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Originally Posted by Yakk
I'm trying to understand/track down a reference made in an opinion paper I read.
The proximite bit is:
The questions are:
What is the Damoclean "advice"?
Who, or what, is the Uriah being referred to?
Hopefully the references are sufficienly well known that someone will know it off the top of their heads!
My attempts at google searches are coming up blank.
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in classical mythology, courtier at the court of Dionysius I. He so persistently praised the power and happiness of Dionysius that the tyrant, in order to show the precariousness of rank and power, gave a banquet and had a sword suspended above the head of Damocles by a single hair. Hence the expression “the sword of Damocles” to mean an ever-present peril.http://www.bartleby.com/65/da/Damocles.html
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I have no idea what the perilous advice is.
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Uriah Heep is the name of a rascal in David Copperfield.
His pretence of being ''’umble'' masks villainy, as he undermines his employer, Mr Wickfield, gradually insinuating himself into control of the law firm.
He attempts to blackmail Wickfield’s daughter (who eventually marries David) into marriage. I describe him as an oily creature, who writhes like a snake.
Yours faithfully,
Charles Dickenshttp://www.talkingto.co.uk/ttcd/html...=1876&CatID=94
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I imagine Uriah refers to the Dickens character, but I don't know why unless the advice was villainous..