Didn’t get as much reading done as usual this month, mostly because our house was ripped up doing a remodel, and both my mom and aunt have been in the hospital all month, so between the visits and house mess, reading has been curtailed. But here’s a recap of what I did read.
Purgatorio- Dante (1321)
Continuing through Purgatorio
Canto 11
Level 1: purging pride cont.
The penitents give an expanded version of the Lord’s prayer, for themselves and for those still on earth.
Virgil then asks the penitents to show he and Dante the quickest way up to the next level. One, Omberto Aldobrandeschi, tells them to follow him, and while they move on, he tells his story. He was from a renowned family, and this made him so arrogant that he was killed as a result. His entire family suffered from this pride and he acknowledges the justice of his punishment.
Dante then recognizes a well-known artist, Oderisi da Gubbio. Oderisi downplays his fame now, but recognizes that while he was alive, his own reputation was the thing he cared most about. Then Oderisi discourses on the fleeting nature of fame, noting that in the larger perspective of time, our efforts at self-glory lead nowhere.
Oderisi then mentions another, Provenzano Salvani, who was the preeminent citizen while alive, but barely mentioned now. Dante asks how Provenzano avoided having to spend extra time down in ante-purgatory, to which Oderisi relates the story of how Provenzan humbled himself greatly for a friend of his, a work which granted him access.
Canto 12
Level 1: purging pride cont.
As Dante continues walking alongside Oderisi, Virgil tells him to move on since they have much to still see. They come across a series of 13 scenes engraved in the stone path that are so realistic, Dante says he feels as if he had seen them as well as those that experienced them. The thirteen scenes each tell a story of the price of pride: 1) Satan cast from heaven; 2) Briareus the Titan slain after the attempt on Mt Olympus; 3) Zeus overlooking the slain Titans; 4) Nimrod at the Tower of Babel; 5) Niobe with her slain children; 6) Saul dead on the battlefield; 7) Arachne after her challenge to Athena; 8) Rehoboam returning to Jerusalem in defeat; 9) Alcmaeon; 10) Sennacharib killed by his sons; 11) Tomyrus revenge on Cyrus; 12) Holofernes decapitated by Judith; 13) Troy in ruins. The depictions on the road are meant to symbolize the lessons of the consequences of pride on the road of our lives, that we walk over, but never manage to notice.
After this, an angel approaches, touches Dante’s forehead and ushers him forward to some steps cut into the cliff face that lead upward. As the two travelers move on, Dante notices they are traveling much easier. Virgil notes that the first P (for Peccato, or sin) has been removed. Pride, being the basis of all the other sins, its removal lightens the 6 remaining P’s and makes their travel all the easier.
Canto 13
Level 2: purging envy
As Dante and Virgil arrive at the second level, they are met with an absolutely barren path. Virgil decides to continue traveling the same way- counter-clockwise. After a mile or so around the mountain, they hear, but don’t see, angels flying overhead and announcing three separate phrases: 1) They have no wine; 2) I am Orestes; and 3) Love your enemies. All these are examples of concern for others, and, as Virgil explains, the cure for envy is love.
Traveling forward they meet a group of penitents, dressed in rough horsehair garments, and having their eyes sewn shut with wire. They are forced to lean on one another. Dante calls and asks if any are from Italy, and Sapìa Salvani, a noblewoman of Siena, answers that she is. She explains how in life, she was much happier seeing the misfortunes of others than even her own fortune. Here she is purged of this envy. She asks Dante to pray for her and let her family know that she actually was saved, and therefore pray for her as well.
Canto 14
Level 2: purging envy cont.
Dante meets two Romagnoli: Guido del Duca and Rinieri da Calboli. This leads to a section of invective against the evils scene among the inhabitants of the Arno valley, and then against Romagna too. There is a brief portion about Guido’s own envy, and a statement about the exclusion of others required to participate in envy. The speakers lament the greed, rapaciousness and evil of many ruling their lands, and they lament the current situation by recalling the great and generous leaders of the previous generations.
As the travelers move on, they hear two statements thunder across the sky: “Whoever finds me will kill me”, the statement Cain gives to God after he is banished from Eden; and “I am Aglaurus, who became a stone”, referring to Ovid’s story of Aglaurus- who was jealous of her sister’s love with Mercury, and who tried to stop Mercury from entering. He turned her to stone for her envy. Both these statements are meant to be reminders of the consequences of envy. Virgil finishes the canto by lamenting that humans have so much of heaven to see all around them, yet they keep their eyes only on earth.
The Storm before the Storm- Mike Duncan (2017)
This book’s subtitle is: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic, and it covers from roughly 146 BC – 78 BC. This period really interests me because understanding how the republic was lost may provide insights into the things we, in modern America, need to look out for and avoid.
There are some surface similarities, but crucial differences between us and the Roman republic. As I try to distill the lessons, maybe the most basic is that success breeds its own problems. While Rome was still under attack, there was a unifying element- the threat coming from outside. But when those threats diminished, perhaps it’s just human unruliness that comes out, so if there are no exterior threats to fight, we turn against ourselves.
One of the issues was breakdown of the mutually accepted bonds of the unspoken rules. Some of that is perhaps unavoidable, as the Republic grew to include many more peoples. Those outside influences are going to be different than the original culture, concentrated in a single city.
One of the issues was the introduction of wealth, and slaves. The wars won brought in tons more wealth than ever, which naturally widened the gap between the haves and have-nots. But while society can support income inequality, as slaves flooded in, many of them were used to do the jobs that the poorer Romans and Italians would have done, which reduced a large portion of the population to utter poverty.
With problems seeming to be unresolvable, agitation for change begins. Demands were made to change voting from open to secret. Bills were put forward to reduce the inequality and restore some balance. All these things were fought over and resisted by those that profited from the situation.
To overcome deadlocks, one side usually resorts to something outside the norms. This leads to an ever-increasing brinksmanship- each side pushing a little more, or taking advantage of the precedent for their own ends.
One of the issues with Rome was that voting occurred in person, in Rome. If you put a bunch of overheated people in one spot, it won’t be long before violence breaks out. This is what happened in Rome. Then there are calls to have that violence met with a sufficient force to ‘restore order’.
It wasn’t long before someone decided that rather than random mobs, it would be more efficient to have an organized force that could do the enforcing at the appropriate moments. This wasn’t an army per se, more like a gang of thugs, but organized specifically for controlling that voting space.
The other side would attempt legal means to shut out voters too.
At the real heart of things was basic human greed. Again, maybe it’s unavoidable. Success is going to draw men who are greedy for the power and wealth that comes with being at the head of success. Their power struggles bleed over to everyone else.
Another serious distinction was the structure of the Roman army. Rome had been involved in centuries of wars, which led to a bleeding dry of the manpower they could call on. There were already rebellions against this. By the way, time served in the military was pretty much obligatory for leadership in Rome, and the executive position: consul, was the leader of the army. When pressed for conscripts, one eventually used his own connections to raise his own army. While convenient for solving the immediate problem, these structures made the soldiers more loyal to their personal commanders than Rome itself. The fact that the wars were fought and the soldiers were allowed booty, meant that soldiers’ personal profits were often tied to the success of their commanders. When Sulla showed up in Rome with his army and passed his legislation under the threat of violence, the end of the Republic was assured.
While there were certainly loyalties to commanders, I don’t want to make it sound like soldiers were indifferent to the political winds. The commanders themselves didn’t frame their fights as their own personal vendettas; they framed the fights as protecting the republic from the other side, which represented the great threat.
We do have success with few outside threats. Meaning we have the same tendency to turn on ourselves.
While we have income inequality, we need to make sure that those at the bottom don’t feel like they are excluded from society and hopeless.
Overcoming political deadlock by resorting to tactics outside the norms, and the subsequent brinkmanship, is already occurring.
We don’t have the same military situation as Rome, and I don’t see the same kinds of issues happening here.
We also don’t have the same sort of possibility of threatening the voting process.
A Passage to India- E.M. Forster (1924)
This novel explores the difficulty of cross-cultural relationships, particularly in a colonial setting.
A young Englishwoman, Adela, travels to India with her older friend, Mrs. Moore, whose son is a colonial official in one of the cities under British Imperial rule. They meet Dr. Aziz, a young Muslim Indian physician, who has spent time in England and is on good terms with the British government.
Adele, wanting to see the ‘real’ India, request to see some ancient carved caves. During the trip, Adele asks Dr. Aziz if he, being Muslim, has more than one wife. Dr Aziz is put off by this bluntness and ducks into another cave to compose himself. Meanwhile, Adele continues into another cave.
When Aziz goes to find Adele, she has already left. He does notice a broken strap of hers laying on the ground and picks it up to return it to her when he sees her again. When he returns home, he is arrested for sexual assault and is jailed.
The entirety of the British community turns against Dr Aziz, except for one official, Cyril Fielding, who doesn’t believe Aziz would have done something of the sort.
But the arrest brings out what is usually hidden away: the British believe the Indians are deceptive and cunning, and always looking for ways to take advantage of them. Even without waiting for evidence, they are fully ready to condemn Aziz on the mere suggestion that he may be guilty.
Fielding begs Adele to consider her accusation: was she sure she was accosted by Aziz? Or could it have been someone else in the crowded cave?
At the trial, Adele admits she doesn’t know who it was, and Aziz is set free. But Aziz vows to hate the British and fight them from that moment on. He also seeks financial redress from Adele for her wrongful accusation.
The incident reveals the ugly racial suspicions involved. The British probably feel they are legitimately providing ‘better’ government than what existed prior, and can’t understand why the Indians wouldn’t want this. So they see the Indians reactions to British rule as being subversive for no reason. The Indians, of course, resent the British forcing their rule on India, just because the British think it’s “better”, and the Indians can find plenty of evidence of British self-serving to back up their own points.
Fielding does finally convince Aziz to let the money go, since it would ruin Adele, and gets him to see that Adele publicly acknowledged during the trial, at personal cost to her, that she had made a mistake. But then Aziz becomes convinced Fielding and Adele were engaged, and therefore, his ‘friend’ had sought to get her off the hook for his own personal gain as well.
A few years later, Fielding and Aziz meet again, and Aziz learns that Fielding was never engaged to Adele and that he was mistaken. But the novel ends with the realization that the two could never really be friends until India was independent of British rule.
The Wings of the Dove- Henry James (1902) |
Kate Croy is a young, beautiful woman, abandoned by her family. She is in love with the charming, but penniless gentleman Merton Densher. Kate’s aunt, however, has no intention of allowing this marriage.
Enter Milly Theale, a young, pretty American girl, who is fatally ill. Milly is traveling in London with her friend Susan, who also happens to know Kate’s Aunt. So they all meet, and Kate and Milly hit it off.
But Kate has a plan: knowing Milly is ill, she convinces Merton to marry Milly, so that he can get hold of her fortune. Then, after Milly passes, he’ll have enough money for them to marry and be independent of her Aunt’s wishes. Solid plan… but plans involving humans don’t always go as they’re supposed to. Densher is troubled to take advantage of Milly as such, knowing that she genuinely loves him, and he is merely pretending. After Milly dies, she leaves him a large amount, even after having understood the plot. Densher returns to Kate and tells her that he will leave the fortune to her hands with these conditions: She can accept the money, and lose him, or she can refuse the money, and he will stay. But either way, they recognize that things have irrevocably changed through their actions.