Iliad (1) Calchas, the Seer

After nine days of plague, Achilles calls for an officers’ meeting. He says the war is lost and the Argives should sail home, unless a holy man or prophet can discern the will of the gods and explain why they are being afflicted. And there is one who can: Calchas

the clearest by far of all the seers
who scan the flight of birds. He knew all things that are,
all things that are past and all that are to come,
the seer who had led the Argive ships to Troy
with the second sight that god Apollo gave him.

But he has a condition to make before he tells what he knows. He must beg a favor from Achilles.

“Achilles, beloved of Zeus, would’st thou know
why angry Phoebus bends his fatal bow?
First give thy faith and pledge a prince’s word
of sure protection, by thy power and sword:
For I must speak what wisdom would conceal,
and truths (invidious to the great) reveal.
Bold is the task when subjects, grown too wise,
must instruct a monarch where his error lies.

“For there is a man I will enrage - I see it now -
a powerful man who lords it over all the Argives,
one the Achaeans must obey, and a mighty king,
raging against an inferior, is too strong.
Even if he can swallow down his wrath today,
still he will nurse the burning in his chest
until, sooner or later, he sends it bursting forth.
Say, then, wilt thou protect me, if I speak?”

-- The Iliad of Homer, Book 1 (Tr. Fagles, Pope)

Vic calls at 11:38

Pop goes to bed early, but Vic calls at 11:38, which is unusually late, and I am praying that this will remain an aberration. I was in the big room, just wrapping up my reading and getting ready for bed. So, I decided to go to sleep in the big room. When I woke up for a bathroom run, I switched to my room.

Three Journal

Funny, I rememeber recently rereading the first entry of my Three Journal and feeling pretty disgusted by it, and today went back to it to do some major re-working of it, but it now seems perfectly fine to me. Sure, it does not ready like great literature, but I cannot think of any necessary changes to make.

The interesting question: which is the better judgment?

61. Yokota Days

The boys and I were having a lot of trouble with the librarian at the south campus. One day, we had just taken our seats and she immediately comes to our table to read us the riot act. We were prepared and thought it funny. We stood back up and collected our belongings and headed to the library at the north campus, where we immediately broke out a chess set and started playing a game.

As it turned out. We were being watched, presumably by a school administrator at the behest of Ms. Sourpuss Librarian. We must have cast an impressive sight: schoolboys playing chess. He told us that we only need to keep it down at the other library, and he also tried to sell us on the school’s chess club. As I recall, Steve was actually a member.

However, I pooh-poohed the idea. It just was not a cool enough scene for a stud jock like me. The man even looked pitifully at me, staring at my acne-beaten face. I was at my height at the time, though, in terms of social status, but it was a flukey thing and Anglo adolescence was set to surpass my injun genes soon enough. No varsity football for me.

David Foster Wallace

"How odd I can have all this inside me and to you it’s just words."

-- David Foster Wallace

Kay

Kay is here. It has been a tad over a week since her last visit. But I was kind of hoping things were slowing down. They are going to barbecue tonight. Hello, mosquitos, I guess. The bloodsuckers have already been making little invasions. The rains have been very good for them. With all the going-in and going-out for this barbecue, I expect a bigger invasion. With the air-conditioner running, at least the won't be relying only on the screen door, which should help.

Daily Fun

ONTD

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