Sword of Damocles
The sword of Damocles, suspended by a single horse-hair over the head of the courtier Damocles at the court of Dionysius II of Syracuse, is the object by which Cicero, in the Tusculan Disputations, taught that royal power is bought with anxiety. When Damocles envied the tyrant's happiness, Dionysius seated him at a banquet served in gold and silver and had him look up to find a gleaming sword hanging by a hair above his neck; the pleasure of the feast turned to dread, and Damocles understood that the ruler lives each moment under the threat of death. The image, which some ancient writers trace