μεταμορφώσεις

[Jeff Bernstein]

Or dient et content et fabloient

 

Good reader! We have come far to distant seas, indeed to inlets of seas, to stormy waters and placid waters, to the Aegean Sea, vairs et rians, its froths and calm, feeding the Mediterranean into the Sea of Marmara. Behold (you my only friends) ancient Marmara. Its agreeable waters salt the dark star-sparkling air; and sits inland by Constantinople and the Bosphorus Strait, which the ancient Greeks sailed on their heroic way into the Black Sea more than a thousand years before. From here we’re directly west, a night’s journey, of Solyman’s precious lake. ¶ At Marmara many fair ports stand along its long-curving shoreline, Marmara—a name from μάρμαρος, a word having semantic shades at once of sparkling stone and hard battle. ¶ Now I invite you to imagine the following image. A deep forest at night. A trembling underfoot. The trees are trembling, their leafy branches swaying as if in a wind. The ground is shaking and you understand that something is coming your way. ¶ Breaking through the foliage is the prow of a sea-going ship. Then another. Then another. ¶ But that’s not the part of the story I want to tell you. Let us go, my friends, back to the shore of the Sea of Marmara. There, amid its many busy piers (even at this dark hour, especially at this dark hour), two good men watch for spies.

 

[ to be continued ]

[Jeff Bernstein]

heroic sunset solitariness

"Go away, I don't want you to see me die."

Ha. True to oneself, to the end.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Cringe

Aeschyli, Tragoediae
Lipsiae, 1823

 

Striking an epic note at the outset of Seven Against Thebes, King Eteocles, son of Oedipus, rouses the townspeople to take up arms against his attacking brother Polynices. Recall that these brothers are the children of an incestuous union between mother and son; and now they're fated to fight each other. How does Eteocles begin his speech to his people? The first words of the play :

 

People of Thebes, I who guide the ship of state with eyes unshut by sleep . . .

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 4, 2024 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Paradise Lost
12th ed.
London : Jacob Tonson, 1725.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Friends! We return to the shore of the Sea of Marmara. The time is early summer, under the evening stars, watching for spies; and our two good knights find a spy—or perhaps they have; at any rate they’ve captured a man, who is now at the mercy of their honour. ¶ Our two heroes, by name Sir Michael and Sir Gabriel, were of high noble lineage, much valyant and courteous knights, both surpassing brave and good at arms, and well-known and well-loved by the people. They shared an inviolable league of friendship with one another, and rode together. ¶ Between them now knelt the captured man, scrawny in tattered vesture, babbling words neither knight understood. As he babbled the man looked up at his captors and marvelled at their magnificent clothing, comely and costly; and he admired how grace found its seat in their every limb; and he was moved by their courtesy; and, curious to say, considering the circumstances, it was pleasing for him to be in the company of the highborn. ¶ “He is an enemy spy,” Michael said. “Let us fall on him.” ¶ “Gentleman and friend,” answered Gabriel, “have we come to understand his guilt?” ¶ “Quidni? The time is not fit for delicacies of quiddities. Let’s to the purpose.” ¶ “And if the man is innocent? Look at him,” Gabriel said. “Evidently he is moved by the dread of his death. Does that not suggest innocence?” ¶ “His innocence is not worth thinking of,” Michael said, “when he shows such cowardice. If we let him go, our armies might die, and our plans fail.” ¶ Gabriel persisted. “His horse is old and not fit for an overnight gallop. Mayhap he works at the pier, lifting and lading.” ¶ “I know not to a certainty,” said Michael, “but that he must die, for he may be a spy.” ¶ “I grant it to be true,” Gabriel agreed, “if he be a spy, he must not live. Now, good friend, let me unfold my mind to you. If he be not a spy then we will have murdered an innocent man. God watches.” ¶ Michael said, “I do all for the glory of God.” ¶ The captured man, diminished on the ground, looked wide-eyed from one to the other. ¶ Gabriel said, “This white work may cast on us a dark shadow. We will do this, knowing that God punishes the wicked?” ¶ “When worse comes to worst,” Michael said, “the Devil himself must hold the cross.” ¶ And Michael debonairly cut the captured man’s throat. Instead of rage, deliberate valour he breathed, firm and unmoved. ¶ Gabriel said, “You may have just handed us to the devil.” ¶ The evening breeze was seasoning the air with seasalt, and they breathed it in under the seaside stars, a grateful smell. ¶ “I say we have just measured the firmness of our faith,” said Michael. “If you wish for repentance, look for it in the fight.” ¶ Then they went; and Gabriel felt no remorse. His faith remained firm, well-furnished in responsibility and friendship. Though iron be made soft with fire, it soon returns to its hardness. ¶ As for me, I dare not presume to make verdict.

[Jeff Bernstein]

In an apocalyptic city

ἁρπαγαὶ δὲ διαδρομᾶν ὁμαίμονες

common criminals cross paths

SAT, 351

 

*

 

A MOOD METAPHOR in Paradise Lost

      He scarce had finisht, when such murmur filld
      Th' Assembly, as when hollow Rocks retain
      The sound of blustring winds, which all night long
      Had rous'd the Sea, now with hoarse cadence lull
      Sea-faring men orewatcht, whose Bark by chance
      Or Pinnace anchors in a craggy Bay
      After the Tempest

 

The denizens of Hell have just heard reassuring words from one of their leaders. Not only the murmurous sound, but the psychological vibe of relief, is at the heart of this (Homeric) metaphor; this, shall we say, DUAL METAPHOR.

 

*

 

Οἰδίπους

 

For those interested millions who remember the Stuttering Technique in Οἰδίπους, perhaps Sophocles was inspired by Aeschylus?

 

ἀκούετ᾽ ἢ οὐκ ἀκούετ᾽ ἀσπίδων κτύπον (100)

 

ἰὼ χρυσοπήληξ δαῖμον ἔπιδ᾽ ἔπι-
δε πόλιν ἅν ποτ᾽ εὐφιλήταν ἔθου. (106-7)

 

For example. Sophocles adds literary steroids to this technique in Οἰδίπους.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Our peple had besyeged the citie wel this night.
Godffrey, Beaumont, Guyllem & Tancred
and many more receyued them moche fiercely
with glaives and swords, and sore admonished them.
Earlier we had raised our engynes and our slynges,
and we cast stones at the towers round the town,
and the walles were broken in many partes.
This night we were merueillously strong and grete.
Every man drew hymself into his bataylle
as it was ordeyned, on horse and on foot,
our army of christen men at Nicaea.
Our trumpets sounded inside the showtyng
and crye of the fighting; and we besieged
the city as wel as we myghte with castyng,
shootyng and throwyng vpon oure engyns.
Grete stones soared through the air, and in answre
moche powdre cam bursting forth from the clefts
in the walls; and still more engynes drew forth
and aproched the city, grete tronkes of oke,
each sette therein with xx knyghtes alle couered
aboue, and vnder they had men ynough
to myne the walles. Surrounding the city
every man payned him more and more to grieue
them within; and thessault was more than euer
it had been, & every man dyde his part.
Much earlier we had filled the dyches
& many assaults befell the city gates;
tonight there was so moche done and so wel,
and many hethen were slayn, all to thende
that the hethen might suffre our peple no more.
We made to be caste, with our engynes, to them
within the town, a grete plente of heedes
of the hethens that ben slayn in the bataylle.
& many partyes in the towers caste stones
down upon our peple that were atte assault;
and pytche, oyle, and grece all boyllyng
they poured down on us, and threw also thynges
burning thycke, and some of us they burnt whole.
The barons urged their peple to do wel;
and we came with handbowes and arbalestres
and hurted many that we sawe discoverd.
Meantime we sente our sawyers hastily
to the lake, to gather a grete plente
of tymbre for to make further engyns;
but the lake discomfyted all of us,
however; for our peple had no ships,
and though we assail the town, we might
not defend the lake, and so other wyse
it seemed we myght not get the town. Meantime
the hethen within had addressed a great
part of their efforts to throwing grete
nombre of stones down upon our engynes,
and many of our engynes had smeton
so longe that wyth the stroke of one last stone
they brake alle and fylle doun together
in suche wyse that neuer a one escaped aboue
ne vnder, but all were dead.

[ to be continued ]

 

[Jeff Bernstein]

Hear, Reader, how the vaylant Godffrey slaughtered the hethen enemy, hacking through so many men, leaving them dripping red even to the teeth. ¶ It happened that our hero entered into so holy a place as a chapel. It stood within the collapsing city of Nicaea. ¶ Long ago, during his travels, Godffrey of Boloyne saw many a marvellous thing. A fabulous steed that rode the foam of the sea. A gemmed robe that put one to looking various when inside of it. He had fought blades that drew rainbows when swiped against air. ¶ Now, with less marvellous sword in hand, yet full-bloodied, Godffrey entered a throne room under a high dome. The mosaic above him, decorated with gold leaf, glowed in the light of the fires burning up the town; and the air in the hushed space hung with fragrances of fine spices, and smoke, and powder, and dust. Everything was shaking; and cracks were appearing in the walls. ¶ He walked along a colonnade toward a shining point in a recess, like a star sole pendant in the darkness. And he was sweating in the heat of the flickering fires giving light to the town of Nicaea. ¶ The blazing point in the dark was the tip of a spear. A large knightly spear of mighty size it was, and stout, looking full meet to deal a right mighty blow. The weapon was of wood white as snow. Iron rivets reinforced its shaft in a long straight line. ¶ Godffrey looked, and saw a trickle of what seemed to be crimson dye running down the shaft of the spear from tip to handle. It was blood, and the blood looked as fresh as on the day it first stained the wood. The handle of the spear was wider than the shaft, and the blood dripped from the handle onto the floor. ¶ And he saw a printing carven in the marble wall, which read : Λογγίνος . ¶ But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. ¶ And now Godffrey felt a joy so great, for our lord who suffered death to save his people. ¶ Might one blow from this weapon destroy an entire army? ¶ Carefully, debonairly, Godffrey removed a vessel from his person. He caught three drops of the sparkling blood in the vessel, which even in their small portion glowed with wondrous heat. Then he stoppered the vessel, and returned it to a pocket beneath his vesture.

 

[ to be continued ]

[Jeff Bernstein]

See, good Reader, the glimmer of moonlight
rippling the surface of the lake. ’Twas late
in the hour, high to midnight; & Nicaea
took assault, and burned with many fires
developed with great exploit amid great
hurt and loss; and the cry and the shouting
from afar was heard far off on the lake.
Here there was a boat with Solyman’s wife,
who long had been in dread, and felt such fear
that she seemed almost to death. She had said
she might no longer stay there nor suffer it,
so the Sultan had readied a vessel
on the lake for his wife to escape by night
from the tower with his two sons, who now,
on the lake, saw the collapse of the tower,
heavy and ornate and high and wonderful;
the tower fell down with so great a noise
and tempest that all the earth trembléd,
and there was none who saw but had horror
and fear in his heart. Oh how their mother
screamed as the tower vanished into fire;
and the wife of Solyman was relieved
to be at such a distance from the town.
Then came our people in our ships on the lake
and took the lady and her two sons hostage.

 

This is how that grete exploit cam about, my friends. Our heroes had assembled knyghtes in grete plente, and wyse men, and men a-foot, and sent them forth to take alle the shippes at the see syde that they could fynde, and sette them vpon charyottes, and brynge back to the cyte suche as they myght bring whole. And others they shold parte in two pyeces or three. So they drew the shippes out of the water with cordes, thenne sette them on cartes by force of peple working all together; thenne hauled them seven long myle. ¶ At the lake they launched them moche hastily, and the peple did all this with a good wylle, for many handes make light werke. ¶ We had emonge us many maronners who coude wel shippecrafte; and somme of the shippes we launched had in a hondred; and other, fifty or thirty or twenty; and whan our army sawe that this waye of the lake was taken from the enemy, oure peple had moche grete Ioye, for now the hethen was enclosed on alle sydes. ¶ With our baners displayd and our trompettes sowndyng we tooke the cyte, and this thygne cam to an ende. ¶ At sunrise, Solyman asked to speke to the barons to gyue ouer the toun and themselves into theyre handes. ¶ Thus so Nicaea was won. ¶ And the wyf of Solyman & his two sones were ledde in safety back to the Sultan, without demandying of any ransom. ¶ But all that grete vyctorye did not come to be until the sunrise.

 

[ to be continued ]

 

[Jeff Bernstein]

While Nicaea stands before its fall,
there is one last tale I want to tell,
a story of old romance from long ago,
one of the strangest love stories I know.

Tancred was a pious and a mighty knight.
His family was the House of Hauteville,
and he grew to manhood in a castle
in Normandy beside the British Sea.

Conquest came easy to the warrior;
he stood taller and broader and stronger
than those he fought; and those he fought, he killed;
and he killed with the fervour of prayer.

When he first saw Clorinda in combat
he could hardly believe whom he challenged.
A maiden raising a weapon against him?
No time to think; the young man raised his sword—

Their strokes of clanging blades brought them closer :
face to face, nose to nose, then, breath to breath,
where he stole a kiss, to pique her, then swung,
but easily her sword deflected his.

Pausing in the fight they eyed each other
and saw it was too late; they were in love.
Tancred then lifted his sword in defense
as she praised him with a blistering blow.

A woman of the town, was Clorinda;
she was the lord’s enemy through and through.
But Tancred could not help but hear his heart,
which spoke nothing but the name Clorinda.

On that first day in the midst of battle
he exploited a chance and left the fight;
but ever after thought of Clorinda
and of seeing her again, but not in fight.

Whenever he squared up to the enemy
and quarrelled each to each with clashing steel,
he kept one eye always otherwither,
looking for Clorinda amidst the brawl.

This night he went through a hole in the wall
their great stones had opened up, and he rushed
hot-blooded through the fires sword in hand,
searching for his love, to gaze on and worship.

But he had to pass through so many men
in his quest to find her, leaving corpses
too many to be counted behind him;
and in the flickering shadows he fought

a warrior who would not let him pass.
So they rested, and Tancred asked the name
of the combatant he had yet to kill;
and who raised the visor but Clorinda.

Never on such a night have lovers met!
At the tower’s fall the city trembled,
and in the dust agitated around them
he saw in her hand the glimmer of her blade.

“You have won me, Tancred” (said she) “my heart
at least. If you would have the rest, hear now.
If you beat me, you win my heart always.
If you lose, you were never worthy of me.”

He didn’t answer because she rushed him
with her sword on high. He met her on point,
fired with love but entoiled in battle,
and each wounded the other in places.

And he left her dead in a pool of blood.
At the last they had locked eyes together
and he saw a look in her full of love;
wondrous it was; it said, “I go in peace.”

She was his now forever, but she was gone.
Thus the tale of Tancred and Clorinda.
The young man lived twelve more years, got married,
but never forgot her, and left no heir.

[Jeff Bernstein]

[Jeff Bernstein]

Thus, good Reader my friend, you at the vanguard, fighting for the spirit of humanity, to keep it aflame, you who want to live;

thus we took back into our hands the ancient city of Nicaea. It stood on a plain, Nicaea, a vast polis protected first by mountains then by walls strong and high and thick and fortified by a hundred towers; and the hethen inside were fierce and hardy, much hard and vigorous and well-skilled in war; and Solyman the Sultan had many friends to help him defend what was his, and so the enemy was marvellous with much people; but for all this, Nicaea fell. Our standards rose all over town, and we took the victory. ¶ There was so much done, and so well and so sweet; in the year of our lord 1097, the twentieth day of the month of June. ¶ Amen. And I wish this for you from my inmost heart, good Reader : Stay sober and awake, for your opponent roams like a lion and never rests. Stay firm in your faith, and live. ¶ So Solyman met with the Barons, and asked for truce, and put what was his into the hands of our emperor, Alexis, leader of the Holy Roman Empire. ¶ Our emperor gave us great thanks and had thereof much joy. ¶ But in the assault we lost many valyant men, and there was much sorrow. Among the dead were Guyllem, Erle of forest; and Galles de lylle. We grieved for the loss of these great men, but knew our lord would reward them in heaven for the good service they had died in. We took the two bodies and buried them worshipfully; and they were much bewailed by cristen men. ¶ Meantime the dead of Peter’s army were thrown into mass graves. ¶ Reader, we have come to learn that Peter the Hermit is indefatigable; it shouldn’t surprise us that over a thousand years later archeologists of the twenty-first century will scratch among his old bones, well-nigh the only physical evidence that the Crusades, this the First Crusade, ever took place. ¶ So Nicaea was ours, and we had buried our heroes, and the emperor sent high and noble men with great number of people and arms to receive the town in his name. ¶ They improved Nicaea of all things that were needful, and repaired the walls and all that was broken of the towers. ¶ And so our army of pilgrims departed by the commandment of the barons on the third day before the entry of July, from the place where we had held siege long time, and had taken victory. 

 

End
of
Season 1
of
Scrooby’s Heroic Crusade
9 November – 11 December 2024

[Jeff Bernstein]

COMING SOON : BEAUMONT

And knowe ye certaynly that ther happed a merueyllous thynge that day, which we fynde nowher in none other historye

 

Scrooby’s Heroic Crusade

[Jeff Bernstein]

Seven Against Thebes. While the walled city is under siege, the play spends a colossal amount of stage time (ll. 78–287) on a structurally simple dramatic Situation :

King Eteocles must calm the women down, the Chorus of Women; down from their hysterical terror.

Then the King leaves the stage; and at 288, the women, quieter now, have the last word :

μέλει, φόβῳ δ᾽ οὐχ ὑπνώσσει κέαρ
I give in, but my fear stays awake in my heart.

[Jeff Bernstein]

lytl shold it prouffyt vs to be taught yf yet we be holden in pryson fast shut.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Verbal special effect in Aeschylus

The recitation of dialogue on the ancient Greek stage is recalled in the slowed-down question of Warren’s, “You’re . . . gonna . . . make . . . a . . . deal . . . with . . . this . . . diabolical . . . ?”

 

In Seven Against Thebes, as in all ancient Greek plays, one line of dialogue of, say, five words, might have encompassed an entire minute of stage-time while the actor belted it out for his fifteen thousand spectators.

 

ἵππος χαλινῶν ὣς κατασθμαίνων μένει
(like a) horse champing at the bit fiercely.

(393)

 

(Included in the "according to Hoyle" definition of κατασθμαίνων are '"to pant" and '"to struggle against".)

 

Please imagine, kind reader, the articulation of κατασθμαίνων drawn out to, say, a properly significant duration; and, for some Sunday fun, please now articulate for yourself the word out loud :

 

κατασ-θ-μαίνων

(KAH) - (TAS) - (TH) - (MAYNON)

(θ) = the “th” sound.

 

SCROOBY THEORY : The (TH) phoneme is an Alp-like height of the word and of the line, a climactic pronunciatory experience.

 

And so?

 

GENIUS MOVE. The physical sensation of speaking and hearing the word κατασθμαίνων approximates the semantic content of the word. The (TH) phoneme in κατασθμαίνων approximates the foaming tongue in the mouth, or the iron bit in the mouth, of the raging charger.

 

These special effects are for sophisticated audiences.

 

SCROOBY THEORY : And the sophisticated audience possibly applauded the effect; and if they did, the audience reception may have conditioned the judges' choice of Seven Against Thebes as first prize winner in its year.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Seven Against Thebes. Think Yul Brynner dressed in black in The Magnificent Seven. But isn’t the audience supposed to be rooting for him?

 

Seven Against Thebes. The play is a colossally complicated thematic Situation for such a simply-structured composition.

 

The following initial Scrooby commentary leads to a general point about life, the universe, and everything.

 

*

 

Why does Eteocles hold the throne of Thebes anyway? The present King of Thebes is a questionable son of Oedipus, the man who, yes, saved the town from the Sphinx and won the kingship for his victory; but whose self-pollution then delivered perverse disaster to the city, a pollution which killed many people, and Thebes was almost destroyed, until Oedipus was banished. ¶ So then. Perhaps it’s time for a clean slate and boot the perverse son out? Not one citizen of Thebes thought of this practical solution to stop the war? ¶ Moreover, the Chorus (apparently) believes primogeniture keeps Eteocles in the kingship. But now Eteocles and his equally perverse brother Polynices are prepared to battle to the death for the throne of Thebes. But, as far as the people know, they are both stangers to the city in the first place (so to speak). ¶ All the townspeople have to do to stop this nonsense of war is run Eteocles out of town; then there comes no threat oncoming in the rising dust of the plain; then there are no townswomen hysterical with fear; then, thankfully, there is no battle. ¶ Thebes would stay quiet, and a new king, properly and justly, would be installed on the throne of Thebes. ¶ Strange to keep the skeleton in the closet around in plain sight? ¶ Run Eteocles out of town, and all will be well again.

 

This does not happen. Why not? The citizens of the town simply and automatically (as if on hypnotic autopilot) react to the Situation at hand, believing in time-honoured and well-worn sentimental sentiments to motivate the Blind Wartime Effort Forward.  

 

They act human, all-too-human, and in so doing, the Inhumans act idiotically.

 

*

 

King Eteocles’ final word on the first soldier to dispatch for the fight at the first gate, Melanippus, is worthy of cringe.

 

He describes Melanippus as εὐγενῆ (“well-born”) and as one who Αἰσχύνης θρόνον τιμῶντα (“reveres [ our ] honoured throne”); and all this (ll. 407–16) is delivered solemnly by the king (in stark contrast to the early hysterics); solemnly, calmly; and why not we say majestically?

 

The point, Scoob? First, Saint Bernard :

 

Seynt bernard saith that we trauayll in this world for iii maner of maladyes or sekenes, for we ben lyghtly deceyued, feble to doo well, and frayll to resiste ayens Euill.

 

*

 

The Chorus of Women have up to this point spent an eternity of stage time shrieking their scepticism of the wartime Situation. Now, after the King’s solemn words (of wartime sacrifice), the Women are, shall we say, totally cool with the Situation—for the moment—as if the vibe of solemnity has dazzled them into obedience (ll. 417–421).

 

Solemnity with a foundation of what? The battle is not, strictly speaking, Thebes' battle. It is the battle of two brothers, with the people in the middle, and expendable.

 

So—

 

Tyranny deploys the rhetorical and emotional con game of “solemnity” to beguile us, the people, to steal us from ourselves, and thence destroy us, the suckers, for life.

 

*

 

Art is here to help.

[Jeff Bernstein]

I just can’t : Lynchian Insanity in Aeschylus

 

The wondrous composition of Seven Against Thebes leaves Scrooby speechless; but, as you can see, in the interest in defending Authentic World Culture against Evil Endeavour(s) überall, your indefatigable Scrooby presses on, here to inspire others, if not by words, then by simple persistence of virtuous activity; and, between you and me, is presently anesthetized by something like four milligrams of Clonazepam (“I need medication if all of this is real now”); and yet, for all those “pills of the future”, Scroob still reads, still thinks, still writes, as if damned in a Senecan sense; and Aeschylus isn’t helping his state of mind. ¶ Please, symphathetic reader, heroic reader, honourable reader, please consider the following, while Scroob maintains a semblance of calm :

 

Polynices approaches the seventh gate of the city of Thebes, the Polynices whom brother Eteocles exiled from Thebes in a power play for exclusivity of the Theban throne—and yeah, the two brothers were born of an incestuous union of mother and son, a Situation which, when it came to light (φαίνεσθαι), ended, um, badly.

 

Polynices threatens at the seventh gate. What is the heroic pronouncement emblazoned on his shield, and spoken thereon by a carven emblem of the goddess Justice?

 

κατάξω δ᾽ ἄνδρα τόνδε καὶ πόλιν
ἕξει πατρῴων δωμάτων τ᾽ ἐπιστροφάς.

 

I will bring this man back to his city
to take possession of his homeland and live in the halls of his father.

 

What?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 16, 2024 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

PTA's LIVE BY BATTLE (2025)

Dear WB, You're welcome.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Beaumont

In our world what we think is over and done with may, in fact, never be over, to our ongoing detriment—until it is, to our final sorrow. ¶ Nicaea was taken, but the victory was not to be the sum of it. ¶ Solyman's spies apprised the defeated Sultan that the host of the pylgryms, upon marching out of the city, had split into two divisions; (reason being, 'twas hard work to find victuals for such a vast number of mouths by the day.) ¶ So hear now, my friends, how our heroes Beaumont and Tancred, with other fair knights following their noble enterprise, went upon the left hand; while all the others of the armies turned on the right hand; that is, the valyant Godffrey and the illustrious barons with him, such as Hugh le mayne; and also with them was Peter the Hermit and his people. ¶ Now Solyman had his heart right swollen, as the saying went, and was sorely angered over the cruel fortunes of his noble city. What boiled hottest in his blood was the unforgettable fact that the foreign invaders had taken his wife and sons. That was a shame he couldn’t let by. ¶ So the Sultan commanded his army to follow our people on the left side. ¶ Indeed, Solyman had spies embedded in our armies, and knew of our movements, and was informed of all our stopping-points. ¶ What happened was, the hethen sprang on us at the breaking of day, while we were fragile in temporary peacefulness, and they did to our heroes great pain. ¶ The horns and trumpets of our watches blew and cried much affrayedly, and we awoke to see the enemy smote in upon us, discharging on us from one route and another; and in the noise and busyness none might be heard to give orders, and they shot so thick on us that there was never rain nor hail so like it; and many were hurt of our people, and our horses fell from the shots of their archers.

The hethen multitude ran on us with sword and mace in such wise that they overthrew us, and we suffered great damage, though we defended ourselves vigorously. ¶ Tancred was marvellous at arms and abandoned himself as a man who set nothing by his life. And Beaumont saw him, and broke through the press and came and took him by the bridle as it were and brought him back from the carnage that had threatened to overthrow him. ¶ Many noble heroes were slain that day, along with two thousand of the men. ¶ Finally we retreated. ¶ And then we heard the sounds of trumpets and horns oncoming; and we looked and saw that those good people who had gone on the right hand were now come back to defend us, and were well-armed and well-horsed, and were led by the valyant Godffrey. And when Beaumont’s people saw them breaking through the trees, galloping with swords and spears raised, anon their hearts came back to them, and they were entirely refreshed, and doubted nothing, and began to do well, and slew so many that the rest of Solyman’s men chose not to abide but to flee, and we chased them.

It is the design of the following section to describe for you our heroes’ vengeful chase of Solyman’s army; and afterwards, to reveal the outcome of this, which resulted as horribly otherwise than expected by our good characters. Thus the story of Beaumont.

 

Scrooby's Heroic Crusade / Season 2

[Jeff Bernstein]

And so in the coming of the enemy we slew and beat down so many it can not be recounted; thus we repaid them for their scheming ways. And the hethen dare not abide, but fled away discomfited. Beaumont gave chase, and his people followed him, pushing their panting warhorses hard. Galloping with them, dripping head to toe with the blood of his foe, was Tancred, whose heart for death was not yet satisfied, nor might it ever be, now that he lived in the ever-during dusk of the loss of Clorinda. ¶ So, while Beaumont and Tancred broke off from the rest, in pursuit of the retreating foe, the wise Godffrey, meanwhile, spoke with Richard du pryncipat and Robert of fflaundres, and they considered the grounds for giving chase along with the others; and chose instead to leave the others and their people to it. May it be so, argued Godffrey, that the errand is more vengeful than utilious in the instance? ¶ Indeed, agreed both Richard and Robert. Why this backward diversion, when the journey to Iherusalem awaited them? ¶ And so it was that we who were chasing Solyman’s army slew all of them that we might attain. We killed many thousands, and of them there were many great men. ¶ We came to the tents of Solyman, and here we stopped, and let the hethen go; and so those of the enemy who were left of them rode away and were gone to safety. ¶ The pavilions were of diverse colours and of strange fashions. Inside we found great plenty of riches; of vitals, sheep, horses and other beasts; and robes, and vessels; and our people came unto the tents with great joy and honour. ¶ Here we found many of our men whom the hethen had taken as prisoners, and these we delivered. ¶ After a time we prepared to return to the main body of our army; and we met with a curious dissension. Four mile was the distance that Beaumont indicated would bring us back on our return; but other of the knights corrected him (with all due respect) with putative distances of six, or eight, or even ten. ¶ Tancred stayed out of it. ¶ There was also the question of direction. While one asserted the pursuit had followed an eastern track, others thought otherwise, and it was assumed by many that Godffrey and the others awaited us in the south. ¶ Thus was the Situation for Beaumont. It was morning, and the sky was clear, and the large sun shone uneasily strong, and it seemed absurd that agreement was lost among them. Now time was required to take counsel and render decision on the direction in which they were to travel; and the decision concerned the one hundred thousand persons that had followed along with them, the heroes Beaumont and Tancred.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Stark Contrast : Amusing moments of casual eating

"And it's either heads or tails" (& chew)

BONUS

Euripides, too, is in on the Stuttering Act—in the simple style of Aeschylus, as a literary technique used to convey tension. It is left to ultra-sophisticated Sophocles to transform the sonic technique into a genius move of genius moves, a colossal structural and epistemological ULTRA-GENIUS MOVE communicating to the audience only the various characters' enmeshment in Fate.

 

As for Euripides and Trojan Women : γάμους γαμεῖσθαι (348) / κακὸς κακῶς (446) / ὄλωλεν ὡς ὄλωλεν (630) / ὦ παῖ παιδὸς (790) / μικρῷ μακροὺς (1040) / ἄλλοτ᾽ ἄλλοσε (1205) / ἄρασσ᾽ ἄρασσε (1235) / ἄταφος ἄφιλος (1313)

 

Oh and please consider this line of Euripides :

 

κἄπειτα πλεκταῖς σῶμα σὸν κλέπτειν λέγεις (1010)

 

Look! κἄπειτα + πλεκταῖς = κλέπτειν

 

An example. Euripides enjoyed engineering such condensational sonic effects in his language.

 

*

 

Btw, in Seven Against Thebes, at a character's ultra-climactic moment, guess what, friends?

 

ἄρχοντί τ᾽ ἄρχων καὶ κασιγνήτῳ κάσις,
ἐχθρὸς σὺν ἐχθρῷ στήσομαι.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Beaumont stood before his people, who were awash in the blood of the enemy; blood mixed with dust, and dripping even from the ends of their eyelashes. ¶ “We shall send messengers,” said Beaumont to his people. “Four of them; one in each direction. Along the way one of them will come to discover the rest of our power. Thence he shall return to us at speed, and this is how we shall come to know of the way presently to take.” ¶ The princes heard this counsel, and thought it good. ¶ “Quite soon we shall rejoin our friends,” said Beaumont, “and continue to Iherusalem.” ¶ So the messengers mounted their horses and went. And Beaumont’s army waited. ¶ But not one messenger returned to them. ¶ And the general belief among the men was that they were surrounded.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Beaumont waited. The sun was yet low in the sky but beat down hard; and apart from Solyman’s pavilions there was no shade on the desert plain where the great army stood massed, peering wonderingly off into the distance, wide in all directions and blank.

¶ When the dust of the charging battle had settled out of the air, this empty surprise was what had revealed itself to them. ¶ They waited, all the bloodied army of Beaumont, and there was no auxiliary water to wash away the blood sticking on their sweaty bodies. ¶ They waited and no messenger returned as the sun rose over the dry and trackless waste; and it was decided by the princes of the army that the army was distroubled. ¶ Meanwhile Tancred sat off on his own, and he thought. What mortal man can escape from the wily-minded guile of God? Who with agile foot can step past Him, and escape His terrible falling trouble? If all this punishment was Tancred’s, a vengeful suffering to answer for the senseless death of Clorinda, how might he right things? ¶ Tancred thought, and he considered. ¶ Elsewhere, off on his own, Beaumont prayed to God for rightness. He decided that to abide where his great army stood would be error. He thought, and he considered, as the sun continued to rise broiling and dangerous; and finally he came forward and stood before the people and said, “We go west.” ¶ The army sounded their trumpets and went forth on their way. ¶ Good reader, our written history includes no word revealing what indication led Beaumont to choose the direction he did. And who, all these centuries later, has the power to know if this indeed was the worst way of all?

[Jeff Bernstein]

Iam nocte Titan dubius expulsa redit
et nube maestus squalida exoritur iubar,
lumenque flamma triste luctifica gerens
prospiciet avida peste solatas domos,
stragemque quam nox fecit ostendet dies.

Now the sun, returning, undoes the night
dubiously, mixing its foul light
with dreary fog, its blazing rays downcast,
and baleful. I see houses emptied
by the greedy pestilence. The slaughter
that night produces, is revealed by day.

Such are the first five lines of Seneca, Oedipus.

Friendly reader, consider the magnificently intercorrelated and untranslatable first line, which creates a vision of an ambiguous atmospheric mix which a camera lens could easily capture, but Seneca, employing the flexibility of his language, puts it into words :

Iam               nocte               Titan             dubius              expulsa              redit
[ now ]   -  [ the night ]  -  [ the sun ]  -  [ dubious ]  -  [ to drive out ]  -  [ to return ]   .  .  .