Poetry - 6

The next poem brings us the beginning of Virgil's 'Aeneid'.  The translation is by John Dryden.

Arms, and the man I sing, who, forc'd by fate,
And haughty Juno's unrelenting hate,
Expell'd and exil'd, left the Trojan shore.
Long labors, both by sea and land, he bore,
And in the doubtful war, before he won
The Latian realm, and built the destin'd town;
His banish'd gods restor'd to rites divine,
And settled sure succession in his line,
From whence the race of Alban fathers come,
And the long glories of majestic Rome.
O Muse! the causes and the crimes relate;
What goddess was provok'd, and whence her hate;
For what offense the Queen of Heav'n began
To persecute so brave, so just a man;
Involv'd his anxious life in endless cares,
Expos'd to wants, and hurried into wars!
Can heav'nly minds such high resentment show,
Or exercise their spite in human woe?

Much like with the snippet from the Illiad, you almost certainly can't do justice to a full epic poem by simply looking at the first dozen and a half lines.  This sample on its own doesn't do much for me. 
Having said that, I'm curious now to know just why the Queen of Heav'n was so harsh to poor Aeneas . . .

'That It Is Folly To Measure Truth...' - Montaigne

This is a short little essay, the theme of which is that we should not rush to skepticism.  Or, to borrow from next month's piece, 'there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamed of in your philosophy'.  Montaigne begins by noting that the young and naive can be easily fooled because they lack experience.  But then he says that there are things that he discounted, that he has now found to be true. 
Montaigne recounts long lists of events from Plutarch and others, when news of events spread faster than was physically possible.  He also lists various miracles of the saints and the reader certainly can't doubt the veracity of the saints! 
I'm curious what brought this essay about.  It was written around 1571.  Was there a push beginning to treat stories of saints and Biblical happenings with skepticism?  If, today, you heard that someone was healed with the hip bone of Mother Theresa, you would want some proof before you'd actually believe it.  Did they want proof then, too? 
Montaigne goes on to caution the Catholics from:

dispensing so much with their belief. They fancy they appear moderate and wise, when they grant to their opponents some of the articles in question;

He goes on to say:

We are either to wholly and absolutely to submit ourselves to the authority of our ecclesiastical polity, or totally throw off all our obedience to it: tis not for us to determine what and how much obedience we owe to it.

Which makes at least some sense to me.  Montaigne concludes with a statement that I find somewhat hard to square with the rest of him.  "Glory and curiosity are the scourges of the soul; the last prompts us to thrust our noses into everything, the other forbids us to leave anything doubtful and undecided."  He seems marked with a thirst for knowledge and 'curiosity'.

August Reading

August
Shakespeare: 'Hamlet' Kindle/Nook/Google

Poetry - 5

The next poem is appropriately enough titled 'Song 5 to Lesbia' by the Roman poet Catullus.  This translation is by an early seventeenth century poet named Richard Crenshaw.

Come and let us live my Deare,
Let us love and never feare,
What the sourest Fathers say;
Brightest Sol that dyes to day
Lives againe as blith to morrow,
But if we darke sons of sorrow
Set; O then, how long a Night
Shuts the Eyes of our short light!
Then let amorous kisses dwell
On our lips, begin and tell
A Thousand, and a Hundred score
An Hundred, and a Thousand more,
Till another Thousand smother
That, and that wipe off another.
Thus at last when we have numbered
Many a Thousand, many a Hundred;
We'll confound the reckoning quite,
And lose our selves in wild delight:
While our joyes so multiply,
As shall mocke the envious eye.

You sometimes hear teen boys being told that poetry is the key to wooing a girl.  May I humbly submit that this would be one of those poems.  Basically it boils down to 'life is short; let's make out'.  I like it, I really do.  I especially like the part with hundreds and thousands of kisses.  Very good stuff.

Of the Education of Children - Montaigne

I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't considered one of Montaigne's most important essays.  I won't try to break it down, like I have the others.  Instead I want to share some of the parts that most made an impression on me. 
"I never seriously settled myself to the reading of any book of solid learning but Plutarch and Senaca; and there, like the Danaides, I eternally fill, and it as constantly runs out; something of which drops upon this paper, but little or nothing stays with me."  When I was in my teens and twentys I read and reread my favorite authors (especially Robert Heinlein) and it is quite fair to say that they shaped me.  I can see where the history of Plutarch especially would be a good guide to read again and again.  The history of important people is always instructive.
"For these are my own particular opinions and fancies, and I deliver them as only what I myself believe, and not for what is to be believed by others. I have no other end in this writing, but only to discover myself..."  The writings of Montaigne are very intimate and this is the reason why.  He was on an enormous voyage of self discovery and he shared the trip with whoever would read him.
"...it is no hard matter to get children; but after they are born, then begins the trouble, solicitude, and care rightly to train, principle, and bring them up."  Couldn't help but chuckle at this.  Yes, children are much easier before they're born.  And yes, the work of bringing them up takes great effort.
"A mere bookish learning is a poor, paltry learning; it may serve for ornament, but there is yet no foundation for any superstructure to be built upon it..."  A huge theme for Montaigne.  Learning is good but is only part of an education.  The moral part is more important.
"It is not enough to fortify his soul; you are also to make his sinews strong; for the soul will be oppressed if not assisted by the members..."  Another theme of Montaigne, that a strong body is also important to a full life.  When I was young I somehow convinced myself that because I was 'bookish' I should stay away from working with my hands.  This was one of the bigger mistakes in my life.
"...even in conversing with men I spoke of but now, I have observed this vice, that instead of gathering observations from others, we make it our whole business to lay ourselves open to them, are are more concerned how to expose and set out our own commodities, than how to increase our stock by acquiring new."  This is a vice that I suffer from too.  Instead of listening, really listening, I too often spend my time shaping my rebuttal.  Lord knows how much I've missed out on.
"In this conversing with men, I mean also, and principally, those who only live in the records of history; he shall, by reading those books, converse with the great and heroic souls of the best ages."  This is a lesson that I'm sure Montaigne gained from his readings of Plutarch and Seneca.  He worked very hard at really learning all that he could from the ancients. 
"The fear was not that I should do ill, but that I should do nothing; nobody prognosticated that I should be wicked, but only useless; they foresaw idleness, but no malice;"  What a sad fate, to grow up to be useless. 

It's a long essay but if you haven't read it yet, it is well worth the time.

Of Pedantry - Montainge

To begin with, when I started this essay I had never heard the word 'pedantry' before.  A pendant is someone who makes a big show of his or her learning.  Pendant is where we get the word 'pedantic'.  Researchers think that the word is descended from the Latin word for teacher.
In 'On Pedantry', Montaigne takes a look at why intelligence does not necessarily equal wisdom.  He starts by noting how pendants in plays are always shown to be fools.  This is still true in our day.  The character of the Clueless Nerd is a full blown cliche.  And yet, I've met plenty of people who are 'book-wise but not street-smart'.  Who hasn't?
Montaigne suggests that this happens when the wrong values are put in place:

In plain truth, the cares and expense our parents are at in our education, point at nothing, but to furnish our heads with knowledge; but not a word of judgment and virtue.

He says that our education must 'alter us for the better'.  Also, 'We are not to tie learning to the soul, but to work and incorporate them together'.  We must use our learning to make us better and more moral people. 
How do we do that?  Montaigne writes of a an old Persian method, where children were first taught religion, then taught physical skills like riding and hunting.  After that they were given to 'the hands of four, the wisest, the most just, the most temperate, the most valiant'.  These four would teach them religion, sincerity, uprightness, the ability to conquer hunger and desires, and 'to despise danger'.  In short, an education based on practical skills and moral bearings.
He also warns that too much study of the sciences can soften men and dull their edge.  He praises the Spartan way.  Montaigne notes that when Rome became very learned, it declined and was conquered. 

I can't imagine what would happen if a modern community decided to adopt the Persian method of raising children.  In fact, I don't think such a thing is remotely possible in a blended culture like ours.  Which religion would the children be raised in from the start?  Whose values would they be taught?  I'm not sure how much 'moral education' used to be a part of the public school system but I don't see how they can do much teaching now beyond some very broad civics, some simple manners and the like.  More deeply held values and beliefs are better taught from home (and supplementary places like churches, clubs, scout troops, etc). 
Which isn't to say that I don't agree that there is a difference between wisdom and intelligence.  I just don't agree with how Montaigne writes about bridging the gap.

Poetry - 4

The next offering stays with the King James Bible.  This time it is the Song of Songs:

1 The song of songs, which is Solomon's.
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.
3 Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.
4 Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.
5 I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
6 Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.
7 Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?
8 If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.
9 I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots.
10 Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold.
11 We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.
12 While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.
13 A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.
14 My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi.
15 Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes.
16 Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.
17 The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.

This doesn't do much for me.  I can see that the language is poetic, but it doesn't touch me.  Perhaps it is because the metaphors have simply drifted too far in the last 2500 years.  If I told my wife she is fair because she has 'doves' eyes', I don't think she'd feel all that complimented.  It could have been a real hit back in its day though. 
According to Wikipedia, there are a number of acceptable interpretations as to authorship and intended audience.  I don't doubt it.  The first half certainly describes an uneven relationship, like a subject to a king or perhaps a king to God.  That could change the interpretation of the fifth and sixth verse from something racial to a poetic reading of 'sinful'.  I don't remember it ever being taught in church.