#classic caesar indeed

[hplovecraftmuseum]

Adding to the previous exhibit: there is nothing beyond Azathoth/ Chaos in my studied interpretation of Lovecraft's fictional cosmic heierarchy. Azathoth is the final source and destiny of all things. There is no other first beginning. Lovecraft said of the mythology of the Ancient Greeks that their idea of creation was " linear". In other words cosmic history for the Greeks began with Chaos and proceeded to Zeus and the Olympians. Zeus, Neptune, Hera, winged Mercury, etc. would rein for all eternity. There would be no turning back, no return to a state of chaos. Of course the Greeks and the Romans who absorbed most of their ideals - though giving their versions of the Olympians new names (Zeus became Jupiter, Poseidon became Neptune and so on) none of them could conceive that the immortals of Olympus would be swept away when one of the later Caesars - Constantine usually gets the credit (or blame!) would by decree make the empire Christian. In the blink of an eye, relatively speaking, the gods of the Classical World were abandoned and all but forgotten on any serious level. Indeed, the popes of Medieval Europe would declare them to be demons in league with the devil. Now Lovecraft had declared himself a pagan early in life. He was allowed to discontinue Sunday School because of his disruptive and heretical proclamations. Lovecraft as a student of history might have seen the Viking idea of an eternal cycle of light and darkness, good and evil as a concept, he could be used in his own synthetic mythmaking. HPL also understood the Eastern Taoist idea of yin and yang. Thus PERHAPS in his view of cosmic history there is an eternal cycle of light and darkness, order and chaos, life and death. (Exhibit 559)

[whencyclopedia]

Alexander the Great: A New Life of Alexander

"Alexander the Great: A New Life of Alexander" by Paul Cartledge offers a detailed yet accessible exploration of the legendary figure's life and legacy. The author's expertise and engaging storytelling provide fresh insights into Alexander the Great's conquests and their historical significance. This book is recommended for scholars and general readers alike.

Alexander the Great's profound impact on Roman culture is undeniable, particularly when considering the fusion of Greco-Oriental influences during the Hellenistic era, which permeated Rome and, subsequently, Western Europe. His conquests paved the way for cultural diffusion and laid the groundwork for religious and imperial ideologies. His ideological legacies include figures like Pompey and Caesar. The territories Alexander the Great once controlled formed the foundation of Rome's eastern dominion, often considered the culturally and economically richer half of the empire.

However, understanding Alexander himself proves challenging due to conflicting ancient sources and continuous reinterpretations throughout history, often reflecting the agendas of interpreters.

In Alexander the Great: A New Life of Alexander, Paul Cartledge offers a captivating and comprehensive new examination of Alexander the Great. With his trademark storytelling prowess, Cartledge, chair of Cambridge University's Classics Department, guides readers through the life and conquests of Alexander with precise detail and an engaging narrative that balances discussion on Alexander's achievements with acknowledgment of places where we lack historical evidence.

Cartledge challenges prevailing notions about Alexander's motivations, particularly regarding Alexander's aim of spreading Hellenism. Cartledge argues that while Alexander was indeed attached to Hellenism, his driving force was personal glory and conquest. This nuanced perspective adds depth to our understanding of Alexander, presenting him as a complex figure driven by ambition and a thirst for success.

Central to Cartledge's exploration is Alexander's military genius. Through detailed chronicles of Alexander's battles with the Persians, Tyrians, and Babylonians, Cartledge highlights the young leader's strategic brilliance and innovative tactics. He demonstrates how Alexander's love of hunting served as a metaphor for his approach to warfare, as he adapted hunting strategies such as the surprise attack to achieve military success. This analysis sheds light on Alexander's mindset and sheds new light on his military achievements.

The book is enriched by many appendixes, including a glossary and an extensive bibliography, which enhance the reader's understanding and provide valuable resources for further exploration. Cartledge's skillful storytelling brings history to life, making the ancient world feel vivid and immediate. His vivid descriptions and storytelling make for an absorbing read that will appeal to both scholars and general readers alike.

Overall, Alexander the Great: A New Life of Alexander is a masterful biography that offers fresh insights into the life and legacy of one of history's most iconic figures. With its diligent research, engaging narrative, and nuanced analysis, this book is sure to become a definitive work on Alexander the Great for years to come. Whether the audience is a seasoned scholar or a casual reader with an interest in ancient Greece, this book is a must-read.

Continue reading...

[haggishlyhagging]

Money, like writing, seems to have originated in the temples of the ancient world. The word money comes from the Roman Goddess Juno who in one of her forms was called Moneta meaning She Who Gives Warning. Her temple in Rome was the center for the finances of Rome and so her name Moneta became the word money. The same word became also mint because that same temple was the place where coins were minted. According to Barbara Walker silver and gold coins manufactured there were valuable not only by reason of their precious metal but also by the blessing of the Goddess herself which was believed to bring good fortune and healing magic.

Money was indeed a magical invention. Folk tales are full of magic lamps and genies and beanstalks, of magical ways to have our every wish granted. We would all like to be able to snap our fingers or twitch our noses and have our purposes accomplished. And that is almost exactly what happens with money. It can be exchanged for every conceivable kind of real wealth. Magic. Pure magic. So enamored were people of this magical invention that it became over time the primary measure of real wealth in Westem society.

Why then do three quite diverse philosophical or intellectual traditions agree on the idea that money is somehow unclean or something to be despised?

One of those traditions is Christianity. About one third of the parables of Jesus are about money. He is reported to have taught that being rich is a barrier to salvation and to have told the rich young man to sell everything and give his money to the poor. The one time he is depicted as angry is when he turns over the tables of the money changers at the temple. His advice on taxes is to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, to separate money and worldly concerns from one's religion. Classical Christianity has preached, if not practiced, that money and this world are to be renounced in favor of an other-worldly kingdom of heaven. The love of money, said St. Paul, is the root of all evil.

Classical Marxism also renounces money as responsible for the alienation of human beings from their labor. People no longer work to create or produce, but only to make money. This situation Marx considered to be disastrous. He felt it was labor which was of essential value and that all monetary valuations were to be discarded. Those who seek only money he saw as exploiting those who work.

Finally there is Freud who thought money was anal. He equated money with feces, excrement. It is therefore filthy and messy. Withholding money is a kind of constipation. Money is related to the bowels and is dirty. And indeed, we do refer to money sometimes as "filthy lucre."

Christianity, Marxism and Freudianism all agree on despising money. As a psychologist I have learned to pay careful attention to those things another person protests most vehemently against. And as a woman I have learned to pay close attention to those things which our great patriarchs preach most loudly against. Because, of course, what is loudly despised is often what is covertly desired or feared or worshipped. So if Jesus, Marx and Freud are all in agreement on something, we women had better take a careful look.

Women are socialized to live out the Christian ideals of self-sacrifice and martyrdom and men are socialized to give lip service to them. The same hypocrisy would seem to apply to what is preached about money. Filthy, despicable, and barrier to salvation it may be, but the fact is that in general, men have money and women don't. According to the United Nations Labor Organization, women put in 65% of the world's work and get back only 10% of all income paid. The female half of the world's population owns less than 1% of world property. Women in our Western society may have access to money through their husbands or fathers, but until recently women rarely accumulated or controlled their own large fortunes.

Men may philosophize about the distinction between money, which is "merely" a measure, and "real wealth," the goods and services into which money can be changed. They can say that the pursuit of money leads to an unhappy, hollow existence. They can urge upon women the virtues of simplicity. But for most men the ultimate appeal is to the "bottom line," that is, to money. How much money will something cost? How much financial profit will be gleaned? Mae West cut through this hypocrisy with great clarity when she said "I've been rich and I've been poor, and rich is better."

-Shirley Ann Ranck, Cakes for the Queen of Heaven

[pureamericanism]

It's an almost banal truism that classic science fiction was largely a projection of the Frontier Experience - and, more broadly, the whole world-shaking events of the European Age of Discovery - onto an imagined outer space. Less frequently remarked is that the reverse is also true.

I grew up devouring Golden Age science fiction novels, and was a fervent believer in Mankind's Destiny Among The Stars. Well, the Space Age - like all the great dreams of thr 20th century - has turned out to be something of a damp squib, but I still want stories of fantastic voyages of exploration, adventure, science, discovery, and intrigue in a vast new world of far-flung outposts separated by titanic distances. So to scratch that itch, why not just...go back to the source?

If you want something like a story about an isolated asteroid mining colony, you can just read the memoirs of a surgeon at a Hudson Bay Company outpost! Why bother with Heinlein when you can just read the diaries of pioneer women, the tales of Yankee filibusters in Latin America, the authentic exploits of desert-island buccaneers, or the early adventures of the Portugese in the Indian Ocean? Do you want fraught tales of inteigue and war and high politics that extend to the farthest reaches of known space? A good book on any of the big 18th century wars for empire will satisfy. And can Star Trek remotely compare in imagination and excitement to the voyages of Cook and La Pérouse? "Strange new worlds, new life, and new civilizations?" Boy howdy, we got 'em! If you look at these things with fresh eyes, with the eyes of a science fiction fan rather than those of someone with access to an infinitide of pictures of them online, nothing could be more surprising than a dugong, a platypus, a redwood, a southern continent of solid ice.

All of this is really just an overly long preamble to my main point, though. Which is that I believe the story of Hernán Cortés, Montezuma, and the Conquest of Mexico to be possibly the greatest one ever told. The themes...bro, the themes! There is here a richness, a complexity and depth surpassing almost anything I can think of in legend or literature.

It is, of course, a science fictional First Contact story, in which two shockingly different civilizations who know nothing of each other suddenly find themselves facing each other down. And indeed, like any good First Contact story, one of the principal characters, La Malinche, is an interpreter! See how the resulting clash of civilizations eludes simple stereotyping - sure, it's easy to see the Spaniards as brash young interlopers into the sophisticated and urbane world of the Aztecs, whose capital was perhaps as much as an order of magnitude more populous than any city in Spain. But equally it is possible to see the Aztecs as provincials, isolated from a wider, older world that suddenly irrupts into their narrow one. Consider that Cortés supposedly got practical advice on political machinations and military strategy by - studying Caesar! Access to ancient wisdom penned by dead hands in far-off lands provides material aid to him.

Then there are the religious themes. It can be seen as a story about the triumph of Christianity, of the Church Triumphant, but what does it mean for a religion founded by a suffering martyr to become militarily triumphant? And what does it mean for thr religion of a suffering martyr to become triumphant over a religion of human sacrifice to the gods? This is a complex and multi-layered irony that spares no one. And consider the strange foreshadowing of the legend of Quetzelcoatl returning from over the sea. Shades of Frank Herbert, here, even (especially?) if the tale is a post-conquest invrntion.

And the role of technology in the tale. Yes, the steel and shot, the horses and hounds, the ships and sails were all powerful allies for the Spaniards, but these would not have sufficed without the smallpox virus - a reversal of Wells that still underlines the power of biology and of the very small even in the face of all our mastery over the brute world. But the conquest also would not have been possible without the alliance with the Tlaxcala and other local rivals and adversaries of the Aztecs. There are very pointed lessons in the social, political, and diplomatic sciences being demonstrated here. Some are obvious, and others very subtle - look at the ways these differing civilizations reacted under the extreme stress of this brutal war to see what I mean about the subtle ones.

I could go on, I could mention the strange aesthetic touches, such as the similarity in climates between the Valley of Mexico and inland Spain, and the parallels between Spain's role to Rome and Mexico's to Spain; or I could talk about the fascinatingly ambiguous characters of all the major players in this story, and the surprising arcs they go through; but not only am I already going on rather long, but I fear I may be making too light of what were, after all, real events, real events that resulted in piles of corpses, and whose tremendous human consequences are still felt deeply by tens of millions of people.

But I stand by my statement that it is one of the richest, profoundest stories I know of. The gods may be cruel, monstrously cruel, but they are artists, too.

[robotnik-mun]

Man, you know what I'd love to see one day?

Planet of the Apes media that focuses on what kind of Ape civilizations arose outside of North America.

Whether its the classic or modern series, the civilizations we bear witness to are those that emerge in North America, and that is indeed neat... but I always wonder about what became of the Apes on the rest of the planet. Like, how influenced by Earth's other societies are these apes? How do their environments influence the development of their cultures? How much do they inherit from humanity? For that matter, what of the wild ape populations in Africa and Indonesia? What languages and cultures do THOSE apes develop, without the presence of humans to influence either?

Most importantly... what happens when these disparate apes finally meet one another? What do they make of each other? Do all ape species integrate with one another the way that Caesar's apes do, or without a similar figure to rally behind, do they instead stick with their own respective kinds? And do they share the same hostilities towards humanity? Is that the tie that binds, or is even that up in the air?

I dunno, it's just one of those things that feels a bit underutilized in a lot of PotA related media, and I'd really love to see it examined at some point in the future.

[aphroditelovesu]

Hello! Just wanted to say a few things!

firstly, I really love your works!! and also, I want to ask if you can recommend your favourite books/articles/shows/etc about mythology/history :)

Hii!! ☺️☺️

Thank you so much, anon! I'm very happy to read this. This kind of comment always cheers me up when I'm going through a difficult time. Thank you very much! ❤️

And yes, of course I can! 😊

Mythology books that I really like are: Percy Jackson/The Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan, Pegasus and the Flame of Olympus by Kate O'Hearn, the book Greek Myths and Norse Myths.

And of course the Iliad and the Odyssey. Two classics that are totally worth reading, if you haven't read them yet.

Of books, although it is not considered a history book, but rather a period romance, I recommend Julie Quinn's books. Like Bridgertons, which is set during the Regency. Maybe you like it.

When it comes to history books, I don’t have a specific one to recommend. But I would say that it depends on the topic you prefer, whether it's Antiquity or the French Revolution, it really depends.

As for articles, I usually read from a Brazilian site called Aventuras na História, but it's not in English :( but you can automatically translate it on Google, if you're interested :)

These are my favorite series:

Rome: Very good indeed! For those who like the history of Rome and how the Roman Empire was created and a little of the history of Julius Caesar and Augustus, I highly recommend it.

Reign: It's not historically accurate, but it's very good for those who love a royal drama. I remember that when I watched it I was hooked.

The Tudors: very good for those who like the life of Henry VIII and his six wives. There's a lot of drama involved.

The Great: again not historically accurate, but it's very fun! It tells the story of the Empress of Russia, Catherine the Great.

The Spanish Princess and The White Princess: these are very good series that deserve more attention. The Spanish Princess tells the story of Catherine of Aragon and The White Princess tells the story of Elizabeth of York.

Outlander: fits both as a book and a series and I really recommend it. It's not about history per se, but it shows Scotland during that period while a lot of drama and angst surrounds the story!

I watch a lot of historical documentaries that you can easily find on YouTube! :)

I would say these are my favorite series and book recommendations. I hope they please you!

[vinylspinning]

Thin Lizzy: Life (1983)

Because it was among the first Thin Lizzy albums I ever bought, the band's second double live release holds immense personal and nostalgic value for me -- quite disproportionate with its generally (bad) reputation.

And today I come here to bury Caesar, not to praise him, but before you simply fall in line with lazy and just plain ancient critical dismissals of this 40-year-old set, consider this ...

While 1983's Life (a.k.a. Life Live) was undoubtedly subjected to considerable studio edits and overdubs after the fact, we've recently learned that so was 1978's hallowed Live and Dangerous, and the same is true of 99% of all live albums out there.

Don't get me wrong, Live and Dangerous is still the invincible: the ultimate, essential Thin Lizzy in-concert document; but a lot of that comes down to track-listing, since twelve of Life's nineteen cuts were drawn from the slowly crumbling band's uneven final four LPs.

Indeed, Life was recorded to memorialize Lizzy's farewell tour in '83, so former guitarists Eric Bell (1969–'73), Brian Robertson ('74–'78), and Gary Moore ('74, '77-'79) were invited to perform at a historic show at London's Hammersmith Odeon.

But the album's first three sides saw the group's final line-up of Philip Lynott (vocals, bass), Scott Gorham (guitar), John Sykes (guitar), Brian Downey (drums), and Darren Wharton (keyboards) blasting through both new and older favorites.

Newbies like the metallic triplets (hey, this was the '80s) "Thunder & Lightning" (Sykes' solo is still one of the most astonishing I've ever heard), "Baby Please Don't Go," and "Cold Sweat," the emotional, atmospheric "Sun Goes Down," and the topical "Holy War" (a subject that weighed heavy on the Irish-born Lynott) all hailed from Lizzy's critically acclaimed final LP, released earlier that same year.

Sprinkled amongst these were a few '70s classics, including the evergreen "Jailbreak," "Are Your Ready," "The Boys are Back in Town," the ballad arrangement of "Don't Believe a Word," plus Black Rose favorites like "Waiting for an Alibi" and "Got to Give it Up."

The latter deserves special attention because it prefaces the musical cry for help that Lynott never verbalized unto his dying day with a lighthearted introduction camouflaging the song's dire message behind the same ol' sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll.

Another clutch of recent Lizzy offerings, including "Renegade", "Angel of Death," "Hollywood," and "Killer On the Loose," actually dated from their 1981 tour, and thus they feature performances from the departed Snowy White, who tellingly declined to attend the Hammersmith festivities.

About which: this once-in-a-lifetime, all-star jam was chronicled on Life's fourth vinyl side, showcasing 'Robbo' on "Emerald," Moore on the epic "Roisin Dubh (Black Rose)," both men plus Sykes on "Still in Love with You," Bell and everyone else for a climactic "The Rocker."

Again, it's impossible to gauge what percentage of these tracks are actually live, before final touches were put in the studio, but that's the way it goes: deal with it or don't bother in the first place, but if you do, just be grateful for what fading greatness remained.

And the real tragedy of this LP is that there was still so much to love about Thin Lizzy's final stand; ticket sales were so brisk, fan response so loving, and the shows themselves so strong (see for yourself) that by tour's end Lynott was having serious second thoughts about his decision to disband.

But by then it was too late ... Lynott was uncomfortable making a lie out of Lizzy's farewell promise (shame on you, dishonest bands of today!) and when compounded with his mounting drug-related health issues, it was simply impossible to carry on.

Philip's inexorable descent proceeded behind the scenes, amid sporadic collaborations with Gary Moore (see "Out in the Fields") and his stillborn next band, Grand Slam, until he passed away on January 4, 1986, at the age of 36.

But of course there's eternal Life in Thin Lizzy's incredible catalog, and even in this oft-maligned double live LP.

More Thin Lizzy: Thin Lizzy, Shades of a Blue Orphanage, “Whisky in the Jar,” Vagabonds of the Western World, "Little Darlin'," Nightlife, Fighting, Jailbreak, Johnny the Fox, Bad Reputation, Live and Dangerous, "Waiting for an Alibi," Black Rose, Chinatown, “Trouble Boys,” Renegade, “Cold Sweat,” Thunder and Lightning, “Dedication.”

[tfw-no-tennis]

one piece liveblog 807-810

yayyy

807!!

them just cutting to a feast and still not telling us what happened to sanji 👀👀 like I know what happened to sanji but its still juicy af

BROOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok brook legit has one of the best character designs in one piece (and that's saying a lot w/the competition), simply can't be beat

still w/the sanji remarks...the drama!!!!!!!!!!

everyone is accounted for EXCEPT sanji

HAHAHA the super foreboding 'corpse' wanda mentioned was just brook lmfao

hahahaha and the dog minks love brook, of course. and zoro is just like Tell Me Less Please.

law just fucking off to the forest lmao mood

oooohohh the offscreen explanation oooohhhh

goddd I love that nami recognizes how bad the situation is - how this is actually WORSE than if sanji had Actually been physically kidnapped

but okay pretending idk where sanji went the tension is insaaaane and The Plot Thickens when u hear sanji left a note and left on purpose HMMMM so juicy

ITS ONLY BEEN 11 DAYS.....JEEEEESUS LOL

didn't dressrosa take like 5 years irl lmfao

flashback babeyyyyy

ooooh I love big moms flagship. so creepy. I love the whole 'evil-er willy wonka/disney' schtick she has going on

omfg I forgot abt caesar, just like luffy did

yeessssss I love seeing the crew fight together sooo much I wish it happened more instead of individual fights. It should be like DND where they take turns lol

namiiiii I love her and her weather powers sm

HAHAHAHA nami acting all humble but saying 'I admit, the credit's all mine' I love her SO MUCHHHH lmao

also I LOVE the rest of the straw hats hyping them up :')

chopper getting to do Dr stuff yayayayayay

nami and wanda gay asf js

OUGHGHGHGH LAW REUNITING W/HIS CREW OUGHHHHHH

also I was CONVINCED that law was doomed to die sometime after dressrosa (for multiple reasons, one being that his power is so OP lmao) so seeing this I was like OH NO HE DOESN'T HAVE LONG LEFT...lmao

I thot he'd die in wano but now that he didn't I'm like okay he's fine actually lol

oooh it's crazy to get to see all this wano-related stuff now that wano is like. actually over lol

and we still don't see what happened to sanji yet lol

chapter 808!!!

KAYA AND THE KIDS W USOPPS POSTER WWWWWWWWWWWWWW

oh shittttt jack

wow they have a lot of themes going on huh. you have the cards thing, and the mythical/prehistoric animals thing, and the 'calamities' thing. extraaa

this man is named sheepshead....that's a fish bro

gin-rummy...more card game names lol

apparently sheepshead is also a game but idk I think everyone's first thought would be Fish (

them arguing over terminology w/samurai vs ninja lmfao not the time dudes

oh shit fuck it up minks

luffy not reading the room at all and being excited that there's a mammoth hvhbajdfvshjbfbajdsdf I love him sm did u know

I love usopp and luffy's relationship sm ooooobh

HAHAHA NOOOO LUFFY JUST BLOWING BY ALL THE SUBTLTY

classic

everyone just whaling on luffy hvbjadkfbskjdfn

inuarashi!!! I was actually so confused by the english translation names lmao

caesar just fucking things up lmao

chapter 809!!

omfg inuarashi wanting to chew on brook too bc he's a dog mink lmaoooooo

'not later either!!' LMFAOOOOOOO

luffy going CAESAAAAAAAR is giving me jojo part 2 flashbacks

omg they met shanks :D

luffys like OH SHHIT MY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

inuarashi falling asleep mid convo lmao

luffy like prying his jaw open while chopper tries to stop him. classic

omg fellow nocturnals<3

flashbackkkkkk!

ooooh musketeers

inuarashi badass moments

jack's the first person we hear about w/a billion+ bounty, right??

nekomamushi fuuuuck yea

i love one piece fights ngl

chapter 810!!!

ooooh we see the baratie w/sanji's new 'only alive' wanted poster!! 'lots of questions' indeed...

jack kinda looks like axe hand morgan w/that jaw hvjddhskbjlf

oomg bepo and the heart pirates fighting for zou 😭😭😭 wuv them

damnnn they fought for 5 days

luffy just sitting on inuarashi lmao

luv that luffy is Just A Little Guy and its more and more obvious as the series progresses bc everyone starts getting larger like the story is advancing along some sort of megafauna gradient

damnnnn they're out here breaking the geneva convention

nekomamushi cursing jack as he 'dies' is dope as fuck

this is starting to feel like a christian creation myth lol. 'and on the sixth day, the devil left our lands...'

inuarashi saying that doflamingo and jack 'must be bound by some deep connection' makes it sound like they're gay married lmfao

awww luffy defeating doflamingo indirectly made jack leave and stop murdering everyone on zou, nice

OH SHIT FLASHBACK!!!! sanjis there 👀

that shot w/brook chopper nami sanji momo and caesar like lmao caesar rlly thinks he's on the team....

caesar saying 'you will rue the day!'....neville icarly moment

brook's outfits are always cool as fuuuuck

nami immediately jumping into action to help the squirrel girl <333

and telling brook to fight the guy chasing her and brook is like sure thing <3333 ilove them

brook is so fucking cool I wish he got more to do in the story. I'm glad he gets to be dope in wci

oh hi pedro! everyone looks like they've seen better days huh

damn especially inuarashi and nekomamushi...I forgot the had limbs chopped off 😬 ouch

exciting flashback developments!!!!! more to come 👀

[king-of-men]

Correcting Macauley

As we all know, in classical Latin 'c' is pronounced hard, as a modern 'k' - hence "Kaiser" from "Caesar". In the nineteenth century this was no doubt less well known, and I therefore propose that Macaulay, in translating his lay of ancient Rome into English, made an error. I will attempt to correct this by providing an alternate reconstruction, with my amendations indicated by italics:

And now hath every kitty fluffed up her tail, a-men! The paws are forty thousand, the hisses, thousands ten.

Of course one cannot simply replace 'city' with 'kitty' and call it a day - what is the sense in which a kitty has a "tale of men"? No, no, we must reconstruct the rest of the stanza similarly. A kitty does very clearly have a tail, and once you allow the initial 'kitty/city' error then 'tail/tale' is a very natural further error for Macaulay to make, as is "of men/a-men". Then Macaulay has "the foot are fourscore", and this makes no sense - eighty thousand men (and that's not even counting the cavalry!) is a vast army for the time and place, entirely impractical to feed or coordinate. On the other hand "foot" is of course just another word for "paw", and if we assume ten thousand cats each with one hiss (not horse, pace Macaulay!) then indeed they have forty (not fourscore) thousand paws.

Now, an army of ten thousand kittens is no doubt easier to feed than one of ninety thousand men, some with horses; but it is still a rather absurd image. I therefore propose that the original, now-lost text that Macaulay translated as a heroic epic was actually nothing of the kind, but instead, a parodic, comic text in the style of the Batrachomyomachia - the "Battle of the Frogs and Mice". Alas, the critical approach of correcting plausible errors based on an obvious one does tend to break down the further one gets from the obvious error. Clearly we have Lars Pawsena of Clawsium", but otherwise even the cast of characters is not very easy to correct, much less the action. If Horatius is a cat, he cannot well jump in the Tiber, but this is not obvious - the kitties who fluff up their tails are the allies of Lars Pawsena, and Macaulay's "Romans" may well be some other animal entirely. Indeed this would explain why the Tiber (Tiger?) is so formidable an obstacle.

Still, while this is only a start, it suggests that searching for obscure feline puns in Latin may be a fruitful direction of research, and I would like to urge the grantmaking institutions to take up this fascinating field as soon as practical.

[vesseloftherevolution]

From my own limited knowledge of the Late Roman Republic, this is indeed highly complimentary, if also a little unfortunate in choices.

Cato: one of the most mortally upstanding examples of Late Roman virtue. Consistently acted for the good of the republic over the factional warfare that occurred in his time, and also as one of the optimes - the group of more traditionally minded politicians in Rome's Senate. He ended up killing himself - seen as the ultimate virtuous dear - rather than submitting to the enemy. Considered a Stoic post hoc, but like many Romans, didn't quite live up to the ideal.

Caesar: Aside from being one of the greatest tactical thinkers of the late Republic, Caesar was also an astute politician, forging alliances with two of the most politically slippery men in Rome - Crassus and Pompey - and managing to keep relatively tight hold of Roman politics up until his death, even if away fighting in Gaul. Caesar aligned himself with the populares, a faction which courted public opinion/sought to improve the lives of the lower classes. However, he was assassinated, as Tumblr likes to remind us.

Cicero: Being compared to the greatest orator of Rome, who became the role-model for all Medieval and Renaissance statesmen, is quite the compliment. Cicero's rhetorical style is one of the most elegant, witty, varied and engaging out there - read Pro Caelio in translation/in Latin for a sense of it, he makes you laugh in spite of the dubious content of what he's saying. Cicero politically navigated between the populares faction and the optimates, although his level of success is debatable. Nevertheless, he was a staunch and loyal republican. Unfortunately he sided with Brutus and Cassius after the death of Caesar, ended up on the wrong side of Mark Anthony, and was beheaded.

So I'd suggest that the implications are that Richard Courtney was as morally virtuous as Cato, as tactically/politically astute as Caesar, and as rhetorically clever as Cicero. However, any classics scholars will know better than I, as I'm also a Medievalist-Early Modern Historian.

Please weigh in if I've forgotten/misrepresented anything.

Richard Courtenay, who served as Chancellor of Oxford in the first decade of the fifteenth century and became bishop of Norwich in 1413, was considered ‘a Cato, a Caesar and a Cicero’.

James G. Clark, A Monastic Renaissance at St Albans: Thomas Walsingham and his Circle c. 1350-1440 (Oxford University Press 2004)

[n0tname]

Intelligence and sterility are allied in old families, old peoples, and old cultures, not merely because in each microcosm the overstrained and fettered animal-element is eating up the plant element, but also because the waking-consciousness assumes that being is normally regulated by causality. That which the man of intelligence, most significantly and characteristically, labels as "natural impulse" or "life-force", he not only knows, but also values, causally, giving it the place amongst his other needs that his judgment assigns to it. When the ordinary thought of a highly cultivated people begins to regard "having children" as a question of pros and cons, the great turning-point has come. For Nature knows nothing of pro and con. Everywhere, wherever life is actual, reigns an inward organic logic, an "it", a drive, that is utterly independent of waking-being, with its causal linkages, and indeed not even observed by it. The abundant proliferation of primitive peoples is a natural phenomenon, which is not even thought about, still less judged as to its utility or the reverse. When reasons have to be put forward at all in a question of life, life itself has become questionable. At that point begins prudent limitation of the number of births. In the classical world the practice was deplored by Polybius as the ruin of Greece, and yet even at his date it had long been established in the great cities; in subsequent Roman times it became appallingly general. At first explained by the economic misery of the times, very soon it ceased to explain itself at all. And at that point, too, in Buddhist India as in Babylon, in Rome as in our own cities, a man's choice of the woman who is to be, not mother of his children as amongst peasants and primitives, but his own "companion for life", becomes a problem of mentalities. The Ibsen marriage appears, the "higher spiritual affinity" in which both parties are "free"—free, that is, as intelligences, free from the plantlike urge of the blood to continue itself, and it becomes possible for a Shaw to say "that unless Woman repudiates her womanliness, her duty to her husband, to her children, to society, to the law, and to everyone but herself, she cannot emancipate herself." The primary woman, the peasant woman, is mother. The whole vocation towards which she has yearned from childhood is included in that one word. But now emerges the Ibsen woman, the comrade, the heroine of a whole megalopolitan literature from Northern drama to Parisian novel. Instead of children, she has soul-conflicts; marriage is a craft-art for the achievement of "mutual understanding"

At this level all civilizations enter upon a stage, which lasts for centuries, of appalling depopulation. The whole pyramid of cultural man vanishes. It crumbles from the summit, first the world-cities, then the provincial forms, and finally the land itself, whose best blood has incontinently poured into the towns, merely to bolster them up awhile. At the last, only the primitive blood remains, alive, but robbed of its strongest and most promising elements. This residue is the fellah type. If anything has demonstrated the fact that causality has nothing to do with history, it is the familiar "decline" of the classical, which accomplished itself long before the irruption of Germanic migrants. The Imperium enjoyed the completest peace; it was rich and highly developed; it was well organized; and it possessed in its emperors from Nerva to Marcus Aurelius a series of rulers such as the Caesarism of no other civilization can show. And yet the population dwindled, quickly and wholesale. The desperate marriage-and-children laws of Augustus—amongst them the Lex de maritandis ordinibus, which dismayed Roman society more than the destruction of Varus's legions—the wholesale adoptions, the incessant plantation of soldiers of barbarian origin to fill the depleted country-side, the immense food-charities of Nerva and Trajan for the children of poor parents—nothing availed to check the process.

Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West, Vol. II. Perspectives of World History

[teamhippoftw]

[interretialia]

Salve! Is there a certain thought process you use when choosing how to form modern English phrases into Latin?

How do you choose which form of a verb/noun to use and decide between a plethora of synonyms?

Salve et tu!

Those are some good questions.

When I go to render modern English into Latin, the first thing that I do is think about the overall meaning of the English text and then try to think of some corresponding ideas according to the Latin idiom. I almost always consult Meissner’s Latin Phrasebook when I am at the “Latin idiom” stage of the process. This Meissner’s Latin Phrasebook is very helpful because it contains idiomatic Latin phrases (from the works of Cicero, Caesar, Livy, and others) which serve as translations of English phrases and terms which are relevant to many areas of life (e.g., parts of the body, the arts and sciences, and war). Unfortunately, this book is more than one hundred years old, so its usefulness is limited. If I cannot find the right phrase in this book, I usually then go to the Loeb Classical Library’s site and search for the English phrase, and then I see if I can find any place in Latin literature which corresponds to an English translation which contains the phrase. If this does not work, then I consult the latest edition of John Traupman’s New College Latin & English Dictionary, which contains many Neo-Latin terms. If I am still stuck, I look at Meissner’s Latin Phrasebook again to find a phrase which is similar in meaning to what I want to say in Latin and then change it a little to fit my needs. I might instead simply render the basic meaning of the English into Latin, using the “Preliminary Hints” section (comprising the sections “Avoid poetic, unusual, or late words” and “Use words in their normal Latin meaning” and “Translate thoughts, not words” and so on) of Bradley’s Arnold Latin Prose Composition as a guide. Sometimes there are instances where I just translate the English into Latin verbatim because the individual English words appear to be as important to the presentation as the ideas which they express.

Deciding on a particular word among several synonyms is often not too difficult. Latin has many synonyms, but almost none of them are truly interchangeable. (Lumen and lux, for example, might be interchanged in poetry, but that comes about due to poetic license, and there is indeed a difference: lux is light itself and lumen, which has the instrumental suffix -men, is a light source—a luc-men—like a lamp or the sun.) If I have trouble deciding on a particular word, I might consult Dumesnil’s Latin Synonyms or Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonyms. They are helpful, but again they are more than one hundred years old, so their translations do not always correspond to contemporary English (e.g., they might use the word passion to mean “suffering” rather than “strong feeling or emotion”). When it comes to more modern terms, I typically look at what Vicipaedia, the Latin Wikipedia, has to say about them. I also consult the latest addition of Traupman’s Conversational Latin for Oral Proficiency because this has a large Latin term list near the end. I also search through various other Neo-Latin sources like:

The Morgan-Owens Neo-Latin Lexicon;  

Morgan’s Lexicon Latinum;  

Lexicon Latinum Hodiernum;  

Philosophia Latine Disserenda;  

Latinitas Recens.

If I find variant translations of something, I decide on a translation according to these criteria:

whether the term is morphologically or syntactically valid according to the formation procedures which the Romans themselves employed (e.g., possestrix is good but the “possessrix” which appears in the Lexicon Latinum Hodiernum is garbage);  

whether a variant of a term shows up in more than one of the sources;  

whether the term comprises a single word or more than one word;  

whether the term employs just Latin word elements or non-Latin elements like those from Greek or the modern Romance languages;  

just plain euphony.

You might wonder how Neo-Latinists create neologisms. The first thing to realize is the fact that Latin is quite adverse to neologisms in general. The Roman writers and their later counterparts have been avoiding the creation of new words. They instead are more likely to write circumlocutions or paraphrases. (Writers are not always as steadfast about avoiding new words as Tacitus is at Annales 1.65 where he avoids calling spades spades, but sometimes they do come close.) Still, there might be times when neologisms are necessary. Fortunately, Latin is robust enough to have several options to coin new words. The options that we have are:

We can take an already-existing word and give it a new meaning (e.g., pellicula, originally “little hide,” but having the Neo-Latin meaning “movie” or “film”).  

We can import a non-Latin word into the language and give it a Latin form (e.g., kimonum, from kimono, and the adjective iazzicus, from jazz). The Romans were doing this with Greek words for centuries, as seen in words like philosophia and polypus.  

We can use the rules of Latin composition and derivation to create new Latin-form words (e.g., interrete, from inter and rete, for “internet,” and basipila, from basis and pila, for “baseball,” and even caeliscalpium, from caelum and scalpere, for “skyscraper”).  

We can look to certain modern languages, like Greek and the Romance languages, to find modern phrases and then invent Latin calques of such terms (e.g., pomum terrestre for “potato,” which is a calque of the French phrase pomme de terre).

I believe what determines which of these to use in a particular situation has to do with the ease through which someone can deduce a neologism’s meaning according to its morphological or syntactical resemblance to modern terms.

Perhaps you noticed that although I create a lot of Latin compound words and derivatives, I rarely use any of them in my actual translations. That is intentional. I am following the typical Latinist procedure of creating and mentioning neologisms only when they are needed while at the same time working primarily with already existing and familiar Latin words. Most of the neologisms that I create exist because they are meant to demonstrate my skills in linguistics and wordsmithery. I want to see how these new words look and sound. And I create these words for fun. When I do my translations, however, I want to make it so that as many people as possible can understand what I want to say without having to rely too much on the idiosyncrasy of my neologisms. I think that anyone who knows how to read Latin should be able to work out the essential meanings of my translations.

Utinam hoc tibi prosit! I hope this is helpful!

Vale.

[coriandher]

If there's anything I'm pissed about this comic getting reposted around is that first image is apparently funny on its own right as a punchline so a lot of times reposts don't have my ode to the Big Caesar

Ave true to pizza

[seraandthebees]

OC question (not really a question but whatever): pick a work written in classical Greek or Latin to recommend to each of your OCs! What would they enjoy reading or which works would include valuable information for them?

Ohhh this is a good one!! Thanks Vanamo!! You know me well so you’re not gonna be surprised when this is a long answer 😅

I think Herah would really love the poetry of Sappho. I know this is kind of an obvious choice but I think the personal nature of lyric poetry would suit her well. The sense of community and the performance context are things I think would remind her of her Tal Vashoth community. I’ll probably do a post on this at some point but, since it’s relevant here, I think that the Vashoth probably have an oral tradition given that that’s an important part of almost all communities ever. It’s a way for members of a community to connect to one another over common stories/experiences, a way to impose a moral code, and to define how we ought to treat each other and what happens when that goes wrong. Connecting with those ideas and exploring how another culture is similar/different to her own would be really rewarding for Herah.

Also hearing Sappho communicate directly with Aphrodite, reading her symptoms of love, listening her play into existing myth and look at it in new ways would be really appealing to Herah. The differences in language and metre would also give her the opportunity to get stuck in and do the kind of close analysis that she loves so much. She’d really be able to dig her teeth into it and see all the nuances of word order and emphasis, and admire how compact and economical these poems are.

I know this is cheating but I just wanna add that I think Herah would really love to read some Athenian comedy with Sera. They’d have so much fun with the Cyclops with all its sex jokes and taking the absolute piss out of Odysseus as this self-important war hero whose fame means nothing without a social framework in which to operate.

After much debate, I think I’d recommend to Naerselle the Iliad. She’d really like the close descriptions of battle (I almost said Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars for that reason) but I think she’d really understand the sorrow of Achilles, his attempt to defy destiny, how his action (or inaction) hurt a lot of people, but in time he realises just how much that cost him on a personal level. Not only that though, I think she’d also relate to Hector at times, not because of his nobility (in the moral sense) but because of how alone he is at times even when he has such an extensive family. She and her own family are mostly at odds and I think she sees something of them in Paris making her by extension a Hector-like figure.

Given that she’s Andrastian (probably my OC with the strongest sense of faith), I think she’d enjoy how present the gods are in this text, even if they are perhaps portrayed as ambiguous at times. Her faith doesn’t necessarily mean that she thinks that the Maker has a strong sense of right and wrong which he imposes upon the world. She sees it more as he has an overarching plan (like Zeus’ Βουλή in the proem) which may indeed require suffering along the way.

I know Senna would love historiography so I think I’d recommend Sallust’s War on Catiline or Jugurthine War. Sallust’s style is moralising and very self-conscious as his discussion of events often reveals either explicitly or implicitly where he himself lies politically. It’s also pretty important to him to justify why he’s taking the time to write history when he maybe should be dedicating time to politics. The position of being stuck between personal pursuit and political duty is something Senna could relate to, being at the centre of politics for as long as she can remember. Sallust, in my opinion, has this surface view of binary morality, but also his deeper ambiguity on whether we are right to accept the official narrative (particularly in the Catiline). I think that’d feel familiar to Senna, especially after her exile from Orzammar.

I also think it’d be helpful for her from a rhetorical and political point of view as seeing the shades of grey and how people might do bad things for good reasons or vice versa would give her perspective on how she herself should or could view the world around her. The end of the Catiline is particularly striking because all of the remaining supporters of the Catilinarian conspiracy fight valiantly and to the death — notably within no wounds to the back (ie they didn’t flee from battle). Seeing a political opposition be so sure that what they’re doing is right might make her question her own actions and think about how she’ll be remembered in history.

For Nesiril, I’m stuck between either Euripides’ Medea or Aeschylus’ Agamemnon. I think they’d like to see how gender roles can be pushed and even totally disregarded at times and she’d definitely take the reading of extreme support of the women in these plays in the face of the abominable actions of the men around them. Moreover, I think they’d see Jason and Agamemnon as parallels for the Templars in the Circle — controlling, power-hungry, and neglecting their duties or outright contradicting them.

I think she’d also see herself in Medea in particular from a gender point of view because there’s this scene in which Medea renounces her femininity and basically steps outside of the gender binary. Given that Nesiril is non-binary, I think she’d find this a really powerful moment and really gender affirming.

[high-functioning-lokipath]

RPF - Tom x Reader - He's attempting to be in disguise and you run into him at a library and recognize him. - Words: 1,152

A/N: Alright, so for clarification sake, there is a text message conversation in this imagine. You, as the reader, your texts are in blue text. The other person's texts are in green. I simply do not have the skill to make bubbles lol

Also Y/F/D means Your Favorite Drink

Now, without further ado....

"Ma'am? Ma'am?" You whisper to the lady behind the desk. She seems to be ignoring you though so you whisper louder. "Hello!"

"What do you want?" She snarks, finally paying attention to you.

"Where do you have your classic literature?"

"Ya mean like Shakespeare an’ that?" She asked, obviously disinterested. You nod and she points to the back corner of the building. Thanking her, somewhat half-heartedly, you walk off in search of a copy of your new favorite Shakespeare play. You'd never read it in full but, after seeing a spectacular performance of it, you wanted to read it yourself. Finding the correct aisle, you saw another person was looking at the same area. You tried to get a look at him but he had a knit cap on, pulled down, covering his hair and part of his face. He also had his jacket collar turned up shielding the rest of his face from view. You just shrugged it off and started scanning down the shelf looking for the right book.

"All's Well That Ends Well, Antony and Cleopatra," You read quietly, running your hand down the spines. "As You Like It, Comedy of Errors."

"King Lear, King John, Julius Caesar," The Man muttered to himself, working towards you on the same shelf. He hadn't seemed to have noticed you yet. You couldn't shake the feeling that there was something familiar about him though. "Henry 6, 5, 4, Hamlet."

"Ah ha!" You exclaimed. As you reached for the book you were searching for, his hand bumped yours reaching for it too.

"Sorry," He immediately said, pulling his hand back from yours.

"It's alright," You replied, trying to get a look at his face. Much to your disappointment, however, he was wearing dark glasses.

"Coriolanus is a fine play. Have you ever read it?" He asked.

"Not yet," You admitted. "I saw a spectacular production of it from National Theater though and-" you cut yourself off, finally recognizing the badly disguised voice and the not horribly disguised face.

"Uh, I," He stuttered. "Perhaps I should go."

"No!" You immediately said. "I mean, don't worry about it. I won't tell on you." You smiled abit shyly, surprised you've been able to keep yourself together long enough to form a sentence. "You've obviously gone through a lot of trouble to get here quietly, so," You shrugged. "I shouldn't ruin that for you."

"Well, thanks," He smiled. "Sorry about trying to take your book," He apologized.

"Oh no worries," You replied. "Here," You held it out to him. "I'll just re-read Hamlet for now." He took the book and looked at it for a moment. Then he looked back at you and smiled again.

"Aren't you going to ask for a picture or something?"

"No," You shook your head. "I'm not going to impose on you. Now if you offered," You teased. "Not going to lie, I really really want to but-"

"Give me your phone," He interrupted, holding out his hand. You handed him your phone, unlocked and on camera, and he took off his hat and sunglasses and ruffled his hair a bit to get rid of matting from his hat. Turning to stand next to you, he leaned over a little and held up the phone for a selfie. "Smile!" Once he took it, he brought it up on the gallery to make sure it looked alright. He tapped a couple of things and then showed you the picture. "What do you think?"

"Oh!" You said, finally finding your voice again. "Perfect! Thanks so much, Tom."

"You're welcome. Look, I have to go take care of something real quick. Are you going to be here for a while?"

"Probably."

"Ok, I'll see you again in a few minutes, alright?" You nodded happily, a silly grin working its way on your face. He turned to walk away but stopped and faced you again. "Oh, I forgot to ask, what's your name?"

"Y/N."

"Would it be too cliché of me to say that's a lovely name for a lovely lady? Because it's true." You giggled, blushing furiously and shook your head. He took your hand and kissed it, grinning mischievously. "Y/N, adieu! I have too grieved a heart to take a tedious leave." And with that he left. In a bit of a daze you grabbed the Hamlet book off the shelf and sat on one of the comfy sofas in the corner. After quickly making your new selfie your background on your phone, you settled in to read. About 5 minutes later, though, your phone buzzed.

"This better be important," You grumbled.

Hey, what would you

like to drink? Coffee?

Tea? Frappuccino? Let

me know.

Tom?

Yes? 🙂

"Holy crap," You gulped. Scrolling up slightly, you saw he had texted himself your selfie together.

Sorry if that was a bit too forward. I can just delete your number. I'd just ask that you don't publish my information anywhere.

NO!

It's fine. Actually, kinda funny. Usually I'm the one who has to tell people to ask me first before giving out my number 🤣 I'm not on social media, by the way.

Good for you. It can get messy. Now you haven't answered my question.

Oh! Yeah! Lol Uh, well, I usually get Y/F/D if that's not too much trouble. 🙃

No trouble at all. ☕🍵

[Image attached] (pic of drinks)

Heading back! I have a surprise for you! 😉

Lol 😂 Ok! Can't wait!

"Hi there," He said, peeking around the corner of a bookshelf a few minutes later.

"Hi," You squeaked. He handed you one of the cups in his hand and then sat down next to you.

“Oh, this is for you.” He handed you a smaller package in a brown paper wrapper. You opened it quickly and saw the copy of Coriolanus that had been on the shelf.

“I don’t understand,” you said, a bit confused.

“Well, I may have taken it to the desk and bought it,” He admitted. You stared at him wide eyed. “Open the front cover. I hope you don’t mind.”

For Y/N

Let it be virtuous to be obstinate.

Love, Tom Hiddleston

“You didn’t have to do that, Tom!” You exclaimed. “I-wow! Thank you! That’s a great line too! I haven’t read it before but like I said, I saw a wonderful production of it,” you teased. He laughed and took a sip of his tea.

“Maybe we should read it together,” He suggested slyly, another mischievous glint in his eyes. “And then, perhaps, if you’re agreeable to it, we could go to one of my favorite restaurants a few blocks away and have dinner?”

“I would most certainly be agreeable to that!”

“Wonderful!” He smiled. “Now shall we begin? I have a few favorite scenes that I’m sure we would quite enjoy acting out as well.”

“Indeed. Let’s get started!”