Antiquitopia

I must have passed this passage by before, but today it jumped out at me: according to Hippolytus Ulysses (a.k.a. Odysseus), the trickster par excellence (though Jacob gives him a run for his money) is a model for the Christian resisting the temptation of the siren call of heresy.  He writes (using the most available, ANF translation): The pupils of these men, when they perceive the doctrines of the heretics to be like unto the ocean when tossed into waves by violence of the winds, ought to sail past in quest of the tranquil haven.  For a sea of this description is both infested with wild beasts and difficult of navigation, like, as we may say, the Sicilian (Sea), in which the legend reports were Cyclops, and Charybdis, and Scylla, and the rock of the Sirens.  Now, the poets of the Greeks allege that Ulysses sailed through (this channel), adroitly using (to his own purpose) the terribleness of these strange monsters.  For the savage cruelty (in the aspect) of these...

The Journey to Hades .--I, too, have been in the underworld, like Odysseus, and shall be there often yet; and not only rams have I sacrificed to be able to speak with a few of the dead, but I have not spared my own blood. Four pairs it was that did not deny themselves to my sacrifice: Epicurus and Montaigne, Goethe and Spinoza, Plato and Rousseau, Pascal and Schopenhauer. With these I must come to terms when I have long wandered alone; they may call me right and wrong; to them will I listen when in the process they call each other right and wrong. Whatsoever I say, resolve, or think up for myself and others--on these eight I fix my eyes and see their eyes fixed on me. May the living forgive me that occasionally they appear to me as shades, so pale and somber, so restless and, alas, so lusting for life--while those men then seem so alive to me as if now, after death, they could never again grow weary of life. But eternal aliveness is what counts: what matters is "eternal l...

I love this following poem by C.P. Cavafy on prolonging the journey. Although the destination is inevitable, "destined" in fact, it is the road that gives the riches and wisdom of experiences; so, let's hope it is LONG road. Ithaca As you set out on the way to Ithaca hope that the road is a long one, filled with adventures, filled with discoveries. The Laestrygonians and the Cyclopes, Poseidon in his anger: do not fear them, you won't find such things on your way so long as your thoughts remain lofty, and a choice emotion touches your spirit and your body. The Laestrygonians and the Cyclopes, savage Poseidon; you won't encounter them unless you stow them away inside your soul, unless your soul sets them up before you. Hope that the road is a long one. Many may the summer mornings be when--with what pleasure, with what joy-- you first put in to harbors new to your eyes; may you stop at Phoenician trading posts and there acquire the finest wares: mother-of-pearl a...

Instead of the warlord from Ithaca our educated poets should write about my misadventures: I've undergone worse troubles than he did. He wandered for years--but only on the short haul between Ithaca and Troy; thrust to the Getic shore by Caesar's wrath, I've traversed seas lying beneath unknown stars, whole constellations distant. He had his loyal companions, his faithful crew: my comrades deserted me at the time of my banishment. Hew as making for his homeland, a cheerful victor: I was driven from mine-- fugitive, exile, victim. My home was not some Greek island, Ithaca, Samos--to leave them is no great loss-- but the City that from its seven hills scans the world's orbit, Rome, centre of empire, seat of the gods. He was physically tough, with great stamina, long-enduring; my strength is slight, a gentle man's. He spent a lifetime under arms, engaged in savage warfare-- I'm accustomed to quieter pursuits. I was crushed by a god, with no help in my troub...

Ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, μοῦσα, πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ πλάγχθη, ἐπεὶ Τροίης ἱερὸν πτολίεθρον ἔπερσεν: πολλῶν δ’ ἀνθρώπων ἴδεν ἄστεα καὶ νόον ἔγνω, πολλὰ δ’ ὃ γ’ ἐν πόντῳ πάθεν ἄλγεα ὃν κατὰ θυμόν, ἀρνύμενος ἣν τε ψυχὴν καὶ νόστον ἑταίρων. (Odyssey 1.1-5) Πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως πάλαι ὁ θεὸς λαλήσας τοῖς πατράσιν ἐν τοῖς προφήταις ἐπ’ ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων ἐλάλησεν ἡμιν ἐν υἱῷ, ὃν ἔθηκεν κληρονόμον πάντων, δι’ οὖ καὶ ἐποίσεν τοὺς αἰῶνας: ὃς ὢν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ, φέρων τε τὰ πάντα τῷ ῥήματα τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ, καθαρισμὸν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ποιησάμενος «ἐκάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ» τῆς μεγαλωσύνης ἐν ὑψηλοῖς, τοσούτῳ κρείττων γενόμενος τῶν ἀγγέλων ὅσῳ διαφορώτερον παρ’ αὐτοὺς κεκληρονόμηκεν ὄνομα. (Hebrews 1:1-4) I thought I would write an essay—in Montaigne’ sense of a try, an experiment, an attempt that is never conclusive but always questioning—by bringing together two texts and just seeing what happens. It is really a midrashic moment, in fact, because I started ...

It is one of the ironies of Ovid that he gives one of the most moving love songs to the Cyclops, Polyphemus, who in previous literature is presented as rather unskilled in speech. But, being smitten by Galatea, love transforms the Cyclops from a ravening killer to an eloquent love poet. Galatea, however, does not return his love, for she loves another, Acis. Recognizing his own seemingly frightening appearance, Polyphemus says: Don't think me ugly because my body's a bristling thicket of prickly hair. A tree is ugly without any foliage; so is a horse, if a mane doesn't cover his tawny neck; birds are bedecked in plumage, and sheep are clothed in their own wool. Men look well with a beard and a carpet of hair on their chests. I've only one eye on my brow, in the middle, but that is as big as a fair-sized shield. Does it matter? The Sn looks down from the sky on the whole wide world, and he watches it all with a single eye. (Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.845-53) In the lar...

Here is a little morsel that we discussed in my class, Literature Humanities: I would disapprove of another hospitable man who was excessive in friendship, as of one excessive in hate. In all things balance is better. (Odyssey 15.69-71; Trans. Lattimore) This statement is made by Menelaos to Telemachos. My students know why I think this statement concerning hospitality or guest-friendship or xenia is significant. Xenia, or guest-friendship, was an extraordinarily important custom and ancient Greece and in the ancient Mediterranean and ancient Near East as a whole. It would have been especially important for itinerant bards who would rely very heavily on the institution. It follows certain procedures. Usually, when a stranger comes, the host will give them food and drink, perhaps a bath, perhaps a bed to sleep on, and then and only then will they ask who they are, where they come from, etc. In the end, if they are social equals, or both people of high rank, they will exchange gif...

I have been immersed in the Odyssey as of late and probably will be for another week or so. I am teaching it directly after the Epic of Gilgamesh . Fitting, in some ways, since both feature a man who goes on many journeys, is, perhaps, "polutropos" or a man of "many ways" or "many turns." Yet, there is something else that has struck me in this reading of the Odyssey : the way the gods are depicted in contrast to how they are depicted in the Iliad . Take, for example, Odyssey 1.32-35: Oh for shame, how the mortals put the blame upon us gods, for they say evils come from us, but it is they, rather, who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given, as now lately, beyond what is given.... Zeus is the one speaking to the assembled gods on Olympos. He is actually discussing the nostos, or return, of Agamemnon, in which he will be murdered by his wife and her lover and then avenged by his son. Yet, it has an interesting placement in the narra...