damocles

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
Damocles
    n 1: the Greek courtier to Dionysius the Elder who (according to
         legend) was condemned to sit under a naked sword that was
         suspended by a hair in order to demonstrate to him that
         being a king was not the happy state Damocles had said it
         was (4th century BC)
    

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