“America is great because America is good. If America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

This is a great sentiment but according to wikisource, misattributed to De Tocqueville.

I can’t understand this shortage of socks
At a time like this, a terrible shock.

What recourse do I have, to whom do I appeal
For this bareness that persists from my toe to my heel?

(And O how annoying and O how it rankles
to walk like this with uncovered ankles!)

It’s very apparent, the drawer says to me,
That I have socks in my corner — there, do you see?

No, I say, that is not quite right.
Those are dress socks while I need a rather different type.

Over here! says the trunk, I’ve got what you need!
Every color, every stripe, every fabric, even tweed!

No, good sir, you have not socks but shirts.
You’re quite well intended but aren’t helping my search.

And what of me says the proud closet with anger,
Are these not socks that droop from my hangers?

Closet, I respect that you are literally very neat,
But alas you have nothing that can go on my feet.

Now, roars the laundry basket, I’ve heard quite enough!
Look under these towels, peer under their fluff,

At the clothes that days ago you ought to have folded,
There you’ll find socks, he berated and scolded!

And O what is this, I now happily discover?
But two fabric tubes my two feet to cover.

And the problem thus solved, a moral is disclosed:
If you can’t find your socks, try folding your clothes.

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r……. p……….. * *
i………. e…… * *
h…………. r. * *
* * * * * * * *
y t g ……….……. lacia
B ……..…….…………….. ti
g…………….……..……………….G
G…………………….……………….G
e………………….……..……………..z
~……………………….………………!
…Integument..l..Integument…
c h p……………e……………c h p
o o h……………m……………o o h
l p y…………….e…………….l p y
o p l…………….n…………….o p l
n o l…………….t…………….n o l
u l i…………….n…………….u l i
s e s…………….e…………….s e s
commination |commination
………………..Icommination y
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Iliad 19, with its talking horses. The book seems to be about the vulnerability of the human body: the living vulnerable to hunger (Achilles), the dead vulnerable to rot (Patroclus). Notable that both A & P are given ambrosia (by Athena and Thetis respectively) to deliver them from these ills…. This vulnerability is distinct from the armor of Hephaestus which bookends 19: Achilles receiving it at the beginning and putting it on at the end.

………………

t………..h l……c…..
u………..t a………o..
b………..e…… c………..o
r………..m……. h………..n
e………..o…….. i………..n
h………..r……… p………..e
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E……..r……….. p……..c
G…….i………… e…….c
O………..h…………. r………..
t…………………t……………T…………..:–:
Z * . * P P .* . OO > A……………… T ………………I……………… y

g……………………………….S…………….. .………………n……………. e

r……………..……………….e…………….:………………d…………… l

e…………….……………….n . . . . . .· · · · · · e………….. l

n……………………………….i……………..\………………f…………. e

a…………………………….d……………….‘ | – – — e__ _-h
…………... g ren deGranaa g enadine…….n……… s…………….………..
…………... g ren deGranaa g enadine……s…….. t……………………….
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…………... g ren deGranaa g enadine…..o…. i …………………………
…………... g ren deGranaa g enadine…f… r ………………………….
…………... g ren deGranaa g enadine..h. r …………………………..
…………... g ren deGranaa g enadinea …………………………….
…………….U^U^U
…………….vuV
…………….U

Children’s poem conceived: Where on earth could my Iliad be?

Where on earth could my Iliad be?
Not anywhere around here that I can see.
Not in those papers or under the pile.
Hasn’t been in the shelf for quite a long while.

Not in the car, not in the kitchen…
Beginning to despair of completing this mission.
Rummaging memory, thinking it over,
Where was it exactly I was last reading Homer?

It seems to me it would only be fitting
If it were somewhere around here, right where I’m sitting.
And so it is, it had only fallen out of sight,
So let’s start reading of the Achaeans’ sad plight.

a notional or actual hecatomb: intersting video of Homerists

At vic got me thinking about the version of The Iliad I would make for modern reading and television audiences, and this is what first comes to mind —

(a) I wouldn’t make any attempt to tell the whole Iliad. I don’t think ancient audiences would have cared for that either. I would attempt to tell one or two stories from the books — the night raid!– or tell of one relationship throughout all the books: Hector and Ajax, Agamemnon and Menelaos, Athena and Apollo.

(b) In book form I would probably have the most literal possible translation a la Lattimore, of not more than a few thousand lines, but OVERLOAD it with marginalia. This would include alternate translations, remarks of scholiasts, fragments of original language, fragments of the Odyssey and Homeric Hymns, Troilus and Cressida, modern criticism, wikipedia entries… make it suggestive of how much there is to explore. Make it beautiful with its elaborations — a scholiast’s document, something that arrived at the reader through history.

(c) In a word, a beautiful looking, extremely dense book.

(d). If we’re talking a television series, I would straight up ditch the 24 book structure and try to juxtapose scenes from different books that go together (e.g., the two duels, the battles over corpses) or even make it a Homeric-centered telling of all of Greek myth rather than about the Iliad per se. You could contrast the Ajax of Homer with that of Sophocles. Or it would be fun to imagine things Homer doesn’t go into like Heracles sacking Troy by himself. You could contrast scenes from the Iliad and Odyssey, etc.

……q……g
.au………..ra
lia…..P……vel
swin…ang…ines
ging..siron.. sand
Maryof Egypthami
rrida bashitru Mar
gUAr dnnelS o-da
.BubbsalnBubb..
..Bub.ooBubb….
………edirbongo ananeyillsuion
m t m
m . t .m
m .. t ..m
m … t …m
m …. t ….m
m ….. t …..m

“His weakness made his desire for glory manifest: he would refuse no labor and shirk no deed.” (*)

But I am weaker than a woman’s tear,
Tamer than sleep, fonder than ignorance,
Less valiant than the virgin in the night
And skilless as unpractised infancy.

(Troilus & Cressida)

And great hearted long suffering Odysseus pondered deeply in his heart which of these courses was best: whether to put the sweet potato, beloved among tubers, in the quick-heating microwave, which took only seven minutes, or would he construct again the elaborate stir fry, which took the greater prep work by far.

And in the division of his heart this way seemed best, that he would have the stir fry, for in the refrigerator, with its well-illumined interior and convenient racks for the sauces, there were luscious vegetables losing divine freshness: vibrant cauliflower and green brocoli and brazen carrot, lordly among veggies.

And so with good intention towards all he moved quickly to heat the oil in the well made pan and to chop up the ingredients into similarly sized bits…

Because it is impossible to predict the trajectories of small torn paper scraps, I dip my hand low over the trash paper bin as I execute my release; however, even so, it is almost not enough: and two remnants of my utterances and/or grocery lists, fluttering powerfully against the bin’s sides, nearly effect their escape.

Dog doing that thing where, having reached a slick he spot, he starts into a gallop so as to speed beyond it; I doing that thing where, attached to a now galloping dog at the moment I have started to slip, cry out for him to stop that.

“Deliberate practice involves effort and isn’t inherently enjoyable. Individuals are motivated to practice because practice improves performance.” (*)

Σοφοκλῆς, ὁ τῶν τραγῳδιῶν ποιητής, ἀκούσας Εὐριπίδην ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ τεθνηκέναι εἶπεν· „ἀπώλετο ἡ τῶν ἐμῶν ποιημάτων ἀκόνη.” sententiae

Finally started an offline proejct I’d been contemplating for a while, which I’m calling The Grocery People.

Premise: seems like every time I go to the grocery store there is always THIS ONE OTHER CUSTOMER I keep bumping into. These are “the grocery people” and I want to keep track of them.

My very first grocery person: a brunette in her 30s. Slender, puffy orange winter coat, blue sweat pants, pink socks, white tennies, basket not a cart. Ran into her among the salad greens, the “natural foods,” in a communicating aisle and by the frozen pizzas.

I was surprised not to encounter her in the self-checkout. In fact, here I started seeing some other familiar faces and began to wonder if one of * those * might actually by the day’s true GP.

Good appreciation of David Lynch. I would have liked to have heard more about how his conservatism and daring aesthetics are complimentary.

Main points of Iliad 16 for me: (1) the opening conversation between Patroclus and Achilles; (2) how the battle over the corpses of Sarpedon and Kebriones prefigures 17’s battle over Patroclus’ body; (3) the weird formulaic repetition of P. attacking “three times” and its reference to Apollo.

I keep forgetting about (2), and (3) is really weird.

Patroclus calling Hector his “third slayer” is also fairly odd, more Shakespearan than Homeric in feeling and again includes that idea of ‘3’.

The more I think of it, the more something “numeric” to be seems going on with Patroclus: for not only is he rebuffed three times in his assault (first from the walls of Troy, then from the melee around Kebriones) but in the latter instance he kills 9 men — for a total of 27. That’s an odd fact for the narrator to disclose!

Fascinating on Cold War era geopolitics in South Asia (in which I didn’t previously know I had an interest.) “Frozen Conflicts” is an interesting concept.