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

a martyr’s end gladly. He did not want to make
a <strong>The</strong>rmopylae, not be Horatius at any bridge,
nor be the Dutch boy with his fi nger in that
dyke” (Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls,
1941).
<strong>The</strong>rsites (thersiteez) Archetype of an impudent,
foul- tongued critic, especially one who criticizes
everyone and everything. <strong>The</strong>rsites was a troublemaking
deformed Greek warrior who was killed
by a blow from Achilles during the Trojan War
after daring to mock him for Achilles’ grief over
the death of his friend Penthesilea. “And fi rst, it
may be said, there is a pelting kind of thersitical
satire, as black as the very ink ’tis wrote with . . .”
(Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy, 1759).
<strong>The</strong>seus (theeseebs) Archetype of a mythological
hero and adventurer. <strong>The</strong>seus was the son of
Aegeus, the king of Athens, and the central fi gure
in a series of legendary encounters. <strong>The</strong>se episodes
included the slaying of the Minotaur, the
conquest of the Amazons, taking part in the Calydonian
hunt, and seeking the Golden Fleece. ‘ “I
will tell you what, Mistress Mary—it will be
rather harder work to learn surveying and drawing
plans than it would have been to write sermons,’
he had said, wishing her to appreciate
what he went through for her sake; ‘and as to
Hercules and <strong>The</strong>seus, they were nothing to me.
<strong>The</strong>y had sport, and never learned to write a
bookkeeping hand’ ” (George Eliot, Middlemarch,
1871–72).
thespian (thespeebn) An actor. <strong>The</strong> word was
originally coined in tribute to the Greek poet <strong>The</strong>spis,
who is traditionally credited with having been
the found er of Greek tragic drama in the late sixth
century b.c. With great success <strong>The</strong>spis introduced
they also serve
the actor in the guise of a fi gure from history or
legend as an alternative to the convention of the
chorus narrating the action. As an adjective thespian
is applied to anything of or relating to the theater as
a whole. “Vergil Gunch thundered, ‘When we manage
to grab this celebrated <strong>The</strong>spian off his lovely
aggregation of beautiful actresses—and I got to
admit I butted right into his dressing- room and
told him how the Boosters appreciated the highclass
artistic per for mance he’s giving us.’ ” (Sinclair
Lewis, Babbitt, 1922).
<strong>The</strong>stylis (thestilis) A rustic maiden. <strong>The</strong> allusion
is to the young female slave called <strong>The</strong>stylis
who appears in the Idylls of the Greek pastoral
poet <strong>The</strong>ocritus (c. 310–250 b.c.). He was immediately
captivated by this <strong>The</strong>stylis and her beautiful voice
and within a month had written a dozen magnifi cent
poems in her honor.
<strong>The</strong>tis’s hair stone (theetis) Rock crystal containing
hairlike fi laments. It is also called Venus’s
hair stone. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to <strong>The</strong>tis, the leader of
the sea nymphs known as the nereids in Greek
mythology and remembered as the mother of
Achilles. Instead of leaving, the little girl reached into
her bag and handed him a crystal lump of the type some
people call <strong>The</strong>tis’s hair stone.
they also serve <strong>The</strong> contribution of people
behind the scenes is also valuable, though not
always acknowledged. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to a quotation
from the poem “On His Blindness” by the
En glish poet John Milton (1608–74): “<strong>The</strong>y also
serve who only stand and wait.” It is variously
encountered both in its full form and in the abbreviated
“they also serve.” It may not be the most glamorous
of occupations, but they also serve who only stand
and wait.
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