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

sweat of thy face
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young heroine of the book, singer Trilby O’Ferrall,
inspiring her to sing beyond her natural ability;
after Svengali dies she loses her musical powers
and also dies. “Lydon’s counsel alleged that Malcolm
McLaren ‘regards himself as a Svengali of
these people to do what ever he cares without asking
anybody else’ ” (M. Brown, Richard Branson: <strong>The</strong>
Inside Story, 1989).
sweat of thy face See adam’s curse.
Sweeney Todd (sweenee tod) A murderer who
cuts the throats of his victims. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to
Sweeney Todd (1756–1802), the so- called Demon
Barber of Fleet Street, who murdered customers
at his Fleet Street barber shop in London by
slitting their throats with his razor and then disposed
of their bodies by cutting them up and putting
them in meat pies or sausages to be sold from
a neighboring bakery. “<strong>The</strong> magazine was launched
ceremoniously and seven weeks later was scuppered
in as blatant an act of back- stabbing as Fleet
Street has seen since Sweeney Todd set up shop
there” (Maureen Lipman, Thank You for Having Me,
1990).
sweetness and light Amiable relations; harmony.
<strong>The</strong> phrase fi rst appeared in <strong>The</strong> Battle of the
Books (1697) by the Irish satirist Jonathan Swift
(1667–1745), although it later became better
known as a quotation from Culture and Anarchy
(1869) by the En glish poet and critic Matthew
Arnold (1822–88). According to Arnold the
qualities essential to “sweetness and light” are
moral virtue and intellectual truth. In modern
usage the phrase tends to be employed facetiously.
He thought that once he had apologized all
would be sweetness and light, but he counted without
the very human need for revenge.
sword of Damocles (dambkleez) A looming
threat; an impending danger. According to Greek
legend Damocles was a nobleman who sought to
ingratiate himself with Dionysus the Elder (405–
367 b.c.) by remarking enviously upon the great
happiness that Dionysus must enjoy as ruler of
Syracuse. In response Dionysus invited Damocles
to dine with him. Only after Dionysus had sat
down to eat did Damocles realize that there was a
sword suspended over his head by a single hair.
Thus threatened, Damocles did not enjoy his meal
and came to appreciate how Dionysus himself had
to live with the perpetual fear of assassination or
deposition by jealous enemies. “True, in old age
we live under the shadow of Death, which, like a
sword of Damocles, may descend at any moment”
(Samuel Butler, <strong>The</strong> Way of All Flesh, 1903).
swords into plowshares See beat swords into
plowshares.
sybaritic (sibbritik) Plea sure- loving; luxurious;
self- indulgent. <strong>The</strong> inhabitants of the town of Sybaris
in ancient Lucania (southern Italy) were notorious
for their plea sure- loving ways and their
indulgence in all manner of comforts and luxuries.
By the same token, any person who shows a fondness
for the good things in life may be dubbed a
sybarite. <strong>The</strong> sybaritic ways of the urban young were
never likely to win much approval among their elders.
sycophant (sikofbnt, sikofant) A person who
fl atters to win favor; a parasite; a toady. <strong>The</strong> word
comes from the Greek sykon (meaning “fi g”) and
phainein (meaning “to show”). It is supposed to
allude to in for mants who told the ancient Greek
authorities about neighbors who were illegally
exporting fi gs or helping themselves to the fruit of
sacred fi g trees. Another derivation suggests a link