Explore "The Sword of Damocles" by James Baldwin on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
There was once a king whose name was Di-o-nys'i-us. He was so unjust and cruel that he won for himself the name of tyrant. He knew that almost everybody hated him, and so he was always in dread lest some one should take his life.
But he was very rich, and he lived in a fine palace where there were many beautiful and costly things, and he was waited upon by a host of servants who were always ready to do his bidding. One day a friend of his, whose name was Dam'o-cles, said to him, --