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30
1/JllDRI l
SS IC
J;,·hn
,.g
Ale~/ SS /J-1,.C,/V
J;??RC5.
A
f~cu
0
J
�0
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of
1
cymbal.,*'
brass, . or a
not charity 9 I am become as
"For now we see through a
and have
t darkly; but then face to face:
now I know 1.n part; but then sha_ll I know even as also I am
So the Apostle, Paul, lookR u~on the grace of
Poet, Dante,
upon the power cf his muse.,
, and so the
The Divine Com~
does not begin with these words, it. does not quote them,
meaning
the:f.r
woven into the substance~ of its allegory,
lends its
of its structural foundation,
of its imagination.
the st.\'>nes
to
soaring flight
Its very spidt is the divine
Dante to depict the range
a poet, must speak
majesty of love's
Dante, as
s. but Dante. as a Christian
the tongues of
in pilgrimage, must
moves
men.
with the
And
so he uses the clouded and confused mirror of human
and vice to
·reflect the light of supreme knowledge
created cosmos
would~
with' its splendor, and he
without the inspiration of
be
his faith as a Christian, Dante 'believes his
copies~ to image the divine
image can instruct
world it
poem~
this imperfect
Gc1d ~
flesh-bound soul in the ways of its
nature.
It concentrates on
This paper is a
in order to
Dante's mirror, human activity in the
life
significance of
1:1\~
question
concern is
1
meam~
. of'.
by which God moves"
�man to grace. and
to
question
the
is to be found
it1
of Jupiter
rulera contain•
in
whom
H
(Ha,, wae
.1atd1
and stoutest to matn•
t:<t·ue·D~llHl1C"'&l!OIU?n:
deacrtpticn and how he explatn1
tain
it will serve aa a
his
means for
and
investigation.
two
gsneral
:firat,
aa one
:eec:or•a., ,_rticularly, as a
end of salvation
and exa.nd.nes
it means to
redemption yet to come. 89
so, to
natural
of
Divine Comedy must at
to
make some .....,................ .
context
1,
80
we --····~-,.~
seems
it is
dmply, it
one
fails
the
to
up to
l is a
virtue
In
moment
�says:
is
s)
man's participation
to return ma.n to
in natural
at
state of
summit of
's treatment
we
we are to
grace.
been
'
at
a.a.,
in
expresses no
presence"
0
some
Dante in
to
reason for
so
as
reasont
1 saw·near me an
in
man
rays
no son owes more to a
reverence in
so
him as were
to are
I
sun
atat.a:over
a moment
Dante
to
can
rst to
the nature of the power
�IV
in
There is
is not to be
i t can .be
and
says
I
the stars,
after
it returns
its virtues and vices•
it
from
from one
is
8.t
It is
to a man
at
can
stars
on
'
Bea t i rice
actions one
of the en ti re .;;:;.;;;:~~-'·"
a.s
reference to
It must be
luence
that the
. . . . . .,. . .~.,,
~"
in
celestial
, but
as
stars,
of
of
astro•
can be
its
convention and
the
can be
in the Ptolemaic
on
u 1 ti mate source
the
the
becomes
and nature of
force
the
virtues
l
is
ce
stars
are insti
. virtue· over
habituation
�pagans are virtuous
circle
inte
mountain
on
own
motion
for grace
does
motion of
will
tions of
necessary.
stat:e
ment
virtue,
.in
and this is how we are to
luence of
to
four stars was so
as the
was
the sun
•
one owes him
a son f ot'
s
the al
virtue was so
one
owes
he is
the
to be
�as a clear
His excellence of human virtue
him in
divine influence on free wi l
of
can now be
was
l's role in Dante's
to a better unders
and
·Dante as a
to see
here, but i t is
l and
s most immediate minister of divine
as
Wa
not
one
to call to
power
ls on
mind the numerous occasions
's journey in.order for
of
us to see
l
He is .a
virtue of
in the full sense,
He possesses the
1 and
t
but only because he is moved
'to act
to him
to
the
God.
.intellect
they encounter
God.
In
his own efforts·, but only
i. then 9 and all the
can be
man for salvation
to be
to
intel
strictest sense 11 he is not
the grace
own
in.
a trans
Statius describes
of divine
luencet and can
God
moving ma.n
so wills i t
1 in a very
t
in a few
role of
l in Dante's
The distinction between virtue for its own
and virtue
�rtue has
seen as a motion
to see more
will, but it is now
" the mover
ll in relation to
universe . .
says:
love,
nor creature, my son, was ever
natural is
or rati.onal;
knot>.:iest
an evil
error; but
le it is
too little or
moderates
cannot
and
it is turned sway to evil
than
411
every virtue in you
10
the misuse
-we use it. to understand an
u
the intellect
lost the
as ei
love
love, or a combination
the moment
passaget but suffice
to this
will
virtue.
can be
and we will see now
the
the
he and
ill fated
to
your senses
the sunbrutes,
to strive for
small
could almost
says;
7
�the bounds
venture went
to
and his sin was excess of the proper
u
eti 11 be faulted
he
had
his
virtuous
�human s
t,
If
intended
was
had tru
virtue and
indeed h<:we
1 are a
The virtuous
natural virtue in
the
in
pagans who we re
is a. kind
the sacraments of
virtue
two sorts:
v:trtuous action can be
mute
God and
the wi 1
to
of man's
the unassisted
and the
le.ct
The forrner merits·
has the
salvation• while
if
to reduce eternal
to that
cut
be saved
virtuous pagans and cannot himse
cation
one
1
but 1 as the
an
,. he has the power, by di.vine grace, to
human :J.nte l
is the same
in Dante's
of a lantern carrier who does not
virtue as
for grace
almost entire
in
for
is,
so
that of those
but
virtue Dante concerns himse
is
obvious reason that it has the
Christian
The view that virtuous action under natural law is only
virtuous when
in Canto XVI,
free will
Ye
as
wil
accordance 'l!ld th the notion
by God is ful
all
would be
Cl
He says:
up to the heavens alone, even
Were it thus,
ti
to have
�The way
do not set in
intellect
evil 11 so
assent to
divine
dissent
to
grace
virtue
To
the
a motion
is to be
stars.
first
the
ta ti on
in this case one that must be
stars exercise
does not
but an influence
for his action.
man assumes
But
virtuous
stars
8
God.,.
to
is the.
.._ .,..,,..no.....
..
of
because he so
virtues
return the
grace,
man
will.
souls to
uic;11,;;.o,u~u
so
he
sees them as
Dante
Cato
�powers
intuitive powers are
in the way
grace
endeevor and
m:ts-constnted
Umits·
thin
led to see that virtuous conduct
The virtuous pagans are in a
set
's
nature
nature
l bis love be
in the case
One
pagan,
the central concerns
;;:;..::..:;..;;..::..:.;;;. ........,.......,......... is wi
affairs
human
events
in
and
to
even the best
ci
most vicious
most noble
engages
attention in
i tic.al
life, and
severe
virtuous
But we must
into
of
in
he
God 1 s
power
1
to
to divine
on
means
ment
to
a bad
�Rome
the
to is the Rome
Justinian
it
ava.i
as compare
is
the foot
from
ruler
beast,
is an
union of
is not new but
been
his
to
given a
treatment
the laws
virtues so
may educate
to
not go so
them from
the
necessari
far as to say
but he does
be in his
he means
human
say
sin is
code of law
We are remined
the free
free
the
in 1.ts
well in order to
l
heavens,
twist
this
idea
for Rome.
ruler is
virtues, and
The
�natural virtue in salvation has been
role
~·g~~~~~·~•
What
is
to be
and
t
to understand
was~
realms
and
are·
virtue and vice wa.s
universe
in the scheme of
's
course
in
and
souls
in
but
an
to
rulers are
as it
reverence from a 11
that it
about
of
up
one voice,
souls~
as
, is one and the same
is
uni
is
is to
center
tween
an
is meant to
of
in
t
the universe. in
four
to
sinners::
torment
0
Brutus and
and
the ruler
Roman
is
way to an
�civil
civil
in its
must
with
of direct
a.s
state
in a
can best
comme:nsura.te
connection
is
xvu
the law
re
are
to
be
in more detail to
law
we
to
but
Borne
more
willing to commit hf.rose
not
souls
source of al
simultaneous
to
t
'
When
see
1
the triune
of them
we see that
in
state-
to come!\!
of the sacraments
ment
-but
least
the claim to
Dante
for
are
grace in a way equal
as
mosaic
fol!'
Rome under
as
This can be
, at least as far as
is
•
a
�Dante s treatise on
must be
law as Dante sees
it~
the two ends
and
one way t human law can be seen
al
end of
natural
but it
1"U8t
into the entire
its
it must
of
that the young
not
into
away from its Hrst inclination
As
it must
be
must derive
Roman
bui
the
�but
deliverance of
law to
is,
so that
wou
not be
must
listens to
in
counsel
come
in
from
administration
must
advice
be
in con-
af terwa.rds
can turn to another
Uon
so
�to the Roman Pontiff.
morta
, in a· sense is ordered
11 not taste of
Let•
,
reverent to·.
as the firstw.born son.
be reverent of
father. that
may be 11&~•~•~&•~~-~~
wi
the light
his father's
, and so may be stronger to
lighten
world over whcih he
been placed by Him alone,
who is the ruler
all things spiritual as well as temporal.
Both
of the government of the Community of
the
t
Prophet and the
for
ren would be returned to Him.
natural virtues,
TI1e temporal
In
by God to be an adequate
natural virtue 1 prepares man for
him to
state Qf.
re
can ascend to God by further grace.
the Garden of
:
just
depends upon two things i
administrators of the
and
in the image
wards. temporal rule• by the author·
and through the
grace by
authority to
t rulers within its
11
God
t the
poss-
by the
good can result, and only because
pursuit
•s
sees in
9
to come ..
tics of
wi
the turmoil of his city
and he sees in the
in Italy reflections and
the ends
end
in harmony with
reason for
lion
it is
evil can result,
must
.just law ··
The legal code of Rome, conducive
to human virtue, was
motion
child·
ruler, as custodian of
and the result is
of
ity
G«:xi. and were part of
just
education
Godt men of
it was most sure that his
from
a
the Prince and
men, such as
.... were ·provided
his
ma,n .......
ref
clear
tice and
tions of the will
is
�what
We have now to
in Christ
it means to have
by the three sisters 11 in order
to
ways
treatment of
the full scope
'°
but to give
fj
and
range of
and
of
it must be seen
pre para ti on in
into the
ation
twill
I will
and
account
faith that
as
to
or
It is through
that souls are
in the first·
the· sin
11
be
but
an all
love 9 the ruler of the universe
lj when
circle
grace in
is not within
virtues in
this
its
11 have
salvation
it iS said:
tted into
whom:
as
years
1, more
three dames
to are the
1
and
characteristic colors
on
for
to abide
is
the virtues
Love~
virtues without
to live
can be seen as a
titute for
ts the wa.y that
for those
the
If it
is
to live according to the vi
was
were not revealed
the ability
�until after
Ho
t
1a
of the
reseurection. with the
sacraments
stood in the office of
80
tood in the same way.
law are to
we
are to recall
the passage
faith alone
the first
gather power to their
had come, then
held back
before the
in Christ
, more
, with Paul
~
defines
reveals Dante'
as the
in the
to
not seen.
the
does not
scheme
1 n but
of the
alternnte
do. 29
to
What one
is eternal
1 1 'is a certain
divine grace and
things which Dante sees in Paradise, that i
ta for
the
in their
God's grace and
bliss for those who hnve
Dante e1cplains how faith is uthe substance
th:i.ngs.
wa.y::
which grant me
them below
&O·
the
to appear heft)re
hidden that
existence
is built
one cannot.
can
; and so
universe, one
things Dante is
existence only:
is be
in
�universe and the
g
of
upon
literal
0
tands
" and so
come is the substance
state
in a
son 11 s
in
I
revel·
1h
•s
's love.·
ation
,/
wi
to
in
even
but
~s
s he
to see in it
or
to come.
as
ter
t
sees
as
an
, as
because
to the
souls must
Dante
when
first
been
and
one
now see what it means to
souls of
in
to come is
same
as
in
�for
grace
an act
as both
cwne:
to come contains one more
but
remission
and
sins.
In Paul 8 a:
Old
Aeneid,
are to be seen
in actions
is
as
is
from the
it means, in
case
dames
it is--
as
grace
virtues.,
and
1
·The
There a re many
will
he
on the road to this
them in
Dante's treatment
them in
he
and
shines as a
the role
love app
others,
i f it is not the revelation and detai
Dante's poem is
is love.-
some of
paper has
and
created universe, and so an
love in
for grace is
of
to
in
-we.
hope
Dante's
to
go
human
lost in
head
we see
is stopped
is
1,
••• 'tt thou desirest to
turn
to
significant thing, as
'.s
stated, is that
210
poet
1 was sent
..
"'
�t
most
course,
• It is,
on
is
is
but it is necessary to see
and a motive
love is an
The same kind
gracet
can be
as
love,
because
God,.
instruments
1
earlier in
natural virtues
as
it were
It is love
the universe
i:a the rul
himse
sees that
are to
nature
and it is
man to
will
this
sin
love in
i
man
it is
is not.
assistance, to
able
1 have
motion
love
God, is
man,
the wil •
c
sin and
aside
11 to
t
virtueei
it
to
s
set
It is essential to see
to
in
�love,
is
first
and
us
sure to
illumination of natural reasono
gives
of love
It is
in Canto
s discourse on
in
uni
love
can illuminate one more
and
It is said
that
9
set all his
This
love. on
action
virtue, but i
and
a
the fact
he set on
it was his
from
is the most
from
, and its meaning can be
in
l 11s speecht we know that love
• From
man from sin,
between this
final
have
deserves
poem• draws man
should
some
beautiful image
• as
Love
inspired virtue or in .the divine inspiration
under the
is the human activity
which is roost
the act of grace
was
that Dante
which was· exhibited in his love for Beatrice.
exhibited in
and
this makes sense in the context of the
Love i$ the
Comedy when we
that
every virtue in you, and of every
"Love must be the
next
When it is
as love of evil chains
a
sin by turning his eyes toward
potential
is that rootion of will
God's
God's, so it is appropriate
to man
ly
Dante
receptacle for that loveo
He
a Florentine -woman 1 and
gave Ripheus
vision
�rule
not
once
is a constant
was to.
in
God.
but its
it
�not avai
lated
London,
.......,.;..;;..;;;;........,. Comedyo
Published by
Translated by T,.
New
New
1950.
�1
2
3
4
5
1 1 P•
6
7
8
9
p.,
•
(I
•
• !II
•
P•
P•
Cl
t
•
p•
•
18
20
••
••
.,
VI
•
•
Ill,
ill
:xv1 1
22
"
l·XiX.,.XXii i e
:xvl,
�•
27
•
0
•
lbido t
, as
29
30
@
p
Op
••
Hebrews 1
Loco
'
•
'
• Inferno,
Canto
.,
XVI,
•
11>
1
•
XVII,
p
-.:
�oold as
more,
our blue
We
A
A
new,
A
trusts
, ie
�Prisoners
·reel
as the love the moon
As
For
a.a far
, is mine for
warm, or
From hope of any
, will
Return, for you are di
Your solemn features for the sake of
as the sil
mar
s move above
The moon, di
Upon the earth,
So I, at times, am
in the east
By
beauty,
But when the moon returns to full, I know
pain returning in its t
It was a
To you 9 and
flow
ago I
my 1
ha.s not
Greene
�I
�r-·~. '··--)::
...
".J
I
n "
J
1
J
r
I
I
CJ-#
L
, I
.I
t-'
'
' I~ I
•'
,§,'
;t
,1
I
_.>r r·
1
... L . -:-.
), •. &-·
... "-
'·I
�This little note questions the existe-we
It suggests an
in the
as
alternative way o·f accounting for discrepa:1cies
and it also
8
ig the limits of the pre-
a a way of
cision of a measurement other than as "pro·)able error"
.ts "accuracy" are
The "precision" of a measurement
sharply ,distinguished from each other in
~
of the Fre;rnhman Lab
Manual0 On page II-3 we read:
Accuracy has to do with the
)f a measured valueJ
whereas precision relates to the size of the smallest
s
.in terms of which it
expre
•
In spite 0£ this difference, however,
cision are surprisingly said to be sub
IV.(p. IV-25) we read:
If an experiment has small random ~rrors it is said to
have high
sion. If an experi~ent has small systematic
errors, it is said to have high accur.tcy.·
To be sure, in this passage, nsystema;ic 11 error is distinguished
"error", and the
from "random" error, but both nene
!1~nua;i.
does not
that the word "error'
used equivocally
in these two instances.
wi
We are therefore
the follo1ing questions:
I) What is "error 11 simply?
2) 'What is error
3) Can error be both
?
0
systematic 11 and "randomu?
4) How can the discrepancies in
measu~ements
not accounted for
by systematic error be accounted for?
5) How should the limits of the preci3ion
characterized other than as "probable erro:-"?
a measurement be
�1) What is
"errorn
11
form as laid down
rule
a
•. For..
the rules prescribed
been
'
from tts
reason in.
to be
we say that a sum is an error
we find that
reasort for the process of addition
owed., Simil
ely
11
an error when the rafters he
we say
has made
installed have not been
on of
error in measurement? To measure is
the t
that
·a
unknown amount of that same
0
an account
known instance of some
s into" an
!I
Error the ref ore arises in
i
measurement when some human action has
those times. The
number of times that the known goes into
the measurement, or the Htrue
to the rules
to
reason prescribes should be followed in
outcome .of a proc;.ess
not
a
the rules of reason for the
2) What
result
that action has "erred
action
a
to
to
unknown is the "truth"
"
valueu is the
Thus a "
with a
and '.it" is identi
11
measured value n
3) Can error be both "systematic 11 and
s of
"systematic 0
in the
seem
arise
to follow
to
rules
for the art of
not level, all these errors and
balances
the kinks in the
se like them arise because someone
eoted a rule of act
was careless or
in every such case
from the rule
reason
all seem to be error
thus
Thus the· imperfect calibrations
on
to discover
what action at
Hence the connections made
systematic error
accuracy
Such is, however
with precision& For fir
are really systematic:
and truth
the
between
ished.,
seem we
the case with
the
It is possilble
error and its conneotim.
'
.
.
says (p IV-23) that random errors
�of the
1
no
say that
i
the
oase to
ed
scover
But then, on p
rid of
from
what action
find that i
5
0
sible in every
Le , that
rule~~
back
is not in
rule
e to
t
instrument
error because
often
II
fashion
mea
o·
and
the
cause "sol
ject
in
c e1"'rora that
and
cannot
be
en rid
urandom"
tra.naf ormf~d
instead
lose their relation to accuracy
ci
. However
are
'
t
termination
is an.
error that
a
that cannot
be
for
from an unas
for is a
an
11
8
4)
exist
random errors
can the iii
for? The
ic error be
a.newer to thia question
ions
SS Of
human
the
are the dark
., Our
about unstable
instruof
s of
es
ons
material.
reason ..
our
a that
es a.re
the
, of the
as honest witnesses to
mea
the
are the nece
ect • These
not the re
little
of
the
the
all solid
s of the sources of
e
so-called
ment
counted for
mea
B
constant flux,
stand
in those
and
�in which
measure
the
the
sand in.which we
them
s we use to measure
the measurere
at the same t
e. In other words, if random error is error
more than measurers
we
ar~
borri into
u~-~·~a
live,
from the rule of reason. The
d{e in,
~nd
then
5) How should the limits of the
, is in error.
cision of a
be charac-
terized other than as "probable
To call the
limits of disc~epanci~s
between them·
and
the "probable error" of a
above
seems to me
lower
.Tea.son
s out
!) Since· as the
, to
values
to use reason
pr,eserve
s ( p IV-2
to any of the
we have
s is
that any mean between
no way of
of the
in the
to speak inkccurately. (The ruilies pre
have not been
a mean value
either side of the mean is
and good
among measurers
It is a matter of tact
The limits of
th~
a
as tributes to the complaisance and
on
ience
not of
should ba charac
zed
of man
Tutor
f
�A
of
on at the
the
s out to aea.
upon the
seus
he has crled
the
have ·1oeen
As a result he
crag
a
ed them
which has very
the
he
not
another of
but also,
mi
~
The
, to any future revenge of which .thE'l
presents its
tion which
doee
is the
pursue in this
s
st upon
for intell
'himself
needle
to
to me
'
to utter ruin at the hands
his
the Cyclops?
that
Mindful of the
the
to be
I have
on
his name
, must shed some
sele
one is
-that En answer,
I
for his own name
on
, in which
as a point for
of·
followed
seus 6reates the ficti
the lines
for this express purpose,
seus
(500
)
e, lines
turn in
where he
�1
me
as
then, but you must
is
the
ca.n.t aspect
The
u
my
who
1 the
as do
l
re
rst
here is their tone
of course
a. man. bl
a kind of
hi
re
his spee
own power or
as
has
what the
must be reminded of it or has expressed it
his throne
enormous
Such. is the
with
not of a.
and
..
cal
the heavine
least
~
out
of a
stio
the
ems is
seus
· corre
t
to some extend at
r.rhi S
add
of the two
to what is
and
ea
to be
the smooth and
broken
result is a·
the
then
caesura
pomp
s
It also tends to
o the
function)
(
more to
to
i.
thus
the
·r; n
illustrious or
some
it is his
ss on the
of
had in
the
never even
that this 1mny
d at
other than
(
Next
ch
etes the
at
root
ch the caesura had
the
and
hi
�of the line
e
i
of the enclitic
l
a
be taken a,s
lel
it is
o '- of line
oal in form and
is
assure
ject .. As Mr.
the
goes on to me:nt
end of a
11
position. in
~
himself as
seus
of a boast
in the
in comparis9n
def erred
the Cyclops to
then, is not pa:ssi ng
way
Instead, he is
himself
a- change in focus,
asked 11
II
the o:ne who) will de
to you ....
e
ti
'
as
,.
he· _says,,
were so
• .f'
1 ...
ti
upon· him
l
to
the mere statement of the
.I.
come must have an immensely
ly
)
the E
~E:fl":~
tation, since it means not just speak or tell,
lends support to this
but rather speak out or declare, as one would,
one had to
used at the
8
of attention
or mat
far above the level of
and
whi
he aaya
ject in any
cally as
1 (am
Homer's
an
sentenc.e or clause, . the
to the Cl'Ucial moment .. 11 ·'
2
he is
ly comments µpon the connotations involved in
and
on
home to the compre-
truth
can
the role this
il
his
on is to
addri:.rnsed a
CJ(.,,
does the
sto:n has stated
the person
,,,....
L
refledta much
of the
cle
Mr Denniptor,t
asseireranoe
may be suren
more on the superiority and
direct
to note ·that the
with the
or
in
ethic dative of 6
in that which
say~
In line 365 Odysseus informs the Cyclops as to the price of the revelati
which he has requested. As a reward for the stating of his ng,me, Polyphemos
must give Olysseus a gift
{os .
:F'urthermore, the
the
nece~sity
indicates
tha~
being implied
the presentation must be just as,
that is without the slightest dev. . iatior from, .what he
1
the imperative
promised. To
�cont
tice that
f 601
on thi.s
submit
s roe
means
for
subtle termB
s
SS
the
the
are
and
-z;
of the line"'
terms of sense,
ii)'
this case is
The
not
use
puns, such
in the
how o
with
lies
actual nHme than
$
which is more germane
may take on
sent discussion
a
not a. certain
sense
c
from its
the
also has
however
•
we
our
FieuF
t
no
i
in
here
to
'ill
to ha.,re two
s sense that the
tri.ck of
in
sense;
is
of someone
It is in
(at 1
th
avoidable~
is the
cal terms
in
when considered
and
of
to the
not
oaesurs.
its
each
it the l
all the other
the
the latter
tho
ne11t
a very
the name itself. Each occurs
i..,
the
rq~l
of
and
"the two most
sense of the
very
in this way its
which
sh
is
evrrry sense
eens
in the lines under
in
a
name now
s i
mother who
charact
0
"""'--""'
his
to be·
anyone
would be
ed t
i
hi
admire a son
to
him
the
ops about this name
the
and even
on involved
him
�·but view tbese etat3ments as
reader,
the name
ironic ..
fiot
t» j;
• Far from
and
ch he attribute
r,
Odysseus
1es. The ad
tale
name is known
to hia fi
in its
literally true,
obviously quite
a
about whom the
s in
i
ctive
us to be
~y
sen.se '· that of
ot upon the Cyclops of, first, Odyseeis• braggartly
However, the
obviously
physical strength, and second,
his naive unawareness of the ineul
ions of the name Nobody, is
tone evert
the face
upon this inpotent yet
di
seems to
help but
reality is an
his name
appear to him as preci
himself on that which in
him as a
• Odysseus must
ies--a nobody, and a boastful
Polyphemos the reply beginning
idiot beaidee. Thus he elicits
mimic of Odysseus' own declaration of his fictional name,
) only
placing ~-c-lY first as had Odysseus and reserving ·for himself (
the second
the Cycl
ace .. We
physical
, who hae
lo~g
been aware of his
over Odysseus, is now firmly convinced that he surpasses
him in mental acuity as well.
Having establi
these arguments, let µs now return to the original
eitua.tion. Odysseus
on the deck of his ship and ca.sting hie gase
back upon the i
witted.
by means
, seas the Cyclo~a Polyphemos, whom be has just out-
the cl
p1oy
• His comradEs have just·
completed their
him not to cry
in hu;rling
era.gs this time strike h< rne. At this point
1
uwsi
"Ct
f~ gl.(f~v'
$ufl'1!
'If
!TIP
�•so they
, but could not pe_r1 :uade the great heart in me,
but once
in the anger
heart.I cried to him:
of~-
°Cyolops, if any mortal man ever ·aa·ks you who it waa
that inflicted
your eye thi i:
bl
tell him that you were
Laertes is his·
In the first
t~o
aeus 1 sacker of cities.
and he makE s his home in
lines Odysseus
mself provides to some extent the·
reason for the daclaratioh he is about to make.· Both
same word;6"li
, or a~i it, which ex1resaion becomes
highly emphatic •. Qdysseua maintains thit it is his
his
ob ~otions
in preois
How a.re we to understand
posed by the· Cyclops.
? In
thisfv~•~
th.e connota·ti ons
\
of the words surrounding it as
a _consequence
which overcomes the
and the ir .manent
,
1 as our
place indicate rather strongly that thjs
the
ed~e
of the. events
in character, a.n
is
impulse from within, a kind of motivatjon of the
• It does riot init
his response by means of a logical a.n4 entirely demonstrative
e
., With
his ship rapidly moving out to sea the]e is no time for that. Rather, it
drives him to speech while there is ye1 still the possibility of being heard.
·or
A brief examination
the other comporents of these two, lines will confirm
this point. Firet of all Odysseus deac1ibes the plea of his comerades with the
word ,1:;.:J.. . ,,.
, . "they
spoke", which word, a.s
"usually used with reference to
much an argument as it was
an
tells us, is
or belief 0
•
Their speech was not so
entreaty, motivated
by fear of
destruction from the Cyclops ..
does not say that
h~ disagr~es but rathsr that h$ i~ not
the basis of
p
synonomous with i
,. .
.;
.
11 'l
,. the
. th..
,.,
t;j1,, 1.-f ·\~·
e
4 v'
of...~"
of
except that it is 'irtual
irrationality ~r eMotionality
Wl.
)
Again,
as
in line 500, is very nearly
always used with overtones of
which, ~e shall see
is not always the case
the adverb mearing simply again or back again,
,/
derives from the verb '3r·Nfrt, which m.eam arouse
too may very well enhance the ·emotional
awaken, or excite
aot~allf
so that it
sties of th1,·rr .;:f .. Finally, the
·~
verbal
ad ect~ve
�we have esta.blished the emot.ional nature of Odysseus' outcry,
Now
M~m
the desire
his own welfare and that of hia
to di
will
a
of his actions.
to be the.
ly
which Odysseus here
s a.nd
, or spirit,
his own name. Fame is the underlying goal of
·to
• I
Fame, or
is his
that his de
of it, compels
him to
is.
to ask what sort
we are
of the
I hope, become clear from a cons
speech
of line 503 contains a total
Line 502 together with the first two
rare and
seven apondees with but a single dactyl, including the
thus highly emphatic
502. Furtnermore, the
in
.double
'1lj
are seemingly superfluous to the
ir
presence~
the line is little
ae:nse
is,
of the line,
basic
1 that Odysseus is or is about to state
of the line are
ead
making use of the
out and solidify the presence of the T
he says, with
state hi
significant, he does not
to
this is very
ss too of his
(
attention
the
and desires here to
.something of
'the
hes.vine
, therefore, that the
We must
name.
a strong spondaic
"Cyclops., if anyone •.• a should ask about your eye, tell .them Odysseus
the ,Purpose of
it is to be used;
the
spreading
its
a.mong
Cyclops' bl
Odysseus• relates his name
fame via
th the tale
as
l
whioh
a
is
of his name and
to Odysseus even than
More
to
fl
that it will increase his
after he i
with a heroic act. Fame is the motivating force, and
to that end.
Odysseus' name is
let us
Thus,
the
For
cation
to the
The text reads as followss
section
�.
.
known before all men
I am
and
for the
up to the heavens.
famei
in what is
After
, that he is an ob
in two f orme
ity cme way,
second, that hie
men (
oare or interest to
to disclose to
name
the
pas
does he
his
concern is
of means,
s? The answer becomes obvious if
in line
~
fame
1
to escape
certa:i.
the
the
thereby
Here
battle of
with the
s
st
to.
Cyclops expresses
books.
s of the
in a
line ·one Homer
the more
than.
corresponding
s
s are
at the
closely from
same -time the
arejcons
.size
of. his
more than
depicted in highly de
seue,
som body. Through
to
He
because it is
trtck
a
tricks and deceits
choice
use of the name
t
death~
es, as we learn from the
a.lso
in line
him t
which in line 500
The same
for the purpose
seua achieves,
cks that
It is by means
a, and maintains his
creates
is
s of heaven.
such that it even reaches the
from a vast number
ct
~ncrease
his ship and
, .
he
s himself
desires to be
he intends
s clever
upon
even more his name•a reputation among men. Yet, while
back at Polyphemos, a
He is rapidly departing from an i
e
creeps over him.
to which he will never return
Cyclops does not even know the real name
o~
ted him.
the
even.
�he beli
si
1
.woreet
to have been
his
/,
to go
cent
to such po
s violent
to
the
(II
himself to be no
11
his fa.me.,
to
neither
eeus,
to
only
did
that
can leave
de
in the
wea.k man. 11
among men, is
a
him to cry out.
to
'
and
His
twi
in
threat of
have done
es could po
seus
mere luck
·of his claims to
clever ruses and most
a,
who mere
allow this his
Bvf'05 will
d upon
the first
"
Bruce M.
Footnotes
's and therefore do
of the Greek passages are Latt
1. The
convey my own int
not neces
2.· Denni
5
as well as the three
cation here is
instances of the word's use in
5. I have translated these lines
pretat
of their intended
an emphatic extension of
ctf
'1IX,l
t:
LS
so, .after the succession of
especial
with
•
of the mouth (i e~
s) that I
combined with a few
Thus thef~l1$o'{.,at the
contra~t
nature
line
. ".I
1
as ·that of !<AvT-OV 1/~ ~f"'
reads as
in line
ows
3
a
ends
consi
a vowel sounds
it
e to
emphasis on a
mutef as well as from its
the
sense ,,,..
and the change in
it involves.
6 k;Af05 , being derived from l<,ASw,
hear or
/
:tnter-
as something of
8111 l(oi...l:.o{.8U
/
~((}·JJ~v J{,,/~DVflow
the constant
of the
to
incomplete
•
to, the same
�
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Rosenblatt, Eric (Editor)
Isaacs, John (Editor)
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�l
OCTOBSR
NUMBER
VOLUME
The Venetian Phaedrus
Eva Brann Tutor
1
.Two Poems
Roger Greene
27
and the Measurement of Length
Tutor
Numbers
Edward
29
The Shepherd's
Alan Plut
Board
sor
Faculty
35
Jessica Weissman
Gonda
John l8aacs
Eva, Brann
Carol
Jan Hamill
Staff
Eric Rosenblatt
Michael Schneider Jan Buttner
ie Dobreer Rachel Cha.nnon
Carol Holl
This journal publishes essays related to the content of the St
s program, tutorial and laboratory papers
theorems
substantial poetic works
The pol
content and
board
mathemati
and revie-vrn of lectures 21,nd concerts
of ORATIO is to select articles for their excellence of
• Please submit material to any member of the editorial
�A formal lecture
livered in Spring,
For the next hour I am going to lecture on a
autobiographical, whose hero is a· charlatan and
therefore the same.
largely
e
11 his is hot my own but the author's
himself e
on
will therefore be an enquiry into the
nature of the essential charlatan-- an enterprise
spi
and tradition of Plato's
The work I shall deal
th is a s
'l'hornas Mann, called "Death in Verti
Death
Venice''" that is to
•
Mann considered this
ful work, a
, a novella.
. 11 or
0
The Death Appropriate to Venice
in ce
talli
more
res pee
his most success-
on of all
s
Having begun in so deprecating a manner, I ought fi
give reasons why this
is worth
The first and general reason
Let mP. make a
claim for
e
s
just as,
rplexed by some
event in one's life. say the advent of
to a classical
p
, one might read Mann in.
language, a·language with which to
ences.
one might go
for help in mastering the matter. so
overw}1P.lmed by certain subtle and complex
moderni
words
Mann•s command
es
This descriptive use of
riences of civiliz
gain an apt and prec
ineate and
H
--· eros in
phrase - - i this courting of things in language, seems
Mann's primary excellence,
1
when
e
SU·Ch
in Mann's
�s
more
into
as the art wi
If
·is a mu
sodes.
of
d
1, as we
and
s to
It is even
r ..
seems to be
It
interesting because it is a
:lts own season,
, or
blank so as to exercise
er's
The story 1s set du
one
of
cons
situat1on as an
zes b,y the
1st s use
"d
ence" ..
s both
he
• a crisis
was once
s
to describe the modern situat on, and its
a
ers the d
cont
of
of the t1Eu:ropean soul",
cte
t
the
se
the First
1
is
of
1909, the season,
ced 1.
g
the
very c
is
stances ..
beginnings of the
s
ions
thi
is in
t i on
musi
OS
re
as recurrences
s
A
movements,
t
But more of
ents,
Wi
a
WO
in a more exact
rnotlf s
t to
s
there ls
work..
re
w
out of
~o
used
use~
s, I th1
nature" --
p.;n that the mode it designates has become our "
to be the poet's
s had
In Mannts use, de
ent on one s t
the
a
by
er
reason
s to
2
s
s~
�recPived goods havP lost their savor, that thPre is irritRbili
boredom with the forms of li
and
of thP community, a feeling that time
must be killed, and a consequent search for relief .i.n thP. forms of
excess or perversion--in short a permanent sort of cri.sis.
, the property that the
dence" has.
8. t
0
Deca-
tempt of triose
caup-ht up in this condition to overcome it. which attempt rni?ht be
called "reactionary decadence;
11
'
nearly always t.::-;tkP.s thA form of a
kind of brutality, be it exuberant or mean.
The novella is, th~refore, timely not MPrely in the sense of
being f.irmly sited in its own era, but also in t:1i:~ s~nse of
courageously attemnting to come to grips with mo'"Jern.i. ty--our own
modernity--itsAlf.
Having given these three reasons, which are really
ti11.. pe
main
facets of Mann's artistry, I must im::iediate1;y ~rn.y t!iat thPy are e~ually the ingredients of his charlatanism-~for to be nn artist is to
be· a charlatan--so says Plato, so Nietzsche, 8.nd. so, a::> we s rlall
see, said Thomas Mann.
I shall now proce
to trace out in more rlet8il
th~ m~nner
of
Mann's artistry as it appears in the novella.
Death in Venice is, in Mann's term, a .. prep-r1ant
0
work--it was
to achieve this pregnancy that hP pave it thr compact novPlla form.
It is a work fraught with r'leaninv. Bnrl this burden takP::;
form, thP form of references.
Europ~a.n
pPcu1i ar
It is a novPlln. of refi:::·renr't) and
reminiscence which fairly incites the reader to
through thP
'."·1
8
scl1olarlv hunt
tradition.
ThesP references belnnp·
to a number o:f ne pa rate Ly u i. ::::l'.;~~rni ble
snheres, mingled but not blended,
I sha11 procr-- r'd to vi vc. . a very
much curtailed review of the chief spheres.
3
1
�sphere.
of all, thA
chi
tav von
character
biography
e
,
and~
GP.rman father and has chosen Munich as his
mother anfl a N
residence, all just like Mann himself.
ck of Prussi
P
t::"pic on th!!? 11. fe of
an essay called "Frederick and the
tchu later ber-arne pa-· t
o:f Doctor
Faustus 1
a --significantly unwritten--essay on nspirii
and ·extensive notes
attributed to Aschenbach anti said to have been com-
, a
serious judges with Schiller's essay "On
pared
have a count-
novelistic tapestry 'Maja' by nam€H, ·rn we11·
ory called "A
anii A
evPntu~l
"mL~hty prose
11me
; 0
Great Coaliti
as thP
In thA cataloguP of Aschen-
is not onP which rlid not
erpart i.n Mann's writings 1
Fred
introductor~
·an entry into a poets' Who's Who, a for-
the style
bach's wo
in a m:a. nner of speaking,
, has9 as we are told in an
the
The
Senti-
~aive anrl
mental Poe
, are preserved in Mann's notebooks.
importance
the biographical sphere is the inn0r histo
bqch, the crisis i.n his working life, of which More
But of chief
chen .
of
be said
later. ann which, up to -t~hP fatal outcome, p3.ral le ls Mann's own in
1911.
Mann once
r~marked
of GoPthe's partially autobiogr·aphical
that it is ·t.yp.ic:Jl of poets tha·.
hero in
rhe limits of' the
die young and
thP
ical ·
bi
is not
A
1
the sober· trutr-1 that thP poet a:s
PmP,nt, then,
te the po
as poet.
sphere is what might be called thR
ting of the novella,
e sign and symbol is a ut)iquitous hotel
manager with Fr•~nch tails and French tongue. voluble and agi
is the intP.rna ti.
bach's s
bus
set-
.luxury hotel wn.ich is the scene of
His
ch en
catastrophiQ adventure ~f th~ soul, thAt di
on devoted- to the refined ca"·e of _strange.rs, with
4
�its subdued,
yet
tntimab:~
to
j\
atmo
there by n veritable conspi-
s, motor
may
1
flight from V
venienoes
0
s, ra:\1roads a:nd hi.s own reca
that he is deflected from his
ce
s luggage is m1sdirectea.
mod.ern1 ty, the
s for
on the surface of
ist's decline.
West, with
bach, in an at
of soc
"c
1lization" and assoc1-
or better,
wit..h the French
ct and republicar.ism.
s relat
address a Prench
to him.
discernible motifs belong to the
sphere of
-........-..;;;;...;;.........,.;;;;.;;;;-...-...;;...i..;;...;;;..;....:..;;;..~~~
quarters of
the
a
Northern
ion
OUS Vi
ef
of
land whence comes the
as we
god Dionysus.
exact,
to the
n
is a. stock
souled Germans.
, he ends up in V
ce is
5
He is
ti~ers",
to go to the sunny South
t
sun,
St"
on of a teeming swamp and tigers,
ion
on of
chapel,
e of the Venet
has a sudden vi
stful
J\ scl'"1(~.nba.ch comes to
of the Bvzantlne
in
he
a
The s
throup;h Munich, Mannts city and
a
'st
thB.t ls. the
ons of the souL
center of Germany.
a
So J\schen-
to the boy Tadzio, makes an abor-
set of
begins
Hevo-
to regularize and turn into the sh.gllow channels
intercourse
tlve effort
'
ty, rhet
i
'
Mann elsewhere denominates the
- derogatory - word
whole sphere by the
lut
ln Mann's phrase,
, in short, progress jtself, forms the
background of
s it with
travellim~,
Thus the con-
as he
to
ke
ence
ce o:n
a.
�, Fa.r and Near, arci1i
atbanti
ium is a favorite setting
Now
a
ical
Gre?ece, artful, conspirator18.l,
latter-d
Romant
cturally and Btmospher-
i.m:l.tes of Mann's spi.r-
So the· coo
fraupht with memories,
itual gPography are
North• tf1e decadent Sonth, the
melanc
and the rational West.
lustful
Next a "Protestant" sphere is discernible.
Mann oncP commented
on Death in Venice that "the character of tne whole is, after all,
rather Pro.testant than antique,..
In this passage the term ••Protes-
tant0 has for Mann no particular theological connotation--rather it
refers to what is sometimes called an .. ethos .. , a circle of moral
meanings grouped around the name of Frederick thP Great r.rnrl Prussia.
chenbach's morality has but one catevo ··ical. imperative, uen-
Thus
1
It is an et hi cs of the " des pi tr· .. , of n chi eve m0 n t des p .it~
d \l r anc
"sorrow, poverty, loneliness, weaknPss of body, nassion, and a
thousand hindrances"; it is a kind of
of d0cqdRnce,
K~nti.anism
saint is St. Sebastian, dear to Aschenbnch, who
di:-~
plays
11
Its
prace under
tortureH (and. is, incidentally, thi=i saint of t.t1e r.J.ague) 8.nd its hero
.is Frederick, a ruler whom Mann see$ as a m8gn
.demon, a being of inc
ible indus
.i.cent.l.y ma.Li ci ous
spurred on by a cold and luck-
chenbach's Fredericianism
less passion.
a pasRion for
i~
mastery which arises from a ••thoroughly pesnimistic
passion itself.
Frederi
on to
So Aschenbach, born i.n Schleswle, the plovince
conauered for
subjugated
rr~lat.i
ia, will fall prey to
~tne
reve0ge of
ling. H
There is a second
to whn t J\ll::::in . . ·1 m.r..:.ans by ••
t
p 0 culiarly German aspect,
English, except that i.t is
whir:"!' thr"'·'~' ~.~~ n.o word
iblP. simply
which ca.n be transcribed as ninne
6
stant ism",
iness
0
•
't.0
Uf:.lP
in
t.hri Gerrn<?ln word
In .its context the
�i.tion of
elassi
1.i
rlyn ~
n
Rather
int out how it is ev
enced
es of thP worK have a dream-like
est
the wei
or
chenbach s isolation an~ essential
by
the novel
s
let me
thA
ci
than
al a,nd apo.li ti
ing, when awareness
time, the mark of waKPfU
s, rlisappears,
just as Aschenbach•s thoughts at crucial rrom~·nts t~n~ r;haracterized as
0
dream-logi
and the
comes literal
h;y means of a dream,
tfl.P
dream of
i.nv~1sion
tt1P
But dreaming is the activity of is
ian Di
thP
point in Aschenbnch':::; .inner r.;:;itastrophe
marked by thP preponderance of the inner worlii over·
Similarly the si
on and
external ..
Aschenbach is indicated by his speaking only
e
onnel"
icials
to
of
'3.Dd
that in
0
tongue, Whi
We1:.:;h''
German itse
himse
he more and more
the
disappears from
thP. scene as the plague spreads through Venice arid Aschenbach's
he enters into a cons pi nlcy of silence
countrymen leave e
with corrupt v~netian officialdom to
the fact: of thP p.ts.gue
so tr.at th~ boy without whom he cannot live wi1.1 renu3in in Ven.ice,
anrl from this a~ises his ultimate anti-political drAam of social
. chaos, in which ~verything is possiblP,
1
2.nr
which ,:~nrls in thf?. dis-
appearance of all mankind but himsPlf and the boy.
t
another group ~f
f e as a
ter
•r he
no v e 11 a whi ch tu r·n e d i n to
to be about
old Go
whi
was a ma,ior fact of l\IIr:irm's
The imitation of Goe
name-
the
rences are those ~0ntered
fl t:<'l th
lovt'.~ of the sevr,n
in V(rn ice, was .
cy-thrPe year
for a seventeen year old girl, an epi.sode. by WPans of
Mann meant to illustrate the theme of any µor~t s nat
pPnsi ty for indigni
in hi8 notebooks about
1
Mann
r m::d e a riota ti on
s a.ffai
y·
i.s bec.':)mP-
t
pro-
the entry
�five
08
t
s
the nove
e
s
balance
at first
Beyond this
morali
i
no
en the
on
aca
si
on of a mas
mas
r•s s
a
e for a novel about a
become a "
e's novel )s really what
Go
it a
ish
But
iar feature of
a more
si
seems
works.
of Aschenbach
, so it is sa
c
i. ts per-
~:1.tch
n-r·dpr to
, a novel of deli
n
un-
unspeakable1
1lain and ethereal
, at once
an
and
practised between
wi
d sadism
moderqte, and even da
this is d
is
rm an
SC
and it was for
's
v
disembarkation
an
tie. a pi
ure (even
,iu.st such a
a
of
a wi
on·
called
a c
chenbach is accosted by
ful a.no undi.p-nifiBd case of
plc~-JS i
ion
Man of f• i
u
hP tu r·ns
ng: t r1 P
luding t.he red tie)
cosmetic re,i
ess
e.1 •
whilP prevPntPd from immediate
ce by his luggage,
y in a
r
ns a
se
ether
more
submi
he lanvuagP of
all.
such a distance from its subject matter
erves
himse
and so fo
'l'his motif is
t
I
in
Years 0
novel~
rence which are
now <:ome
at
c
The
occ
of
desi
se I
elf much
s
revo
cu
8
_,
H
'
which hP
is
Mann
mc:~1:·1nt
ar::a-inst thF>
baldness
�of po
tical revo
inproving a
as the pri.ma
ivit:y,
t.n.L~
re·..
speaking of ~rtful music against literate
volt, in his manner
logic. of
1ess depth against expla.riatory rheto c, of complex
~
mysticism against crude cl
It means the prArogative of pas-
sion in its remote pathological forms, and i t is essentially submission to and.even a search for. what already is and always was,
especially for death.
Such romanticism ~ight be called decadence
in its inner aspect--in Mann's view a specifically German dPcadence.
Music is its characteristic art, because it i.s at once most
exact anrl most inarticulate, most exacti
artful an~ most licentious.
and most indulrent, most
Aschenbach. who is given the high-
browed physiognomy of the romant
composer Gustav Mahler,-is a
writer of prose in the city of music, that is, a man of form in a
ci
of dissolution.
His relation to the boy 'ractzio is ess~ntially
"musical" in the.romantic senses
0
the sound of the boy s undecipher-
able Polish tongue strikes him as music, he hears his name at first
as "Adgi
, a. reminiscence
of
that
0
unbelievnbly o1d-fashionPd
0
adagio which Nietzsche describes as enchanting him on his last night
in Venice.
And at the scene of Aschenbach's death on th0 beach of
Venice, a black cloth, thrown over an unattended camera, flutters
in the winri, a reminiscen~e of the black flag planted on the beach
in the first version of .the last act of T.ris}an, thP flag in which
Tristan enshroucts himself to die.
himself died thPre.
Venice, and. of course,
Although Mann did
Parts of Tristan were s~ored in
know it un tll latE:'r, in the yen rs ~ ust
before 1912 Maurice Barres had written an t:ssay called
Veni
.the Death of
01
• which is largely a catalogue of rom<;rtic. pilgrimages to the
decomposing romantic Mecca, and which ends with these words
ocean rolls on in the night and its waves 1n breaking orchestrate
9
�or·
is ,iust
taJ
t
sion
's
1c
IP
ct of the w
Appearances and reminders of
·and ·are interwoven with th8 d
death and
Tadzio, who is typically seen a-
sion
ment of
sea.
of
gainst the
In particular, there is
8.
recurring
th a death's head physiognomya
death figure, a
the
the portico of the funeral
chenbach
who outs
director•• of a c21 utain with whom Aschen-
chapel in Munich, the "c
for Venice, signs a.
boarding the cavernous black
bach,
i~~
Faustian contract, the outcast gondolier who ferri.es him--in a swimLido, the balladeer who, spreading fum~s of dis-
ming coffin--to
a-producing laughing song, while
1nfectant, sings a
ch en-
bach sits sipping pomegranate juice (the pomegranate being a symbol
the presence of Tadzio.
of the underworld)'
Each of these
a.s the sign of the "smouldering ugline
a yellow piece of clot
llow cholera which
of sirkness and, in particular, of the Indian
will be. the physical cause of Aschenbach s death.
11
thin the text, the theme of
But aside from these occurrences
death is its tacit
sea,
•. As Aschenbach
recalls an
0
had once approached the ci
Platen, a romant
stri
thinking of.
melancholy and enthus.iasti
r
antiqui
It is easy.to conjec
It is a
poet
0
by the same route, and he recites some
This unnamed
himse
of his poetry
app·t·oaches Venice by
predeces~rnr
.is August von
and of boys. and a poet of
what poAm Aschenbach is
called "TristA.n° and h:::i s t ilese c
liness
looked on
10
s
his
A
ing
�sha
ral cha
a.nd c
calls an
on
chapter and begins
c
u
the
d
o~f
the wor1\., which
1th a beautiful
as its most successful
clas~ical style~
with
is fi
s c
er
<"'h I shall now
central
is t
bout
cit gond
i
Charon,
carries souls over the
of the dead,
anci
a-
cts of bei
is cl.
e of Hadps";
s
chenbach
ier who ferries
Aschenbach sus
Veni
across the
ch occurs even.before the
ty
ion to
The fi
s corresponds
is cheated of his pay and
r1y
"; Charon will
thos~
wno don
pay
arrived and must
him an
time after his abo
properly a s.ec
c
ive flight from the
city.
o,
The
beach of V
isure, is described by a direct quo-
playful
its s
s a s
ever s
breath and .in
c
blesc~
1 e ·i S 'LP.'A thP.
cal
time it is SPen as Homeric Phae8cia, thP
.:run on.
hi
Tadzio,
of
of
's
of
time
quo-
from a passage dealinp with the
mere sight
beauty to
e madness:
, is to go and travel for a
ce
t, is a Phaeac
advice which is a rli
zio s s
ion from
sailor s
boy ,J ashu, who
e.
li
abili
ere
or streaming rain
nor s
snow, nor
stence
of man, where
is thP. l
n
is nei
pt ion Of e
significantly a desc
ion from
• with
Aschenbqch is lod
ee
you need for recovery."
1
"But my
r, for
�In
c.les
t
mo
11
erences are descriptions of
cal
as
him v21.ri ouf;,
h
of
1
r
s
c
in
as
as Narcissus
Cl
from
Winckelmann,
his
on and appreciat
UC
of
is described in terms of
e
thP famous
a
c s
pulling a thorn from his
·~
a divini
·.. _)
v
th~
head
v
a
r of which
c
11...I
-
was matchles. s. ·~
H
ath, a w
fOY'
rec
s
at
Eros
Thanatos, the
as a.s
How
the
attributf~
s
that he s
his 1
RPoresented
i
ab
of this
n a graceful pose with
zio as he s
on of
descri
to the outcast balladeer
hagogus
appears as Hermes
ermes, tne Lea-
the po
der of S
1ent
0
le
the smell
e and ·inhal
d
ms
, som
about 'l1 adzio s
is an P.ssay by
which d
rm.
to Mann's
conveni
The
)
• more sj_gnificant
in
8S
res
(
sid
blue
Tadzio also appears
a
, such as
r
is
~hapter
, si
a
t, a blouse on
over
icularly "Eros
, Eros,
e wi.
wears a
carod
of the noblest
e
c
bo
Kaphc-31 us
He is a sunlit s
s
b
as
1
i
0
VO
of
see
�ty comes
lf..
former it is a t::.ra-
~i'or
as
of the
myths came from h s
rved,
from his mothe:r. 1 s lltr::'·t~\""Y enttt
a
'
of G
y
be·u
es
ia.ea t
erence -
fro.m
C
he f
So, for 1
of
or are
quo tat
flnds
erences to
inuous motion of the
as a
9
ero's
With
nces,
quot
~
come from sec
t
s
paesa~e
end
from the
, the
t;, most
of
ere nee
t
's
N
Mann
onysns or wht r:.h .1\schenbacl·1' s
of
de
the
b;y' E::rw:ln Hhode, the
t
Prom
out std e
he did
is
es~
s of reference at some
I
oentral on.e . .not merely
sources
e
s
cause
i se, but t:~vet1 more be-
an
of
ca.use
and
the 1
th~:::
er-
sources are an essential
t
is,
i
s
irec....
istlc v
, of hj.s corscte:nti.ons me-
his
now say, I mean 1 n this cor
a.
ion to
t
pree:lse-
�s
ris
as· a
R
a name
s
the past
kind
is s
d
is the
compos.er
tagonist conducts
with the devil, which is made
a so
w
to
of the bo
s
mes.
thP
has j
tating fact that t
on
ing c
the arts have lost
ons
th~
on have
"It might
playing
vanishPd ...
the devil answerss
Pa:rody, then, is a
access
fY·om which.,
!'IDS
~.......-..........o...;.;.;.;;..;...--.t
I
ch make.:::.; the tradi
as an i l
ant
it
's
i
ve:rsati
so employing the tradi.-
narrow sense, thRt is to say, die-
mimic
ly a
a
onr- hand,
ch, and
on the
fact of
modes of s
s
words are us
site
rais
is essenti
is a matter, on
c
I mean
dis
sec on-
parodist Rt thA same tjme makes
precise by thP
of a desc
tra-
•
In respect to s
on,
by making
stic cre8.m.ing
i
it serve him and holds it at arm's
on he
on
sense of the organized
not
playful
d
ze the
I l\.now-- parody •• 0
on.
SC
of
worn out
b~come
as 1. s wP.11 known, life has
and
dition a matter of
assumed and b
possi.ble to
mode
.;;.;..;;;;....;;;...;;.,;;;;;,;;~;;;;;..;;;.
e
0
The devil
r to carry m0aning
ir
forms neces
thP composer s
game
is based on a parallelism be-
and Second Wo1ld Wars.
c
and that
was
, as it wPre
, with a
rtuosi
wi
whi
�i~1
pa.rod.is
on is: co.nc
i
as c
, an
c
s
r
e
It
s
ific moderni
is
8.
, for
as
ing but an
once characterized
of
ires
intimately related to
facet of
diss
i.ntact
rwe
themes
tic mode
the
e
just
a use
mi
c
do
miss)on as
s .l.i
of
ern re-use
a
he
on, by which
ion
t
e
in an
fi
It -is
no accident that the Greek past
one
e
a c
reason1
that ant
the
novella~
and for this
re-use not only conventions ar1d
ise and
es fu11 of
0
1 concern
ens of di.
and
ne or
s
characterize
s later works,
i
ly the
liked to use the
quence
novelisti~
se-
J.i~
meant,, as we
ch
z
ion, to the
cal aura
rs, is, so
c
so that
1
In
cha
h
" aspect is absent, for TadYio, on
th .i. s '' ps ye ho 1
the use
SU
. use
, not a person at alJ
as :it were
a
der
in
Now
ise
used to
, are
to
tic presen
signi
.l'h P
1
m
15
answ~r
is s i.mthe
�ion
a
0
OS
is.
i
QWS
hP.
11
8nd de::3 th might
9
i
a
I
il
prec
s
1
iciencies
for visitors to
..i mml nent
is
on.
d
t
know, the ru
c
this c
dean
r of
a
One night a certain academic was visiting a seminar on
on that was b0inf rtiscussed was
was
si
speak
, was invited
ous
a
s
was
and gave what he c
reason:
c
contributing
j
meet·
beg~nning.
The
out his
by putti
ipus
was the
that
sh-
reupon a st.udent,
ence, asked•
wi
j.n thP myth?"
mode of mPaning as
the question
is prec
.. And why rlid he
his
choose to
sum-
referPn~e
or
consider.
a comment herea
j
of
a
, the more so
a
e which
, as its source and ground
ic
16
\
it as
now to snmewhat wider con-
we must now look
ew
A
no longe.r
i
ition
i
or safe--perh8.pS we czm
we do live in a
on
ace
com-
, by puttinf the s
me
seem
of celebrat
s
into~
It is
�most
most
word
pe re
·i
y Of hi.A··"·
st~
ve i't has i
on v1hi eh Mann
rs
s
origin in
"I
ch means "dissembli
is a
ing
conside
the romantics abs.traeted--a cer-
i
recurse, a sense of ho1ding oneself a1
superiority in
conversation.
Th0y combined with this ~ttitude, or
the human
ea
sourcelt the
or a
a "s
,ject 0
n
It
r than hides superiori
' dissembling
found as
of i.gr10rance--so that
ed
this aspect
or
not to know is its
on of
and ·above
he in tact
to know
that the
Rather
s•
Socrates is
It is not
c
s
, an
1.rony 0 hr-; means Soc
rs to Soc
a subtle
whi
in the Plr.1tonic dial
~.
ous
e
was
ir
anc~
bAin~
1s meant an
j
representations, or more simply
of all
as a "se
ori~inal
exper·i0n~Pt
source
exac
someone, inevitably, says in seminar tt:at "everytt1ing is sub-
as
jectivP-
0
•
of res-pons
creations of one• s own tholl{,.ht.
is thus a
i
~ect,
i
·t:hose
which is
anrl recogni
on 3c;cord
itself
externalized
to no
es
In the romRntic voe
ica-
own c
ions.
place to interject on<:r- ::-:if.~i'.'.:1 in n bri.r-·f ci rcum-
This must
on
c
R
ly deUcate pl
ted an
in
the complement of i
on of the self with i
scri
of art
11
and is ·therefore easily
's words
seen as thR
Of thA
.. infini
e•
nothingnes
ula
ch t to hov r: )" above is sues
and obligation, ·a
li
play
i
they drew thR sense of a
From such absolute subjectivi
term
a. term
n
17.
B
o 1 rd i. n p i::m s :1 b 1 e to the d is -
�cun-
ithf
CUSEt.1.tm of
I me8n chi dren of
excitation and
romantics
from his
t
cial
s
.it
a
i.
••
ism is,
For Mann,
iac
;.j
ct
i
•
n
ss
spe-
r
1
ov~r.
r·Pason, even
ic
on, bri
n
j
j 0n
ion to
f ru 1 t fu.1 re
essentially
en
c
rature .... the
U
.immense
and
L~m i fi
hP says, "is coun-
e emotional
di
in i
si
s
e~rn
rat i. () m~ 1
imism
t
as
it
~normous
"The roman-Li.
on,
Mann's
in whom--1 n.m us i
t
ions.
of the
~xpress
is supplemen
H
ages en-
l
8
counter-
to optimistic rationalism,
science, Nhjch defines a
of
that
, to the
c
of
consc
The romantic is the
does so wU ful.ly. >1 rt
on,
l.ly, and qel
we
call "thr:i
Wi
cism
has the
u.i
aloo
notion
It
.fo
Mann'~3
or
P.SS
hovering is
t l.y t y pi ca l
es• and it ·is c
s
I shall
•.
re disre
nam.es
Mann
j
ro n 5 st
v~n'i~:1
(Of courst=i, it mi
c
consequence of
of the
th n
ti on of
c l i n i ca l i n tt?. t •~~ st s n c e i t
seems to me of
y charac
f
thi nkingu, a
in what I s
d
0
appropr
h
th~
is
argued
V:n·· consti
ion
possibility as unlikely
s of
�and Ni
Schopenheuer~
.
1n res
sche-.... and it ls
.
ct to po
..
ities that might be extracted from them that Mann abso
'
ing,
Among
'
e, Schopenhauer is most tacitly in the background;
the only explicit reference to him..
by that name
Mann himself h8d planned· a novel
and. his notebooks explain the connection of the title
th Schopenhauer's
the Ma,ia
eil
111
1
the web of illusion of iso-
la ti on and appearance in which we are caught.
rrhe nove 1 was to set
out an interpretation of desi r·e 11 in particular thP desire of the weak
for "life", that is for those.who have health anrl beauty, as
tanglement of the isolated individual in the ·•veil. of
was to pres
Maj
hale and hearty mere
, and
P-xposing and
the artist's mission as the double one
preserving the illusion.
en-
The polarity here is that of life, that is,
stence, as opposed to deprivat5.on and desire.
ThP "Nietzschean" polarity b~comes eiplicit toward the end of
the novella, in the fifth and
central, chapter
t
chapter.
presided over by Apollo--it berins with a descrip-
tion of the dawns of days spent within sight
the sun-god's ascPnt
Whereas the fourth,
the sunlit Tadzio,
beach--the fifth
his chariot, and the
_and final chapter is dominated by Di
lengthy description, in the tradi
of the invasion and cciurse of
is insidiously wasting V
th~
on
plague,
It contains an exact and
'fhucydides and Lucre
us,
Indian cholera, which
ce and which forms the background of
chenbach's growing illicit passion for the Polish boy.
1
rhen comes
a night in which Aschenbach has a-dream of .the oreiastic ent
Di
into Greece and his own soul, which dream constitutes his
internal catastrophe and thP beginning of his end.
thA two FOOS which dominate
chapt~rs
19
The source of
is Nietzsche s
�e this important change-has
to write himself
of "antithet
list the
1
more.
c
C
tical attempt was
was to be, in the words
ich it was to deala
so
That essay, which
the no-
eloquence'', and Mann's extensive notes
ses"
Spirit and
d
• together with its author
" is said to be comparable to it.
vella. a
t~A
novella, namely when Aschenbach•s essay on
d by name
ment
work which
the
Sentimental Poe
~ome
, Will
Jpir
and Nature,
Representation, and many
and so mutually involved that Mann's largest
doomed from the beginning
intell~ctually
the very excess of polar opposites.
The object of the essay was to
be to save the artist from the imputation laid upon him by Nietzsche,
of being a charlatan enslaved to the HQlympos of Illusion",
tablishing a type
es-
"literateur" who would be free of such enslavellect and
ic of his times, a man of
ment, a dignified moral er
which such a writer is
psychological insight.
invented only to be shown to
doomed to exposure and
struction
must have made this enterprise morally impossible for Mann.
It was Mann s
..
imenta1••
furthermore to set off this moJern
against
g_
na
poet who might perha1)s be
healthier and nobler but would not be so much a man of the times
Let me here expla
esp~cially, by
iefly what
the word "sentimentaJ.".
~Sc.hiller rn<:nns
by
"naive 0 and,
The senti~ental pbet•s con-
cerns are sentiments rather than objects of nature; he reflects on
ss
received;
"'subject
such as Homer. who is for Sch
s out nature. that
, nat
... , while the una
~·
poet,
the naive p-0et
objects, in shining sculptural
�ti on
,,
( '•
s being na.ivG
--the anc
by nature, and t
tending.to what is g
ject
man
", name
t
ly c:o
ti on
st
to
moderns
Now, the founder of
s
d the l
on his part identif
Romanticism~
dist
icaln
def
with nanc
u
ism was clearly
er-
0
whom Mann's
that Goethe
erject
ua
in his
d,
identifies the class
1 with the
)
re
anc
on
r,
a
ic,
one hand and
ich
· latter group circumscribes a notion wh
ist, is, for Mann
possesses art, namely c
preoccupati
modern
1
ceived as
music, and
t
des er
is
s said,
a
t
u
e pole,
the guise of antiq
faces is not an ob
s own be
0
ich is there
is second-hand and modernized
ist of the nove
the boy
ject, the artist, to his oppos
presented
. just as the
not primarily one
about the relations of the sent
ject of nature,
appropriately and te
/
ions themselves of his produ6tion3
turns centra
the naive and c
ing
h plays a
a man whose ultimate
or
the cond
mental,
o-
rn on
The source of
the not
a capital A
1,
s most specific
the novella as
·The novella,
s
of grouping of terms--na
ct of rjat
so
con-
but a product of
as
a thought
8.
statue, whose language
d
w
which
hopenhauer, to be
darkly act
�is d
ct
to
with o. l
decadent artist s confrontat
of
, for which one h~rdly knows whe-
inept
With a s
ther to laugh or to cry & the proponent of thi;3 problem presents himself under the guise
As. always
from modern prototypes:
Mann
ing, disintegrating Socrates of Nietzsche's
1
not only the
the Socrates of Hoelderl
_espec
the same name
nHe who has thought most deeply,
most alive, and in the
_...,.,.;,.;;;;.i;;;...;;..;;;;;.;;;..=•
loves what is
dialogues while
especially SocrJ,,tes
work on
~1t
hap-
speech,
i t self.
, and the dialogue
pens to be directed
the dialogue isf as always, t
Mann s use of what he read
oughly parodistic, that is
the
0
se man bow:3 to the beautiful
the
But Mann did also read two Plat on
the novella, the
's poem
ich are twice paraphrased
s of
l
are1
novella
he has in mind
say
the text. as in the case of
Schiller, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche, serves aG an occas
for
mimicry and reminiscehcei not fbr responsible appropriation.
one might say that
/
fact
references in the novella contain no-
Plat
ing but external allusions to the dialogues and that to explicate
be to set out a new modern opposition to su-
the differences
pe
ph
the classical one of philosophy and poetry 9 namely that of
osophy and Art in the sense before
ibed--and it is possible
better contexts than this for that enterprise.
to
was ·in some way sensitive to the Platen
does seem to me
text, s
Howeverp it
e there are ce
and sure-hande
in sal
points which he quite particu-
reverses
The passages in question are Aschenbach s two soliloquies,
ac
dged
Mann to be the centerpieces of the work in wh
he
�Phae
apostrophizes
occurs in the
the f
writer,
but still
'
raises the setting of the Platonic
outside the walls of Athens.
and the
plane
Phaedrus
consists of instruction concerning des
of that part of Socrates• recan-
fhis is an adaptat
and
the
tat ion
......-...,;;;...;;....;;;;;..;....;:;.;;.;;;;;..
which describes the behaviour of the temperate
r of beauty. including an adaptation of
and the intemperate
Socrates' def
iful
drus, the wise man the
There Socrates is made to c
youth, and the courtsh
fourth
fluence of the ironist's enthusiasm
r
of himse
c
Apollon
ition of beauty as the sole and only one ~mong the
which can become visible, that is,
beings of the realm beyond
as visible form.
'l1 he passage closes with a reference by the romantic
to "that perhaps most tender and most
Socrates to the
thought eYer thought" by means of which the enthusiast seeks
to save his superiority and his dignity--the passage in which Phaedrus
, filled as he is with divinity, sur-
himself claims that, the
passes the beloved.
The second apostrophe
already infected Aschenbach
spoken by the cosmetically rejuvenated,
the
n
iac" fifth chapter.
divinity and as
begins by, once more characterizing beauty as vis
such "the way of the sensual man, the way of the artist to the spirit"
and proceeds to set out the nproblem 0 of the novella, the problem of
•
It· is not the question "what is beauty" Ui::tt concerns the
"artistu,
sentimental Socrates but the problem beauty poses
which was expressed by the. lines from the poet Platen quoted abovei
He who has looked on beauty with his eyes,
Is
in the h~nds of death.
'""·"
•·
This problem, wh
'-3.lso be called
is very much an autobiographical one
,problem
''the two abysses".
Aschenbach, l
might
�himself,
pursui t
, dogged, me
promis
, in short
talent, the
lt as an abyss of dissolute and."inde-
charm and begin to be
psychologismi•.
Aschenbach turns away from them in middle age
But in the
of a reborn na
of a class
ism of
' a
It is in th
ion of
class
thoroughly formalist
his private life,
of art which is
" arti
with it
and the f ormali
quired. naivete has no
ic
accomp~nied
--I am
the poet
in
by a strict
invaded
his inner life
For the master of classical form Bees
real
poet
substance
"we poets ••• are not capable
visible Sp
ism
because it is
come a "na
to the Sp
ing under the discipline of a
emptiness
second abyss opens.
sdom B..nd
rence
ion of the world ... a moral
c
devastation.
fo~m
, 3.nd symmetry•• wh
simpl
~
results in a "moral
a
poet this
senti~ental
moral·resolve to abjure psychology, takes the
, th
new na
, for
experiences what he terms
and conferring no dignity
the
t~e
up" things and is
But these sharp and bitter insights lose
called "ana
and
that he pursued such knowledge
through" or ••
as consist.s
havi~g
s, the doubting of
mot
exposure
s as lead to
such ins
as
and
Mann me&ns that he indulged in the uncom-
uncondit
the
in his youth "problemat
said to have
of his own efforts to besh and
ings
the "second''., that is
ac-
i th to withstand his
from the second Phaedrus apostropherising, only o.f straying••"'
In other
the novella, because he knows no lovable
has no love of wisdom, "the
of the
ist
which leads through sensual beauty. that is, through
tt
'
is
ion
meaning motion.
viable; the poet's Eros precise
the
not
reverses
it is not a raising
the road not viable
a de(
is
�may be the sB..me thing) its terminus is lift pi:::rfec.tly 1.mcirourn ....
is
SCJ~ibed-·-
Let me read
ion of what is meant by
i.nd
~
last quotation.
MThe masterly bearing of
style is a lie and a foolery, our fame and honor a farcet ·the trust
of the_ crowd in us highly
and the
l~ughable.
and the education of the people
ung through art a risky undertaking which is to be forbid-
den."
rrhese. words are
from Plato's Republic but from the second
Phaedrus apostrophe in Death in Venice.
This is what Mann. perhaps
in the end not so inappropriately, allowed Socrates to say about
wear c&•
...
t me summar
artist
the reason for his condemnation:
is a man of form and his form, or rather formalism, has a false relation- to the passions.
I have, in turn, tried to show what the elements of the artist's
forms, of his artistry; are and what the vices of
virtues
might
char~atanism.
, such that
th~y
impose on us and can be called
Let me summari7.e them also,
There is Mann's linguistic virtuosity, his way of using words.
Aschenbach makes nine attempts to describe
~earance
in
words~
only to
reali~e
Tad~io.
to render his ap-
that this descriptive use of
words, which Mann somewhere calls "Eros in the logos••
in~dequate,
and is. in fact, a hopeless enterprise.
is forever
Nor are Aschen-
bach9s words for human communication--perhaps the most telling reversal
Mann's use Of the Platonic Phaedrus is that a dialogue 1
ich deals with
rel~tion
of eras and rhetoric
sugge~ts
to h
that the writing Socrates has no way to form and conby
logos. and that not a word ever passes between him
and the Venetian Phaedrus.
Then there is Mann's mode of parody, a way of battling decadence
25
�i
persi
by a.
Associated with parody is a
its mean
rred to
sical ••.
s occur to provide moments
composit
nove
use
ich he
s his
the
res
as I
--.a
novel
was
-.;;.;;.;.;;.;;~.;--.--..-..;;;...;;.;..;;..,;;,,.;-..--•
one of
most c
ion to the pass
to
planted
s
leads to a deeper impl
a
and recur-
that to
one
of our t
he saw
problem of
seems to me to
a spec
n
saw--and
ich
se re
u
, rightly, on his
consc
the
H
Mann and the
an apology
Mann prided himse
batt
Wagnerian con-
rms and playing with these
seeing
But this
react
us manner of disposing of issues and
is
preparing
a pre-
it-motifn
is called _.
to·
a
d to elic
scence
and
present is re-
h
t
some-
..
re
t
it another
To
on what
to the pa
means to
~
Brann, Tutor
a
�s
heart is
When I
You
I
to mine;
ss,
you seem to move
a.t a
which you pray.
sense
sadness that is in
Is there no
as when
In
are
You
no warmth;
You yearn
at my caress;
I
answer, one
of
, the
then come,
when
s,
love
blossoms once
weep to see
rest with me
Greene
�Loverq' Walk, in Snow, in the N
The
fierceness of our words
1
Has made us pause; and like the wounded, we
Must rest from
inflicted
the swords
We wield, each at the one we know should be
lest to us and most gen
loved.
hard, as if we lance
We stand here
Our souls,
in the hate of love.
But now our startled eyes have met; the glance,
A look
Has
, grant
; we touch
The moon has risen
·ro
whi
closer love,
hold hands.
ent
, from white
in the crystal, breathless n
But come: the winter air is
t ..
chills.
Our love will hurt aud heal us as it wills.
reene
28
�of
and
and suggests
the
the same
ways of
cizes the
account of
sati
It a.lso
HYL~L,~i
suggests another more
of
Slts
.this note are
more
The first
of the
of
between a multitude and
that is the same as the
unit
o between some number
)
of numbers is
ied
or the
account of
feet long, l do not think of
When I think of .a
the same ratio to the unit
of the table as
of the
bears to one.
is
is that the
What I
external to the
• The.
its l
II
its 1
be
of its 1
to some other
-feet-nessn of the table
0
"Of it seems
much
of the
to the other
into
1
this
of measuring 1
either this
I do not think
of a
to be the
it is
' 1
to
Measuring 1
deals with the measurement of
is
to me to be something that
11
in" the
may
The
But the
the
feet.
'
the
as
it
be said, in addition, to
e ratio is a consequence
�i~
. 1)f
of'
also, since the one
.must
And
group
eggs
@
I
is the same aa the
What I
egg which is
in the
as
and whi
to
The
)
into twelve items,
to the
I am
to
the unit
and one,.. (P
between
to one another and
each
ed and
of eggs is
that the
assimil~ted
I have come up
the
do
s
When I hB, vo counted a
say twelve, is a ratio between the eggs I have
egg
inaoouratat its account
not be
what
twelve" of1t-he eggs is in the
what shall be
of eggs; it is
not a
In
measure
of
0
numbers 0 is used througho11t the first chapter
sometimes as if it could refer to
enter
use of the word
is its
and
The word
fa]se definitions
for the
of a certain
which can
ratios and can have the same ratio to one another that a
can·have to one of the units in it@
there
kinds but
eggs and
But
denied in
between things of
the same
, between eggs
numbers and numbers. (P~
)
than it is
"numbers" is no sooner
s
of another one:
it is the system of
carry "in our heads";
wherever there are
as much a
is
a dozen eggs as
their
(P I-8
~~·-~·~~·~,
This nmore strict"
word
characteristic" of a group, is
, however
to mean a
mentioned to be
�in
in which it is
very same
th~
sties
eggs
th~y
11
clear from the fact that al though
can be set up. (pp I 8-'
number 11 are radically distinct is
one might be able to
:1peak
'·
characteristics had a ratio to one another. A further absurdi
a
of two
a ratio to one another, one could never 3ay that two
numbers as
since
that
are spoken of as things
a one-to-one corre
these two uses of the
s~id
this
Or if we
of
count
.we do
Let me suggest that numbers are
things nor things
of things. By this
prescinded. This is
lines; all that is
the at.her two.
sties of
neith~r
nor ratios between things but rather groups
the nnumber books" of
propositions about groups of things
time, color,
come up with
(ratio) is added
a third sense of
to compound the confusion already caused
results
from
th·~
considerations of place
, shape, and individual multiplici
have been
can be represented there
is individuali
and relative size.
To count a number, multitude, or collection, then, is to determine
which one of
predicates, e.g. two, three or
fo~r,
with a sound in a certain order, "two", "three", "four"
of it. What
each associated
to
e
to a given multitude will be determined
matching the items in the multitude,
sure they are all as much
the same as one another as required, one-by-one with the individual sounds
�associated with the predicates and repeated ::ln the propi'~r order .a
proper
(
TJ1e
from the proper order a.mo:ng
the
the predicates .and has no
necessity; there is no reason that I
can see why the
by
)
"four" and
could not be signified by
When the individuals
the collection have been
to the multitude wilJ. be signified by
-exhausted, the
the sound
There is nothing remarkable about this procedure:
anyone with a
"counter" in his hand need only push it every time another individual ts
included in the tally and, at the end, read off the name of the predicate
l'.
belonging to the multitude he has just counted.
The procedure, in fact,
is fundamentally akin to that involved in determininr what predicate should
be asdgned to any subject:
reason seeking and fi.ndinf her own children.
To measure a length is to determine what pred:i.0ate to apply to that
. length when it
considered as divided into parts each cqu.-:.1.l to some other
external length.
Because the items in a "length eolled.ion •t are apparently
continuous with one another instead of, as in a collection of egt:s, discrete,
"counting" this kind of collection will require that that whi.ch separates
the individuals from one another, the principle of fodividua.l distinctness
and, therefore,
gnomon* outside.
individual being and knowabiJ.ity -
J.et us call it the
will have to ·be introduced foto the "collection" from the spatial
The genesis and consequent intelligibility of the individual
units which
be counted is precisely what
a.lignl:~"lf;
a ruler alongside an
object to be measured accomplishes.
(In the case of counting, the gnomon remains outside each individual,
but non-spatially.
Its principle ot"
cotmta.b1lit~y, that 1Jj'
virtue of \.Jhfoh
each one ''counts" as one 01· whatever is being co1mt.ed, Lo., its "being-an-egg'
32
t
�is
same time
at
it
one with 'it.
intimc~te
through which
the
are
For law
in law books
are to be
Some
members
of
are generated and hence become
e.g., citizens,
states of emergency, etc.
t
are in the
t
growerst e.g., 1'Grade
Hap le
A
or the wisc 1 e.g.,
or artisans, e
these gnomons is in the
making or al
have
what
in the case
properly belongs to a
by matching the items in the
is de
continuous col
ruler is we 11 ca
by means of
nrune.
individuals
When
ruler
exhausted,
most rulers also count the ones
mark off equal distances:
they
near the unit divisions, e.g.,
they
exhibit this
meters in
service station
pump n1e te rs
a gnomon in an
involve
unknown and out of
for
seem
gnomons,
the gnomon
ref ore,
is
bet\lleen
are
an~
is tlk'1.t whose name is the
to
uttered or read
, one .. by-one with
gnomon of
and although
that of
is external to the counted while
is internal to ito
But in both cases the
�unnamed is
ma.de
association of
t!.1a t
~.~an
to
be
that
�'s
music,
s
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
<em>Oratio</em>
Description
An account of the resource
This journal publishes essays related to the content of the St. John's program, tutorial and laboratory papers, mathematical theorems, substantial poetic works, and reviews of lectures and concerts.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Oratio" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=32">Items in the <em>Oratio</em> Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
St. John's College Greenfield Library
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
paper (bound book)
Page numeration
Number of pages in the original item.
45 pages
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oratio, Volume I Number 1
Description
An account of the resource
Volume I, Number 1 of the Oratio. Published October 1971.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Weissman, Jessica (Editor)
Rosenblatt, Eric (Editor)
Isaacs, John (Editor)
Gonda, Gail (Editor)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
St. John's College
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Annapolis, MD
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-10
Rights
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St. John's College owns the rights to this publication.
Type
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text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
pdf
Language
A language of the resource
English
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Oatio Vol I Number 1, Oct 1971