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eve_primeThe conference call with Columbia Univ. and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which I've been preparing for for the better part of a month, ended at 10:44 a.m., and with that, my vacation began. After the first surge of elation, I promptly fell back asleep for an hour, having barely slept last night (from excitement, I suppose).
My next vacation activity was to read outside in the glorious October sunshine, during the first hour of D's nap: more of Travels with a Medieval Queen, by Mary Taylor Simeti. This idyll ended abruptly a few minutes ago when a big flatbed truck backed into the long driveway, just beyond the picket fence that encloses our yard, to deliver some piece of heavy equipment for the building of that new house. So I've retreated indoors. I wanted to quote p. 149-150:
"Nicetas Acominatus, the Byzantine author already quoted, goes on to describe how some German knights, sent by [Holy Roman Emperor] Henry [VI] in 1195 to demand tribute from Constantinople, were received by the Byzantine emperor Alexius III, who hoped to intimidate the Western barbarians with the pomp and ostentation of his court. Nicetas encapsulates in one brief moment the clash of two opposite empires, of two irreconcilable civilizations:"
"On the solemn feast of Christmas the Emperor [Alexius III] put on a robe encrusted with gems and commanded all the others to dress in cloth of gold. But rather than stupify the Germans, the spectacle of their enemies' pomp and luxury fired them with greater cupidity, and they yearned to subjugate the Greeks at the first possible opportunity, considering them to be abject creatures dedicated only to slavish delights.
"When the members of the imperial court exhorted them to admire the splendor of the gems with which Alexius glittered like a flowering meadow, and to behold the sweetness of springtime in the midst of the winter, the Germans answered that they were far from desiring such spectacles, nor were they accustomed to marvel at feminine ornaments, the splendid jewels and sparkling earrings with which lustful women try to please the virile sex. In order to intimidate their hosts, they added that the time had come to banish womanly adornments and to exchange gold for iron.
"For should their embassy prove vain and the Emperor decline the proposals of their King and lord, the Greeks would be forced to cross arms with Germans, men who did not shine with gems like a meadow, nor seek courage in the roundness of their pearls, nor glorify -- almost like peacocks -- in their amethysts interwoven with purple and gold. For the Germans are the pupils of Mars, their eyes flaming with ire shoot rays similar to those of jewels, and their bodies daily dissolve in beads of sweat more resplendent than pearls."
My next vacation activity was to read outside in the glorious October sunshine, during the first hour of D's nap: more of Travels with a Medieval Queen, by Mary Taylor Simeti. This idyll ended abruptly a few minutes ago when a big flatbed truck backed into the long driveway, just beyond the picket fence that encloses our yard, to deliver some piece of heavy equipment for the building of that new house. So I've retreated indoors. I wanted to quote p. 149-150:
"Nicetas Acominatus, the Byzantine author already quoted, goes on to describe how some German knights, sent by [Holy Roman Emperor] Henry [VI] in 1195 to demand tribute from Constantinople, were received by the Byzantine emperor Alexius III, who hoped to intimidate the Western barbarians with the pomp and ostentation of his court. Nicetas encapsulates in one brief moment the clash of two opposite empires, of two irreconcilable civilizations:"
"On the solemn feast of Christmas the Emperor [Alexius III] put on a robe encrusted with gems and commanded all the others to dress in cloth of gold. But rather than stupify the Germans, the spectacle of their enemies' pomp and luxury fired them with greater cupidity, and they yearned to subjugate the Greeks at the first possible opportunity, considering them to be abject creatures dedicated only to slavish delights.
"When the members of the imperial court exhorted them to admire the splendor of the gems with which Alexius glittered like a flowering meadow, and to behold the sweetness of springtime in the midst of the winter, the Germans answered that they were far from desiring such spectacles, nor were they accustomed to marvel at feminine ornaments, the splendid jewels and sparkling earrings with which lustful women try to please the virile sex. In order to intimidate their hosts, they added that the time had come to banish womanly adornments and to exchange gold for iron.
"For should their embassy prove vain and the Emperor decline the proposals of their King and lord, the Greeks would be forced to cross arms with Germans, men who did not shine with gems like a meadow, nor seek courage in the roundness of their pearls, nor glorify -- almost like peacocks -- in their amethysts interwoven with purple and gold. For the Germans are the pupils of Mars, their eyes flaming with ire shoot rays similar to those of jewels, and their bodies daily dissolve in beads of sweat more resplendent than pearls."