This book starts with the very beginnings of the Medici family and follows it to the 1750s. The book is very readable and well planned out. I have read other books on the Medici and still could not put this book down. It also gives the reader a view of medieval Florence from the social perspective. The author does well hitting political, economic, social and religious conditions of the time, as well as the lives of the various Medici. A family tree and more information on Pierfrancesco Medici (as related to his sons Giovanni and Lorenzo Medici) would be the only additions I would recommend for this text.
The first 100 pages concentrates on Giovanni di Bicci de Medici and Cosimo Medici. Followed by Piero Medici. Piero's sons Lorenzo (Il Magnifico) and Guiliano - The Pazzi Conspiracy. Pietro, Guilano, Lorenzo II. Caterina, Alessandro and Ippolito. Francesco I, Cosimo II and Cosimo III. Wow!
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli - Best Book Ever!
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli is one of the most wonderful books ever written. How can you say that, it is a book about war. It is more than that, it is a book about life. Machiavelli was a philosopher. A political philosopher no doubt, but his lessons, well articulated apply to life in general. The book is separated into 25 chapters. I will endeavour to put some thoughts down on each chapter.
I am also reading Machiavelli by Miles Unger. Fan-bloody-tastic! Yes, I need to get out more. (It's New Year's Eve and I'm writing a blog while I do laundry/lol??? The dryer is broken, urgh... Step running to restart every 2 mins or so... Cheers to the theatre of the short attention spaners ;) Also check out The Artist, The Philosopher and The Warrior by Paul Strathern if you really want your fill. Wonderful reads all! (If my Stepford life continues this winter, I will be able to publish my notes!)
1. Of the Various Kinds of Princedoms
There are either Republics or Princedoms. Princedoms are either hereditary or they are new. They are acquired by arms of their own or arms of others.
2. Of Hereditary Princedoms
"For one change always leaves a dovetail into which another will fit." Is that not true of life? I'm thinking as things move on, things change and events/people fit into place. Friends come and go. Sometimes a friend you haven't seen in years comes back into your life and fits right into place. Vice Versa too. You can have someone in your life and be quite content and than boom, they are gone. Things change and coalesce into a new reality for better or worse. Phase shift/change!
3. Of Mixed Princedoms
New difficulties abound in new princedoms. Use the analogy of relationships... The prince cannot avoid giving offense to his new subjects. And the word vexations is also used here in the context of attendant on a new acquisition. New relationships always have growing pains as do old ones. Somehow offense, even so small, can be given. Yup, boys, it's true.
I am also reading Machiavelli by Miles Unger. Fan-bloody-tastic! Yes, I need to get out more. (It's New Year's Eve and I'm writing a blog while I do laundry/lol??? The dryer is broken, urgh... Step running to restart every 2 mins or so... Cheers to the theatre of the short attention spaners ;) Also check out The Artist, The Philosopher and The Warrior by Paul Strathern if you really want your fill. Wonderful reads all! (If my Stepford life continues this winter, I will be able to publish my notes!)
1. Of the Various Kinds of Princedoms
There are either Republics or Princedoms. Princedoms are either hereditary or they are new. They are acquired by arms of their own or arms of others.
2. Of Hereditary Princedoms
"For one change always leaves a dovetail into which another will fit." Is that not true of life? I'm thinking as things move on, things change and events/people fit into place. Friends come and go. Sometimes a friend you haven't seen in years comes back into your life and fits right into place. Vice Versa too. You can have someone in your life and be quite content and than boom, they are gone. Things change and coalesce into a new reality for better or worse. Phase shift/change!
3. Of Mixed Princedoms
New difficulties abound in new princedoms. Use the analogy of relationships... The prince cannot avoid giving offense to his new subjects. And the word vexations is also used here in the context of attendant on a new acquisition. New relationships always have growing pains as do old ones. Somehow offense, even so small, can be given. Yup, boys, it's true.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Spartacus Road A Personal Journey Through Ancient Italy by Peter Stothard
This book is not what I thought. It is a travelogue with history interwoven. Enchanting none the less. The author had suffered through cancer and made the journey as a result. The journey picked him. Interesting. Having not gone through cancer, but another life changing illness, I can understand why he says this. When faced with mortality, one looks at life with a more precious eye. Wisdom perhaps?
The concept of a noble death is also dealt with in the book as a theme in ancient Rome. How the gladiator faced death, because as a slave, he had to. How the Romans embraced death. How the author faced death via the cancer. 2000 years ago life was shorter. With the absence of life saving drugs and hospitals as we know them today, things were different. I can see, not understand, the fascination with a glorious death. (Unless that death was in battle, than I can understand.)
P54 On the Via Appia... the route in/out of Rome.
"There are no sign posts now, only irregular limestone blocks, with the marks of thoughts of chisels still on them, place it all at the beginning of the age of roads. By climbing over fences into tomato fields, by vaulting over a rusted tractor and pushing down the barbed wire over the Valvoline grease guns in the grass, the traveler can get a small sense of how solidly menacingly it once stood."
Spartacus's would have traveled the Appian Way on his travels between 73 - 71 BC. The quote lets the traveler or the arm chair traveler (Hi, that's moi!) gain the sense of what is off the beaten path. Roman ruins still exist in farm fields, in this case tomato fields, in Italy and all over Europe. This awes me. A civilization can be still seen, understood and embraced 2000+ years later. How small we really are. How great our achievements.
Gaius Claudius Glaber - Military Praetor during The Third Servile War. Cornered Spartacus's troop on Mt. Vesuvius and Spartacus's troops than out flanked his troops and he lost. All record ceases after this episode. Glaber interests me, from the Spartacus series on Stars. From researching this history, I know the writers of the show took much liberty with his character. (My kids response, do you thinks so...) Glaber, what to do with you? Did you die a glorious death or just sulk off into the world? Who is to know...
Publius Papinius Statius (Statius) - poet in first century Naples. Wrote several narrative epic poetic novels that stayed popular through out the middle ages and influenced Chaucer and the development of allegory. Statius. I have a ton of info on you. Stothard really likes your prose and refers to your writings frequently in the book. Your lovely wife Claudia and your daughter, the musician. Does she marry. Does she become the successful musician in Rome? You had a good life and a decent career. Your writings survive today and are still studied. Not bad. Not bad.
Ok troops - Spent the night researching the Third Servile War! Yes, I know, what fun!
130 BC - 1st slave rebellion - Sicily
100 BC - 2nd slave rebellion - Sicily
73 - 71 BC - 3rd slave rebellion - Capua - last slave rebellion in the Roman Empire
Spartacus, Crixus, Oenomaus (Doctore in the Stars version), and Gannicus existed - I'm so excited. No one else in my house seems to care. Sigh...
Anyway, on ward.
I. Slaves, Gladiators, escape from the lodus of Lentulus Batiatus in Capua (Compania). They hatch a plan that has to go off earlier than planned to avoid detection. 70 gladiators out of 200 escape. They get armor from slain Capuain Army Guards and head up Mt. Vesuvius. Taking shelter from Praetor Glaber. Glaber decides to wait them out on Vesuvius. He has 3,000 men. Spartacus is smarter and repels down the opposite side of Vesuvius and takes Glaber's legion out. No further mention is made of Glaber in the historical record.
II. Praetor Publius Varinius is sent from Rome. He delegates command to 2 subordinates: Furius and Cossinius. The later is killed.
Marcus Lucinius Crassus - a very interesting person in history. A very wealth man who had a pivotal role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. Crassus started his military career under Lucius Cornelius Sulla during the Civil War. The slave revolt described above lead him to greater visibility politically. He shared a co-Consulship with Pompey Magnus, "The Great." (I just like the way Pompey Magnus sounds ;) Crassus also was a financier of Julius Caesar. Together Caesar, Pompey and Crassus formed the First Triumviarate that dominated the Roman political system from 60 - 53 BC.
Crassus was also appointed Governor of Syria during a second Consulship. In a military campaign against the Parthian Empire on the eastern front, failure to successfully lead his troops lead to his defeat and death at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC. After Crassus's death, the alliance between Caesar and Pompey falls apart. Caesar crosses the Rubicon and civil war against Pompey results.
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Just had my moment... [IV] Stothard mentions Epicurean philosphy and On the Nature of Things by Lucretius on page 125. Like Really??? Lucretius, Darlin', there is a God (or several -- very pagan of me...) She dared drop me a line and let me know these unrelated books are related! Now if I can just get my left side alignment back in order. The world is atoms, particles and reverts to energy. Dear Gods of Running, Biking, Golf, Kayaking...
The concept of a noble death is also dealt with in the book as a theme in ancient Rome. How the gladiator faced death, because as a slave, he had to. How the Romans embraced death. How the author faced death via the cancer. 2000 years ago life was shorter. With the absence of life saving drugs and hospitals as we know them today, things were different. I can see, not understand, the fascination with a glorious death. (Unless that death was in battle, than I can understand.)
P54 On the Via Appia... the route in/out of Rome.
"There are no sign posts now, only irregular limestone blocks, with the marks of thoughts of chisels still on them, place it all at the beginning of the age of roads. By climbing over fences into tomato fields, by vaulting over a rusted tractor and pushing down the barbed wire over the Valvoline grease guns in the grass, the traveler can get a small sense of how solidly menacingly it once stood."
Spartacus's would have traveled the Appian Way on his travels between 73 - 71 BC. The quote lets the traveler or the arm chair traveler (Hi, that's moi!) gain the sense of what is off the beaten path. Roman ruins still exist in farm fields, in this case tomato fields, in Italy and all over Europe. This awes me. A civilization can be still seen, understood and embraced 2000+ years later. How small we really are. How great our achievements.
Gaius Claudius Glaber - Military Praetor during The Third Servile War. Cornered Spartacus's troop on Mt. Vesuvius and Spartacus's troops than out flanked his troops and he lost. All record ceases after this episode. Glaber interests me, from the Spartacus series on Stars. From researching this history, I know the writers of the show took much liberty with his character. (My kids response, do you thinks so...) Glaber, what to do with you? Did you die a glorious death or just sulk off into the world? Who is to know...
Publius Papinius Statius (Statius) - poet in first century Naples. Wrote several narrative epic poetic novels that stayed popular through out the middle ages and influenced Chaucer and the development of allegory. Statius. I have a ton of info on you. Stothard really likes your prose and refers to your writings frequently in the book. Your lovely wife Claudia and your daughter, the musician. Does she marry. Does she become the successful musician in Rome? You had a good life and a decent career. Your writings survive today and are still studied. Not bad. Not bad.
Ok troops - Spent the night researching the Third Servile War! Yes, I know, what fun!
130 BC - 1st slave rebellion - Sicily
100 BC - 2nd slave rebellion - Sicily
73 - 71 BC - 3rd slave rebellion - Capua - last slave rebellion in the Roman Empire
Spartacus, Crixus, Oenomaus (Doctore in the Stars version), and Gannicus existed - I'm so excited. No one else in my house seems to care. Sigh...
Anyway, on ward.
I. Slaves, Gladiators, escape from the lodus of Lentulus Batiatus in Capua (Compania). They hatch a plan that has to go off earlier than planned to avoid detection. 70 gladiators out of 200 escape. They get armor from slain Capuain Army Guards and head up Mt. Vesuvius. Taking shelter from Praetor Glaber. Glaber decides to wait them out on Vesuvius. He has 3,000 men. Spartacus is smarter and repels down the opposite side of Vesuvius and takes Glaber's legion out. No further mention is made of Glaber in the historical record.
II. Praetor Publius Varinius is sent from Rome. He delegates command to 2 subordinates: Furius and Cossinius. The later is killed.
- Winter 73-72 BC Spartacus's troops stay in southern Italy plundering: Nola, Murcia, Thurii and Metapontum
- 70,000 strong at this time
- Oneomaus dies during the winter of 73-72 BC
- Spartacus/Crixus in charge of slave army
III. Lucius Gellis Publicola attacks Crixus's 30,000 men. (Spartacus takes 40,000 men toward Cisalpine Gaul in search of freedom.) Gellis and Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus team up to kill 2/3's of Crixus's men at Mt. Garganus, including Crixus himself. Spartacus turns around to avenge Crixus's death and fight the Romans. Spartacus turns around and meetings Lentulus's army and defeats them. He executes 300 of Lentulus's legionnaires to avenge Crixus's death. Spartacus starts moving north with 120,000 followers and engages troops near Picenum.
IV. Marcus Lucinius Crassus
Crassus has 32,000 - 40,000 troops. Mummius is his legate. Crassus engages Spartacus and defeats him on several occasions. Spartacus retreats through Lucania to the straits of Messina (Sicily). Crassus cuts him off here and he is forced to turn toward Rhegium. Crassus cuts off Spartacus's supplies.
In the meantime, Pompey's troops are returning from Spain, Quintus Sertorius Rebillion, and joins us to fight with Crassus's troops. Lucius Licinius Lucullus also is returning to from the Mithridatic War and lands in Brundisium. Crassus wants all the glory for himself and doesn't want to share it with the other two men and prevent Spartacus from marching on Rome. Crassus engages Spartacus at the Battle of Siler River and defeats Spartacus. (Gannicus and Castus are co-leaders at this point and help lead the men.) Spartacus dies in this battle and his body is never recovered. 6,000 survivors are crucified by Crasus and hung out for display on the Appian Way from Rome to Capua.
IV. Marcus Lucinius Crassus
Crassus has 32,000 - 40,000 troops. Mummius is his legate. Crassus engages Spartacus and defeats him on several occasions. Spartacus retreats through Lucania to the straits of Messina (Sicily). Crassus cuts him off here and he is forced to turn toward Rhegium. Crassus cuts off Spartacus's supplies.
In the meantime, Pompey's troops are returning from Spain, Quintus Sertorius Rebillion, and joins us to fight with Crassus's troops. Lucius Licinius Lucullus also is returning to from the Mithridatic War and lands in Brundisium. Crassus wants all the glory for himself and doesn't want to share it with the other two men and prevent Spartacus from marching on Rome. Crassus engages Spartacus at the Battle of Siler River and defeats Spartacus. (Gannicus and Castus are co-leaders at this point and help lead the men.) Spartacus dies in this battle and his body is never recovered. 6,000 survivors are crucified by Crasus and hung out for display on the Appian Way from Rome to Capua.
Marcus Lucinius Crassus - a very interesting person in history. A very wealth man who had a pivotal role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. Crassus started his military career under Lucius Cornelius Sulla during the Civil War. The slave revolt described above lead him to greater visibility politically. He shared a co-Consulship with Pompey Magnus, "The Great." (I just like the way Pompey Magnus sounds ;) Crassus also was a financier of Julius Caesar. Together Caesar, Pompey and Crassus formed the First Triumviarate that dominated the Roman political system from 60 - 53 BC.
Crassus was also appointed Governor of Syria during a second Consulship. In a military campaign against the Parthian Empire on the eastern front, failure to successfully lead his troops lead to his defeat and death at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC. After Crassus's death, the alliance between Caesar and Pompey falls apart. Caesar crosses the Rubicon and civil war against Pompey results.
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Just had my moment... [IV] Stothard mentions Epicurean philosphy and On the Nature of Things by Lucretius on page 125. Like Really??? Lucretius, Darlin', there is a God (or several -- very pagan of me...) She dared drop me a line and let me know these unrelated books are related! Now if I can just get my left side alignment back in order. The world is atoms, particles and reverts to energy. Dear Gods of Running, Biking, Golf, Kayaking...
Saturday, August 17, 2013
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - A story and a fairy tale wrapped up in one...
This story starts out like any other work of fiction. There is a man who is depressed and he starts reminiscing about his childhood. Therein lies the fairy tale that slowly develops and draws you in deeper and deeper, until you can't put the book down and it ends. The story reminds me of a spiral. Constantly changing and moving downward, since the fairy tale grows darker and darker.
I usually break my reviews down by chapter, but since no one reads what I write; I will break this one down by themes. (I'm guessing no one will still read it/ha!) Themes: how we view ourselves, adult versus child and the power of dreams. And in the end, was it all worth it? This theme is the first step in the Prologue and the last step in the Epilogue.
Generalities -
Setting: Sussex, England - Hempstock Farm
Time: Present Day initially - than flashback to youth - age 7
I Digress - Book Quotes:
I like this part, because I happen to agree. Books are safer than people. They don't let you down (usually) and if they do, you can put them down. They keep you company when no one else will. They inspire you to do great things and go places you have never been. They show you how to act. They contain the past, present and future. ALL the rules are written down in black and white.
I - "Books were safer than [other] people anyway."
II - "I lived in books more than anywhere else." This quote is ME. At the present moment, I choose to live in midieval Italy. Hanging out with Lorenzo di Medici. Absolutely Marvelous...
VI - "I was not scared of anything when I read my book. I was far far away..."
VIII - " Growing up, I took so many cues from books. They taught me most of what I know about what people did, about how to behave. They were my teachers and advisors."
How We View Ourselves -
In several places in the book, the theme of looking in the mirror with respect to how we look.
"Sometimes when I look in the mirror I see my father's face, not my own... Lookin' Good!"
"Nobody actually looks like what they really are on the inside. You don't. I don't. People are much more complicated than that. It's true of everyone." This topic rolls nicely into the next one as how we view ourselves early on influences how we act as adults. We are older, not wiser is what the book seems to be telling us. By seeing our parents or grand parents in the mirror, in my case, are we simply repeating history, their mistakes or successes.
Adult Versus Child Perceptions -
"I had been fearless, but now I am such a frightened child."
"Adults follow paths. Children explore. Adults are content to walk the same way, hundreds of times,... perhaps it never occurs to the adult to step off the path... to find the place in between the fences.
"Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they are doing. Inside, they look just like they always have like they did when they were your age (referring to the boy at age 7). The truth is, there aren't any grown-ups." Furthermore, the book insinuates that children are wiser and open to more opportunities to know and grow since their minds are more accepting to the possibility. Sometimes I feel that this is true. I have to force myself off the path and when I do, I find I am rewarded.
Absolute Knowledge - Chapter XIII
When your mind is open to the limitless possibilities of the universe, the possibility of absolute knowledge exists. "There was nothing stopping me from bringing the ocean to you." Lettie to the boy.
Lettie points out that you cannot stay in a state of absolute knowledge as it would "Not kill you. Destroy you. Dissolve you." Reality must be embraced and balanced by knowledge for existence. "After a while of [absolute knowledge] you would exist everywhere, all spread out. And that's not a good thing. Never enough of you all together in one place, so there wouldn't be anything left that would think of itself as "I." No point of view any longer, because you would be an infinite sequence of views and points..."
Reality is dull for some people, like the boy who took refuge in books. Fiction is knowledge of a sort. "Reality I knew was a thin layer of icing on a great dark birthday cake writhing with grubs and nightmares and hunger." But on the flip side, when absolute knowledge is embraced for a time, "...I knew everything. Lettie Hempstock's ocean flowed inside me, and it filled the entire universe, from Egg to Rose. I knew that. I knew what the Egg was - where the universe began, to the sound of uncreated voices singing in the void - and I knew the Rose was the peculiar crinkling of space on space into dimensions that folded like origami and blossom like strange orchids, and would mark the last good time before the eventual end of everything and the next Big Bang, which would be, I know now, nothing of the kind."
The Power of Dreams -
III - The dreams start up at this point for the boy. Someone giving money away to make people happy. Money isn't the key to happiness. Don't get me wrong, it's nice if you have it, but it doesn't make you happy. At this point, the book takes on the beginning of the fairy tale quality I mentioned earlier. You are not sure if the dreams are real or not. The money just appearing, the old lady in blue in the woods. There is just enough reality to blur the lines at this point.
As the book progresses, the line between reality and fantasy blur even further. By chapters VII - VIII the reader is literally immersed in a fairy tale that gets darker and darker. As I was reading this book, I had a conversation about fairy tales with my daughter. Her words were, [fairy tales] do not have happy endings. Little Red Riding Hood gets eaten by the wolf. Disney Princess endings are not reality.
Chapter IX - The Snip and Cut Sleepover at the Hempstock's Farm. Now we are fully immersed in the fairy tale with minimal traces of reality. The toothbrush the father gives to the boy is Gaiman's icing on the cake. Is this touch from Steven King?
Is/Was It all Worth It?
In the Prologue the Man refers to himself and failed, frayed and broken with respect to relationships. In the Epilogue, the Hempstock women sit on either side of him and Ginnie Hempstock asks, "I think Lettie just wants to know if it was worth it." With the initial reference to failed, frayed and broken relationships, the reader wonders. Ginnie Hempstock continues by saying" I think you are doing better than you were the last time we saw you. You're growing a new heart, for a start."
For the mother of the character who sacrificed herself for the man, this is a big statement. His relationships will get better, as will his life. This is a hopeful theme to take away from the book. Just as one day, Lettie Hempstock will come back from where ever she is, Australia perhaps or The Ocean at the End of the Lane.
Another reference occurs in Chapter XII when Ursula addresses the boy. "How can you be happy in this world? You have a hole in your heart. They will call you as you grow. There can never be a time when you forget them, when you are not, in your heart, questioning after something you cannot have, something you cannot even properly imagine, the lack of which will spoil your sleep and your day and your life." But since Ginnie observes he is doing better since the last time she say him, it was worth Lettie's sacrifice!
BOC The Reaper - song reminiscent of this book - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM0im3V8HlU
I usually break my reviews down by chapter, but since no one reads what I write; I will break this one down by themes. (I'm guessing no one will still read it/ha!) Themes: how we view ourselves, adult versus child and the power of dreams. And in the end, was it all worth it? This theme is the first step in the Prologue and the last step in the Epilogue.
Generalities -
Setting: Sussex, England - Hempstock Farm
Time: Present Day initially - than flashback to youth - age 7
I Digress - Book Quotes:
I like this part, because I happen to agree. Books are safer than people. They don't let you down (usually) and if they do, you can put them down. They keep you company when no one else will. They inspire you to do great things and go places you have never been. They show you how to act. They contain the past, present and future. ALL the rules are written down in black and white.
I - "Books were safer than [other] people anyway."
II - "I lived in books more than anywhere else." This quote is ME. At the present moment, I choose to live in midieval Italy. Hanging out with Lorenzo di Medici. Absolutely Marvelous...
VI - "I was not scared of anything when I read my book. I was far far away..."
VIII - " Growing up, I took so many cues from books. They taught me most of what I know about what people did, about how to behave. They were my teachers and advisors."
How We View Ourselves -
In several places in the book, the theme of looking in the mirror with respect to how we look.
"Sometimes when I look in the mirror I see my father's face, not my own... Lookin' Good!"
"Nobody actually looks like what they really are on the inside. You don't. I don't. People are much more complicated than that. It's true of everyone." This topic rolls nicely into the next one as how we view ourselves early on influences how we act as adults. We are older, not wiser is what the book seems to be telling us. By seeing our parents or grand parents in the mirror, in my case, are we simply repeating history, their mistakes or successes.
Adult Versus Child Perceptions -
"I had been fearless, but now I am such a frightened child."
"Adults follow paths. Children explore. Adults are content to walk the same way, hundreds of times,... perhaps it never occurs to the adult to step off the path... to find the place in between the fences.
"Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they are doing. Inside, they look just like they always have like they did when they were your age (referring to the boy at age 7). The truth is, there aren't any grown-ups." Furthermore, the book insinuates that children are wiser and open to more opportunities to know and grow since their minds are more accepting to the possibility. Sometimes I feel that this is true. I have to force myself off the path and when I do, I find I am rewarded.
Absolute Knowledge - Chapter XIII
When your mind is open to the limitless possibilities of the universe, the possibility of absolute knowledge exists. "There was nothing stopping me from bringing the ocean to you." Lettie to the boy.
Lettie points out that you cannot stay in a state of absolute knowledge as it would "Not kill you. Destroy you. Dissolve you." Reality must be embraced and balanced by knowledge for existence. "After a while of [absolute knowledge] you would exist everywhere, all spread out. And that's not a good thing. Never enough of you all together in one place, so there wouldn't be anything left that would think of itself as "I." No point of view any longer, because you would be an infinite sequence of views and points..."
Reality is dull for some people, like the boy who took refuge in books. Fiction is knowledge of a sort. "Reality I knew was a thin layer of icing on a great dark birthday cake writhing with grubs and nightmares and hunger." But on the flip side, when absolute knowledge is embraced for a time, "...I knew everything. Lettie Hempstock's ocean flowed inside me, and it filled the entire universe, from Egg to Rose. I knew that. I knew what the Egg was - where the universe began, to the sound of uncreated voices singing in the void - and I knew the Rose was the peculiar crinkling of space on space into dimensions that folded like origami and blossom like strange orchids, and would mark the last good time before the eventual end of everything and the next Big Bang, which would be, I know now, nothing of the kind."
The Power of Dreams -
III - The dreams start up at this point for the boy. Someone giving money away to make people happy. Money isn't the key to happiness. Don't get me wrong, it's nice if you have it, but it doesn't make you happy. At this point, the book takes on the beginning of the fairy tale quality I mentioned earlier. You are not sure if the dreams are real or not. The money just appearing, the old lady in blue in the woods. There is just enough reality to blur the lines at this point.
As the book progresses, the line between reality and fantasy blur even further. By chapters VII - VIII the reader is literally immersed in a fairy tale that gets darker and darker. As I was reading this book, I had a conversation about fairy tales with my daughter. Her words were, [fairy tales] do not have happy endings. Little Red Riding Hood gets eaten by the wolf. Disney Princess endings are not reality.
Chapter IX - The Snip and Cut Sleepover at the Hempstock's Farm. Now we are fully immersed in the fairy tale with minimal traces of reality. The toothbrush the father gives to the boy is Gaiman's icing on the cake. Is this touch from Steven King?
Is/Was It all Worth It?
In the Prologue the Man refers to himself and failed, frayed and broken with respect to relationships. In the Epilogue, the Hempstock women sit on either side of him and Ginnie Hempstock asks, "I think Lettie just wants to know if it was worth it." With the initial reference to failed, frayed and broken relationships, the reader wonders. Ginnie Hempstock continues by saying" I think you are doing better than you were the last time we saw you. You're growing a new heart, for a start."
For the mother of the character who sacrificed herself for the man, this is a big statement. His relationships will get better, as will his life. This is a hopeful theme to take away from the book. Just as one day, Lettie Hempstock will come back from where ever she is, Australia perhaps or The Ocean at the End of the Lane.
Another reference occurs in Chapter XII when Ursula addresses the boy. "How can you be happy in this world? You have a hole in your heart. They will call you as you grow. There can never be a time when you forget them, when you are not, in your heart, questioning after something you cannot have, something you cannot even properly imagine, the lack of which will spoil your sleep and your day and your life." But since Ginnie observes he is doing better since the last time she say him, it was worth Lettie's sacrifice!
BOC The Reaper - song reminiscent of this book - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM0im3V8HlU
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
The Great Morality by John Kelly
The Great Morality An Intimate History of the Black Death The Most Devastating Plague of All Time by John Kelly. I have wanted to read a book on the plague for many years. This one was in the local library and turned out to be a fascinating study. Broken down into several areas: the virus and science there of and a systematic look at the spread of the virus by country. It gives political and economic insights into the late middle ages and how societies react when all is lost.
General Notes:
1300s The Black Death originated in Inner Asia
1345 8-12 months Crimea --> China overland
1347 Europe (Sicily, Genoa, Florence, Venice...)
1348 ESP, FRA, Balkans
1348 BRT, IRL
1348 Austria, GRM
1349/50 Scotland, Scandinavia, Poland, Portugal
Viewed as punishment by God
Outbursts of anti-Semitism during plague
Decades Prior to Plague -
Overpopulation - 90% of population were rural in the mid-1300s
War between feudal states - increased use of infantry
a. Chevauchee - raiding parties widely used in European countryside killing civilians
Economic Stagnation - Between 1250 -1270 the medieval "boom" comes to an end. The Global Economy nears collapse.
Other smaller epidemics - Small Pox and Measles in late period of parts of the Roman Empire
Decline and waste disposal/sanitation issues in cities, towns and farms
Famine: 1315 - 1322 - 10% - 15% population perished prior to the plague
Climatic instability: rains made vegetation more abundant
Three Major Plague Outbreaks-
I. 6th century (Byzantium Emperor Justinian) plague outbreak
II. 1330s - Caffa (city state) on the Black Sea/Genoese colony - the dissemination of the plague starts here then is transferred to Sicily [Europe] via trade route/shipping
III. 1890s - plague outbreak India, China
Reasons for Plague Outbreak -
I. Genetic change in plague bacilli to become more virulent
II. Climatic Changes - The 14th century wind patterns changed in Eurasia altering the climate of the continent. Europe becomes wetter and Asia becomes dryer. This increased rainfall caused increased tree growth, which in turn increased food supply for the rats and than the number of rats also increased.
III. Rat Population - surge in rat population every 10-12 years
IV. Prior to that, Global Warming, (Yes, I said that!) increasing world temperatures by 1'C
a. Big Opium - Ice Age 1300 BC
b. Little Opium - Warming - 700 - 800 AD --> Crop yields increase & population increases
c. Little Ice Age -1300 AD
V. Political - Rise of Mongol Empire and the Global Economy starts picking up - rediscovery of Eurasian trade routes in Europe.
VI. Communication Routes - parallel trade routes with the Tartars and Mongols. (Yam- Mongol pony express.)
VII. Innovation - Horse collar and plow, Water mill and Wind mill
VIII. Bad Sanitation and bad personal hygiene
Note: The Etruscans had an underground drainage system to remove garbage and excrement and
the Romans had the aqueduct system to provide fresh water to cities and towns.
Types of Plague-
I. Bubonic
a. most common type of plague
b. transmitted by rat flea bite
c. 2-6 day incubation period
d. Egg shaped bubo (tumor like) - ring around the rosy, pocket full of posey, ashes, ashes, we all fall down
e. odd deformations
f. bad smell, the smell of decomposition
g. delerium
II. Pneumonic
a. transmitted by rat flea bite
b. Bacteria escapes lymph system and infects lungs
c. coughing
d. spits up blood
e. more prevalent in southern FR and ITY
III. Septicemic - rare
a. body lice is the vector - bacteria goes right into blood
b. 14.5 hours to onset of death
c. Bacteria goes right into blood
d. Shock like movements of the body
e. Extremities turn black [hence the name the black death. Swedish/Danish doctors coined the term black death in the late Renaissance from this rare form of the plague.]
Yersa Pestis Bacteria -
Y. Pestis bacteria is 1,500 - 2,000 years old. It contains non-functioning genes and three plasmids. The bacteria cluster together, versus spreading out, in the human body and cause swelling at the infection site. Y. Pestis develop several enzymes to attach the liver and spleen.
Y. Pestis is spread by the rat flea bite. (The rates transport the fleas.) The plague can be transmitted by 31 different flea species. Rodents can develop a slight immunity to the bacteria for a co-existance type of relationship. The bacteria multiples in the flea gut. The bacteria can only survive in a narrow temperature band 50' - 80' F and humidity above 80%.
The Siberian polecat, black bear, skunk and coyote are immune to the Y. Pestis bacteria.
Ok, let's go...
From the 7th century on Europe becomes isolated from Eurasia as a result of the fall of the Roman Empire. The Dark Ages begin. The 1300s represented a rediscovery of the Eurasian trade routes. Trade with the Mongols, Siberia and China, for prized furs.
The plague followed the trade routes from Caffa (Genoese colony) to Sicily (Messina and Catania) to mainland Italy. The plague enters Europe via Sicily. It's mortality rate was highest in Italy and France. The spread of the plague throughout Europe follows the trade routes. [The plague reached as far as India and Iran/Iraq.] In the 1300s the trading ships would sail near the coast lines. Many infected sailors and goods and rat/rat fleas spread the plague in a rapid fashion.
When the plague leaves Sicily it travels to the mainland of Italy. Genoa, Venice, Florence, Pistola, Perugia, Orvieto and Sienna. Each town puts of different defenses against the plague, but it doesn't matter. It still spreads rapidly, up to 2.5 miles per day. The version of the plague in Florence has two boils versus one like in the rest of Italy. The plague reaches Rome. Rome at this time is has a population of 35,000, not the thriving metropolis it once was. Petrarch, the poet, lived in Rome at the time.
The plague continues to spread to France. King Philip the Fair is ruling and the Popes, Pope Clement IV- the Pope during the plague, have taken up residence in Avignon. In Summer of 1348 the plague hits Paris.
England is next, with King Edward III ruling at the time. He loses Queen Joan to the plague. Westminster is 1.5 miles from the city. He cancels Parliament in Jan 1349. Ireland and Scotland too.
Germany witness the flagellants. Some of them were plague vectors themselves. They would wildly beat themselves and seek gods mercy.
The plague cause a break down in civilization at the time, bouts of anti-semitism and a lost generation of survivors. Slavery increased after the plague throughout Europe to replace those who had died.
Digression worth finding out more:
The Trial of Queen Joanna of Naples and Sicily in Avignon, France while the plague is raging. Joanna's Hungarian cousin/husband was found killed in the garden of her palace. She was blatantly having an affair with another man at the time. She was young, she was beautiful and she defended herself in Latin and won! How cool is that?
Nancy Goldstone's book Joanna The Notorious Queen of Naples, Jerusalem & Naples more fully outlines this story. (Yes, I think I will be reading this book in future.)
1300s The Black Death originated in Inner Asia
1345 8-12 months Crimea --> China overland
1347 Europe (Sicily, Genoa, Florence, Venice...)
1348 ESP, FRA, Balkans
1348 BRT, IRL
1348 Austria, GRM
1349/50 Scotland, Scandinavia, Poland, Portugal
Viewed as punishment by God
Outbursts of anti-Semitism during plague
Decades Prior to Plague -
Overpopulation - 90% of population were rural in the mid-1300s
War between feudal states - increased use of infantry
a. Chevauchee - raiding parties widely used in European countryside killing civilians
Economic Stagnation - Between 1250 -1270 the medieval "boom" comes to an end. The Global Economy nears collapse.
Other smaller epidemics - Small Pox and Measles in late period of parts of the Roman Empire
Decline and waste disposal/sanitation issues in cities, towns and farms
Famine: 1315 - 1322 - 10% - 15% population perished prior to the plague
Climatic instability: rains made vegetation more abundant
Three Major Plague Outbreaks-
I. 6th century (Byzantium Emperor Justinian) plague outbreak
II. 1330s - Caffa (city state) on the Black Sea/Genoese colony - the dissemination of the plague starts here then is transferred to Sicily [Europe] via trade route/shipping
III. 1890s - plague outbreak India, China
Reasons for Plague Outbreak -
I. Genetic change in plague bacilli to become more virulent
II. Climatic Changes - The 14th century wind patterns changed in Eurasia altering the climate of the continent. Europe becomes wetter and Asia becomes dryer. This increased rainfall caused increased tree growth, which in turn increased food supply for the rats and than the number of rats also increased.
III. Rat Population - surge in rat population every 10-12 years
IV. Prior to that, Global Warming, (Yes, I said that!) increasing world temperatures by 1'C
a. Big Opium - Ice Age 1300 BC
b. Little Opium - Warming - 700 - 800 AD --> Crop yields increase & population increases
c. Little Ice Age -1300 AD
V. Political - Rise of Mongol Empire and the Global Economy starts picking up - rediscovery of Eurasian trade routes in Europe.
VI. Communication Routes - parallel trade routes with the Tartars and Mongols. (Yam- Mongol pony express.)
VII. Innovation - Horse collar and plow, Water mill and Wind mill
VIII. Bad Sanitation and bad personal hygiene
Note: The Etruscans had an underground drainage system to remove garbage and excrement and
the Romans had the aqueduct system to provide fresh water to cities and towns.
Types of Plague-
I. Bubonic
a. most common type of plague
b. transmitted by rat flea bite
c. 2-6 day incubation period
d. Egg shaped bubo (tumor like) - ring around the rosy, pocket full of posey, ashes, ashes, we all fall down
e. odd deformations
f. bad smell, the smell of decomposition
g. delerium
II. Pneumonic
a. transmitted by rat flea bite
b. Bacteria escapes lymph system and infects lungs
c. coughing
d. spits up blood
e. more prevalent in southern FR and ITY
III. Septicemic - rare
a. body lice is the vector - bacteria goes right into blood
b. 14.5 hours to onset of death
c. Bacteria goes right into blood
d. Shock like movements of the body
e. Extremities turn black [hence the name the black death. Swedish/Danish doctors coined the term black death in the late Renaissance from this rare form of the plague.]
Yersa Pestis Bacteria -
Y. Pestis bacteria is 1,500 - 2,000 years old. It contains non-functioning genes and three plasmids. The bacteria cluster together, versus spreading out, in the human body and cause swelling at the infection site. Y. Pestis develop several enzymes to attach the liver and spleen.
Y. Pestis is spread by the rat flea bite. (The rates transport the fleas.) The plague can be transmitted by 31 different flea species. Rodents can develop a slight immunity to the bacteria for a co-existance type of relationship. The bacteria multiples in the flea gut. The bacteria can only survive in a narrow temperature band 50' - 80' F and humidity above 80%.
The Siberian polecat, black bear, skunk and coyote are immune to the Y. Pestis bacteria.
Ok, let's go...
From the 7th century on Europe becomes isolated from Eurasia as a result of the fall of the Roman Empire. The Dark Ages begin. The 1300s represented a rediscovery of the Eurasian trade routes. Trade with the Mongols, Siberia and China, for prized furs.
The plague followed the trade routes from Caffa (Genoese colony) to Sicily (Messina and Catania) to mainland Italy. The plague enters Europe via Sicily. It's mortality rate was highest in Italy and France. The spread of the plague throughout Europe follows the trade routes. [The plague reached as far as India and Iran/Iraq.] In the 1300s the trading ships would sail near the coast lines. Many infected sailors and goods and rat/rat fleas spread the plague in a rapid fashion.
When the plague leaves Sicily it travels to the mainland of Italy. Genoa, Venice, Florence, Pistola, Perugia, Orvieto and Sienna. Each town puts of different defenses against the plague, but it doesn't matter. It still spreads rapidly, up to 2.5 miles per day. The version of the plague in Florence has two boils versus one like in the rest of Italy. The plague reaches Rome. Rome at this time is has a population of 35,000, not the thriving metropolis it once was. Petrarch, the poet, lived in Rome at the time.
The plague continues to spread to France. King Philip the Fair is ruling and the Popes, Pope Clement IV- the Pope during the plague, have taken up residence in Avignon. In Summer of 1348 the plague hits Paris.
England is next, with King Edward III ruling at the time. He loses Queen Joan to the plague. Westminster is 1.5 miles from the city. He cancels Parliament in Jan 1349. Ireland and Scotland too.
Germany witness the flagellants. Some of them were plague vectors themselves. They would wildly beat themselves and seek gods mercy.
The plague cause a break down in civilization at the time, bouts of anti-semitism and a lost generation of survivors. Slavery increased after the plague throughout Europe to replace those who had died.
Digression worth finding out more:
The Trial of Queen Joanna of Naples and Sicily in Avignon, France while the plague is raging. Joanna's Hungarian cousin/husband was found killed in the garden of her palace. She was blatantly having an affair with another man at the time. She was young, she was beautiful and she defended herself in Latin and won! How cool is that?
Nancy Goldstone's book Joanna The Notorious Queen of Naples, Jerusalem & Naples more fully outlines this story. (Yes, I think I will be reading this book in future.)
The Absent One by Jussi Alder-Olsen
The Absent One by Jussi Alder-Anderson set in Denmark is the second book after The Keeper of Lost Causes. Let me just start off by saying I loved the first book, but had trouble with this one. The first book, also starring Inspector Carl Morck, was funny, well written and very entertaining. This book was well written, dealt with a far darker topic and was not as entertaining.
Entangled by Cat Clarke
My daughter gave me this book to read. I must say the topic was not my favorite, but the book was well written and the story was very well done. Looking forward to reading more of this authors books!
Some good quotes:
P3- "Because writing is definitely helping. Just the mechanics of it: forming the letters which make up the words which magically join up to make sentences. It's sort of soothing." I am not a writer, can you tell? But in times of distress this hit me as being a true statement.
P100- "And then suddenly I was fighting back tears - beyond ridiculous! I'd only just met the boy. It's not like he meant anything to me. I think it was the idea of him that was so appealing. I was desperate for someone to take care of me. To tell me everything would be ok. To hold me and make me feel better." Yup, all girls can relate to this one. The pretty ones and the smart ones...
P112- "It just showed that you can never tell what's really going on with people beneath the sunny surface they present the world." Ok, this one is way too true. Need I say more?
Some good quotes:
P3- "Because writing is definitely helping. Just the mechanics of it: forming the letters which make up the words which magically join up to make sentences. It's sort of soothing." I am not a writer, can you tell? But in times of distress this hit me as being a true statement.
P100- "And then suddenly I was fighting back tears - beyond ridiculous! I'd only just met the boy. It's not like he meant anything to me. I think it was the idea of him that was so appealing. I was desperate for someone to take care of me. To tell me everything would be ok. To hold me and make me feel better." Yup, all girls can relate to this one. The pretty ones and the smart ones...
P112- "It just showed that you can never tell what's really going on with people beneath the sunny surface they present the world." Ok, this one is way too true. Need I say more?
Monday, August 12, 2013
The Swerve How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt - MUST READ!!!
There is that perfect instance when you realize you are in the moment. That time and space have conspired to put you where you are. Then you open this book and start reading and realize how true the afore statement is... Life is good, please enjoy!
The Preface of this book just blew me away, must keep reading. (Let's just put it out there that I minored in Physics and have maintained over the years that Physicist are philosphers at heart.) This book is written on the rediscovery of a text by Lucretius, On the Nature of Things and how it spurred the Renaissance. "To spend your existence in the grip of anxiety about death is mere folly. It is a sure way to let your life slip from you incomplete and un-enjoyed." "Lucretius believed that the sun circled around the earth... but at the core of the poem lay key principles of a modern understanding of the world."
"The stuff of the universe, Lucretius proposed, is an infinite number of atoms moving randomly through space, like dust motes in a sunbeam, colliding, hooking together, forming complex structures, breaking apart again, in a ceaseless process of creation and destruction. There is no escape from this process." How could I not be hooked? It was like a breath of fresh air.
"When you look up at the night sky and, feeling unaccountably moved, marvel at the numberless stars, you are not seeing the handiwork of the gods ora crystalline where detached from our transient world. You are seeing the same material world of which are a part and from whose elements your are made." (I also studied Chemistry. Totally over the moon now!) "There is no master plan, no divine architect, no intelligent design. All things, including the species to which your belong, have evolved over vast stretches of time. The evolution is random, though in the case of living organisms it involves a principle of nature selection... Only atoms are immortal." Holy Cow! Only atoms are immortal. And this was written over 2000 years ago!
[Chapter 8 - The Way Things Are]
Summary of On the Nature of Things by Lucretius - 6 books on religion, pleasure, death, theories on the physical world, evolution of the human species, the perils/joys of sex and the nature of human desire.
The latter part of the statement is anti-Christian; but those facts are address later in the book. The clash of the pagans and the Catholics around 400-500 AD. The author continues to amaze in the fact that the 200 page poem should have not survived antiquity into the modern day. The view he notes is almost heretical. He goes into the fact that "swerves, an unexpected, unpredictable movement of matter could occur." Lucretius believed in the laws of nature without reference to reward and punishment in the afterlife. (There was no afterlife as in the Christian view, only atoms to be reshaped into something else.)
"Lucretians embracement of beauty and pleasure and propelled it forward as a legitimate and worthy humam pursuit was that of the Renaissance." "Art always penetrates the particular fissures in one's psychic life... but was not restricted to only influencing the arts [of the upcoming Renaissance.]" The embrace of beauty and pleasure is visited often in the text in several different forms: intellectual, scientific, technologic and exploration. Why not, if life is lived ethically? Could the mortal life be enough? All good questions to ponder...
[Chapter 1 - The Book Hunter] The book takes place in 1417 Germany (possibly the Benedictine Abbey of Fulda between the Rhone and the Vogelsburg Mountains); where the book hunter is looking to retrieve a great book. A book hunter, yes, a letter writer and/or book hunter, is looking for texts from antiquity to see back in Rome. This book hunter Poggio Bracciolini isn't just any book hunter. He is well educated and can also scribe. He worked for the deposed Pope JohnXXIII (Baldassare Cossa.) In midieval Europe, men had to belong to something. With the Pope being deposed, Poggio was considered masterless.
Poggio had a traveling companion in his search for books. Bartolomeo de Aragazzi, from Tuscany, like Poggio. Poggio was from Terranuova and Bartolomeo from Montepulciano. Both were scriptors in the papal curia in Rome. They split up when Poogio went to Germany. Bartolomeo went deep into the Alps in search of other texts.
[Chapter 2 - The Moment of Discovery] Monasteries started to be established in Europe after the fall of Rome in the 400-600s. In the 6th century, St. Benedict added a literary requirement, in addition to manual labor and prayer, to the admission criteria to be a monk. Monks were punished for not obeying. Monks also preserved the knowledge of antiquity: Egypt, Greece and Rome. By making copies of the books/scrolls they had salvaged from the past.
The monastery's librarian is who Poggio would interface to see the texts. Then there were the individual scribes. The tools they used were rulers to draw straight lines to write on, fine pointed metal pens, reading frames to hold the book to be copied, weights to keep the pages from turning. Many ancient manuscripts were in scroll form on papyrus. Whereas in the Christian era, the codex or paginated book format became more widely used for organizational purposes. A reader could more easily find the information he was looking for on the numbered page. Information could be indexed.
The monks wrote on animal skins: cows, sheep, goats and deer. Papyrus was no longer available and paper did not come into use widely until the 14th century. The skins needed to be made smooth by a pumice stone to rub away any remaining animal hair, bumps or imperfections. [Vellum - From the skins of aborted calves. The finest skin available to write on at the time.] Scribes would work 6 hours a day and sometimes be exempt from manual labor. If a mistake was made, it would be scraped off with a razor*. A mixture of milk, cheese and lime was the medieval version of white out! Sometimes skins were cleaned and re-used. The original writing still concealed beneath in some cases.
[Chapter 3 - In Search of Lucretius] "Lucretius lived his life in a culture of wealthy private book collectors." (The first library was built after Lucretius died.) There were libraries in Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt at the time. Roman libraries has benches to sit and read. Rich gave endowments to the libraries to get books. Architects thought libraries should face east to catch the light in the morning.
Epicurus, 200 years before Lucretius, was influential on Lucretius's philosophy and writing.
[Chapter 4 - The Teeth of Time] Bugs and worms were the biggest menace to papyrus scrolls. Nibbled by the worms teeth or foods for vandal moths. (I found the latter reference comical.) There was a large demand for books in the Roman Empire. Well off Romans employ scribes to have copies of books for their own personal libraries.
It is at this point in the book where the author, very scientifically, gets into the change from Paganism to Christianity and the difference in their philosophies. The Pagan philosophy is much more tolerant; whereas the Christianity of the time was much more into judgement. This swerve or blending did/does not end well [this is my opinion] for Western Civilization. Again, in my opinion, the self defeatism or relinquishing all to God in the Christian Faith proves to be the key to salvation. How so? Yes, I understand this application of faith as I grew up Catholic, but is it right? If we could maintain a tolerance for all and not have our leaders go on power grabs, wouldn't the world be a better place? [Environmental destruction would also be a form of a power grab.]
My favorite quote from Machiavelli's, The Prince is, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts, absolutely." This seems to be no different from what the Catholic Church did through out time. It is a corporation, not a religious institution. Popes through out the middle ages and the Renaissance went on to try to achieve power for their families. Only modern pope's have held up the message that Christ speaks of. Yes, I feel there is hope! There must be hope. That is why I have enjoyed this book so much. [Please also reference my blog entry on God's Jury by Cullen Murphy from March 2012.)
[Chapter 5 - Birth and Rebirth] - Poggio was born in 1380 in Terranuova within the area controlled by Florence. (This is only 30 years after the Black Death decimated Europe.) Father Guccio Bracciolini and Mother Jacoba. Poggio's father was a notary. 1388 moved to Arezzo. He received an education while there. 1390 he went to Florence.
Florentine Families: Albizzi, Strozzi, Peruzzi, Capponi, Pitti, Buondelmonti
Increased market for slaves, non-Christians, due to the decimation of the plagues some 30 years before
Florence - cloth business, independent state not controlled by Rome
Poggio know for his excellent scripting ability. He would copy manuscripts/documents to make money
Carolingian script transformed into the basis for italics
Laurentian Library in Florence
Petrarch was a devote Christian, but also the Father of Humanism. He insisted on a rediscovery of the classic Greek and Roman texts.
- Closest associates Giovanni Boccaccio and Coluccio Salutati
Poggio studied with Giovanni Malpaghino (from Ravenna - Petrarch's secretary)
Poggio opted for training as a notary, as it was shorter than that of a lawyer.
Coluccio Salutati - the Chancellor of Florence
Petrarch & Salutati argued the Humanists role was to live in the present. (Refreshingly modern ideas...)
Salutati felt Florence's glory resided in it's independence. (As the Lorenzo di Medici 50 years later.) Salutati took a group of young men under his wing to teach them. Poggio was one of these students. Also included Leonardo Bruni of Arezzo. 1397 Manuel Chrysolaras taught Poggio and the others ancient Greek at Salutati's request. (Poggio also knew Latin.)
Poggio became friends with Niccolo Niccoli, from a wealthy family who sold cloth. Niccolo did not marry and devoted himself to a life of study of the past. Niccolo set up a museum/library of his findings upon his death. He did not write anything.
1403 Poggio left Florence for Rome.
[Chapter 6 - In the Lie Factory aka the Vatican Curia] Roman Families: Colonna or Orsini. Rome was in ruins in the early 1400s. Sheep and cattle grazed in the Forum. An industry, if it can be called that, was pulling nails out of old buildings to be melted down and resold.
Scriptors were a secular job, but they were required to attend mass every day before work. Poggio rose from Scriptor (100) to Papal Secretary (6), with direct access to the Pope. Then he eventually became Secretarius Domesticus, the Pope's Private Secretary.
The author notes that Lucretius was not an atheist. The Gods are simply not concerned with humans as they have better things to do. Lucretius was more concerned with the material world.
[Chapter 7 - A Pit to Catch Foxes]
Baldassre Cossa - Pope John XXIII. Born in Porcida, near Naples. Studies Jurisprudence at the University of Bologna rather than theology. At the time the jurisprudence was the way to prepare for a career in the church. Cossa appointed Governor of Bologna. Pope Alexander V comes to visit Bologna and dies of suspected food poisoning in 1410. Cossa might have been involved. Cossa eventually becomes Pope. Poggio works for this Pope in Rome.
The Great Schism is also going on at this time.
Poggio, at this point in 1415, is unemployed. He becomes a book hunter and goes to Cluny, France and finds a Codes of Cicero. Than to St. Gall, 20 miles from Constance, to find Quintilian's Institutes. Finally to Fulda, Germany to find On the Nature of Things by Lucretius in 1417.
[Chapter 9 - The Return]
1419 Poggio becomes Secretary to Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, Leader of the English delegation to the Council of Constance. Went to England and studied about the church caters for 5 years before returning to Rome in 1422 to a Secretarial post at the Vatican.
1427 Purchased a house in Terravouva, Tuscany where he was born.
1433 Apostolic Secretary to Pope Eugenius IV
There is an insurrection in Rome against the Papacy. The pope escapes to Florence, but Poggio isn't so lucky. He has to ransom himself off.
Poggio & [Mistress] Lucia Panelli - 12 sons & 2 daughters
1436 Poggies & [Wife] Vaggia di Gino Buondelmonti (32 years his junior) 5 sons & 1 daughter
[Chapter 10 - Swerves]
1453 Poggio becomes the Chancellor of Florence at age 73, for 5 years. At this time, the Medici made the position highly symbolic in nature.
[Chapter 11 - Afterlives]
Thomas Jefferson owned 5 copies of On the Nature of Things in 3 languages. It was one of his favorite books.
Conviction: The world is nature alone. Nature consists of matter.
Confidence: That ignorance and fear are not necessary components of human existence.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Definitions & Links Related to the Book:
On the Nature of Things by Lucretius -
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/785/785-h/785-h.htm
Humanists studied the texts of antiquity - Poggio was a Humanist
- Petrarch considered the Father of the Humanists
Acediosus - apathetic - many monks were depressed because they had a set schedule and had to engage in "prayerful reading" on a daily basis.
Johann Guttenburg - 1430s printing press
*Palimpsets - Greek for "scraped again"
Scriptoria - workshops where monks would be trained to sit for a long hours to make copies. Special rooms were built in monasteries for this purpose.
Copyists or librari - generally slaves or paid laborers who worked for book sellers. There are records female, as well as male copyists.
Scribes or scribae - free citizens who worked as archivists, government bureaucrats and personal secretaries.
Palatium - Palace
Court - Curia
Side Notes -
1. Early Roman Connection:
[Chapter 3] 79 BC explosion of Mt. Vesuvius - Pompeii and Herculaneum - leads to discovery of library in Herculaneum belonging to Lucius Calpurnius Piso, Julius Ceasar's father-in-law. [Herculaneum was a seaside resort for wealthy Roman's at the time.] The Romans thought to emulate the Greeks knowledge; but thought themselves far superior. The Villa became know as the Villa of the Papyri. Wax tablets were also found in the library. The wax pads were used to take notes from the papyrus documents.
"This hero, one strikingly at odds with Roman culture that traditionally prided itself on toughness, pragmatism and military virtue, was a Greek who triumphed not through the force of arms, but the the power of intellect." Therefore, through the power of intellect is triumph, not social prominence or religious piety. Power could also be a form of triumph; but it would not apply in the Epicurus/Lucretius philosophy.
Volumen - the latin word for thing that is rolled or wound up
"Rolls of papyrus, the plant from which we get our word "paper" were produced from the tall reeds that grew in the marshy delta region of the Nile in Lower Egypt. The reeds were harvested; their stalks cut open and sliced into very thin strips. The strips were laid side by side, slightly overlapping one another; another layer was placed on top, at right angles to the one below; and the sheet was gently pounded with a mallet. The natural sap that was released allowed the fibers to adhere smoothly to each other, and the individual sheets were than glued into rolls." Papyrus lasted 300 years.
Protokol - "first glued" in Greek is the origin of the word protocol.
2. Greatest Library in Alexandria (Capital of Egypt)
[Chapter 4 - The Teeth of Time] "Known as the Museum, most of the intellectual inheritance of the Greek, Latin, Babylonian, Egyptian and Jewish cultures. Starting as early as 300 BC. Ptolomaic kings lur[ed] leading scholars, scientists and poets to their city by offering them life appointments at the Museum, with handsome salaries, tax exemptions, free food and lodging and the most limitless resources of the library."
The Preface of this book just blew me away, must keep reading. (Let's just put it out there that I minored in Physics and have maintained over the years that Physicist are philosphers at heart.) This book is written on the rediscovery of a text by Lucretius, On the Nature of Things and how it spurred the Renaissance. "To spend your existence in the grip of anxiety about death is mere folly. It is a sure way to let your life slip from you incomplete and un-enjoyed." "Lucretius believed that the sun circled around the earth... but at the core of the poem lay key principles of a modern understanding of the world."
"The stuff of the universe, Lucretius proposed, is an infinite number of atoms moving randomly through space, like dust motes in a sunbeam, colliding, hooking together, forming complex structures, breaking apart again, in a ceaseless process of creation and destruction. There is no escape from this process." How could I not be hooked? It was like a breath of fresh air.
"When you look up at the night sky and, feeling unaccountably moved, marvel at the numberless stars, you are not seeing the handiwork of the gods ora crystalline where detached from our transient world. You are seeing the same material world of which are a part and from whose elements your are made." (I also studied Chemistry. Totally over the moon now!) "There is no master plan, no divine architect, no intelligent design. All things, including the species to which your belong, have evolved over vast stretches of time. The evolution is random, though in the case of living organisms it involves a principle of nature selection... Only atoms are immortal." Holy Cow! Only atoms are immortal. And this was written over 2000 years ago!
[Chapter 8 - The Way Things Are]
Summary of On the Nature of Things by Lucretius - 6 books on religion, pleasure, death, theories on the physical world, evolution of the human species, the perils/joys of sex and the nature of human desire.
- Everything is made of invisible particles
- The elementary particles of matter, "the seeds of the things," are eternal
- The elementary particles are infinite in number but limited by shape and size
- All particles are in montion and an infinite void
- The universe has no creator or designer
- Everything comes into being as a result of the swerve
- The swerve is the source of free will
- Nature ceaselessly experiments
- The universe was not created for or about humans
- Humans are not unique
- Human society began not in a Golden Age of tranquility and plenty, but in a primitive battle for survival
- The soul dies
- There is no afterlife
- Death is nothing to us
- All organized religions are superstitious delusions
- Religion are invariably cruel
- There are no angels, demons or ghosts
- The highest goal of human life is the enhancement of pleasure and the reduction of pain
- The greatest obstacle to pleasure is not pain; it is delusion
- Humans are unhappy due to imagination
- The fantasy of infinite pleasure helps to account for the proneness to romantic love in the misguided belief that happiness depends on the absolute possession of some single object of limitless desire
- Understanding the nature of things generates deep wonder
The latter part of the statement is anti-Christian; but those facts are address later in the book. The clash of the pagans and the Catholics around 400-500 AD. The author continues to amaze in the fact that the 200 page poem should have not survived antiquity into the modern day. The view he notes is almost heretical. He goes into the fact that "swerves, an unexpected, unpredictable movement of matter could occur." Lucretius believed in the laws of nature without reference to reward and punishment in the afterlife. (There was no afterlife as in the Christian view, only atoms to be reshaped into something else.)
"Lucretians embracement of beauty and pleasure and propelled it forward as a legitimate and worthy humam pursuit was that of the Renaissance." "Art always penetrates the particular fissures in one's psychic life... but was not restricted to only influencing the arts [of the upcoming Renaissance.]" The embrace of beauty and pleasure is visited often in the text in several different forms: intellectual, scientific, technologic and exploration. Why not, if life is lived ethically? Could the mortal life be enough? All good questions to ponder...
[Chapter 1 - The Book Hunter] The book takes place in 1417 Germany (possibly the Benedictine Abbey of Fulda between the Rhone and the Vogelsburg Mountains); where the book hunter is looking to retrieve a great book. A book hunter, yes, a letter writer and/or book hunter, is looking for texts from antiquity to see back in Rome. This book hunter Poggio Bracciolini isn't just any book hunter. He is well educated and can also scribe. He worked for the deposed Pope JohnXXIII (Baldassare Cossa.) In midieval Europe, men had to belong to something. With the Pope being deposed, Poggio was considered masterless.
Poggio had a traveling companion in his search for books. Bartolomeo de Aragazzi, from Tuscany, like Poggio. Poggio was from Terranuova and Bartolomeo from Montepulciano. Both were scriptors in the papal curia in Rome. They split up when Poogio went to Germany. Bartolomeo went deep into the Alps in search of other texts.
[Chapter 2 - The Moment of Discovery] Monasteries started to be established in Europe after the fall of Rome in the 400-600s. In the 6th century, St. Benedict added a literary requirement, in addition to manual labor and prayer, to the admission criteria to be a monk. Monks were punished for not obeying. Monks also preserved the knowledge of antiquity: Egypt, Greece and Rome. By making copies of the books/scrolls they had salvaged from the past.
The monastery's librarian is who Poggio would interface to see the texts. Then there were the individual scribes. The tools they used were rulers to draw straight lines to write on, fine pointed metal pens, reading frames to hold the book to be copied, weights to keep the pages from turning. Many ancient manuscripts were in scroll form on papyrus. Whereas in the Christian era, the codex or paginated book format became more widely used for organizational purposes. A reader could more easily find the information he was looking for on the numbered page. Information could be indexed.
The monks wrote on animal skins: cows, sheep, goats and deer. Papyrus was no longer available and paper did not come into use widely until the 14th century. The skins needed to be made smooth by a pumice stone to rub away any remaining animal hair, bumps or imperfections. [Vellum - From the skins of aborted calves. The finest skin available to write on at the time.] Scribes would work 6 hours a day and sometimes be exempt from manual labor. If a mistake was made, it would be scraped off with a razor*. A mixture of milk, cheese and lime was the medieval version of white out! Sometimes skins were cleaned and re-used. The original writing still concealed beneath in some cases.
[Chapter 3 - In Search of Lucretius] "Lucretius lived his life in a culture of wealthy private book collectors." (The first library was built after Lucretius died.) There were libraries in Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt at the time. Roman libraries has benches to sit and read. Rich gave endowments to the libraries to get books. Architects thought libraries should face east to catch the light in the morning.
Epicurus, 200 years before Lucretius, was influential on Lucretius's philosophy and writing.
[Chapter 4 - The Teeth of Time] Bugs and worms were the biggest menace to papyrus scrolls. Nibbled by the worms teeth or foods for vandal moths. (I found the latter reference comical.) There was a large demand for books in the Roman Empire. Well off Romans employ scribes to have copies of books for their own personal libraries.
It is at this point in the book where the author, very scientifically, gets into the change from Paganism to Christianity and the difference in their philosophies. The Pagan philosophy is much more tolerant; whereas the Christianity of the time was much more into judgement. This swerve or blending did/does not end well [this is my opinion] for Western Civilization. Again, in my opinion, the self defeatism or relinquishing all to God in the Christian Faith proves to be the key to salvation. How so? Yes, I understand this application of faith as I grew up Catholic, but is it right? If we could maintain a tolerance for all and not have our leaders go on power grabs, wouldn't the world be a better place? [Environmental destruction would also be a form of a power grab.]
My favorite quote from Machiavelli's, The Prince is, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts, absolutely." This seems to be no different from what the Catholic Church did through out time. It is a corporation, not a religious institution. Popes through out the middle ages and the Renaissance went on to try to achieve power for their families. Only modern pope's have held up the message that Christ speaks of. Yes, I feel there is hope! There must be hope. That is why I have enjoyed this book so much. [Please also reference my blog entry on God's Jury by Cullen Murphy from March 2012.)
[Chapter 5 - Birth and Rebirth] - Poggio was born in 1380 in Terranuova within the area controlled by Florence. (This is only 30 years after the Black Death decimated Europe.) Father Guccio Bracciolini and Mother Jacoba. Poggio's father was a notary. 1388 moved to Arezzo. He received an education while there. 1390 he went to Florence.
Florentine Families: Albizzi, Strozzi, Peruzzi, Capponi, Pitti, Buondelmonti
Increased market for slaves, non-Christians, due to the decimation of the plagues some 30 years before
Florence - cloth business, independent state not controlled by Rome
Poggio know for his excellent scripting ability. He would copy manuscripts/documents to make money
Carolingian script transformed into the basis for italics
Laurentian Library in Florence
Petrarch was a devote Christian, but also the Father of Humanism. He insisted on a rediscovery of the classic Greek and Roman texts.
- Closest associates Giovanni Boccaccio and Coluccio Salutati
Poggio studied with Giovanni Malpaghino (from Ravenna - Petrarch's secretary)
Poggio opted for training as a notary, as it was shorter than that of a lawyer.
Coluccio Salutati - the Chancellor of Florence
Petrarch & Salutati argued the Humanists role was to live in the present. (Refreshingly modern ideas...)
Salutati felt Florence's glory resided in it's independence. (As the Lorenzo di Medici 50 years later.) Salutati took a group of young men under his wing to teach them. Poggio was one of these students. Also included Leonardo Bruni of Arezzo. 1397 Manuel Chrysolaras taught Poggio and the others ancient Greek at Salutati's request. (Poggio also knew Latin.)
Poggio became friends with Niccolo Niccoli, from a wealthy family who sold cloth. Niccolo did not marry and devoted himself to a life of study of the past. Niccolo set up a museum/library of his findings upon his death. He did not write anything.
1403 Poggio left Florence for Rome.
[Chapter 6 - In the Lie Factory aka the Vatican Curia] Roman Families: Colonna or Orsini. Rome was in ruins in the early 1400s. Sheep and cattle grazed in the Forum. An industry, if it can be called that, was pulling nails out of old buildings to be melted down and resold.
Scriptors were a secular job, but they were required to attend mass every day before work. Poggio rose from Scriptor (100) to Papal Secretary (6), with direct access to the Pope. Then he eventually became Secretarius Domesticus, the Pope's Private Secretary.
The author notes that Lucretius was not an atheist. The Gods are simply not concerned with humans as they have better things to do. Lucretius was more concerned with the material world.
[Chapter 7 - A Pit to Catch Foxes]
Baldassre Cossa - Pope John XXIII. Born in Porcida, near Naples. Studies Jurisprudence at the University of Bologna rather than theology. At the time the jurisprudence was the way to prepare for a career in the church. Cossa appointed Governor of Bologna. Pope Alexander V comes to visit Bologna and dies of suspected food poisoning in 1410. Cossa might have been involved. Cossa eventually becomes Pope. Poggio works for this Pope in Rome.
The Great Schism is also going on at this time.
- Angelo Correr (Venice) - becomes Benedict XIII and not taken seriously
- Pedro de Luna (ESP) - becomes Gregory XII and dies in 1417
Poggio, at this point in 1415, is unemployed. He becomes a book hunter and goes to Cluny, France and finds a Codes of Cicero. Than to St. Gall, 20 miles from Constance, to find Quintilian's Institutes. Finally to Fulda, Germany to find On the Nature of Things by Lucretius in 1417.
[Chapter 9 - The Return]
1419 Poggio becomes Secretary to Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, Leader of the English delegation to the Council of Constance. Went to England and studied about the church caters for 5 years before returning to Rome in 1422 to a Secretarial post at the Vatican.
1427 Purchased a house in Terravouva, Tuscany where he was born.
1433 Apostolic Secretary to Pope Eugenius IV
There is an insurrection in Rome against the Papacy. The pope escapes to Florence, but Poggio isn't so lucky. He has to ransom himself off.
Poggio & [Mistress] Lucia Panelli - 12 sons & 2 daughters
1436 Poggies & [Wife] Vaggia di Gino Buondelmonti (32 years his junior) 5 sons & 1 daughter
- 1478 Jacopo Bracciolini, Poggio's son, involved in the Montefeltro Conspiracy (Pazzi) that killed Guiliano di Medici and tried to kill Lorenzo. Jacopo hung in Florence as a result. (After this Poggio aligned himself with the di Medici.)
[Chapter 10 - Swerves]
1453 Poggio becomes the Chancellor of Florence at age 73, for 5 years. At this time, the Medici made the position highly symbolic in nature.
[Chapter 11 - Afterlives]
Thomas Jefferson owned 5 copies of On the Nature of Things in 3 languages. It was one of his favorite books.
Conviction: The world is nature alone. Nature consists of matter.
Confidence: That ignorance and fear are not necessary components of human existence.
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Definitions & Links Related to the Book:
On the Nature of Things by Lucretius -
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/785/785-h/785-h.htm
Humanists studied the texts of antiquity - Poggio was a Humanist
- Petrarch considered the Father of the Humanists
Acediosus - apathetic - many monks were depressed because they had a set schedule and had to engage in "prayerful reading" on a daily basis.
Johann Guttenburg - 1430s printing press
*Palimpsets - Greek for "scraped again"
Scriptoria - workshops where monks would be trained to sit for a long hours to make copies. Special rooms were built in monasteries for this purpose.
Copyists or librari - generally slaves or paid laborers who worked for book sellers. There are records female, as well as male copyists.
Scribes or scribae - free citizens who worked as archivists, government bureaucrats and personal secretaries.
Palatium - Palace
Court - Curia
Side Notes -
1. Early Roman Connection:
[Chapter 3] 79 BC explosion of Mt. Vesuvius - Pompeii and Herculaneum - leads to discovery of library in Herculaneum belonging to Lucius Calpurnius Piso, Julius Ceasar's father-in-law. [Herculaneum was a seaside resort for wealthy Roman's at the time.] The Romans thought to emulate the Greeks knowledge; but thought themselves far superior. The Villa became know as the Villa of the Papyri. Wax tablets were also found in the library. The wax pads were used to take notes from the papyrus documents.
"This hero, one strikingly at odds with Roman culture that traditionally prided itself on toughness, pragmatism and military virtue, was a Greek who triumphed not through the force of arms, but the the power of intellect." Therefore, through the power of intellect is triumph, not social prominence or religious piety. Power could also be a form of triumph; but it would not apply in the Epicurus/Lucretius philosophy.
Volumen - the latin word for thing that is rolled or wound up
"Rolls of papyrus, the plant from which we get our word "paper" were produced from the tall reeds that grew in the marshy delta region of the Nile in Lower Egypt. The reeds were harvested; their stalks cut open and sliced into very thin strips. The strips were laid side by side, slightly overlapping one another; another layer was placed on top, at right angles to the one below; and the sheet was gently pounded with a mallet. The natural sap that was released allowed the fibers to adhere smoothly to each other, and the individual sheets were than glued into rolls." Papyrus lasted 300 years.
Protokol - "first glued" in Greek is the origin of the word protocol.
2. Greatest Library in Alexandria (Capital of Egypt)
[Chapter 4 - The Teeth of Time] "Known as the Museum, most of the intellectual inheritance of the Greek, Latin, Babylonian, Egyptian and Jewish cultures. Starting as early as 300 BC. Ptolomaic kings lur[ed] leading scholars, scientists and poets to their city by offering them life appointments at the Museum, with handsome salaries, tax exemptions, free food and lodging and the most limitless resources of the library."