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.

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.

Canon

David Damrosch, We Scholars: Changing the Culture of the University (Cambridge, Massachusetts; London: Harvard University Press, 1995), p. 109:

Too often both sides [progressives/’great tradition’ traditionalists] take absolutist positions, as though our intellectual traditions must either form an invariant and unquestionable unity or else be a specious fiction serving the corrupt self-interest of an elite few. Any canon is indeed a construct; particularly in the extremely selective form of a two-semester course, any representation of "the" tradition of Western literature or social thought is bound to leave out important texts, ideas, movements. Yet this does not mean that a necessarily artificial construction of the canon has no value. The real problem is that at the present time the core itself is largely hollow. Debates over particular inclusions or exclusions often amount to little more than the replacement of a few deck chairs as general education continues slowly, majestically, to sink out of sight.

Pyralid Snout Moth Caterpillar

Some species of pyralid snout moth caterpillar, though I could not discern the species. I found on Yuelu Mountain last July and I should have noted more carefully the plant it was on.

The Rape of the Lock in Latin Leonines

Thomas Parnell (1679-1718)
‘Part of the First Canto of the Rape of the Lock with a Translation in Leonine Verse, after the manner of the ancient monks.’

Et nunc dilectum speculum, pro more retectum,
Emicat in mensa, quae splendet pyxide densa:
Tum primum lympha, se purgat candida Nympha;
Jamque sine menda, coelestis imago videnda,
Nuda caput, bellos retinet, regit, implet ocellos.
Hac stupet explorans, seu cultus numen adorans:
Inferior claram Pythonissa apparet ad aram,
Fertque tibi caute, dicatque Superbia! laute,
Dona venusta; oris, quae cunctis, plena laboris,
Excerpta explorat, dominamque deamque decorat.
Pyxide devota, se pandit hic India tota,
Et tota ex ista transpirat Arabia cista;
Testudo hic flectit, dum se mea Lesbia pectit;
Atque elephas lente, te pectit Lesbia dente;
Hunc maculis noris, nivei jacet ille coloris.
Hic jacet et munde, mundus muliebrit abunde;
Spinula resplendens aeris longo ordine pendens,
Pulvis suavis odore, et epistola suavis amore.
Induit arma ergo, Veneris pulcherrima virgo;
Pulchrior in praesens tempus de tempore crescens;
Jam reparat rifus, jam furgit gratia visus,
Jam promit cultu, mirac[u]la latentia vultu;
Pigmina jam miscet, quo plus fua Purpura gliscet,
Et geminans bellis splendet mage fulgor ocellis.
Stant Lemures muti, Nymphae intentique saluti,
Hic figit Zonam, capiti locat ille Coronam,
Haec manicis formam, plicis dat et altera normam
Et tibi vel Betty, tibi vel nitidissima Letty!
Gloria factorum temere conceditur horum.

   And now, unveil’d, the Toilet stands display’d,
Each silver vase in mystic order laid.
First, rob’d in white, the nymph intent adores
With head uncover’d, the Cosmetic pow’rs.
A heav’nly image in the glass appears,
To that she bends, to that her eyes she rears;
Th’ inferior priestess, at her altar’s side,
Trembling, begins the sacred rites of pride.
Unnumber’d treasures ope at once, and here
The various off’rings of the world appear;
From each she nicely culls with curious toil,
And decks the Goddess with the glitt’ring spoil.
This casket India’s glowing gems unlocks,
And all Arabia breathes from yonder box.
The Tortoise here and Elephant unite,
Transform’d to combs, the speckled and the white.
Here files of pins extend their shining rows,
Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux.
Now awful beauty puts on all its arms,
The fair each moment rises in her charms,
Repairs her smiles, awakens ev’ry grace,
And calls forth all the wonders of her face;
Sees by degrees a purer blush arise,
And keener lightnings quicken in her eyes.
The busy Sylphs surround their darling care;
These set the head, and those divide the hair,
Some fold the sleeve, whilst others plait the gown;
And Betty’s prais’d for labours not her own.

Thomas Parnell, The Works in Verse and Prose of Dr. Thomas Parnell (Glasgow: printed and sold by R. and A. Foulis, 1755), pp. 66-68.

Red Ring Skirt

Red Ring Skirt (Hestina assimilis, 黑脉蛱蝶).

Large East Asian butterfly, from Fuzhou last August. An aggressive and territorial insect, with wings battered from conflict.

The Fate of the Historian

Mark Pattison,'Gregory of Tours' in Essays, ed. by Henry Nettleship, 2 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889), I, 1-29 (p. 1):

The fate of the historian is like those of the dynasties he writes of; they spring up and flourish, and bear rule and seem established for ever; but time goes on, their strength passes away, and at last some young and vigorous usurper comes and pushes them from their throne. It is not because new facts are continually accumulating, because criticism is growing more rigid, or even because style varies; but because ideas change, the whole mode and manner of looking at things alters with every age; and so every generation requires facts to be recast in its own mould, demands that the history of its forefathers be rewritten from its own point of view.

Little Emerald

Little Emerald (Jodis lactearia, 青突尾尺蛾).

A common species across Europe and Asia An inept little flyer, spotted on Yuelu Mountain last July.

Rationalizing Evil

 The hour of the common man was dawning, Sheen declared. The Messiah walked this earth teaching children and fishermen. “If I wanted a good moral judgment about the war, I should a thousand times prefer to get it from a garage man, a filling station attendant, a WPA worker, a grocer’s clerk, or a delivery boy, than from twenty-three Ph.D. professors I know about in just one American University.” The reason was easy to find. “The educated know how to rationalize evil; the masses do not. Evil to them is still evil. . . . Their judgments are better because their moral sense is higher, for virtue does not increase in direct ratio with learning.” It was character, not learning, that made a nation great; and “character is in the will, not in the intellect.

Thomas C. Reeves, America’s Bishop: The Life and Times of Fulton J. Sheen (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2001), pp. 143-44.

Trichosanthes Laceribractea

Trichosanthes laceribractea (长萼栝楼).

Members of the cucumber family, there are several species of trichosanthes growing in Hunan. On Yuelu Mountain, its flowers can be observed every year around midsummer.

Civilian Immunity

Su-kyoung Hwang, Korea’s Grievous War (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016), p. 69:

The debate over civilian immunity was the debate over liberal immunity in a different guise. The assumption that liberal democracies are less prone to target civilians is a longstanding myth. Incidents reported from some of the major battlefields of the past century have repeatedly contradicted this myth and revealed that democratic states are far from being able to claim moral superiority in their use of violence against civilians. What continue to be matters for dispute are questions of motive and whether the means justify the end. Insofar as the use of states of emergency and other forms of legal exceptions are concerned, liberal democracies share much in common with authoritarian and totalitarian states.

Jerusalem Cherry

Jerusalem Cherry (Solanum pseudocapsicum, 珊瑚樱).

Another American plant, naturalized in parts of China. Sometimes I find them in the forests on the outskirts of Changsha and other cities.

Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception

Mary Modur of grace we cry to þe,
Moder of mercy and of pyte,
Put vs fro be Fendes fondyng,
And helpe vs at oure last endyng;
And to þi Sone oure pes þou make
þat He on vs no wreke take.
To ȝow I cri wyth mylde steuen,
All þe halowes þat are in Heuen,
Helpe or Criste my gylth forgyue,
And will Hym serue will I lyue.

Rossell Hope Robbins, ‘Popular Prayers in Middle English Verse’, Modern Philology, 36.4 (1939), 337-50 (p. 345) [Caius Camb. 71, fol. 17b].

Common Evening-Primrose

Common Evening-Primrose (Oenothera biennis, 月见草).

Naturalized in parts of Hunan: I saw it in bloom along the sides of every road and trail in the Huxingshan Yao Ethnic Township last July.

Yellow Coster Larva

Yellow Coster (Telchinia issoria, 苎麻珍蝶). Larva.

Cold weather is coming: it is the time of year to revisit some old pictures. This caterpillar was romping around Hengshan, mid-October 2023.

An Excess of Wonder

Umberto Eco, Interpretation and Overinterpretation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 50:

an excess of wonder leads to overestimating the importance of coincidences which are explainable in other ways

East Asian Eurya

East Asian Eurya (Eurya japonica, 柃木).

A fairly tall shrub, it blossoms in spring and early winter and has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to reduce dampness, swelling and bleeding. Growing here in Wangling Park.

Happy Life

Stephen Paget and J.M.C. Crum, Francis Paget (London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1912), pp. 25-26 [From a letter from Francis Paget to his sister c. 1870-72]:

"I have come to the conclusion that old china & a good conscience are, after all, the chief requisites for a happy life."

Muskmelon

Muskmelon (Cucumis melo, 甜瓜).

Growing wild in the mud by the Xiang river. This plant has been widely cultivated from antiquity, but who knows how long ago its progenitor escaped some local garden to grow here.

Philosophy Retreating

Jonathan Haidt. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion (New York : Pantheon Books, 2012), p. 141:

However, philosophy began retreating from observation and empathy in the nineteenth century, placing ever more emphasis on reasoning and systematic thought. As Western societies became more educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic, the minds of its intellectuals changed. They became more analytic and less holistic.

Slender Bracken

Slender Bracken (Pteris ensiformis, 剑叶凤尾蕨).

A species of bracken growing on Yuelu Mountain and a reminder that at some time I wish to look more closely at local ferns. It is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to clear away heat and to promote diuresis.

The Sea

Richard Powers, Playground: A Novel (London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2024):

No human being knew what life on Earth really looked like. How could they? They lived on the land, in the marginal kingdom of aberrant outliers. All the forests and savannas and wetlands and deserts and grasslands on all the continents were just afterthoughts, ancillaries to the Earth’s main stage.

Tropical Milkweed

Tropical Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica, 马利筋).

A plant that originates in the Americas; it has been naturalized in Jiangsu but this is from a spectacular late Autumn garden display in Xuanwu, Nanjing. The rose gardens were also splendid this time of year: one can only imagine Spring.

An Even More Sinister Analgesic

Zadie Smith White Teeth (London: Hamish Hamilton,  2000), p. 167.

If religion is the opium of the people, tradition is an even more sinister analgesic, simply because it rarely appears sinister. If religion is a tight band, a throbbing vein and a needle, tradition is a far homelier concoction: poppy seeds ground into tea; a sweet cocoa drink laced with cocaine; the kind of thing your grandmother might have made.

The Doctor's Art

non est in medico semper relevetur ut aeger:
   interdum docta plus valet arte malum.

A doctor cannot always cure the ill:
   sickness, at times, is beyond all proven skill.

Ovid, Ex Ponto, I.iii.17-18. My translation.

Japanese Giant Gecko

Japanese Giant Gecko (Gekko japonicus, 多疣壁虎).

Although they are rare to see during the day on Yuelu Mountain, they are very active at night. In any of the open buildings scattered around the mountain, they can reliably be found after sunset, lying in wait for insects on the roofs and walls.

Courage and Artlessness

Claire Harman, Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography (London: Penguin Books, 2015; 1989), p. 185:

The naval war of the winter of 1939 may not have seemed too threatening to the population of West Dorset, but the events of early 1940 did. Hitler overran Denmark and Norway in April with alarming ease, and the Royal Navy had difficulty holding the position won at Narvik. By the summer, the governments of Poland and Belgium, the King and Queen of Norway and the Queen of the Netherlands were all in exile in London; the British Expeditionary Force, once so sure of hanging out its washing on the Siegfried Line, had been caught in a pincer movement, and was trapped at Dunkirk. France was within weeks of capitulation to Germany. Early measures taken at home to provide some protection for civilians now lost their air of pointless routine and were undertaken in earnest, and in the wake of earnestness came a deal of inefficiency. Sylvia wrote wearily of an ARP air-raid rehearsal in Maiden Newton: ‘It is like a knock-about farce film done in slow motion, and at intervals some member of the local gentry pipes up to say, “Well, let’s hope it will never be needed”, or “We can’t really get on with it without Mr Thompson”, or “Has it started yet, do you know?” The most melancholy thought is, that if there is a real raid they will all dauntlessly turn up to mismanage it, for their courage is as unquestionable as their artlessness.’

Gray-capped Pygmy Woodpecker

Gray-capped Pygmy Woodpecker (Yungipicus canicapillus, 星头啄木鸟).

A small woodpecker, spotted in Xuanwu Lake Park in Nanjing during a morning walk (I was there for a conference).