tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31655026.post8208384305847591422..comments2024-03-28T14:42:58.668+00:00Comments on nourishing obscurity: In Keeping with the TimesJames Highamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14525082702330365464noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31655026.post-8989993389609230152007-03-09T18:51:00.000+00:002007-03-09T18:51:00.000+00:00Fascinating, Notsaussure, Is there anything you d...Fascinating, Notsaussure, Is there anything you don't know? Where are the Gracchi?James Highamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14525082702330365464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31655026.post-52162822684186449912007-03-09T18:21:00.000+00:002007-03-09T18:21:00.000+00:00Byrhtwold's last words in The Battle of Maldon, Hi...Byrhtwold's last words in The Battle of Maldon,<EM> Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað</EM> ('Thought must be the harder, heart the keener, mind the greater as our strength fails') certainly do have a ring to them, but I can never quite forget the circumstances of his and Duke Byrhtnoð's death, along with their hearth-companions, at the hands of Danes.<BR/><BR/>Backstory: August 10, 991. Danes, led by Olaf, have sailed up the River Blackwater, in Essex. Byrhtnoð turns out the levy to repel them. Danes, with a considerably larger force, at least according to the poem, end up landing on a small island in the middle of the river (probably Northey Island) that's connected to the land by a causeway at low tide. Try to cross the causeway, but can't make much headway against Byrhtnoð and his chaps.<BR/><BR/>So far, so good. Olaf, however, recalls he's dealing with Essex men (my gloss on the situation) and uses guile (the poet's gloss) by suggesting that this isn't much of a battle and it would be far better if Byrhtnoð were to let him and his army cross the causeway unopposed. That way they could have a <EM>proper</EM> battle once the Danes had formed up again.<BR/><BR/>Byrhtnoð <EM>for his ofermode</EM> agrees. 'Ofermode' is untranslatable -- some people say pride or arrogance, others excess of courage (hubris?). Danes, one imagines, can't believe their luck. However you translate it, Byrhtnoð's ofermode leads to the defeat of the Men of Essex (after inflicting heavy casualties on the Danes) and his and his comrades' death.Not Saussurehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16261214039693203494noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31655026.post-70424002410661268052007-03-09T17:31:00.000+00:002007-03-09T17:31:00.000+00:00Of course there is the other side of it - that the...Of course there is the other side of it - that the tendency to throw the baby out with the bathwater loses that which was fine and workable, in the name of modern expediency.James Highamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14525082702330365464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31655026.post-76154975642237132812007-03-09T15:42:00.000+00:002007-03-09T15:42:00.000+00:00The odd thing about modern “progressive” man — wha...<I>The odd thing about modern “progressive” man — what sets him apart from his forebears — is that when some old custom or institution, tamed and made humane by time and bitter trial, is said to be not in keeping with the present times, then it is not the present times to which he directs his critical eye, so as to see what therein makes it intolerant of that thing, but rather his eye fixes narrowly on that thing itself,…</I><BR/><BR/>The first premiss is false: Socrates spends most of <A HREF="http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/euthyfro.html" REL="nofollow"><I>Euthyphro</I></A> showing the bankruptcy of old Greek piety; the critical examination of tradition in light of present knowledge is not a recent invention. In any case, an 'old custom or institution, tamed and made humane by time and bitter trial' can still be an evil. See: <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery" REL="nofollow">slavery</A>, <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_genital_cutting" REL="nofollow">female circumcision</A>, and <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_binding" REL="nofollow">chinese foot binding</A> for starters. That something is evil is sufficient reason to seek its end. No age is morally infallible; every age is obliged to eradicate those evils that lie in plain sight.Cirdanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06161072165681849178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31655026.post-71894099140828532982007-03-08T21:52:00.000+00:002007-03-08T21:52:00.000+00:00Took me three readings but I finally saw what you ...Took me three readings but I finally saw what you were driving at and how well it relates to the previous post. Thank you, sire, for your contribution to the intellectual claims of this blog.James Highamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14525082702330365464noreply@blogger.com