Tantalus, The sonne of Iupiter and Plota, king of Phrigia, of whome the Poets doe write, that because hee diselosed the counsayle of the Gods, hee is in hell tormented in this wise: He standeth by a fayre riuer, hauing before him a tree laden with pleasaunt Apples, and yet he is alwayes thirstie and hungrie: for as often as he stoupeth to drinke, or holdeth vp his hands to gather the Apples, both the water and the tree doe withdraw them so from him, that hee cannot touch them.*Tantali horti, A prouerbe, signifying good thinges to bee at hand, which notwithstanding a man may not vie.
Lewis and Short: Latin dictionary
tantillus@Tantălus (-los), i (Greek collat. form of dat. Tantaleo, after the form *tantaleu/s), m., = *ta/ntalos,a king of Phrygia, son of Jupiter, and father of Pelops and Niobe. He was admitted by Jupiter to the feasts of the gods; but, having disclosed their secrets, he was sent for punishment to the infernal regions, where he stood up to his chin in water under an overhanging fruittree, both of which retreated whenever he attempted to satisfy the hunger and thirst that tormented him. A rock also hung over him ever threatening to fall, Hyg. Fab. 82; Ov. Am. 2, 2, 44; id. M. 4, 457; 6, 172; 10, 41; Poët. ap. Cic. Tusc. 1, 5, 10; Cic. Tusc. 4, 16, 35; id. Fin. 1, 18, 60; Hor. Epod. 17, 66; id. S. 1, 1, 68; Tib. 1, 3, 77 al.—Hence, A. Tantălĕus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to Tantalus: sors, Prop. 2, 17 (3, 9), 5: manus, id. 2, 1, 66: mensa, Stat. Th. 11, 128. —B. Tantălĭdes, ae, m., a male descendant of Tantalus; of Pelops, Ov. Tr. 2, 385; of the grandsons of Tantalus (Atreus and Thyestes): Tantalidarum internecio, Poët. ap. Cic. N. D. 3, 38, 90; so, Tantalidae fratres, Ov. F. 2, 627; of his great-grandson, Agamemnon, id. M. 12, 626; id. H. 8, 45; id. Am. 2, 8, 13; id. F. 5, 307 al.—C. Tan-tălis, ĭdis, f., a female descendant of Tantalus; of Niobe, Ov. M. 6, 211; Stat. Th. 3, 193; Sen. Herc. Oet. 197; of Hermione, daughter of Menelaus, Ov. H. 8, 122: matres,