belphegor was identifi ed as
a demon who was sent to earth to investigate the
realities of marital bliss. Having probed the truths
behind married life, Belphegor fl ed earth to escape
the horrors of female companionship. After his