K. There were so many questions it seemed but maybe not. I went to
Dognose for wisdom but a wasp invaded the pages & the book (have a
slightly terminal allergy to that poison) flew one flight down & landed
on the Leopard's Bane. Sought solace in Albucius & found perhaps a
parable in his 'novel' "The More or Less Deadly Potion" in which,
briefly - wife catches husband about to drink deadly potion, says cannot
bear thought of life without you me too, he drinks, she drinks, she
dies, he don't. [Please forgive this disgraceful gloss.] A's argument
is: "Summis fere partibus levis et innoxius umor suspenditur, gravis
illa et pestifera pars pondere suo subsidit." Am working on a
homophonic trans of that, later.
"Choose your poison" Lyn thinks comes from the era of prohibition when
the stills were animated with drowning rats (the same that gave Devon's
Scrumpy, or as locals called it "'lectric zoop", its distinctive
flavour), but seems apt for the high or low culture question. A problem
in the past has been limited access to one of the choices for some of
the populace. The kid who can't keep hands off groin when hearing
Catullus is the kid for my class ('cept, of course, I don't teach): the
challenge remains getting Cat to the kid.
And the arbiters of taste? Who has the authority to have the authority?
Maybe who has the audacity has, otherwise its the person in the chair of
learning (who may well fit the chair admirably). A lesson may be gleaned
from the theologians of the Jesus Seminar, who in determining which
parables, sayings etc are the "ipsissima vox" of the carpenter's boy,
Jesus: they gather, study, cast lots, publish findings in 3 coloured
(authentic, possible, not - my memory's rusty, that's the gist) texts.
Who nominated them for this task? They did. Who they? The scholars of
the most significant seminaries world-wide? Who cares? They,
aforementioned scholars, AND A FEW others seeking truth in its newest
garb. Is this the best way to do it? Well, at least they are known,
their biases are presented, and one can therefore evaluate their
contribution.
Diogenes [back to top] said something like: "Discourse on virtue and
they'll drive past, whistle & do the shimmy & there's your crowd."
Ramble, waffle, ramble, I think I wanted to say something, but Lyn says
it's time for Catullus
byee
Pete.
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