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

matician Pythagoras (c. 580–c. 500 b.c.). In order
to work out the height of the great hero Hercules,
Pythagoras began by comparing the length of the
average Greek stadium (600 feet) with that of the
stadium of Hercules at Olympia and from this calculated
the size of Hercules’ foot, with which he
would have paced out the distance. Having gleaned
this information, it was relatively simple to calculate
his height as there is a certain ratio between
foot size and height. An alternative phrase with
much the same meaning is ex ungue leonem
(meaning “from the claw of the lion”). “. . . and as
for Testacio, one of the highest hills in modern
Rome, it is but an ancient dust heap; the women of
old Rome fl ung their broken pots and pans there,
and lo—a mountain. ‘Ex pede Herculem; ex
ungue leonem’ ” (Charles Reade, <strong>The</strong> Cloister and
the Hearth, 1861).
extra mile See go the extra/second mile.
Exxon Valdez (ekson valdeez) An environmental
disaster, especially one involving a spillage of oil.
<strong>The</strong> Exxon Valdez was a massive oil tanker that
went aground in Alaska’s Prince William Sound in
1989, causing catastrophic damage to thousands of
miles of shoreline. It has since become a benchmark
for all such environmental calamities. What
the world really doesn’t need is another Exxon Valdez.
eye for an eye, an Retribution by extracting like
for like. <strong>The</strong> phrase comes from Exodus 21:24:
“Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot
for foot.” He was an old- fashioned judge who believed
in an eye for an eye when it came to crimes against the
person.
eye hath not seen Something invisible to ordinary
sight or not readily perceived by the senses. Paul
uses the phrase in 1 Corinthians 2:9 in describing
the wondrous rewards that God has prepared in
heaven for those who are faithful to him: “But as it is
written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man, the things which
God hath prepared for them that love him.” “Vast
chain of being, which from God began, / Natures
aethereal, human, angel, man, / Beast, bird, fi sh,
insect! what no eye can see, / No glass can reach!”
(Alexander Pope, Essay on Man, 1733–34).
eyeless in Gaza (gahzb) Reduced to a state of
wretched helplessness in hostile surroundings. <strong>The</strong>
phrase alludes to the ill treatment suffered by samson
at the hands of the Philistines, who, according
to Judges 16:1–3 and 21, captured him and put out
his eyes before imprisoning him “with fetters of
brass” at Gaza. <strong>The</strong> image of the mighty Samson
thus pitifully reduced has since been variously
adopted by writers over the centuries, from John
Milton, who depicted Samson as “eyeless in Gaza at
the mill with slaves” in Samson Agonistes (1671), to
Aldous Huxley, who wrote an autobiographical
novel entitled Eyeless in Gaza (1936). “Ask for this
great deliverer now, and fi nd him Eyeless in Gaza,
at the mill with slaves. It is the same story. Great
power reduced to impotence, great glory to misery,
by the hand of Fate . . .” (Anthony Trollope,
<strong>The</strong> Last Chronicle of Barset, 1867).
eye of a needle See camel: go through an eye
of a needle.
Eyre, Jane See jane eyre.
Eyre, Jane
155