Beware the Greeks Bearing Gifts
The Greeks, unable to capture Troy by storm, resorted to trickery. They left a huge wooden horse filled with armed men outside the walls and pretended to sail away. The Trojans wanted to drag the horse into the town and celebrate but their priest Laocoon warned them that the horse was a ruse, with these famous words: "I fear the Greeks even when they bear gifts." The Trojans went right on with their plans, made an opening in the walls, and wheeled in the wooden horse, which though a Greek gift, has ever since been known as the Trojan Horse, a symbol of treacherous infiltration.
The Burden of Sisyphus
This phrase has been used to describe the poor wage-earners' efforts to keep up with the rising cost of living. It's a never-ending task. Sisyphus, mythological king of Corinth, was punished for his misdeeds on earth by being forced to roll a huge boulder uphill in Hades. He never finished his assignment for no sooner had he rolled the stone near his goal than it slipped downhill, and he had to start all over again.
The Greeks, unable to capture Troy by storm, resorted to trickery. They left a huge wooden horse filled with armed men outside the walls and pretended to sail away. The Trojans wanted to drag the horse into the town and celebrate but their priest Laocoon warned them that the horse was a ruse, with these famous words: "I fear the Greeks even when they bear gifts." The Trojans went right on with their plans, made an opening in the walls, and wheeled in the wooden horse, which though a Greek gift, has ever since been known as the Trojan Horse, a symbol of treacherous infiltration.
The Burden of Sisyphus
This phrase has been used to describe the poor wage-earners' efforts to keep up with the rising cost of living. It's a never-ending task. Sisyphus, mythological king of Corinth, was punished for his misdeeds on earth by being forced to roll a huge boulder uphill in Hades. He never finished his assignment for no sooner had he rolled the stone near his goal than it slipped downhill, and he had to start all over again.
