haneenbendary - Tumblr blog

[haneenbendary]

This may interest Secret History fans

“We’re all a lot better off.” "Some of us are, you mean.” Henry smiled acidly. “Oh, I don’t know,” he said. “Πελλαιου βους μεγας ειν Αιδη.” This was something to the effect that, in the Underworld, a great ox costs only a penny, but I knew what he meant and in spite of myself I laughed. There was a tradition among the ancients that things were very cheap in Hell.

This morning I googled this line to find the context, and found a number of Secret History readers who were puzzled by it.  Someone correctly placed it in Callimachus, but couldn’t account for the fact that it doesn’t mention pennies.  Here’s a non-literal translation:

“If there’s pleasure in death, and sure I speak true, Pellaeus’ fat ox will be happy as you.”

[Alternately, Πελλαιου might not be a proper name but rather an adjective meaning “darkly-coloured”, in which case it would be “A big black ox will be happy as you.”] 

Well, this is indeed a line in Greek about an ox in Hades, with some appropriate pessimism and dark humour, but it’s the wrong one.  The complete epigram doesn’t mention the expense of the ox; it’s just saying that there’s no real afterlife and both humans and oxen go to the same place in the end and have about the same experience.

The correct line is found in Callimachus, Iamb 1 fr. 191, in which a long-dead poet announces:

“…οὐ γὰρ ἀλλ᾿ ἥχω ἐχ τῶν ὅχου βοῦν χολλύβου πιπρήσχουσιν.”

“…for I have come from the place where an ox costs a penny.”

I don’t think this is a mistake on the part of Tartt or her editors; I think it’s Richard being an unreliable narrator, even about a thing of minor importance. In the context of the book, Henry might be making a dark comment about who is “better off” in Hades which Richard (with his inferior Greek skills and obsession with money) interprets the wrong way.  Richard makes a lot of hasty conclusions and does a lot of sloppy Greek homework, but Henry simply wouldn’t get that reference wrong.

Anyway, since I had to go chasing that reference this morning for unrelated reasons I thought I’d toss it in the Secret History fandom tag.

Edit: I wondered if I’d written about this before and I had, half of the way: an alternate translation for the epigram exists that might make sense of that “Pellaiou” without involving the iamb…but the iamb is a much more straightforward expression of the idea.  

[haneenbendary]

Kim Young-Ha

Looking back, I realize the hardest part of life is dealing with humans.

Diary of a murderer.

[haneenbendary]

Young Ha-Kim

People want to understand evil. A pointless desire. Evil is like a rainbow. It retreats at the same pace as your approach. Evil is evil because you can’t understand it.

Diary of a murderer.

[haneenbendary]

Dr. Carol S. Dweck

Being and becoming are two different things, one is constant, while the other is changing.

Mindset

[haneenbendary]

.

Some people bleed with blood, while others bleed with words.

Unknown

[haneenbendary]

.

I turn land to ash in my wake

.

[haneenbendary]

Sometimes people think if they love a broken person enough, they can be what finally repairs them,but the problem with that is the other person just ends up broken, too.

Colleen Hoover s "It Ends With Us "

[haneenbendary]

Gianna : Can you play dress up with Isabella, I played yesterday.

Matteo : Anything for my princess

Gianna : Awww

Matteo : I meant our daughter

Gianna : You spoil her way too much

Matteo : I DO NOT

..........................................................................................................................

Isabella : Hold still daddy, you need more makeup

Matteo : Every body fears me you know?

Isabella : I will make you too pretty to be feared

Matteo : Anything for you Isa

[haneenbendary]

Dr. Paul was always fascinated by the concepts of life and death, how someone could be alive one moment then dead in the next, the mysteriousness of death and the reality of life were always on his mind. Through his journey to uncover the mystery of death by understanding life, Dr. Paul follows different paths of research and study untill settling on Medicine as the mediator between life and death.

[haneenbendary]

From "101 essays that will change the way you think" by Brianna Wiest

[haneenbendary]

Brianna Wiest's book is a great resource for anyone looking to improve their mental health and overall well-being. While some of the essays are from other sources, Wiest's own contributions are particularly insightful and thought-provoking. The book is definitely worth a read for anyone interested in self-improvement and psychology.

It talks about the human brain ( how it works and processes situations, struggles, ideas, and people ) , body ( how it's viewed in society and beauty insecurities ) , emotions ( how we feel and process emotions, how we ignore some emotions and why, etc ) and society, societal stereotypes and such.