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

Cassandra
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Cassandra (kbsandrb) A prophet of doom, specifi
cally one whose prophecies are ignored but
who is later proved correct. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to Cassandra,
the daughter of King Priam of Troy, who
was granted prophetic powers by Apollo but later
fated never to be believed as punishment for her
having refused his advances. Consequently, when
she foretold the fall of Troy no one heeded her
warnings. After the fall of Troy, Cassandra was
taken by Agamemnon to Greece, where she prophesied
Agamemnon’s death but was again ignored.
Ultimately, she and Agamemnon were murdered
by Clytemnestra. “But Cassandra was not believed,
and even the wisdom of <strong>The</strong> Jupiter sometimes falls
on deaf ears” (Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers,
1857).
Cassidy, Butch See butch cassidy and the sundance
kid.
Cassidy, Hopalong See hopalong cassidy.
Castalian spring (kastayleebn) A source of inspiration.
<strong>The</strong> allusion is to a sacred spring on Mount
Parnassus that was believed by the ancient Greeks
to bestow the gift of poetry upon anyone who
drank from its waters. “<strong>The</strong> Aeneid, you know,
begins just as he says an epic ought not to begin;
and the Aeneid is the greatest Latin epic. In the
next place the use of Modesty is to keep a man
from writing an epic poem at all but, if he will
have that impudence, why then he had better have
the courage to plunge into the Castalian stream,
like Virgil and Lucan, not crawl in funking and
holding on by the Muse’s apron- string” (Charles
Reade, Hard Cash, 1863). See also parnassian.
casting couch <strong>The</strong> exchange of sexual favors for
employment opportunities or other benefi ts. <strong>The</strong>
phrase is of theatrical or cinematic origin, referring
to the (largely mythical) couch upon which
aspiring young actresses were supposedly encouraged
to demonstrate their talents to directors casting
plays or fi lms. “She described the Hollywood
of the late 1940s as ‘an overcrowded brothel’ but
was no stranger to the casting couch herself ”
(Robin Smith, <strong>The</strong> Encyclopaedia of Sexual Trivia,
1990).
cast in one’s teeth To insult; to revile; to throw a
reproof at someone. <strong>The</strong> idiom comes from Matthew
27:44: “<strong>The</strong> thieves also, which were crucifi
ed with him, cast the same in his teeth.” “All his
faults observed, / Set in a notebook, learn’d and
conn’d by rote, / To cast in my teeth” (William
Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, 1599).
cast into Dante’s Inferno See dante’s inferno.
cast into outer darkness See outer darkness.
cast money changers out of the temple To criticize
or take action against inappropriate commercialism.
<strong>The</strong> allusion is to the biblical episode in
which Christ ejected the money changers from the
Temple, which had become a place of business, as
related at Matthew 21:12–13: “And Jesus went
into the temple of God, and cast out all them that
sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the
tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them
that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written,
My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye
have made it a den of thieves.” <strong>The</strong> money changers
had originally been allowed into the Temple to
facilitate the selling of doves for ritual sacrifi ces
and the payment of Temple taxes by exchanging
Roman currency for Hebrew coinage. <strong>The</strong> accountants
rule Hollywood, and there is little likelihood that