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Les Misérables vocabulary
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Tantalus
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synonyms: Atys ???
tags: [mythology]
► definition
Definition:a Greek mythological figure, most famous for his eternal punishment in Tartarus. He was also called Atys.He was made to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches, with the fruit ever eluding his grasp, and the water always receding before he could take a drink.text from Wikipedia, licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike
image: public domain
► uses
Uses:
It is like an ignis fatuus; the closer we come to it the farther away it recedes. It hangs suspended before the mind like the luscious grapes which hung before the mouth of the hungry Tantalus.
Robert T. Browne. The Mystery of Space (1919)
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What drier thirst could Tantalus endure than I, who have almost every hour the drink I dare not taste, and the meat I cannot? Insomuch that I am torn upon the wheel with Ixion, my liver gnawn of the vultures and harpies
John Lyly. Euphues and his England (1580)
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Who was the man who couldn’t get water to his mouth in a sieve—Tantalus?
John Steinbeck. East of Eden, p.510 (1952)
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