Crit

First Graf: The Histories

WERE IT NOT FOR HERODOTUS — lauded as the “Father of History,” derided as the “Father of Lies” — we would know nothing of, among other things, the tale of King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans and how it affected the Ascent of the West.

The Histories is more than a simple record of who-said-and-did-what-when. In it you will find plenty about the war between the Greeks and Persians, but also contemporary details of Egyptian and Babylonian culture; how to gather cinnamon despite the objections of giant bats “who shriek alarmingly and are very pugnacious;” an account of the horseback-warrior Scythians; many tales both tall and short; and much fodder for D&D campaigns or pleasant afternoon reveries.

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Crit, Life

Pithyism #69b

DO WE RESEMBLE OUR TOOLS, or do our tools resemble us? (I’m including in this equation notional tools like webspace, word-processing software, Facebook’s post-ranking choices, etc.)

There was a time when every brief saying one heard was regarded as a ‘Torah’ (teaching, guidance), and everything one saw was perceived as an instruction in his Avoda (worship, service) and conduct.”
–Daily Hayom Yom newsletter

Torah

365 Names: “Love”

LOVE is defined here in its Divine sense as “That which attracts and unifies.” Similar in principle to the Great Magnet, but different in its connotation of intimacy. The Greeks have specified this Name’s essential qualities as “eros,” or sexuality, and “agape,” a more selfless emotion and one better suited for our analytic purposes. (The latter sense is Christian in origin, but why should we let only one religion have all the fun?)

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Crit

Words to Bring Back: “Parvenu”

– Definition: n. a person of obscure origin who has gained wealth, influence, or celebrity.

– Used in a sentence: I like to think the electorate smiles unkindly on parvenus, but evidence indicates otherwise.

– Why: Because, in the early 21st Century, there’s so damned many of them.

Writ

A Prosatio Silban Amuse-Bouche: Writing

“THOSE MARKS ON YOUR CUTTING board look like words in an ancient language,” observed Prosatio Silban’s customer.

“They are, actually,” the cook explained. “The story it tells has been written by me almost every day for all my professional life, not in Uulian but in the older and more universal language of meat and green and root and knife. If you listen closely, you can hear a swallow echoing from every cut; often enjoyable but always nourishing.”

Who’s “Prosatio Silban,” you may ask? Here’s a partial answer: http://metaphorager.net/tag/prosatio-silban/.

Life

Pithyism #9

PEOPLE WHO LIVE WITH CATS are the only people who understand people who live with cats.