| 释义 |
Nessus|ˈnɛsəs|
Name of the centaur slain by Hercules and in whose blood was soaked the tunic which consumed Hercules with fire, used allusively in Nessus robe, Nessus shirt, shirt of Nessus of any destructive or expurgatory force or influence.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. xii. 43 The shirt of Nessus is vpon me. 1835Carlyle Lett. to his Wife (1953) 108 It is now almost my sole rule of life: to clear myself of Cants and formulas, as of poisonous Nessus' shirts. 1905S. Weyman Starvecrow Farm xxxii. 297 Remorse is the very shirt of Nessus. It is of all mental pains the worst. 1924R. Graves Mock Beggar Hall 10 The Nessus-robe that beauties wear, Burning away their beauty. 1931Times Lit. Suppl. 5 Mar. 162/2 The Nessus-robe of vice clings festering about him. 1957E. Sitwell Coll. Poems 414 Then the heart that was the Burning-Bush May change to a Nessus-robe of flame. 1961M. West Daughter of Silence iv. 116 Accept the guilt, know yourself for what you are, wear the knowledge like a Nessus shirt on your own back and bear the pricks and the poison with as much dignity as you can muster. |