Hieing to Kolob

I have just started Virgil's Aeneid.  The protagonist, Aeneis, left Troy after its fall.  He is sailing to the west coast of Italy to found a new city.  His fleet gets blown off course and ends up in Carthage (North Africa--Libya).  There he meets the queen, Dido, herself a refugee from the Phonecian city of Sidon.  They end up having an adulterous relationship, which scandalizes the local population.

In Book IV, Virgil describes how the (ill-)fame of this incident spreads.  The following excerpt is taken from the text available at the Gutenburg Project.  It describes the goddess, Fame--the great ill.  The version I am reading translates this as the goddess, Rumor, also a great ill.  In either case the description is apt.

The queen, whom sense of honor could not move,
No longer made a secret of her love,
But call'd it marriage, by that specious name
To veil the crime and sanctify the shame.

The loud report thro' Libyan cities goes.
Fame, the great ill, from small beginnings grows:
Swift from the first; and ev'ry moment brings
New vigor to her flights, new pinions to her wings.
Soon grows the pigmy to gigantic size;
Her feet on earth, her forehead in the skies.
Inrag'd against the gods, revengeful Earth
Produc'd her last of the Titanian birth.
Swift is her walk, more swift her winged haste:
A monstrous phantom, horrible and vast.
As many plumes as raise her lofty flight,
So many piercing eyes inlarge her sight;
Millions of opening mouths to Fame belong,
And ev'ry mouth is furnish'd with a tongue,
And round with list'ning ears the flying plague is hung.
She fills the peaceful universe with cries;
No slumbers ever close her wakeful eyes;
By day, from lofty tow'rs her head she shews,
And spreads thro' trembling crowds disastrous news;
With court informers haunts, and royal spies;
Things done relates, not done she feigns,
and mingles truth with lies.

Talk is her business, and her chief delight
To tell of prodigies and cause affright.

Rumor mongering, or gossiping, is indeed plague-like and frightful.  Would that I never participate.


acadac at 10:19:15 PM EDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

I have recently finished Franz Kaftka's Metamorphosis and The Trial, and am now nearly finished with The Castle.

Two things have struck me about his stories.  The main characters are in a constrant struggle with others in relationships which are defined in win/loss terms.  Every interaction is evaluated on the advantage or disadvantage the interaction gives to the relationship.  Or how might this relationship be an advantage or disadvantage in some other more valuable relationship.  As a result, the main characters have a hard time connecting with people in an intimate way.  It is a sad, lonely existance.  Because life then become a quest to have no relationship in which the other person has any advantage over the main character.  Because such a quest is impossible, the life's struggle is fruitless.  One should find joy in the relationships, not advantage.

The other thing about these novels is the incredible way in which Kafka can really get into the minds of his characters and express their feelings and thoughts -- and show how the characters so easily misunderstand each other.




acadac at 1:11:52 PM EDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

Found an interesting piece on the #1 blog (according to technorati) about baby boomers.

It reminds me of when we lived in Orange Co., CA.  We lived 7 miles from the beach.  My mom would give me a dollar and tell me to take my brother to the beach for the day.  I was 9 and he was 5.  we would walk 4 blocks to the bus stop. It was a dime for each of us each way on the bus.  We each had a quarter to get chips and cheese. 

I remember one day the Hell's Angels beat up some surfers.  I don't remember being scared, though.  Nobody ever bothered us and we didn't get into trouble.  Nor did we drown.

I also remember at age 7 taking my 6 year old sister and 3 year old brother to the movies.  We walked about 1.5 miles and watched a double feature.  We bought popcorn.  I also remember going with all the kids in the neighborhood to the movies that way.  We went with adult permission, but not adult supervision.

I also remember a couple of months after getting my driver's license at age 16, taking a station wagon full of kids (most aged 14 and 15) to a rock concert in a town 60 miles away--and we all lived to tell about it.

No wonder kids these days mature much later (after college instead of after high school.)  They have not had the opportunity to be self-managed until then.

acadac at 2:31:07 PM EST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 2 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

We visited some friends in who live in Banbury, UK.  It is famous for the nursery rhyme:

Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross
To see a fine lady upon a white horse
With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes
She shall have music wherever she goes

See the webcam of the cross.


acadac at 12:19:53 PM EST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

According to About.com, Kolob is the name of the star closest to the residence of God.

acadac at 9:41:43 AM EST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

According to Dictionary.com the word 'hie' means to go quickly or hasten.

acadac at 9:36:53 AM EST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own