Words from Mythology and History
cicerone: A guide, especially one who takes tourists to museums, monuments, or architectural sites and explains what is being seen.
• On Crete they sought out a highly recommended cicerone, hoping to receive the best possible introduction to the noteworthy historical sites.
The Roman statesman and orator Cicero was renowned for his elegant style and great knowledge (and occasional long-windedness). So 18th-century Italians seem to have given the name cicerone to the guides who would show well-educated foreigners around the great cultural sites of the ancient Roman empire—guides who sought to be as eloquent and informed as Cicero in explaining the world in which he lived.
hector: To bully or harass by bluster or personal pressure.
• He would swagger around the apartment entrance with his friends and hector the terrified inhabitants going in and out.
In Homer's great Iliad, Hector was the leader of the Trojan forces, and the very model of nobility and honor. In the Greek war against Troy, he killed several great warriors before being slain by Achilles. His name began to take on its current meaning only after gangs of bullying young rowdies, many of them armed soldiers recently released from service following the end of the English Civil War, began terrorizing the residents of late-17th-century London. The gangs took such names as the Roysters, the Blades, the Bucks, and the Bloods, but the best-known of them was called the Hectors. The names Blades and Hectors may have seemed appropriate because, like Hector and Achilles, they often fought with swords.
hedonism: An attitude or way of life based on the idea that pleasure or happiness should be the chief goal.
• In her new spirit of hedonism, she went out for a massage, picked up champagne and chocolate truffles, and made a date that evening with an old boyfriend.
Derived from the Greek word for “pleasure,” hedonism over the ages has provided the basis for several philosophies. The ancient Epicureans and the 19th-century Utilitarians both taught and pursued hedonistic principles. But although we generally use the word today when talking about immediate pleasures for the senses, philosophers who talk about hedonism are usually talking about quiet pleasures that aren't pursued in a selfish way.
nestor: A senior figure or leader in one's field.
• The guest of honor was a nestor among journalists, and after dinner he shared some of his wisdom with the audience.
Nestor was another character from the Iliad, the eldest of the Greek leaders in the Trojan War. A great warrior as a young man, he was now noted for his wisdom and his talkativeness, both of which increased as he aged. These days, a nestor is not necessarily long-winded, but merely wise and generous with his advice.
spartan: Marked by simplicity, avoidance of luxury, and often strict self-discipline or self-denial.
• When he was single, he had lived a spartan life in a tiny, undecorated apartment with one chair, a table, and a bed.
In ancient times, the Greek city-state of Sparta had a reputation for the severe and highly disciplined way of life it enforced among its citizens, so as to keep them ready for war at any time. Physical training was required for both men and women. A boy would begin his military training at 7 and would live in army barracks for much of his life, even after he was married. Today, when a cargo ship or a remote beach resort offers “spartan accommodations,” some tourists jump at the chance for a refreshing change from the luxuries they've been used to—and no one worries that they'll be forced out of bed at dawn to participate in war games.
stentorian: Extremely loud, often with especially deep richness of sound.
• Even without a microphone, his stentorian voice was clearly audible in the last rows of the auditorium.
Stentor, like Hector, was a warrior in the Iliad, but on the Greek side. His unusually powerful voice (Homer calls him “brazen-voiced”—that is, with a voice like a brass instrument) made him the natural choice for delivering announcements and proclamations to the assembled Greek army, in an era when there was no way of artificially increasing the volume of a voice.
stoic: Seemingly indifferent to pleasure or pain.
• She bore the pain of her broken leg with such stoic patience that most of us had no idea she was suffering.
The Stoics were members of a philosophical movement that first appeared in ancient Greece and lasted well into the Roman era. Stoicism taught that humans should seek to free themselves from joy, grief, and passions of all kinds in order to attain wisdom; its teachings thus have much in common with Buddhism. The great Stoics include the statesman Cicero, the playwright Seneca, and the emperor Marcus Aurelius, whose Meditations is the most famous book of Stoic philosophy. Today we admire the kind of stoicism that enables some people (who may never have even heard of Marcus Aurelius) to endure both mental and physical pain without complaint.
sybaritic: Marked by a luxurious or sensual way of life.
• When I knew them they were living a sybaritic existence—hopping from resort to resort, each more splendid than the last—but a year later the money ran out.
The ancient city of Sybaris (near modern Terranova di Sibari), founded by the Greeks on the toe of Italy's “boot,” was famous for the wealth and luxury of its citizens in the 6th century B.C. But the Sybarites' wealth made them overconfident, and when they went to war with a nearby city, they were defeated by a much smaller army. After the victory, their enemies diverted the course of the river running through Sybaris so that it destroyed the whole city forever.
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