#roman love elegy

[crowleyspriestess]

«Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento./ Hae tibi erunt artes, pacisque inponere morem,/ Parcere subiectis et debellare superbos.»

«Remember to rule on people, Roman. This will be your art, to impose a tradition of peace, have mercy of those who submit themselves and annihilate those who don't »

Vergil- Aeneid (VI)

In the sixth chapter of Vergil's Aeneid, Aeneas descends to the Underworld (Catabasis of the Underworld -Catabasis ad Inferos-)and talks to his deceased father Anchises, who predicts the future glory of Aeneas offspring. The protagonist manages to be introduced to the great souls who will reincarnate to lead Rome to its greatness and his Father sets the common known base of Mos Maiorum (the "ancient usage") to have mercy of those ones who bend to the Roman power and annihilate of those who don't. Ironically, Aeneas doesn't respect this law in the first place, when, at the end of the book he fights against his great nemesis Turnus, and he begs for mercy and to have his life spared. He kills him anyways leading to a great moral dilemma Vergil feels intrinsic in the Roman usage.

[pretty-pretty-words]

I compose long Iliads: whatever she has said, whatever she has done, from absolutely nothing is born a grand legend

- Propertius, 2.1.14-13

[latinthusiast]

Sulpicia 1

Tandem venit amor, qualem texisse pudori     quam nudasse alicui sit mihi fama magis. Exorata meis illum Cytherea Camenis     adtulit in nostrum deposuitque sinum. Exsolvit promissa Venus: mea gaudia narret,     dicetur siquis non habuisse sua. Non ego signatis quicquam mandare tabellis,     ne legat id nemo quam meus ante, velim, sed peccasse iuvat, vultus conponere famae     taedet: cum digno digna fuisse ferar.

Finally, love's arrived, the kind that is better for my reputation to cover in shame than reveal to anyone. Cytherea, summoned by my muses, brought him to me and dropped him in my lap. Venus kept her promises: declare my joys if you don't have your own to speak of. I do not wish to commit anything to my signed pages, if nobody reads them before my boy; but it feels good to do bad, saving face is a bore: I hope they say I was a worthy woman with a worthy boy.

[silent-words]

A prompt for you - headcannon / writing / poetry - I'll leave it up to you.

If Gale were to come to our world - What would his favourite books be?

Thank you for the ask!

I guess he would be fascinated with every book in existence - fiction, non-fiction, academic literature etc. But regarding fiction I think he would, in time, start developing preferences.

As he is a very Faustian figure, I guess all the stories about Faust would pick his interest. "Historia von D. Johann Fausten", Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus", Goethe's "Faust" and even T. Mann's "Doctor Faustus". Also M. Shelley's "Frankenstein", but Gale would appalled by Frankenstein's selfishness and arrogance.

Gale would definitely enjoy love poetry. Yet I think he would be enthralled not by the traditional verses about unrequited love, but by the type of poetry which was rare in the past and not so popular in the present. I mean poems about physical love, which make this love elevated and beautiful. My favourite (and, I hope, would be Gale's favourite) are "Roman Elegies" by Goethe. Sensuality and beauty in this work are unique in my opinion.

Turning to non-fiction. I will write about parallels between Gale and Plato in a separate post, but for now I'll just say that Gale would be intrigued by Plato's "Symposium", a work about love. Where love elevates not the object, but the subject of love.

That's what I think about Gale's favourite books (a very biased opinion, as most of these are among my favourites).

[hornyforpoetry]

// You are a hopeless romantic reading poetry at midnight //

• // Art Amatoria (The Art of Love) // Ovid //

• // Rerum vulgarium fragmenta (Fragments of Vernacular Matters) // Francesco Petrarca //

• // Sonnets // William Shakespeare //

• // Roman Elegies // Johann Wolfgang von Goethe //

• //Amor aethernus / Mont Blanc / Ozymandias / Love's Philosophy /  Hymn to Intellectual Beauty // Percy Bysshe Shelley //

• // Lyrisches Intermezzo // Heinrich Heine //

• // The Corsair // Lord Byron //

• // The Flowers of Evil // Charles Baudelaire //

• // Impressions // Oscar Wilde //

[artemlegere-art]

The Roman Widow

Artist: Dante Gabriel Rossetti (English, 1828 – 1882)

Date: 1874

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Collection: Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico

Roman Widow or Dîs Manibus is an oil on canvas painting executed in 1874 by the English Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti. It is in the collection of the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico.

It depicts a young Roman widow, modelled by Alexa Wilding, sitting in a sepulchre by her late husband's cinerary urn, around which is wound her bridal girdle. She is dressed in classical mourning drapery and playing an elegy on two small harps, one with each hand. Pink roses, the flowers of Venus and symbolic of love, wreath both the harp and the urn.

[arcanespillo]

it says that ur into poetry in ur bio and thats so cool!!! i like poetry as well and am taking it as an elective at uni but i am actually not too good with poets so was wondering if you had any favourite poets? if not thats totally fine. maybe poetry recs? thanks ☆

poems

i'm not the river / nox by anne carson is tricky to find but there's a fragment here / PORTRAIT OF THE ALCOHOLIC WITH WITHDRAWAL / A BOY STEPS INTO THE WATER / SOME BOYS AREN’T BORN THEY BUBBLE / Thirstiness is Not Equal Division / EVERYTHING THAT MOVES IS ALIVE AND A THREAT–A REMINDER / A Man Said to the Universe / The Worm King’s Lullaby / Cortège / the triumph of achilles by louise gluck / the reticent volcano keeps by emily dickinson / the mirror by louise gluck / i go down the shore / the arrowhead / Brother / My Brother at 3 A.M / I would I might forget that I am I / the second elegy / stripped car / The Saints Come Marching In by Anne Sexton, How to Be a Dog by Andrew Kane, Angel of Hope and Calendars by Anne Sexton / I Remember / WHAT THE BIRD WITH THE HUMAN HEAD KNEW / THE TRUTH THE DEAD KNOW / In The Deep Museum / Lament / The Starry Night / A Curse Against Elegies / jesus suckles / start here / march is march / a bad day by mary oliver / Portrait of the Illness as Nightmare / lord knows / Town of Finding Out About the Love of God / fragments from Avalon Revisited (1963) by Margaret Atwood / from crush by richard siken 'the torn up road', from war of the foxes 'landscape with fruit rot and millipede', 'birds over the trampled field', 'the museum', 'self portrait against red wallpaper'/ from louise gluck's the wild iris 'clear morning' 'spring snow' 'scilla' 'the hawthorn tree' 'april' 'the jacob's ladder' 'matins' 'song' 'vespers' 'harvest' 'retreating light' 'lullaby' 'the gold lily' / from her vita nova 'the open grave' 'roman study' 'timor mortis' 'castile' 'mutable earth' 'inferno' / from faithful and virtuous night 'aboriginal landscape' 'utopia' 'the melancholy assistant' 'a foreshortened journey' 'the horse and the rider' / from meadowlands 'parable of the king' 'moonless night' 'departure' 'rainy morning' 'telemachus' guilt' 'meadowlands I' 'telemachus' kindness' 'parable of the dove' 'purple bathing suit' / from firstborn 'the cripple in the subway' 'seconds' 'letter from provence' 'firstborn' / from the house on marshland 'the pond' 'gratitude' 'abishag' 'the fire' / from descending figure 'the garden (2)' 'origins (4)' 'thanksgiving', from the triumph of achilles 'exile' 'seated figure' 'liberation' 'adult grief' 'horse'/ apostle town / the town of the sound of a twig breaking / strawberry moon by matthew dickman / the wolf god / this poem by mark bibbins (another year on the day/ of class photos/ i scratched at my face/ with a sharpened popsicle stick/ no blood just a few pink lines/ that didn't read/ what else./ i wanted a cast on my leg/i wanted braces and glasses/and my tonsils out/i wanted scars/i don't know when or whether i figured out the difference between wanting to be damaged and wanting to be healed) / ancient text by louise gluck

books

short talks by anne carson, waiting for god by simone weil, blue horses by mary oliver, dog songs poems by mary oliver, men in the off hours by anne carson, trances of the blast by mary ruefle, autobiography of red, red doc and norma jeane baker of troy by anne carson, richard siken and ocean vuong's books are famous honestly but try to read their stuff if you haven't checked them out yet (i don't like ocean vuong but i did like some bits of his first book) and also i suggest reading 'the journal of albion moonlight' if you find yourself particularly liking red doc, i hope you were not expecting old poetry because that really isn't really in my ropes

this is what i have noted on my journal :p if you can't find some stuff dm me but you can search for most poetry books on archive.org and it's free and legal

+ poems by Margaret Atwood ! i forgot, like this one

[vind3miat0r]

Send Me a Character & I'll Tell You game

Avoir (I had to lol)

KSJDHFKD YOUUUU /nm /lh

My first impression: oaugh he was so mean to us in the beginning :( honestly? i did not like him (shocker i know). setting aside not having context for why he was acting like that, his character just did not strike a chord with me. the only thing that i really liked about him is that he yaps a lot and uses fancy words, and im like a moth to a flame when it comes to that shit

My impression now: THAT IS MY HUSBAND RIGHT THERE!! ughhh i love him and his character development :( hes so tragic and just. augh. he lives permanently in my brain now, the brainrot is real. i dont think im "could quote word for word" levels of obsessed, but ive listened to his audios enough times to know what hes going to say next in some instances. really a whole 180 i did there

Favorite thing about that character: his absolute adoration for Starlight. in the flashbacks, you can hear how much he loves and cares for them, and i can practically see him gazing at them starstruck, its beautiful. literally makes my cry anytime he says "my starlight" im so deadass rn 😭

Least favorite thing: honestly theres not really anything i dont like about him?? hes literally my favorite character so ofc im gonna be biased 😭😭 if anything, id like to hear more abt his past. i know he told us that story abt him and Circinus, and presumably there was more from the first time they were in the trap together, and id really like to see that, as well as their initial growing closer (again, ik that we saw some of that, but id would still like to see a more detailed version of it. like, who dropped the first "i love you"? and etc). other than that, i cant name anything off of the top of my head that i dont like abt him

Favorite line/scene: OAUGH. I HAVE SO MANY.. for scenes, definitely the entirety of "Back to The Real World With Your Demon." i was screaming internally the whole way through, and Avior realizing Starlight had gotten their memories back will always have me in a chokehold. and shoutout to his hbs and springback audios too. for lines, "The things I feel for you fly in the face of every justifiable fear and suspicion that this situation has burned into me" GETS ME EVERY TIME MAN, HE SOUNDS SO SOFT AND IN LOVE AND GRRRHASGHFDGF

Favorite interaction that character has with another: considering that hes literally only ever interacted with Starlight and Circinus on screen, id have to go with when hes helping Starlight get to sleep and (again) his hbs and springback audios. while i do like angst (why else would i listen to his playlist mutiple times per month), im such a sucker for fluff its not even funny

A character that I wish that character would interact with more: again, considering that hes only ever interacted with Starlight and Circinus, there is a whole slew of characters that id love to see him interact with! probably another demon character, like Warden or Gavin, those would be fun!

Another character from another fandom that reminds me of that character: theres a character in a fandom named Caduceus Clay that my bf rlly likes, and i think him and Avior have a similar vibe :)

A headcanon about that character: augh i have so manyyyy 😭 ill just put down a few lol

Avior studied Greek and Roman mythology as a hobby during his first years on Elegy. he was at first intrigued by how thousands of years ago, the Greek had named the stars (which as you know, the d(a)emons are named after), and he just fell into a rabbit hole of legends and mytology after looking into it

he acted as a steward to Warden (the lore implications this would have would be CRAZY methinks)

after getting Starlight out of the trap, the areas of his body where his magic had torn itself away from him became white scars that resemble explosion scars. they're on his hands, arms, general chest area, and most of his tail. he also gained a facial scar from the fall he experienced

A song that reminds of that character: Upon Cobblestone Streets by The Family Crest. a while back i saw someone say that this song rlly fits Avior and Starlight's dynamic, i gave it a listen and immediately cried cuz they were RIGHT!!

An unpopular opinion about that character: two words: BODY💥WORSHIP💥 thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[uhbasicallyjustmilex]

3, 7, 21 and 24 for the music ask? 💖

hii lovely! i hope you’re well 💖 thank you so much for these 🫶 (and sorry this is such an insanely late response 😭😅)

3) what is/are your favourite song(s) atm?

7) favourite album(s) of all time?

oh god. SUCH a tough call. narrowed down but not limited to: i brought you my bullets you brought me your love by my chemical romance, humbug by arctic monkeys, in times new roman by queens of the stone age, romance by fontaines d.c., in utero by nirvana

21) a song that needs played loud?

i have been playing it very loud and very often since august 😂

24) a song/songs that make you sad?

[xombiriot]

TOP 3 Metal Albums I Enjoyed from 2023

A lot of great metal came out this year and it was hard to narrow it down to my Top 3. There were some great EPs released this year— Spiritbox’s The Fear of Fear, Brand of Sacrifice’s Between Death and Dreams and Knosis’s The Eternal Doom among them. Singles I enjoyed include: "On the Verge" by thrown, “Masterpiece” by The Anchor, “Enemy” by The Gentle Men (ft. Andy Cizek), “Weight of the World” by Harper (ft. We Came as Romans and Brand of Sacrifice), “Viking” by Slaughter To Prevail, "III" by DEATHPHONK (Nik Nocturnal's weird project); and Knocked Loose had the double, “Deep In the Willow”/“Everything is Quiet Now”.

My Top 5 honourable mentions: 5. [m]other by Veil of Maya, their newest does everything I want it to do, good riffs, cool effects, great vocals; 4. Soul Elegy by Termina, Nik Nocturna, Andy Cizek and friends deliver an awesome metal album; 3. Chaos Horrific by Cannibal Corpse is a strong entry and shows why they're still so loved after so long; 2. The Fox and the Bird by Ok Goodnight mixes folk, rock, metal and whatever else they want to create this really entrancing album; and 1. Take Me Back to Eden by Sleep Token is one of the albums I listened to the most because it's easy to put on when you're tired of being relentlessly pummelled by deathcore, but though its highs are super high, it just misses out landing on my top 3 because there are a few spots it lags

3. ...And Everything In Between - Unprocessed

Manuel Gardner Fernandes has quickly become one of my favourite guitarists between this release and Unprocessed's previous album Gold. The combination of styles on this album exemplify modern metal: bludgeoning heaviness, thumpy prog riffing (à la Animals As Leaders or Polyphia) and a mix of harsh and clean vocals. Despite the polish of these 9 tracks, some express such raw emotion and a ferocity that they really get me hyped up. The variety of tones and vocals kept me engaged throughout, and they blend and balance heaviness and melody so well. The guitar sounds so angry sometimes–especially the part of "Thrash" where Manuel beats the shit outta his guitar after screaming, "But you're just a fucking lie!" I love that. Other songs like "Blackbone" and "Die on the Cross of the Martyr" continue the trend of excellent instrumentation, the latter featuring guest solos by Polyphia's Tim Henson and Scottie Lepage. It's so well done and so engaging. In the short time I've had this album, it's become one of my favourites of 2023.

2. Periphery V: Djent Is Not A Genre - Periphery

When Periphery released "Wildfire" as a single I immediately bought into what they were selling. The way they transition through the various parts is seamless, the mix of vocal techniques and the jazzy interlude are all fantastic. It really captures the spirit of the whole record. Songs like "Dying Star" and "Zagreus" are also so hard. Periphery continues to show off their musical dexterity, and the band members prove once again they're not only some of the best musicians djenting their way through the world but as a collective they add up to more than the sum of their parts. My hottest take when it comes to this album is that I love "Silhouette" — it's like if you ran 80s soft rock and 90s/00s boy bands through a progressive music filter. I think they wrote this song and put it on the album just to prove they can do anything. And if Periphery is Djent, and Djent isn't a genre then why shouldn't they go in every genre direction they want to explore?

1. War of Being - TesseracT

In other years this top 3 could have been entirely deathcore or melodeath or metalcore, but this year it was djenty prog metal through and through. It's the music I gravitated to the most this year and nobody did it better than TesseracT. Daniel Tompkins vocals are incredible throughout, his cleans sounding particularly great on "Echoes" – giving us one of the best choruses before following it up with another great one on "The Grey". The album offers engaging lyricism throughout and the instrumentation is at a pedigree one would expect for a band in the vanguard of this genre. The album gives us atmospheric moments, synths, meditative passages before blasting us with metal. In many ways the whole album does what the best tracks on Sleep Token's Take Me Back To Eden do. Each song and the album as a whole provide an expansive experience. And that's why it's my number one. More than any other album released this year, TesseracT's War of Being makes me want to sit down and listen to it from beginning to end.

Other great albums: SUPERBLOOM by Silent Planet; Fatalism by Polaris; Feral by Left To Suffer; Foregone by In Flames; Ashen by Humanity's Last Breath; The Sin of Human Frailty by END; Symptoms of Survival by Dying Wish; and The Death We Seek by Currents.

[candied-peach]

ao3: "say my name like an elegy" rating: T warnings: roceit, post pof, crying genre: hurt/comfort, angst with a happy ending description: Sometimes you have to get the poison out. Janus knows this all too well. (happy birthday, @treenissanderssidesstuff !) (lyrics are from crane wives "curses")

Every word I say is kindling But the smoke clears when you're around Won't you stay with me, my darling When my walls start burning down, down, down

Regret is immediate, sour and sharp on Janus's tongue, as he registers what words have just spewed from his mouth. Roman's face is pale, shocked, and hurt, and it burns. Janus doesn't know what to say. There's nothing else he can say. Roman's words about his name are raw and open and stinging, but Janus's response is a nuke.

He knows how Roman feels about his brother. He knows how Remus feels. He knows that Creativity is split in twain, and he- 

He-

The rest of the so-called episode passes, but Janus is no longer paying real attention. Oh, he tries, and he's sure that no one else can tell that something is wrong, not in the uproar. Perhaps Logan would, in another life, but not when Janus replaced him. Not when-

No. Janus takes a deep breath as he sinks down into his room. No one waits for him. He didn't expect it.

Before this, he and Roman were exploring (tentatively, oh so gingerly) a relationship. The trial opened new doors, Janus realizing his flattery was not mere empty promises and string pulling, and Roman realizing that perhaps Deceit wasn't so bad after all. Janus hadn't revealed his name yet, but he had been prepared to do it soon. He didn't realize that everything would fall apart when Thomas actually went to the wedding, but perhaps that shouldn't have been such a surprise. After all, Janus knew what would happen if Thomas prioritized the wedding. His self-care had fallen down a well and unlike little Timmy, Lassie couldn't help pull it out.

Thomas should be his priority. Janus should be happy. Thomas is willing to consider his thoughts. His perspective. Thomas has begun to understand and accept him. It's all he's ever wanted, and more.

But the devastated look on Roman's face can't leave him. He never, ever meant to hurt Roman, especially not with one of his biggest insecurities.

Didn't you, though? His room whispers to him, in honeyed poison words. You wanted to hurt him, Janus, don't lie to yourself. You wanted to hit where it hurt the most, because he laughed at your name, and it hurt you.

Of course it hurt him. Why wouldn't it hurt him? He thought- It hurt. It already hurt to see Roman going so hard against him, based on Patton's words when Patton was so confused himself, but he could sort of understand it, because Roman had always tried to listen to Patton's word before. But Patton didn't laugh at Janus's name. That- that was Roman's idea.

Janus crumples to the bed, sweeping his hat off in one motion and burying his gloved hands in unruly brown curls. His scales tingle down one side of his face, perpetually reminding him how different he is.

He wants Remus. He wants Roman. He wants Vir-

He wants home. He wants love. He wants, he wants a hug. How selfish is that? How can he dare to want something like a hug, from anyone right now? He has no doubt that Remus has heard what he said. He also has no illusions about whose side Remus will choose. His brother's. Always his brother's. And Janus agrees.

Janus swallows, his throat burning.

There is a knock on the door.

Janus's head flies up, his body tensing like he is ready for flight.

"Yes?" He calls, willing his voice to remain steady. It cracks in the middle instead, and Janus flushes with humiliation. 

The door creaks open. Roman stands there, silhouetted in the doorway. He is disheveled, his prince costume a rumpled mess. His hair sticks up every which way, and his eyes are red-rimmed, like he's been crying a long time. Janus's heart cracks, his own human eye watering and blurring his vision.

"Can we talk?" Roman asks hoarsely.

"Yes," Janus whispers. Roman hesitantly steps in, closing the door behind him. Janus gestures at a chair at his desk, and Roman folds himself into it. It is fumbling and awkward and nothing like the brash, charming Creativity that Janus so adores.

But isn't that the thing? It's a front, a mask, and Janus knows all about deception. Doesn't he?

"I'm sorry," Janus says, but Roman shakes his head.

"I shouldn't have made fun of your name," Roman says. He sounds weary, exhausted even. There are dark shadows under his eyes that weren't there before. "I apologize, De- Janus. It was cruel of me."

"I shouldn't have gone for the jugular the way I did," Janus says. His face still burns red. He fumbles for his hat, placing it in his lap and fiddling with the brim. "I'm so sorry, Roman."

"It's fine," Roman dismisses. "You- maybe you were right."

"No, I wasn't," Janus denies fiercely. "Neither of you are evil. You- you're just different parts of Creativity. Remus is like the brainstorm and you are like the polish into something you can present. You're not evil. I was unfair- to you and Remus."

"I don't know what to say to that," Roman admits. He looks ill at ease, scrubbing a hand through his hair. Janus's throat tightens. The room swirls tantalizingly with gold, and Janus takes a deep breath. Roman can't stay in here much longer.

"You should go," Janus says, his heart aching. "My room- it's not safe long term-"

"I don't care," Roman says, slumping in his chair. "We need this. We need to talk. About us. If-"

"If?" Janus prompts. His heart feels like it is lodged in his throat.

"If there even is an 'us,'" Roman says. Gold threads through Janus's heart, pulling together the cracks.

"Please," Janus says, trembling. His fingers tighten on the hat's brim. "Roman, please."

"I don't want to be hurt like that again," Roman says. "I don't- I don't want to hurt you like that again. Where- where do we go from here?"

"I don't know," Janus admits. "Everything feels like it's on fire right now, if I'm completely honest with you." The taste of sulfur blooms on Janus's tongue, and he makes a face.

"I want to try," Roman says. "I don't- I don't want to lose you." He leans forward, reaching out a hand to clasp one of Janus's. Janus looks down at Roman's hand on his, then withdraws it. Roman's face falls, then smooths into confusion as Janus pulls off his gloves.

"There," Janus says, proffering his hand again. Roman smiles as he takes it. His hand is gentle and warm, almost hot, against Janus's cool fingers.

"I want to work on things together," Janus says. "Please."

"Please," Roman echoes. Sunlight spills through the window from the Imagination, washing them both in light and haloing them in gold.

Oh ashes, ashes, dust to dust Tell me I am good enough Ooh, lay my curses out to rest Make a mercy out of

[moonmoonthecrabking]

"oh this fic takes inspiration from roman love elegy" look it does, but it makes me sound incredibly pretentious

[readysetimready]

Pindar, Nemean Ode 1. 61 ff :

"[After the infant Herakles strangled the serpents, his stepfather Tyndareos (Tyndareus summoned the seer Teiresias (TIresias) who prophesied the child's future :) Teiresias who then declared to him [Tyndareos] and all the gathered host, what chance of fortunes Herakles should encounter; of monsters merciless how many on the dry land, how many of the sea he should destroy; and of mankind, whom bent upon the path of pride and treachery he should consign to an accursed death. This too he told : ... He [Herakles] in peace for all time shall enjoy, in the home of the blessed, leisure unbroken, a recompense most choice for his great deeds of toil; and winning the lovely Hebe for his bride, and sharing his marriage feast beside Zeus, son of Kronos (Cronus), shall live to grace his august law."

Philostratus the Elder, Imagines 2. 20 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd A.D.) :

"Before long you [Herakles] will live with them in the sky, drinking, and embracing the beautiful Hebe (Youth); for you are to marry the youngest of the gods and the one most revered by them,since it is through her that they also are young."

Propertius, Elegies 1. 13 (trans. Goold) (Roman elegy C1st B.C.) :

"The passion of Hercules [Herakles], all afire for divine Hebe, tasted its first raptures after he had burned on an Oetean pyre."

[cakebatteronabrickwall]

Only watched the funeral german edition today, which hit really hard shout out to Ewan's and Roman's voice actors!

- my mother on Kendall: i think he's glad his father is gone, one last look over to the grave and he's gone

- "dear, dear world of a father" has become "deeply, deeply loved father" which is interesting, because it's not quite the same, is it?

- Elegy Strings plays for the first time in its full length when Shiv clocks Rome and the dissonant violin hits right when Frank and Karl lie to her. I'm going insane.

- when Ken gives his eulogy all i can hear is Tim Robinson going "what the hell are you talking about", like I lose the thread in either language

- My mom watched Roman's eulogy attempt, turned to me and said "I think he needed that" and I literally don't know what to say? Bestie? You just unlocked something?

[fluentisonus]

something something the way 'the invention of love' refers to the creation of roman elegy and him coming to love the textual criticism of elegy and him coming to terms with being gay & deeply in love with his best friend and life in a world where oscar wilde's life and downfall are taking place in the background. and all of that happens concurrently and in fact is deeply interconnected

[lurking-latinist]

Cicero, Ovid, Sappho, Marc Antony , Helen

Cicero: favourite Greek and/or Latin word?

...You know I don't think I have one. Bad classicist! Bad!

I will probably think of one as soon as I post this.

Ovid: how would you describe your literary ‘type’? What genre really floats your boat?

Elegy APPARENTLY. And being sad about the Republic. I don't know how much of this is internal to me (well, the republic part definitely is, I mean the elegy part) and how much is because my first class with my favorite professor in college was about Latin love elegy, and a lot of the stuff I still work on is trying to answer some of the big questions that course raised.

Sappho: what lost work would you love to rediscover?

Any of Lucan's shorter works--he was only 25 when he died, in the middle of writing the epic poem that is all we have of his work, but he reportedly had written numerous other works. I would LOVE to compare his style in the different works. (He was 25!! Lots of that would've been teenage poetry! What was his teenage poetry like!!)

Also, anything in Etruscan -- there is so little extant in Etruscan.

Mark Antony: favourite ancient sexyman?

Well it's not Mark Antony. I don't know what makes an ancient sexyman, honestly! Personally I tend to carry a torch for stubborn impractical idealists who die horribly, and there are lots of those. Marcus Brutus, then, I guess, at least as he's gone down in popular imagination. (I'm not taking a stance on what any of them were like IRL!)

Helen: do you think the gods are just? Which one would you choose as your divine protector?

Gosh, no. And the more they're portrayed as just, generally the less they're portrayed as individuals.

Well, for the reason just mentioned, and also because I have a faith already, I would not choose any of the Greco-Roman gods in a serious situation. But in some kind of Percy Jackson which-one-do-you-identify-with situation, definitely Athena. I have way too many things with owls on them in my house for it not to be Athena. XD