There are food precedents you might want to explore.
There is an allusion to the "Apples of Sodom" or "Apples of Gomorrha" being
pleasant on the outside, but only dust (Like the tree in Milton's hell) and
of no nutritional value.
Also Brown and Bruin who are endeared to the Captains (outward) but are
starving the soldiers.
I also see on Wikipedia they mention the following (but do not give a good
reference for the statement).:
Rabbinic writings affirm that the Sodomites also committed economic crimes,
blasphemy and bloodshed[1]. One of the worst was to give money or even gold
ingots to beggars, but to inscribe their names on them, and then
subsequently refuse to sell them food. The unfortunate stranger would end up
starving and after his death, the people who gave him the money would
reclaim it.
Maybe if you looked into this a bit more you might find something
interesting.
Deuteronomy 32:32 KJV: For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the
fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are
bitter:
There is a line from Leicester's Ghost
(I found poem online at:
http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/drk/leicester/Leicesters_Ghost.pdf )
Like th' apples which Gomorrha's trees do bear,
Whose town with fire and brimstone was combust,
Of colour like to gold, they yet appear,
Or like the fruit that tempted Eve to lust,
But, being touched, forthwith they turn to dust,
And though they seem so beautiful to sight,
They yield no sap that may the taste delight.
So seems a crown to an ambitious wight,
Most rutilant and splendent in aspect,
That doth with glittering shows beguile the sight,
And doth corrupt the inward intellect
With superficial beauty's fond respect,
And if by wrongful means it be obtained,
Nothing but care, distrust, and fear is gained
Also,
John Collop's "To a Lady of Pleasure."
From:
http://dev.hil.unb.ca/Texts/EPD/UNB/view-works.cgi?c=collopjo.1640&pos=1
17: Or Sodoms Apples, th' fruits of sin,
18: Are fair without, and foul within.
-----Original Message-----
From: Sidney-Spenser Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of THOMAS HERRON
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 11:58 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Gomorrha
This from Wikipedia (I know, I know...):
In Ezekiel 16:48-50 God accuses Jerusalem of being worse than Sodom. He
explains that the sin of Sodom was that "She and her daughters were
arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
They were haughty and did detestable things before me."
That relates to victualling. One has to read Gomorrha for Sodom however.
Reading Sidney with a dark meaning, the soldiers clamoring for food would
resemble the citizens of Sodom (or its sister city) clamoring for the good
meat inside (i.e., the angel visitors in Genesis) but being told to make do
with mere mortal females instead (Lot's own daughters). The "friendship" of
the officers saves the best meat for themselves, as Lot had befriended the
angels at the expense of his daughters.
Too complicated, maybe. --TH
On 6/17/08 11:50 AM, "Roger Kuin" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I have come up against an odd statement by Sidney in a letter to
> Walsingham, from Middelburg in Zeeland, of 14 December 1585, as S.
> was settling into his governorship of Flushing. He is discussing the
> condition of the garrison and the arrangements made for them, and
> complains of the victuallers, one Brown(e) and one Bruin (I know, it
> sounds parodic, but they did exist). These last, he says, "do but
> badly satisfy the soldiers, and in my opinion they are merely
> hurtful, after a Gomorrha fashion by means of friendship of the
> officers forcing the poor men to take it [the victualling] dearer
> than here they might provide for themselves."
>
> It is clear that Brown and Bruin (who was "commissary for the
> victualling" and wrote to Walsingham about his difficulties)
> initially had a monopoly, and that Sidney thought they were using
> their cozy relationship with the captains to maintain this, to the
> soldiers' disadvantage.
>
> What puzzles me is the expression "after a Gomorrha fashion". Various
> checks show that Gomorrha's sin was variously described as either
> homosexuality or (the Jewish tradition) inhospitality. Neither really
> seems to fit, though the second might be closer, esp. if Thomas Bruin
> was Dutch or Flemish. A bit of a stretch, though.
>
> If anyone has come across a similar phrase (preferably without Sodom)
> or has any ideas that might help, I'd be grateful.
>
> Roger Kuin
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