Damocles

Dāmō̆cles, is, m.,

• a courtier of Dionysius the younger, Cic. Tusc. 5, 21, 6 (cf. Hor. Od. 3, 1, 17; Pers. 3, 40).

Dāmoclēs, is, m. (Δαμοκλης), Höfling u. Vertrauter des ältern Dionysius von Sizilien, der das von ihm gepriesene Glück des Tyrannen kosten durfte, aber gern darauf verzichtete, als er das über seinem Haupte an einem Pferdehaar hängende Schwert bemerkte, s. Cic. Tusc. 5, 61 (wo auch Vok. Damocle). Sidon. epist. 2, 13, 5 u. 6; vgl. Macr. somn. Scip. 1, 10 extr. u. die Anspielungen bei Hor. carm. 3, 1, 17. Pers. 3, 40.

Dāmŏclēs, is, m. (Δαμοκλῆς), Damoclès [courtisan de Denys le Tyran] : Cic. Tusc. 5, 61.

Damŏcles

(Δαμοκλῆς). A Syracusan, one of the companions and flatterers of the elder Dionysius. Damocles having extolled the great felicity of Dionysius on account of his wealth and power, the tyrant invited him to try what his happiness really was, and placed him at a magnificent banquet, in the midst of which Damocles saw a naked sword suspended over his head by a single horse hair—a sight which quickly dispelled all his visions of happiness. The story is alluded to by Horace (Carm. iii. 1. 17) and by Persius (ii. 40).