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

letter of the law, the
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asked Bellerophon to carry a letter to his wife’s
father, Iobates, king of Lycia, in which (unbeknownst
to Bellerophon) he repeated Antaea’s
accusation and requested that Bellerophon be
put to death. Iobates was fond of Bellerophon
and declined to kill him himself, instead dispatching
him on a series of hazardous missions.
When Bellerophon succeeded in all these tasks,
Iobates relented and made him his heir. <strong>The</strong> secretary
carried the message to the head of the department,
little realizing that it was a letter of Bellerophon
and she was taking him instructions for her own
dismissal.
letter of the law, the Rigid adherence to the
rules, especially when seen as negating the spirit
behind them. <strong>The</strong> expression alludes to 2 Corinthians
3:5–6, in which Paul writes, “Not that we
are suffi cient of ourselves to think any thing as of
ourselves; but our suffi ciency is of God; Who also
hath made us able ministers of the new testament;
not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth,
but the spirit giveth life.” “ ‘I was going to
explain that although I am aware you have infringed
the letter of the law, and made yourself liable to
proceedings which may, perhaps, be unpleasant—’
‘I ain’t liable to anything unpleasant at all, Mr.
Emilius’ ” (Anthony Trollope, <strong>The</strong> Eustace Diamonds,
1873).
letter of Uriah (yoorib) A treacherous letter,
especially one in which the writer feigns friendship.
<strong>The</strong> reference is to 2 Samuel 11:15, which
relates how david gave his lover Bathsheba’s husband,
Uriah, secret orders to carry to Joab. <strong>The</strong>se
orders instructed Joab to leave Uriah in the thick
of the fi ghting so that he would be killed, leaving
David free to pursue his relationship with Bathsheba
and eventually marry her. He delivered the
message himself, unaware that, like the letter of Uriah, it
contained instructions for his own downfall.
let the day perish See curse the day i was
born.
let the dead bury the dead Do not grieve over
people who are dead or things that are past but
concentrate on the present. <strong>The</strong> expression is
biblical in origin, appearing in Matthew 8:21–
22: “And another of his disciples said unto him,
Lord, suffer me fi rst to go and bury my father.
But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the
dead bury their dead.” “March 21, night. Free.
Soul free and fancy free. Let the dead bury the
dead. Ay. And let the dead marry the dead”
(James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,
1914–15).
let them eat cake Let the poor look after themselves.
This cynical expression is usually attributed
to marie antoinette, wife of the French king
Louis XVI, and is reputed to show her lack of
understanding or sympathy when told that the
poor had no bread to eat. Though she was
undoubtedly extravagant well beyond the point
of folly, Marie Antoinette never actually said these
words, however. <strong>The</strong> true origin of the phrase is to
be found in the Confessions (1767) of Jean- Jacques
Rousseau (1712–78), where he writes about a
princess who made this remark in similar circumstances.
As for the shareholders who will lose out because
of this, it seems the directors have decided to let them eat
cake.
let there be light An exclamation upon a sudden
revelation, a moment of comprehension, or any
act shedding light upon a scene or matter. <strong>The</strong>
phrase is a quotation from Genesis 1:3: “God said,