Damocles : courtier of Dionysius (405-367 BC) of Syracuse. When Damocles lionised his riches & power in inflated terms, Dionysius gave a banquet in his honour, to demonstrate the risks & the woes of high estate. Damocles enjoyed until, looking up he beheld a sword suspended above his head by a single hair.
... arrest the progress which they did not love. This policy has never permanently succeeded, yet it is faithfully repeated with that singular stupidity which seems natural to the human race. The sword of Damocles hangs over our Press. It is nominally free, but we never know when even that simulacrum of freedom may not be taken from it. There is a law of sedition so beautifully vague and comprehensive that... yet passed a law entirely and expressly suppressing the freedom of the Press or the right of public meeting. But even that may come. What should we do under these circumstances? We see the sword of Damocles hanging lower and lower over our heads. Our association may be declared criminal and illegal at any moment. The executive can any moment Page 80 it pleases confiscate our press. We ourselves ...
... the Lieutenant-Governor to resign in a huff and get back to England. But with the Risley Circular, "the same Government and the same Lord Minto" began "out-Fullering Fuller" and flourishing the Damocles' sword of disaffiliation over all schools and colleges, and not only over the two Serajgunge schools. On 28 May, 1907, Sri Aurobindo wrote in the Bande Mataram that what the Government seemed ...
... (Correspondence with Dyuman) Dyuman's Correspondence with The Mother 29 June 1935 My dear Mother, The sword of Damocles hangs over our kitchen. We shall have to remain alert, watchful, full of force, quiet and patient. My dear Mother, I am full of confidence in the divine Victory. Yes, as you say, one must keep up the entire confidence in the ...
... importance of health. In fact, health is felt so precious that special beliefs about it are common: for instance quite a few people feel that talking about their good health could provoke the fall of the Damocles' sword of ill-health upon them. Another example is the feeling of beating the odds to remain healthy in old age, as if the norm was to expect bad health to prevail sooner or later. One finds in quite ...
... other Ishwar! (Laughter) We have to go out to find one from somewhere. Now, this is a matter which ladies can do very well, but someone like me cannot do. The absence of servants hangs like a Damocles' sword on my head, and yesterday, it came very near falling on me. I have a small page boy, not Viola, by any means, yet whom my friend Sudha found very sweet! But he didn't turn up yesterday! And ...
... since his acquittal in the Alipur case - a turn of events not at all to the Government's liking - Sri Aurobindo had repeated intimations from divers sources that he was a "marked" man still, that the Damocles' sword might fall on him any day. Once before - twice before - he had been prosecuted without a "scrap of reliable evidence"; he had been acquitted on both occasions, but the acquittal was no insurance ...
... all! Besides, 'four hundred rupees' a month was, well, Rs. 400 a month. The times were dangerous. Before his disappearance, the threat of arrest had been hanging over his head like the sword of Damocles. But Arabindo Babu's sense of humour was irrepressible. The Pallivarta of 25 January 1910 wrote a longish article, quoting extensively from the Karmayogin. We give a few points. "Mr. Aravinda ...
Share your feedback. Help us improve. Or ask a question.