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

invita Minerva
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discovers how to make himself invisible (though
his clothes and his footprints remain visible). In
modern use, the phrase is often applied to underprivileged
individuals or groups within society
whose presence is often ignored (hence the title of
Ralph Ellison’s 1952 book Invisible Man, on the
subject of racial oppression and identity). If the
children didn’t turn the tele vi sion on, maybe it was the
Invisible Man.
invita Minerva (inveetb minervb, inweetah minerwah)
Uninspired, lackluster. Meaning in Latin
“against the will of Minerva,” the phrase, which
fi rst appeared in Ars Poetica by Horace (65–8 b.c.),
has generally been reserved for literary or artistic
works that do not meet expectations. Minerva was
the goddess of wisdom and patroness of the arts
and trades in Roman mythology, thus to proceed
without her support doomed any artistic enterprise
to failure. Contemporaries were inclined to view
her fi nal book of poetry as misjudged and invita
Minerva.
in word and deed See word and deed, in.
Io (io) Archetype of a person who changes his
or her shape or appearance. In Roman mythology
Io was identifi ed as a priestess of Juno who attracted
the attentions of Jupiter. In order to prevent any
liaison Juno transformed Io into a heifer, and in
this form she wandered far and wide over the
earth until fi nally restored to human form in
Egypt. Like some bewitched Io, once in costume, she
instinctively assumed all the characteristics of the creature
she portrayed.
Ionic (ionik) Belonging to an order of architecture
typifi ed by capitals decorated with volutes.
<strong>The</strong> order was named after Ionia, an ancient region
of west central Asia Minor that was colonized by
the Greeks around 1100 b.c. and where the style
was fi rst developed. “<strong>The</strong> State Bank, stucco masking
wood. <strong>The</strong> Farmers’ National Bank. An Ionic
temple of marble. Pure, exquisite, solitary” (Sinclair
Lewis, Main Street, 1920). See also corinthian;
doric; tuscan.
I only am escaped I am the sole survivor. This
expression is biblical in origin, coming from Job
1:15, in which Job’s faith is tested by God by a
series of catastrophes, news of which is brought to
him by a series of single survivors who end their
reports with more or less the same words. Herman
Melville incorporates the line as the opening
refrain in the epilogue of his novel Moby- Dick
(1851), in which the reader learns that the narrator,
Ishmael, was the only survivor of the sinking
of the ship Pequod.
I only am left I am the only one remaining. <strong>The</strong>
expression is biblical in origin: It refl ects Elijah’s
self- pity after he fl ees to Horeb when Jezebel
threatens his life following his success in defeating
the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel: “And he
said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God
of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken
thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and
slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I
only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away”
(1 Kings 19:14). In contemporary usage the expression
only I am left is sometimes used. “Only I am
left,” murmured the administrative assistant after all her
colleagues had left early that afternoon.
Irene (ireen, ireenee) Personifi cation of peace
and reconciliation. In Greek mythology, Irene was
the goddess of peace and prosperity. She is conventionally
depicted carry ing plutus (representing