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

Parcae
360
Creation”) by Guillaume de Salluste du Bartas
(1544–90), who in turn borrowed from <strong>The</strong> Creation,
<strong>The</strong> Fall, and <strong>The</strong> Expulsion from Paradise by St.
Avitus (d. 523). Milton’s epic had a sequel, Paradise
Regained (1671), but this phrase has not entered
the language to the extent that “paradise lost” has.
In the great man’s autobiography, he tended to view the
world of his youth as a paradise lost.
Parcae See fates.
pariah (pbrib) A person, nation, or ga ni za tion,
etc., that is shunned by other people and considered
outside decent society. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to the
Pariahs, one of the lowest of Hindu castes, from
southern India. <strong>The</strong> word itself means “drummer”
in Tamil, a reference to the fact that Pariahs often
beat the drums at Hindu festivals. It was the Eu rope
ans who extended the term to encompass people
who belonged to no caste at all and thus all
outcasts. “Of course architects are human and it
must be seen that such an approach is liable to
make the architect a pariah fi gure, unbeloved of
the society in which his creations are set” (Stewart
Lamont, In Good Faith, 1989).
Paris (paris) Archetype of a beautiful young
man. Paris, the second son of King Priam of Troy,
played a pivotal role in bringing about the Trojan
War by carry ing off Helen, the wife of Menelaus,
and thus causing the Greeks to lay siege to the city.
When Troy fi nally fell, Paris was wounded by
Philoctetes, who returned him to his wife, Oenone.
She refused to heal Paris’s grievous wound, so he
returned to Troy, where he died before a repentant
Oenone could reach him. Overcome with grief,
Oenone hanged herself. <strong>The</strong> general’s son was as
beautiful as Paris and as cantankerous as Donald Duck.
See also judgment of paris.
Paris is well worth a mass (paris) Principles
should be sacrifi ced where the reward is great
enough. This cynical observation was fi rst voiced
by Henri of Navarre (1553–1610), who was destined
to rule France as Henri IV. During his struggle
to gain the French throne, Henri demonstrated
a willingness to abandon religious allegiance for
the sake of expediency on more than one occasion,
switching from Protestantism to Catholicism
in 1572, then recanting, and fi nally, after a long
siege of Paris, declaring himself a Catholic once
again in order to be allowed into the city unopposed
to claim the crown of all France. As king, he
introduced the Edict of Nantes, which guaranteed
freedom of worship, only to be assassinated by a
Catholic priest in 1610. Winston Churchill was not
the only politician to change sides, excusing himself with
the thought that “Paris is well worth a mass.”
Park Avenue A street that is lined with the
homes of the very rich. Park Avenue in Manhattan
is lined with the homes of some of the wealthiest
families in the United States. She was evidently
impressed by his elegant suit and his Park Avenue chic.
Parkinson’s Law <strong>The</strong> proposition that “work
expands so as to fi ll the time available for its completion.”
One of the most familiar of all the tenets
of business life, it was fi rst suggested by the British
writer and historian Cyril Northcote Parkinson
(1909–93) in his satirical book Parkinson’s Law
(1958), which explored the various ways in which
the “law” applied: “<strong>The</strong> rise in the total of those
employed is governed by Parkinson’s Law and
would be much the same whether the volume of
work was to increase, diminish or even disappear.”
If you ever need proof of the reality of Parkinson’s Law,
just watch a road- mending team at work on overtime.
See also peter principle.