I've been reading Leo Sherley-Price's translation of Thomas a Kempis, the mid fourteenth century monk and theologian. Naturally, I do own the Latin copy and commentary, which is an absolutely whopper of a tome, that a dear friend very kindly gave me for Christmas once. Anyway. That book was simply too large to feasibly carry into work - though in truth, no size book (in my collection, at least, except for the very large two volume Latin dictionaries, the Bailey's, or perhaps the 'Great Scott' Liddell ancient Greek dictionary, maybe even the [slightly] smaller yet still huge Lewis and Short Latin dictionary I own, the very pride and joy, the crowning glory of my collection - the first pick, the best).
Anyway, no large book (bar few) is too large to not carry around. I would sooner have a bag full of many books, or even a little sackbarrow. No book (bar a few exteremely large books) is too heavy to carry. Anyhow. I digress.
Yes, I was at that... place, again. (Grumble grumble). One ought not to gripe about such frivolous trivialities as one's day in the furthest darkest reccesses of Tartarus: the most remote corner of Hades. Alas, Thomas a Kempis.
To my mind, the alignment of the stars which reign over my nativity, each three: Sun, Moon and Ascendant, as a Gemini, primarily: Mercurius, Hermes, the winged-messenger, the deity which is symoblic of communication and commerce, eloquence, magic, even wealth, especially quickly granted wealth, among other things. To my mind, some of the things which Thomas a Kempis says does not sit well with me, at all. Nevertheless, much if not most of what Thomas a Kempis says is sound. I prefer Walter Hamilton (probably because he is more English than German in the style and feel of his writing, but one does not judge another man's character solely upon his (or her) native nation). Anyway, I do not believe that sitting alone in a room for all one's time, whenever possible, is a very good idea. Take, for example, the law which requires that each lighthouse must be manned by at least two people, lest one man lose his mind to solitude. Man is a social creature (Aristotle). Moreover, the whole thing about submission Thomas a Kempis says is complete nonsense. Imagine if all Ukrainians, March 2022, were afraid of Russians, what if they all just surrendered? No. They are not afraid, they are defiant, valiant, courageous, noble. One more point which Thomas a Kempis makes which make absolutely no sense is his idea that we should just relinquish all our possessions and not attempt academic excellence. No Thom. No mate. We like books. We like study. We like anything acadmic.
I should imagine Thom' a Kempis would not like reading Adam Smith or perhaps the Cambridge Economic History series, were he alive today and not 600 or so years ago. My Sun star in Mercury, Hermes: an air sign, meaning the mind.
Notwithstanding all the bull-sheat that Thom in the fourteenth century said, sausage side, among the Boshe. Anyway. Never mind all that bull_sheeat (and it is bull-sheat) which Thom rambles on about, much, if not most of what he says is sound. He knows his Bible by heart, in Latin, he is also extremely well read, tags from Aristotle, Ovid and Seneca thrown in: Thomis a Kempis was clearly well educated. Therefore we instantly respect the man: a fellow classicist. One cannot help but fail to notice, how reading something in the vernacular, there is always much more beneath the surface of any Latin (or indeed ancient Greek) text. One knows, from experience, that what is read off the page, is nowhere near the many different possible meanings each sentence may have. Anyway. I'm rambling now. I should get back to translating Hildegard von Bingen's Scivias. Ciao for now.
Maximus.
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