Marasmius Purpureostriatus

Marasmius purpureostriatus (紫条沟小皮伞).

Here seen amidst the wet decaying leaves on Yuelu Mountain last April: in one spot there were dozens of them one day, and soon after they had all disappeared.

Dying for a Literary Education

Εἰς δὴ τοῦτον ἄγουσι μὲν ἱεροὶ λόγοι, δι’ ἀποῤῥήτων ἡμᾶς ἐκπαιδεύοντες· ἕως γε μὴν ὑπὸ τῆς ἡλικίας ἐπακούειν τοῦ βάθους τῆς διανοίας αὐτῶν οὐχ οἷόν τε, ἐν ἑτέροις οὐ πάντη διεστηκόσιν, ὥσπερ ἐν σκιαῖς τισι καὶ κατόπτροις, τῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ὄμματι τέως προγυμναζόμεθα, τοὺς ἐν τοῖς τακτικοῖς τὰς μελέτας ποιουμένους μιμούμενοι· οἵ γε, ἐν χειρονομίαις καὶ ὀρχήσεσι τὴν ἐμπειρίαν κτησάμενοι, ἐπὶ τῶν ἀγώνων τοῦ ἐκ τῆς παιδιᾶς ἀπολαύουσι κέρδους. Καὶ ἡμῖν δὴ οὖν ἀγῶνα προκεῖσθαι πάντων ἀγώνων μέγιστον νομίζειν χρεὼν, ὑπὲρ οὗ πάντα ποιητέον ἡμῖν καὶ πονητέον εἰς δύναμιν ἐπὶ τὴν τούτου παρασκευὴν, καὶ ποιηταῖς, καὶ λογοποιοῖς καὶ ῥήτορσι καὶ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ὁμιλητέον, ὅθεν ἂν μέλλῃ πρὸς τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπιμέλειαν ὠφέλειά τις ἔσεσθαι. Ὥσπερ οὖν οἱ δευσοποιοί, παρασκευάσαντες πρότερον θεραπείαις τισὶν ὅ τι ποτ´ ἂν ᾖ τὸ δεξόμενον τὴν βαφήν, οὕτω τὸ ἄνθος ἐπάγουσιν, ἄν τε ἁλουργόν, ἄν τέ τι ἕτερον ᾖ· τὸν αὐτὸν δὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς τρόπον, εἰ μέλλει ἀνέκπλυτος ἡμῖν ἡ τοῦ καλοῦ παραμένειν δόξα, τοῖς ἔξω δὴ τούτοις προτελεσθέντες, τηνικαῦτα τῶν ἱερῶν καὶ ἀπορρήτων ἐπακουσόμεθα παιδευμάτων· καὶ οἷον ἐν ὕδατι τὸν ἥλιον ὁρᾶν ἐθισθέντες οὕτως αὐτῷ προσβαλοῦμεν τῷ φωτὶ τὰς ὄψεις.

It is Holy Scriptures, by instructing us in sacred mysteries, that lead us into this other life. But as long as our age prevents us from penetrating the depths of their meaning, with the help of those books whose spirit is not entirely opposed to them, we exercise the eye of our soul as if on shadows and on mirrors; in this we imitate those who perform military exercises, and who having made themselves skilful at shadow-boxing and dancing, reap the profits of their training in battle. And so we also must believe that the greatest of all battles is set before us, and that in order to prepare ourselves for it we must do everything and endure everything to the extent of our power in preparation for it. We must associate with poets, historians, orators and all men who might be of some use to us in the cultivation of our souls. And so just as dyers, first prepare the cloth with certain treatments before it receives the dye, and then apply the colour, whether it be purple or some other shade, so we must first also in the same way, if we would preserve with us indelible for all time the splendour of the good, be instructed by these external means; and like those who have become used to seeing the sun’s reflection in the water, so we shall become able to turn our eyes upon the sun itself.

St. Basil of Caesarea, Ad adolescentes, de legendis libris Gentilium, II. My translation.

Sulzbacheromyces Sinensis

Sulzbacheromyces sinensis  (中华丽烛衣).

A basidiolichen with erect ochre fruiting bodies and a dark green crust which slowly turned grey. It was growing in several places on Yuelu Mountain last July.

Buying Books One Cannot Read

 WHAT the old French officer had delivered upon travelling, bringing Polonius’s advice to his son upon the same subject into my head, and that bringing in Hamlet; and Hamlet, the rest of Shakespeare’s works, I stopped at the Quai de Conti, in my return home, to purchase the whole set.
   The bookseller said he had not a set in the world. Comment! said I; taking one up out of a set which lay upon the counter betwixt us. He said, they were sent him only to be got bound, and were to be sent back to Versailles in the morning to the Count de B—.
   And does the Count de B—, said I, read Shakespeare? C’est un Esprit fort, replied the bookseller.

Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey & The Journal to Eliza (London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1966; 1788), pp. 68-69.

Longhorn Beetle Frass

Longhorn beetle frass (I am unsure which species) on a willow tree at Taozi lake. These beetle larvae due a fair bit of damage in spite of the park workers vigilance. Curiously the ejected frass attracts a variety of butterflies: I observed many a polygonia c-aureum, vanessa indica, kaniska canace, and even one charaxes bernardus attracted to its sap.

Hero-worship

The history of an art is the history of masterwork, not of failures, or mediocrity. The omniscient historian would display the masterpieces, their causes and their inter-relation. The study of literature is hero-worship. It is a refinement, or, if you will, a perversion of that primitive religion.

Ezra Pound, The Spirit of Romance (Norfolk, Connecticut: New Directions, 1952; 1910), p. 7.

Asian Longhorned Beetle

Asian Longhorned Beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis, 光肩星天牛).

Similar to anoplophora glabripennis but possible to distinguish by the tubercles (little bumps), at the base of its elytra.

A Catalogus Arborum

Coluccio Salutati (1331-1406), 'Conquestio Phillidis', 137-156:

gentibus optatam pacem sacra Palladis arbor
   nuntiet et populis omina leta ferat.
frondibus eternis Phebeia superbiat arbos,
   hacque triumphalis fronde sacretur honos;
altaque odoratis conis redimita cupressus
   perpetua fronde sidera celsa petat.
sacra Iovi quercus per secula multa superstes
   gaudeat aurata glande cibasse viros
luxurient Veneris myrtus in litore salso,
   atque comant semper fronde virente comas.
medica Caiete scopuloso in litore poma
   crescant. Iudeus balsama rara colat.
dactilus ex nudo procedat robore palme,
   ac humilem curvent grandia poma citrum.
Mura, nefas, pulcrum sub pectore servet Adona
   ac electra gemens det quasi parturiat.
flagret turifluis dives Pancaia virgis.
   pinus in Ydeis crescat amena iugis,
ac ebenum nulla lignum violabile flamma
   India producat, plurima monstra ferens.

The sacred tree of Pallas would announce the desired peace to the people and would bear deadly omens to the people. It would distain the Phoebeian trees with their everlasting greenery, and triumphant honour would be consecrated with this bough; and the tall cypress encircled with scented cones would seek the lofty stars with its everlasting foliage. Outliving the sacred oak of Jupiter through many ages, it would rejoice to have fed men with a gilded acorn, the myrtles of Venus would grow luxuriantly on the salty shore, and always adorn their tops with green foliage. The medicinal fruits of Gaëta would thrive on the rocky shore. Judea would cultivate rare balsam trees. The date of the palm-tree would appear on the naked oak, and massive fruits would bend the lowly lemon tree. The Mur (shocking!) would watch over the beauty inside its heart and the groaning Adona would bear forth amber as if in labour. Rich Pancaia would be inflamed with sweet-scented stalks. The delightful pine tree would thrive in peaks of Mount Ida. And India, which produces the greatest number of wonders, would produce ebony wood violable by no flame.

Richard C. Jensen, ‘Coluccio Salutati’s “Lament of Phyllis” ’, Studies in Philology, 65.2 (1968), 109-123, p. 120. My translation.

Citrus Longhorn Beetle

Citrus Longhorn Beetle (Anoplophora chinensis, 华星天牛).

The larvae are pests, and quite destructive to local trees, but the adults are large impressive beetles and have a conspicuous presence throughout the summer.

The Business of a Scholar

To talk in publick, to think in solitude, to read and to hear, to inquire, and answer inquiries, is the business of a scholar.  He wanders about the world without pomp or terror, and is neither known nor valued but by men like himself.

Samuel Johnson, The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988; 1759), p. 18.

Campsosternus Auratus

Campsosternus auratus (丽叩甲).

A large metallic click beetle, the adults are fairly common in the summer.

Nested Prose

 [...] and the prose is clotted with sentences like this one: “The elaboration of the demonstrative makes possible the comprehension of the singularity of the singular”. Linguists have a term for this kind of writing, where each abstraction is nested in another like so many Russian dolls: bad.

Stephen Brown, ‘Why so many notes?’, The Times Literary Supplement, 5672 (16 Dec 2011), p. 24.

A University Should Be Like a Poet's Garden

Mark Pattison,'Oxford Studies' in Essays, ed. by Henry Nettleship, 2 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889), I, 415-494 (p. 420):

A university should be situated, like the poet's garden, 'Not wholly in the busy world, nor quite beyond it.

Blushing Wood Mushrooms

Blushing Wood Mushroom (Agaricus sylvaticus, 林地蘑菇).

Beautiful pair of mushrooms growing last June on Yuelu Mountain. There were young, 2-3cm with white skirts still hiding their greyish gills, brown spores and the flesh turned slightly red when cut.