Soda

'Soda'

Fies nobilium Tu quoque fontium.—Horat. Od. jiiii. L. 3.
Fontium Qui celat origines.—Horat. Od. xiv. L. 4.

O Fons Salutis! Vita! Fides mea!
Tumultuosi qui mala pectoris
   Compescis, et morbi furores
      Attenuas, saliente lympha;

Musis sodali sub Camerario*
Praestes novellam Castaliam mihi;
   Salvumque dilectis amicis
      Restitues, animosque reddes:

Sparsim remotas condis origines
Arcana rerum subter, et abditus
   Nascentis ad terrae recessus,
      Primigenique elementa mundi:

Unde ausa in auras Te trahere, et leves
Miscere docta particulas manu
   Cohors Medentum, ut rivus orbi
      Mirifica fluat auctus arte.

Agnosce Patris munera! Quem Deum
Agnoscit, omni parte operis Sui,
   Ad Solis occasus et ortus,
      Terra, Mare, aethereumque Ceslum.

22nd August, 1842.

Fountain of health! and hope! and faith! and life!
That quell'st my tortured bosom's restless strife;
And, to relieve my agonising dreams,
Pour'st forth thy crystal, cool, bright, salient streams.
Under the hand of classic Chambers placed,
A new Castalia freshens to my taste:
Inspires new life, and spirit, and again,
Leads me revived to the gay haunts of men.
In nature's secrets hid, thy birth place lies,
Far scattered, deep, remote from human eyes,
Amid the germs that first gave nature birth,
And the primfieval elements of earth;
Whence dared to draw Thee to earth's airs, and blend
Thy lightsome texture in one glorious end
Machaon's Race; and spread thy wholesome streams
Where'er the Sun extends his living beams.
Acknowledge God's good gifts; whose bounteous hand
His works acknowledge all through main and land,
Where'er the sun sinks low, or rises high,
The Earth, the Sea, and the aethereal sky.

Richard Colley Wellesley, Primitiæ et reliquiæ (London: typis Gulielmi Nicol., 1841), [pp. 140-41].

Reincarnation as Birds

ἰδεῖν μὲν γὰρ ψυχὴν ἔφη τήν ποτε Ὀρφέως γενομένην κύκνου βίον αἱρουμένην, μίσει τοῦ γυναικείου γένους διὰ τὸν ὑπ᾽ ἐκείνων θάνατον οὐκ ἐθέλουσαν ἐν γυναικὶ γεννηθεῖσαν γενέσθαι: ἰδεῖν δὲ τὴν Θαμύρου ἀηδόνος ἑλομένην: ἰδεῖν δὲ καὶ κύκνον μεταβάλλοντα εἰς ἀνθρωπίνου βίου αἵρεσιν, καὶ ἄλλα ζῷα μουσικὰ ὡσαύτως. εἰκοστὴν δὲ λαχοῦσαν ψυχὴν ἑλέσθαι λέοντος βίον: εἶναι δὲ τὴν Αἴαντος τοῦ Τελαμωνίου, φεύγουσαν ἄνθρωπον γενέσθαι, μεμνημένην τῆς τῶν ὅπλων κρίσεως. τὴν δ᾽ ἐπὶ τούτῳ Ἀγαμέμνονος: ἔχθρᾳ δὲ καὶ ταύτην τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου γένους διὰ τὰ πάθη ἀετοῦ διαλλάξαι βίον.

He saw the soul that had been Orpheus’, he said, selecting the life of a swan, because from hatred of the tribe of women, owing to his death at their hands, it was unwilling to be conceived and born of a woman. He saw the soul of Thamyras choosing the life of a nightingale; and he saw a swan changing to the choice of the life of man, and similarly other musical animals. The soul that drew the twentieth lot chose the life of a lion; it was the soul of Ajax, the son of Telamon, which, because it remembered the adjudication of the arms of Achilles, was unwilling to become a man. The next, the soul of Agamemnon, likewise from hatred of the human race because of its sufferings, substituted the life of an eagle.

Plato, Rep. X.620a-b [Trans. by Paul Shorey].

The Secret

George Edward Woodberry (1855-1930)

'The Secret'

Nightingales warble about it,
    All night under blossom and star;
The wild swan is dying without it,
    And the eagle crieth afar;
The sun he doth mount but to find it,
    Searching the green earth o'er;
But more doth a man's heart mind it,
    Oh, more, more, more!

Over the gray leagues of ocean
    The infinite yearneth alone;
The forests with wandering emotion
    The thing they know not intone;
Creation arose but to see it,
    A million lamps in the blue;
But a lover he shall be it
    If one sweet maid is true.

Nineteenth-Century Birthers

Quidam, errore caeci, et Europae gloria stultissime capti, Washingtonium Americanum exstitisse omnino negaverunt [...]
 
Some, oblivious to error, and most foolishly taken in with the glory of Europe, have denied that George Washington was born in America at all [...]

Notes:
Francis Glass, A Life of George Washington, in Latin Prose, ed. by John N. Reynolds  (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1835), p. 25: My translation.

The Function of the Novel

   Billy put his hand up at the very first part of the program, but he wasn’t called on right away. Others got in ahead of him. One of them said that it would be a nice time to bury the novel, now that a Virginian, one hundred years after Appomattox, had written Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Another one said that people couldn’t read well enough any more to turn print into exciting situations in their skulls, so that authors had to do what Norman Mailer did, which was to perform in public what he had written. The master of ceremonies asked people to say what they thought the function of the novel might be in modern society, and one critic said, ‘To provide touches of color in rooms with all-white walls.’ Another one said, ‘To describe blow-jobs artistically.’ Another one said, ‘Toleach wives of junior executives what to buy next and how to act in a French restaurant.’

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five (London: Triad Paladin, 1989; 1969), p. 154.

Homeland

Because homeland is one of the magical fantasy words like unicorn and soul and infinity that have now passed into the language. And the particular magic of homeland, its particular spell over Irie, was that it sounded like a beginning. The beginningest of beginnings. Like the first morning of Eden and the day after apocalypse. A blank page.

Zadie Smith, White Teeth (London: Hamish Hamilton, 2000), p. 345.

Christmas Day

Now Christmas Day has come round again —
and poor North Polar Bear has got a bad pain!
They say he’s swallowed a couple of pounds
of nuts without cracking the shells! It sounds
a Polarish sort of thing to do —
but that isn’t all, between me and you:
he’s eaten a ton of various goods
and recklessly mixed all his favourite foods,
honey with ham and turkey with treacle,
and pickles with milk. I think that a week'll
be needed to put the old bear on his feet.
And I mustn’t forget his particular treat:
plum pudding with sausages and turkish delight
covered with cream and devoured at a bite!
And after this dish he stood on his head —
it's rather a wonder the poor fellow’s not dead!

Absolute ROT:
I have not got
a pain in my pot.

                                            Rude fellow!

I do not eat
turkey or meat:
I stick to the sweet.
Which is why
(as all know) I
am so sweet myself,
you thinuous elf!
Goodby!
                                            He means fatuous
                            No I don't, you’re not fat,
                            but thin and silly.
You know my friends too well to think
(although they’re rather rude with ink)
that there are really quarrels here!
We’ve had a very jolly year
(except for Polar Bear’s rusty nail);
but now this rhyme must catch the Mail —
a special messenger must go,
in spite of thickly falling snow,
or else this won’t get down to you
on Christmas day. It’s half past two!
We’ve quite a ton of crackers still
to pull, and glasses still to fill!
Our love to you on this Noel—
and till the next one, fare you well!

Father Christmas
Polar Bear
Ilbereth
Paksu and Valkotukka

J.R.R. Tolkien, Letters from Father Christmas: Centenary Edition, ed. by Baillie Tolkien (London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2019; 1976), pp. 174-77.

The Sound of Writing

The shadow of abstraction lifts from the writing. It is joined soon by the shadow of emotion. The shadows mix, penetrate one another, and obliterate everything, everything except the sound of writing.

Christopher Middleton, Loose Cannons: Selected Prose, ed. by August Kleinzahler (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2014), p. 84.

Basium 3

Johannes Secundus (1511-1536), 'Basium 3'

Da mihi suaviolum, dicebam, blanda puella,
      Libasti labris mox mea labra tuis.
Inde, velut presso qui territus angue resultat,
      Ora repente meo vellis ab ore procul.
Non hoc suaviolum dare, Lux mea, sed dare tantum
      Est desiderium flebile suavioli.

‘Give me soft kisses, sweet girl’, I said,
      Soon she lashed my lips with hers.
Then as one startled by stepping on a snake
      Suddenly she plucks her mouth from mine.
My love, it is not a tender kiss she gives me,
      But only the tearful desire for a tender kiss.

Jean Second, Œuvres complètes, 5 vols (Paris: H. Champion, 2005-), I [Basiorum liber et odarum liber] (2005), p. 130. My translation. I published a few translations of Secondus' poems years ago, but for whatever reason, not this one.

The Ming Plum of Xuanwu

Over six hundred years old, this plum tree is withered but still lively; it is located near the site of the Tianyu Pavillian at Xuanwu lake in Nanjing.

This tree is the subject of 'The Song of the Ancient Plum Blossom in Tianyu Pavillion' (天语亭古梅歌) by Liao Shikui (廖世魁):

亭东古梅树，托根王砌台。
云霞连独秀，迥不染尘埃。
馨香满空庭，仙侣时徘徊。

There is an ancient plum tree east of the pavilion,
with its roots resting in the king's terrace.
The rosy clouds intertwine with its solitary beauty,
unsullied by the distant dust.
Its aroma fills the empty courtyard,
and from time to time immortals linger.

My translation.

Lifelong Learning

quod si non hic tantus fructus ostenderetur, et si ex his studiis delectatio sola peteretur, tamen, ut opinor, hanc animi remissionem humanissimam ac liberalissimam iudicaretis. nam ceterae neque temporum sunt neque aetatum omnium neque locorum; at haec studia adulescentiam alunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas res ornant, adversis perfugium ac solacium praebent, delectant domi, non impediunt foris, pernoctant nobiscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur.

Even if there there were no great profit to be made out, and even if it were pleasure alone that was sought from these studies, I still believe that you should consider them a most refined and most liberal vacation for the mind. For other pursuits are unsuited for every time, age or place; but these studies nourish youth and entertain old age, augment prosperity, provide a refuge and solace in adversity, offer entertainment at home without impeding public life, they are with us at night, when we are abroad or in the countryside.

Cicero, Pro Archia, 16. My Translation.

Orange Pinwheel Marasmius siccus

Orange Pinwheel (Marasmius siccus, 琥珀小皮傘).

Another species of marasmius, small, delicate and growing on Yuelu Mountain last rainy June.

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.