Remember:
This story is taken from Greek mythology. The events take place in the 4th century BC. King Dionysium, King of Sicily and his one of the flatterers are the protagonist in this story. The King is very brutal but powerful. The citizens of the country would have happily killed the king if given a chance but they were afraid of his power. due to his great power, he had a number of flatterers and Damocles was one of them. Even though the king was ruthless he had the experts in the field of arts, literature, science as his friends and he disliked his flatterers.
One day on the occasion of flattering the kind, as usual, Damocles says he wishes to have the wealth and power of the throne. so, king Dionysus without second thought hands over his power and the throne to Damocles. Damocles at first will be rejoiced to have the throne but he finds a large sword hanging by a strand of horse hair. He will be terrified. Any time the sword may fall and cut him into two. He can neither enjoy the wealth not the power and he finally hands over the throne back to the king.
Understand:
The events between the king and his flatterer clearly make us grab the fact that power and wealth is not the key to happiness. The more power you have, the more responsibilities come along with it. There is a constant fear of death to the king or any powerful people.
It is very easy for an outsider to praise the power you have but they cannot understand the struggle one has been through to attain that position.They can enjoy the luxury but the have to put their life on the line in order to attain all of them.
Therefore, it is useless to praise people for what they have. Instead of wishing for what they have we should work and make our dream possible.
Application:
The story is old but the events showed in the story are very similar to our present-day society. Today too people possessing power are praised and flattered despite their bad personalities. We have a general idea that the ones with higher influence are always right. none is able to speak against the people who are in higher political positions.
Similarly, the flatterers remain in the background and think that the achievements are what these powerful ones got from birth or fate but refuse to acknowledge their hard works.
Analyze:
The story shows how autocratic the power can be. Power makes a person self-righteous. The event of Dionysus handing over his throne to Damocles without a second thought and hanging a sword above disrespecting the right to live clearly power can blind a person. On the other hand, Damocles showed a lack of responsibility by easily handing over the kingdom. Dionysus gave a good lesson to Damocles but the path he chose to impart the knowledge was completely wrong.
Evaluate:
The story is written in simple language and does not have hard words. The story is very eventful. The events of the story is managed in a sequential order. The characters, plot, and scene are in harmony with each other. The story is very coherent and concise. It has essentially fulfilled the requirements in a story.
