#not thee or thou or thy or anything either just thyself | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rwmhunt · 3 years

Text

Leviticus, Chapter 22

1. Lo, for That I cannot prosecute my thoughts; I needst here cultivate caution- Then put a hold unto my options, That I cannot challenge him. Any source of information, That be of an admixture truth, And of an admixture untruth, is of a danger, Did you know that? Humbly needst I move toward diamonds and gold's Otherwise-useless demarkation on worth; My face must stay its specter in clay, For it is my career; That I can say: It is mine.

2. Thus, to Aaron, gold and diamonds Bringeth ignominy and unwarranted power; Strewth, they are only much use for The rings of your finger; So let alone the past, Which you mark As a messed up place, How then, is this the valid Strategy for the future? Lo, let us divide and game.

3. Increase the paywall; Holy things are ringing in changes; You are the visitor here- I'd like to take the time To consciously consider you so, for We have reached besmircher's cutoff. It's me, mark it; and Either I am a negative nebulae Of unimaginable everything, And you are a little golden bull, Or you are a negative nebulae Of unimaginable everything, And I am a little golden bull;

4. But know that I shall not give you the word For the thought-track down which You might draw the line Of asymetry, such, That you wouldst know How to rend a perfect opposition To go between. And whosoever soweth dead seeds Among young female researchers Hath faileth the épreuve- It shalln’t do for thy running issue, Moreover, those women who are of Quite senior position and are doing it Unto the coercive nature of such a power's New destruction of ability to focus, As unto the camp's commander, With how Peleg begat Reu; Well, it might be enough to get you pregnant, But wait, where am I going with this?

5. Worm touchers, Creepy pressers, Come, come, observers, Keep from that strange creature; Don't be giving unto me None of thy screaming abdabs; I think on you, Pig dressed as a clown, Eructing unto, then drawing forth A near-entire white, plastic fork; And know you not how this came to me- Lo, it came up with a sequence of items that appeared Not unlike balls of meat, Furred, wistfully, in a grey cowl of reactionary mucus; A kind of veil, a barrier, in effect, Penetratable, at any point, But equally real as a barrier, Gainst our otherwise passive environs, Such as be the diffusion of inert thoughts, or spores, murky, and maintaining of a human resource, I liked to thrill it- The direct and immediate livid relationship Between a font of funding and a media event, O, harmless dalliance of the stationary cupboard- You are knowingly walking, As against your will, A wrong into the carpet, Within the tent of meaning.

6. Looking up to see God's face in the moon, Or whatever it was That can't be drawn, And I won't be drawn; His hands he filled with moisture and His own was sent for ablution Into the improvised basin. So denieth all such allegation Through the washing of thy soule, Clean off; so sloughed away, Away with the diminishing liquid.

7. Sundown with the unseen Woman's leverage on the situation- if you should find a way to redress balance, So she gaineth a bit more power in some manner, Then so what? it was no loss. A new deal, And the bill shall embolden survivors.

8. Positions of power shall have of a hard time In recognizing the coercive nature of that power Within an unbridled relationship; Things that die 'Of themselves', Or are yet rent by nature's horn, Are defiled; while I, a malign influence, lie with my soul distracted; Oh lord, but I've been swallowed by narrative, And tried to keep it communal, Inside and outside; As you are.

9. Pit stop- The horror is the fact; The horror it unfolds Through legions of would-bes Without a meter, like me, Who have applied, Will apply, in perpetuity; Just do it, Or die; if then, As I am still.

10. The individual is always Hedging toward A private business model. Attention-seeking shalln't be of sin, no! Tis sensible, keep with a forward optioning- That's why i tell you, Soujerners and servents, Who art sent to the concession to collect me my messages- My tutu is a Fendi, And my codpiece is a Bosch. We live unto a roaring attention economy. But you're not up to it. I've given them a tomato one, And also I gave them a spaghetti- We struggle to attune to where I'm compelled- Ourselves, as groups, who feel of themselves As blunted against their lack in deserved attention, Because it is a powerful, a dangerous feeling.

11. So eat souls As paid for with a priest's money, On escrow, attention Has always been currency Though rendered unimaginable Since the falling-away of the gold-standard, As was borne unto the tent of meaning, Where every page has a piece carved out, To house an advert's grab For égards; No space is secure, For security hath put an advert thither.

12. Jade lock, To knock the donald offline, So unto a stranger, Gone off to scavenge, The framers that frame themselves As refuges for free-expression Shall be rent at the fringes, forcing A redirection, away from my personal kingdom.

13. But should she go prodigal, Whosoever you are, Howeverso you might express thyself, You may now have a crack at a global audience, With incentives and disproportionate benefits Offered unto the most shameless, The demand of each to pay what scarce attention Might be rendered unto others, To get some fraction of this nominally limited resource, As unto yourself alone. Such are these poor weapons, An oversharing, That, essayed to the personal, Stretcheth my nancy stories To breaking.

O Marigold, I was bad At that, in the territories of fandom, As forced to return Unto the track over and again- Such was my leaky comprehension; Only apparent to me in the afterward, And now, I cannot say I am better.

14. Whence, Enroute from the concession Shouldst be eaten of the item Without, thence, So anguished in the relish, Thou giveth a fifth Of the holy thing; So that the leg shall grow A starfish, whole . Then let us bend our dark tubers towards, And look the knot, as in at an eye-

15. What's gold and glitter, But to mock a toom, And maketh of myself A symbolic same, Wrought as an aesthetic echt; Where diplomacy is weak, The aesthetic be yet The sole portal unto The conveyance of meaning; Verily, here, that I keep within The aesthetic of thought Whereby action is always y, You are i, and The antagonist be markated x; Where holy might only Fall down to one's discretion, You should've known That I wouldst be so solid.

16. Or suffer them to bear the enquiry of trespass, Felt as an information glut, Whilst eating of their holy orders, Found relishing within the anguish, And those who want it, Want it as much as they can get it, And there is more access than can be vaunted, For, in an attention economy, one is never not on. Yes, me. O the guilt.

17. Attention is akin to the spirit; That it be vital but conventionally invisible, And thus, think not very much upon it, But unto whom, being unable to share A simple encounter with it, Wouldst soon become an artifice of torture.

18. Tell Aaron et al ensundry, To take up of stock with sarcastic markets, Sarcastic markets and I, impunity; The sacrifice of your own will I hand you freely; or no; T'was never yours to oblate, But sacrifice thy quasi-will, As will thee, Which is mine, against The short hedge, Thus maketh me of a currency exchange.

19. And an haut stud dost thou, unto me, weasels? By your whimsically free-will sacrificing? How charmingly lame. I sense Actors at play, in a very long game Of grooming the disaffected- Call me my boys in- then Send a lie to the long deceiver, To use the ruse, in turn, like poison, For to wish you that which upon may be Enabling unto the benefit of thine enemy.

20. It's no hambone, No hobbling billy- If he tells or interferes I'll fill the well in; its Prophets in stocks and neck-irons time, Else tolerate such increasingly radical agendas Of such gleefully uninhibited platforms as Where followers might laugh At biblical memes and opine such as- 'I'd rather do drama than a play, where, You can't say, really, What you want to say.' Go long, my cowhands, go long.

21. And peace is a sacrifice Of the streaming platform, while Attention has always been currency, Same. Our abilities to pay heed are limited; Not so our abilities to theoretically receive of it; No need to adequately substantiate If you can bamboozle With all the time in the world, Ka-pow-ka, ching-ching, da-da, Badoo-daboo-baday; Trust-modesty, yay, verily. Humility is hard to sustain In an attention economy. I only see me accelerating.

22. Blind, broken, maimed; Cankered, scurvied, wan with the wen, Thus, by my lights, The fault shall be displaced, Be it cleaned or weeping, Tis a no-no, get me another. Such was The schism that fractured the donald, Sent out to extend a tortured metaphor, Became too much of a liability To be held in high office- But if the stranger doesn't come, After all the things I’ve done for him,

23. Well, it's alright for a free-will offering Which you feel compelled to go along with, But it's not good enough for a vow offering As be brought unto online-influencer culture, And it might be enough to get you pregnant But it shan't be enough to stir my interest- I require an extreme case of humility, Whereby a person giveth his all to a presence so completely selfish As to serveth no other purpose. It's me.

24. But the reality is far less complicated than Moses, Hiding his damage behind a veil of linked-up back-channels, Recoiling at what his fellow hardcore moderators attempt to oblate; Too engrossed within the tents to consider anything outwith While hoping the whole doesn’t spin out of control.

25. Corruption is in them, strangers, Bethinks, flooding an affiliated image board So thoroughly that it becometh abomination. Here increaseth the shamelessness of wanton Allegation, terror co-option of a social platform, which struck with the rise of a reality magik-vision, Alike as came unto a mid-80s index of abundance, Shewn running away whilst attempting to make focus On the ever-deterioratingly indistinct Object of the distancing, that It’s only when, at stopping to think about it, That the understand can be ascertained as to quite how rife it is.

26. Here, he left a passing message for Those who might collectively commandeer: Abide by life; that, if, then, I wouldn't be here.

27. Debates about amplification And attention-hijacking form a Siege mentality Of the corrupted Federal Apparatus- For seven days beneath the dam, As then a fire spiralled further Toward a more outlandish means Of unconstitutional civic theatre,

28. Whereby a calfling must be made to last The night and know it's mother As having died before slaughter; So the community Moved in after it went dark, Enjoining, then modulating, then killing off, And now Your complexes are all cooked in, Deeply infringing upon the weirds of others.

29. So must you make sacrifice To your very free will, As to common patriotic causes, Or else be sieged Within the corrupt Federal Apparatus.

30. The fundamental thing is: You cant escape my attention economy; Eat everything now, For nothing shall be saved, And this same day shall be Until tomorrow; when again, it's me.

31. Lo, and you must; it's me, remember? But by now all this blood and all this law Was affecting them, as had long been within their dream, Where they have their own rules, quirks and cultures, Which they ignore at your peril; Where environments play out upon a knife-edge, And attention might simply be a lens Through which to read the events of the moment While running away.

32. Herein, power shall not be trusted To recognize affiliated abuses of power; Yet, check, however, before Redirecting such missives from my personal kingdom, For lo, there shall be nonesuch insubordination, As might mitigate against, for I shall be hallowed; Me me me me, So you;

33. Thus, I lay my notional claim Unto my servant-leadership- as bang, That brought you out of the land, Didn't it? Akhenaten to me. So Leviticus stood at The simply-inflated Size of Capitalism, To whom, hereto, On a bench they'd built Between themselves, Be here, thisway, is addressing- 'Imagine; You have been wrong For a long long time now.'

2 notes · View notes

magnus-the-maqnificent · 5 years

Text

Language of Roses pt. 6

Part 1

Magnus and Alec had managed to get out of the palace safely. They’d coursed through the halls with no one noticing them - except for one.

At one point, they both had run into Camille. She was alone, thank goodness, and was dressed, like Magnus was, in her wedding clothes, looking beautiful. She’d somehow recognised Magnus under his cloak - she hadn’t said anything, but Magnus saw it in her eyes- but she’d taken one look at his and Alec’s interlaced hands and stepped aside. Magnus had moved ahead without meeting her eyes, Alec right behind him.

Now they were in the city, walking side by side, still holding hands. Magnus cherished this moment, of openly walking through the city, openly holding his beloved’s hand.

“Where are we going?” Magnus asked for the umpteenth time. Alec’s smile was secretive as he replied,

“You’ll see.”

Soon, the church rose up in front of them, with its imposing cathedrals. Large stained glass windows were set in the stone wall. Magnus stared at the church, and then at Alec. He didn’t stop, not until they stopped right in front of the church.

“Magnus,” Alec said, moving to stand in front of him and taking his hands, “I know it’s a little early for me to ask this of you, but.. God, I just.. I just need to know, I guess, that you won’t be going anywhere. I think this is the only way we can be together while making sure that they won’t be able to separate us anymore.”

Magnus blinked. Alec was clearly nervous, and he wasn’t making much sense either.

“Alec,” he said reassuringly, and leaned in till their foreheads touched. “I won’t be leaving you. Ever. You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.”

“No.” Alec shook his head. “No, I God, I want to. I want to do this so badly. But it’s... it’s a difficult thing to ask of you.”

Magnus closed the distance between them, kissing Alec briefly before he pulled away. “If you want it so badly, and if I can grant it for you, then I shall do everything in my power to give it to you. Ask, Alexander.”

He had a slight hunch about what Alec wanted, but he kept it to himself. A small bubble of hope grew within him.

“Okay,” Alec said, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed down his nerves. He fell gracefully to his knees, Magnus’s hands still in his, and looked up into Magnus’s eyes. “Okay. Magnus Bane,” he spoke, his eyes bright with anticipation, and Magnus’s own heart was thudding hard in his chest, “Will you do me the honour of being my husband?”

Everything seemed to come to a stop, all of a sudden - the voices of the townspeople as they went about their day, the scrape of wheels against the road, even the thudding of Magnus's own heart. His hands tightened in Alec's, and he said, smiling brightly, "Yes."

Alec returned the smile. It spread it to his eyes, lighting them up like twin stars. Alec got to his feet, pulling in Magnus for a kiss, and suddenly the world seemed to spin a little faster. Magnus wrapped his arms around Alec, and pulled him in closer for one brief, deep kiss. Alec's eyes were still shining as he pulled away from Magnus.

"Let's go," he said, and moved towards the front doors of the church, pulling Magnus along. Magnus's eyes widened.

"Right now?" He asked.

"Right now," Alec confirmed, and pushed open the doors. Alec had clearly done some thinking beforehand - the aisle was lined with flowers, boquets of red and white until the altar, which was decked with flowers too. Red roses, mainly, but also a few bunches of white roses thrown in. To one side were Alec's siblings, smiling broadly, and another dark-haired woman he didn't recognize. And to the other...

"Catarina? Ragnor?"

They were Magnus's friends from town. He had met them during one of his escapades, and had always visited them afterwards. He didn't know how they knew to be here, but he was grateful all the same.

Catarina smiled at him. “You really thought we’d leave you alone on the big day?”

Ragnor, standing beside her, appraised Alec instead. “So this is the Alexander we’ve heard so much about.”

Alec blushed. Magnus smiled at him.

“Magnus,” Alec said in a low voice, and indicated the dark-haired girl standing with his siblings with a jerk of his head. “That is Aline.”

Magnus nodded at her. “Thank you for taking care of Alec.”

Aline dismissed his thanks with a wave of her hand. “It was no problem,” she said.

He turned back to Alec, but Alec was already looking at him. Alec squeezed his hand. “Shall we?”

Magnus smiled and nodded. That was enough. They walked towards the altar, hand-in-hand, together as one. Magnus could feel his heart hammering in his chest, and his palms were sweaty, though Alec didn’t seem to mind. He stopped just short of the altar and let go of Magnus’s hand to take off his cloak. Underneath, he was wearing formal blue robes.

As a royal, Magnus had been obligated to wear gold instead of blue, as custom indicated. He removed his own cloak, revealing the rich gold robes he was wearing underneath. By the time he left them on one of the pews, Alec had already climbed the stone steps to the altar. He now stood in front of the priest, and was looking at Magnus expectantly.

Magnus went to stand in front of him, and took Alec’s hands in his. He’d expected Alec to be nervous, but he didn’t seem to be- his hands in Magnus’s were steady.

The ceremony began. Magnus had been waiting for a long time, and at last, here it was.

“Blessings and merry meet,” the priest intoned. “Gentle lords and ladies, their bans having been published, we are here today to join the Fair Prince Magnus Bane and the Noble Alexander Lightwood together. They have asked you here to share in their joy, and to declare their love for one another before you as a community.” The priest turned to Alec, and asked, “Do you Alexander Lightwood, take unto thyself as husband the Fair Prince Magnus Bane and pledge unto him before God and these witnesses to be his protector, defender and sure resort, to honor and sustain him, in sickness and in health, in fair and in foul, with all thy worldly powers, to cherish and forsaking all others, keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live?”

“I will,” Alec said, his gaze not wavering from Magnus. The priest turned to him, next.

“Do you Prince Magnus Bane, take unto thyself the Noble Alexander Lightwood to be thy rightful lord Husband and pledge unto him before God and these witnesses to honor and cherish him, to cleave unto him, in sickness and in health, in fair and in foul, be his one true and lasting counselor and solace, and forsaking all other, keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live?”

“I will,” Magnus said, and felt amazed for a moment, because only a few hours ago he had been preparing himself to say these words in a completely different room, for a completely different person.

The priest held his hands out, and Max stepped forward, placing a cushion of velvet in his hands. On the velvet gleamed two rings of gold.

“Heavenly Father,” the priest turned his head upward as he spoke, “bless these rings which Noble Alexander Lightwood and Fair Prince Magnus Bane have set apart to be visible signs of the inward and spiritual bond which unites their hearts. As they give and receive these rings, may they testify to the world of the covenant made between them.”

He handed one to the rings to Alec, who carefully slid it onto the ring finger of Magnus’s left hand, and said, “Receive and wear this ring as a symbol of my trust, my respect and my love for you.”

Magnus repeated the same, sliding an identical ring onto Alec’s hand while saying the same words. Behind him, he could hear Isabelle sniffling. He could sympathise.

“This circle will now seal the vows of this marriage and will symbolize the purity and endlessness of their love,” the priest said. “Before I proclaim you joined thou must kiss three times on cue.”

Magnus resisted the urge to grin at Alec, though he could feel his lips twitch up involuntarily into a smile. Alec caught the smile, and returned one of his own.

“Once for luck,”

Magnus leaned in, kissing Alec on the mouth.

“Twice for Love”

It seemed almost impossible, that they were kissing not just for the sake of kissing, but for getting married.

“..and Thrice for Long life.”

Magnus’s lips lingered a little longer on Alec’s, and he pulled away. Alec was looking at him with a strange light in his eyes. Sometimes, he wondered if God was real. He almost didn’t hear the priest as he said,

“By the Power Vested in me by the Realm, I now pronounce you Alexander Lightwood-Bane and Prince Magnus Lightwood-Bane.”

Alec smiled at him, then, the smile lighting up his eyes and taking Magnus’s breath away.

Sometimes, he wondered if God had come to him in the form of Alexander Lightwood.

“So, what now?” Alec asked. Their friends had left not so long ago, having congratulated them both. There was a rather awkward moment when Isabelle broke down in Alec’s arms, and another one where Magnus’s friends had claimed that he used to write poetry about Alec, (He didn’t), but Magnus cherished them all the same.

Magnus shrugged. “We go back to the palace, I guess.”

Alec looked at him. They were standing on the front steps of the church, and the sunlight fell on Alec’s face, tumbling into his eyes. Magnus wished he could stay there forever, just looking into those eyes. “What about your father? I thought we’d lie low for a few days, before going to see him.”

Magnus looked away. They might be married now, but he was still worried about how Alec would take it when he found out about what Magnus did. “I... I doubt he’ll be much of a problem now.”

Alec frowned slightly. “What do you mean?”

Magnus still didn’t meet his gaze. “That day you escaped... I overheard a conversation between my father and another woman. An assassin. He.. he wanted to get you killed.” Magnus’s eyes flickered to the ground. He still felt sick all over just thinking of it. “I was angry, Alec. I met that assassin as she was leaving, and offered her another deal. To spare you and kill my father instead.” When Alec did not say anything, he added, “I imagine he’s gone by now.”

Unable to take the silence anymore, he turned to Alec, looking him right in the eye, and asked, “Was it wrong? What I did?”

Alec reached up to put a hand on Magnus’s face, caressing his cheek. “I won’t tell you whether you did right or wrong, Magnus,” he said. “Because, on one hand, this is your father we’re talking about. On the other...” his eyes darkened. “When I was in those dungeons, I talked with the other prisoners sometimes. It’s horrible, Magnus. Many of them were in there for trivial things - stealing food, not paying their taxes because they didn’t have enough money. Things like that. I can only imagine, from hearing their stories, how life is outside the palace. Magnus, these people are not happy because of your father. I don’t think anyone has ever been made happy by your father. And as for whether it’s right or wrong...” Alec shrugged. “Who am I to play God?”

Magnus smiled at him. “Shall we go home then?”

Alec nodded at him. “We shall.”

As soon as they reached the palace gates, the guards rushed to inform Magnus that his father was lying on his deathbed.

“We should go see him,” Alec said immediately, turning to Magnus. Magnus’s gaze was faraway.

“I don’t want to,” he said.

“You’ll regret it,” Alec said softly, brushing Magnus’s hair away from his face with his fingers. “I had parents once, Magnus. I know how hard it is so lose them. Please.”

Magnus relented with a sigh, and they went up to the King’s room, holding hands. The entire palace was quiet, as if it was holding its breath.

At last, they reached the room, Magnus pulling in Alec beside him despite his protests. The King was indeed laying on the bed, surrounded by ministers, his eyes flickering to Magnus and Alec. Alec could see black lines creeping up his neck as he turned to look at them, and was momentarily horrified. What had that assassin done to him?

“Magnus,” the King rasped. “What have you-“

“I got married,” Magnus said simply. “To someone much better than any of those proposals you got me.”

The King scowled. He opened his mouth to speak, but a coughing fit took him before he could say anything.

Magnus looked away, and Alec saw a brief flash of pain in his eyes.

“I don’t even know why I agreed to this,” he murmured. “Let’s go, Alec.”

“Magnus,” Alec admonished silently, putting a hand on his arm. Magnus looked back at his father, but the King was looking at Alec instead. Magnus’s eyes softened.

“He is nice, isn’t he?” Magnus said, and it took Alec a moment to realise that his husband was talking about him. “Makes you wish you were alive, so that you could get to know and like him, doesn’t he?”

The King shook his head. “I’d rather.. die, than... than see my bloodline get overrun with.. with commoners.”

Magnus’s eyes darkened, and he turned away, pulling Alec with him. They didn’t stop until they left that hallway, till Magnus stopped short and leaned heavily against the stone wall closest to him.

“Magnus,” Alec whispered, the unasked question hanging between them. Are you okay?

“I don’t care,” Magnus declared. “So what if he choses to die with hate in his heart? I don’t care, it’s.. it’s his choice. I-“

But then Magnus’s voice shook and he pulled Alec close, holding him tightly as he broke down. Alec held him, one hand moving to stroke his hair, being there for his husband as best as he could.

He didn’t understand Magnus’s grief, and he didn’t pretend to, but the least he could do was help him through it all.

Magnus sat on the stone ledge, overlooking the celebrations before him along with his husband. They’d both foregone the traditional wedding ball, and instead threw a feast in the palace grounds. The entire city had been invited. Magnus and Alec had both agreed that it was a much better idea than the ball. Besides, Alec had practically been shuddering at the thought of making small talk with all those nobles and lords who had once been considered higher than him.

He was presently leaning his head against Magnus’s shoulder, twirling a red rose in his hands. Magnus dropped a kiss on the top of his head and asked, “Enjoying yourself?”

Alec nodded against his shoulder. “Much better than the ball.”

It had been a month or so since they got married, and Magnus still wasn’t quite used to waking up with Alec in his bed. He suspected Alec wasn’t used to it, either. He still worked in the garden, sometimes, and Magnus let him, knowing that gardening was something that Alec couldn’t, and wouldn’t let go.

He still walked into his bedroom every night to the sight of roses in his vase, except now it was accompanied by the sight of Alec sitting on their bed. They both stayed in Magnus’s old bedroom, in the North tower, not having the heart to move their things to the old King’s bedroom.

“It is,” Magnus said, and reached up to adjust his crown. He had chosen this day to not just celebrate his marriage to Alec, but also because it was his coronation. Alec looked up at the movement, then kept looking.

“I suppose you want a crown of your own?” Magnus asked, smiling lightly.

“I’ll pass,” Alec replied, blushing.

“You’ll need one, though. You’re the Prince consort.”

“Well, since I don’t have a choice... But nothing flashy, okay?”

“I can’t make any promises.” Magnus reached around Alec, fingers brushing the rose, the flower that had, in a way, brought them together.

There was still much to be done, laws to be changed. It would be difficult for the both of them, but he hoped they’d get through it. They would. They’d gotten through worse.

Besides, he reminded himself, looking at the wedding ring gleaming gold on Alec’s hand, We’re married. He’s not going anywhere.

“Magnus,” Alec said suddenly, “I love you.”

Magnus looked at him, mildly surprised. “I love you, too.”

Alec caught his look, and shrugged. “I just felt like saying it.”

Magnus smiled, and leaned in. Below them, the celebrations were raging on, even as night came. Everything was perfect.

#sorry i’m late i was on tour #and then wayward son happened #im still not over wayward son #i need help #alec lightwood #magnus bane #hope you enjoy this!#weddings are such a pain to write #tmi #tec #alec lightwood bane #magnus lightwood bane #malec fic #my fics #language of roses #lor

21 notes · View notes

pamphletstoinspire · 5 years

Photo

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST (September 15th) by Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger, 1882

“No man can serve two masters.”–Matt. 6.

No one can serve two masters, as Christ Himself assures us. And yet what a number of those who believe in Christ, although they dare not, of course, contradict the Word of Christ in explicit terms, yet do so by their lives! They live as if they would like to serve both God and the world; they do not want to be at variance with God or the world.

These are the people who do things by halves; who can not choose between two ways, and resemble the children of Israel at the time of the prophet Elias. Men who conduct themselves differently in Church and out of it; who behave differently in company of priests, and of those who scoff at religion and her ministers; men who sin and confess, confess and sin; who live in habitual sins, and whatever they do, as children of the Church, do it by habit ; and as to their business matters and worldly affairs, they follow the same principles as the heathens and worldlings.

And who is not aware what a contagious and seducing influence their example has on the lives of others! How important, therefore, is it that we reflect earnestly upon the words of Christ: “No one can serve two masters.” “He who is not with Me is against Me;” “He who gathereth not with Me, scattereth.”

We shall today consider one of these two masters, namely: God and His service, and we shall reflect what kind of a master God is, and how meet it is to serve Him earnestly, joyfully, and perseveringly.

Mary, who hast called thyself a handmaid of the Lord, pray for us, that we may live in such a manner, as to be justified in saying: I am a servant, a handmaid of the Lord! I speak in the holy name of Jesus, to the greater honor of God!

O my God, my Lord! This is an ejaculation which we very frequently utter. We justly call God also our Lord. He is our Creator, from Whom we have received everything, by the power of Whose will all nature came into existence and continues in it. And, therefore, it is our duty to serve God willingly, and to serve Him as perfectly as possible.

Would it not be a disgrace if we, as reasonable beings, who know God, and call Him our Father, would in this respect allow ourselves to be excelled by irrational creatures? But in order that this desire, this resolution, be renewed and strengthened within us, let us consider frequently, yes, daily and hourly, in what an infinitely higher degree all those qualities, which in ordinary life induce us to serve a person, are combined in God.

The first quality which distinguishes a person whom we would wish to serve and own as master, is his respectability, his dignity, that he is of high rank, perhaps a governor, a king, or even an emperor.

An office at court, even if very insignificant, is nevertheless highly valued, because of the social position of the person whom we serve. It is for the sake of honor and distinction that even counts and princes sue for offices at a kingly court. Yes, even an ordinary valet or cook of a king or emperor, deems himself superior to his less fortunate brethren.

Now, then, let us reflect upon the meaning of these words: “God! I serve God.” Have we not weighty reasons for exclaiming with St. Michael: “Who is like to God?” God, I serve Thee! Thee Whom all the angels and saints, all the heavenly chiefs serve, and whose glory and magnificence heaven and earth proclaim.

But what still more determines us to serve a person, to acknowledge him as master, is his personality, the nobility and uprightness of his character, which cause us to feel that he would never demand anything of us save what is good and praiseworthy.

If in spirit we listen to the Sanctus, which all the Seraphim repeat continually before the throne of God, with what determination will we exclaim: “Thou three times holy God, my Lord; I serve Thee! What wouldst Thou have me do?”

The third quality which would induce us to enter the service of another, and acknowledge him our master, is his goodness. We would gladly serve one whose greatest delight is to make all his dependents happy, and to bestow favors upon them, especially if we ourselves have already received benefits from him. How frequently we hear one person saying to another: Oh, if I could always be with you! Oh, how can I ever repay you for all you have done for me!

Let us apply this to God and His service. God is in Himself infinite, perfect goodness. And this goodness He desires to impart to all human beings whom He has created. Just as it is in the nature of the sun to impart light and heat, so it is also peculiar to the goodness of God to continually bestow favors upon a creature, as far as it is susceptible of them, and does not on its part oppose any barrier. He rewards our service, even on this earth, by the joys of a good conscience, by the possession and enjoyment of many created objects, and by His communication with us in prayer. What an inducement for us to serve God, even if we had not received from Him any special promise of reward!

I said that if we had received numerous and precious gifts and favors from another, our gratitude would prompt us to serve him. The animals are ready to serve their masters for the food they obtain from him; they accompany him every-where, and at times even sacrifice their lives for their benefactor.

Let us apply this also to God, our Creator and Preserver and Redeemer. Oh, how many important, precious graces and treasures have we not already received from God, from the moment of our birth until the present day! Body and soul, the use of our senses, every ray of light, every breath we draw, every morsel of food, every refreshing draught, every thread of our garments, also the talents which we possess, all that we enjoy in this life we owe to God. And when we remember the grace of redemption, our calling to the true Church, and all the gifts and graces which, as children of the Church, we possess and receive at every moment, have we not motives for the deepest gratitude? Should we not exclaim: Merciful God, my Lord and Benefactor, I thank Thee; I will serve Thee gratefully?

The fourth quality which induces us to enter the service of a person is the compensation. If the reward is considerably greater than that given by other masters, and if at the same time we are aware that in the service of this person, we will be provided for and made happy, then we will not only be willing and anxious to serve such a master, but deem ourselves most fortunate in being received into his service.

What an inducement for us to exclaim joyfully: O God, my Lord and Renumerator, I will serve Thee! Even on this earth we enjoy the hundred-fold that consolation and joy which Christ has promised all followers in the service of the Lord. And furthermore, for every good work which we perform, we have the promise of an eternal reward. For every good deed there awaits us a recompense, of which it is written: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him.” Whosoever shall glorify Me, him will I glorify.” “Enter into the joys of thy Lord.” Who would not be willing to serve a prince, or king, or emperor, who, as a reward, would permit his servant to share his power and glory; and still more if he would give him the promise of a throne, and enable him to rule as a king?

This is the case in the service of the Lord, and it should encourage us in the divine service. “I myself,” says the Lord, “will be thy great reward.” “Thou hast made us kings, that we might reign eternally,” so rejoice the saints in heaven, as St. John affirms.

We gladly serve another if he is united to us by ties of kindred. And this can be said with regard to the service of God. He is not only our God, but at the same time our Father. Even in this world we call ourselves His children, and it is not yet known what we shall enjoy when once we shall enter His glory.

And when the fire of divine love inflames our heart, and we have even on earth a foretaste of the eternal union with God, in what transports of joy does not then the soul break forth: “O my God! my love, I am Thine! Lord, I serve Thee, because I love Thee. Lord! what dost Thou wish me to do?” Amen!

“No man can serve two masters.” Matt. 9.

Either to the right or to the left. This shall one day be the sentence of the divine Judge. The one or other will befall every one of us; and the decision will depend upon the life we have led on earth, whether we have served God or the world; that is, whether we were replenished with the Spirit of God, and by Him enlightened and strengthened to know and accomplish the Divine will, and to provide for that which is to come after death, and which will endure for all eternity; or whether, on the contrary, the spirit of the world had taken possession of our hearts and inflamed us with the desire to live as honored and as happy as possible during our brief sojourn on this earth, unconcerned whether we were accomplishing the will of God or not.

Either the Spirit of the Holy Ghost enkindles our hearts, and urges us to walk in the way of the Lord, with determination, strength and fidelity, or the spirit of the world possesses our hearts, and we serve the world; that is to say, we seek that which the world displays and promises; we let it persuade us that the service of man is of greater importance than the service of God, that we ought to feel greater dread of offending man than God; we live, so that we expose ourselves to its dangers, and, as the Apostle threatens, of perishing with the world.

I will prove to you today what a disgrace and folly it is to serve the world and her maxims, instead of serving God.

Mary, mother of God, spouse of the Holy Ghost, pray for us, that the Holy Spirit may destroy in us the spirit of the world, and that, as thy children, we may serve God and be saved! I speak in the holy name of Jesus, to the greater honor of God!

I said, it is either the Spirit of God which reigns in our hearts, and induces us to enter the service of God, strengthening and encouraging us therein; or it is the spirit of the world, which impels us to serve the world and live in compliance with its principles. But woe to us, if we serve it and acknowledge it as our master!

What I understand by the world, and the spirit of the world, I have intimated in my introduction.

The world, taken in this sense, is that portion of mankind whose desires are all concentrated on the possessions, honors and enjoyments of this life. These children, servants, slaves of the world, look upon religion as a secondary matter; they do not trouble themselves about it in the least, but imagine and say that all religions are one and the same; the first and most important care is happiness in this life, come what may in the next!

To the world, in this sense, belong those also who, with their lips, profess the doctrines of faith, but by their lives deny them and side with the scoffers of religion, and infidels who do not believe in a life to come, and will not admit of any other than the one here below.

In this signification did Christ say of the world: “The world is full of wickedness.” In this sense did Christ speak of the world when He said: “Father, I pray Thee, but not for the world.” Of this world it is written: “Who sides with it, shall perish!”

And yet what a number, even of the children of the Church, follow the world, and labor in her service, instead of the service of God. How foolish and deluded these worldlings are is apparent, when we reflect, on the one hand, upon the qualities of God, which particularly induce us, and encourage and strengthen us in serving Him as our Lord and Master; and, on the other hand, compare them with the opposite qualities which characterize the world and its service.

I say: Let us serve God; He is of Himself an infinite and most glorious Being the Creator, Preserver, and Ruler of the earth.

What is the world? The world in itself, taken in its broadest sense, includes all things in nature; it is nothing of itself; was nothing from all eternity; and does not exist of itself, but through God, without whose support it would at any moment fall back into its original nonentity.

And what are all those, of whom I have before spoken, who are living in this world and for this world? What are they, all these sinners, even if every one of them be adorned with a royal diadem? They are all nothing of themselves; they have come into existence in disgrace with God, owing to the fall of our first parents. And in what a miserable state are they, owing to the countless actual sins which they have committed during their life ! They are beings whose souls were created according to the image of God, but who, by their willful, actual sins, have stamped it with the likeness of Satan, the father of sin. As to their bodies, they may justly be compared to a mass of putrid matter.

And what is all their exterior power and glory and possessions? vanishing smoke,–a bauble, which glitters today and disappears tomorrow! They are beings who, with us, will soon appear at the judgment seat of God, and, as slaves of Satan, will be condemned to eternal perdition! And is it possible that we could resolve to serve the world in preference to God? What an ignominy!

But God in His glory is, at the same time, infinite holiness and goodness. Let us serve Him. What is the world which, on the other hand, seeks to draw us away from God, and advises us to follow her? The world, whose banner bears the inscription: Concupiscence of the eyes, concupiscence of the flesh, and pride of life–she is a sink, a filth, and a rankness!

Could we but view the frightful sins which the worldling commits daily and hourly! Could we but see the loathsomeness of the vices of pride, vanity, covetousness, envy, anger, gluttony, and lust to which the worldling is addicted, we would blush with same!

And how frequently does it not happen that persons, whom we have considered just and virtuous, are stripped of their mask by some unexpected occurrence, and they appear steeped in abominable vices! And should we serve such a world? No; if we look upon her, covered with the filth of sin, we will answer her with determination and indignation: Filthy world, depart!– I will follow my God; for He is perfect holiness, and His true servants and children are noble and holy.

God is, moreover, infinite goodness; He is our constant Benefactor, bestowing His benefits from the moment of our conception. He grants a reward, even on this earth; for He requites even a good thought with that feeling of peace and love which gives us a foretaste of the sweetness of the Lord's service even in this world; He will finally reward us in the life to come, when we will receive an eternal, incalculable recompense for every good thought and desire, for every good work performed in His service.

The world, on the contrary, is naught but selfishness and egotism; she loves but self, and all other things merely for the sake of self. She does not possess that goodness which loves to share with others; on the contrary, she seeks to accumulate all she can for herself, and those who serve her are requited poorly and wretchedly. “The world's reward is ingratitude,” says an old proverb.

A proof of this are the cares and difficulties which harass a person whilst endeavoring to earn his daily bread. How often he is at a loss! How frequently he is disappointed in his expectations, defrauded of his rights, injured in his possessions, or deprived of them altogether, just because he served the world and her followers!

And suppose this were not the case, but that the sinner could possess and enjoy all in this world,– the wounded conscience would not permit him to enjoy it peacefully. Holy Scripture and experience teach us that “there is no rest for the wicked.”

Oh, how dreadful the pangs of a guilty conscience! But even if this were not the case, still what a void the human heart experiences amid the possessions and enjoyment of all created objects and pleasures! This caused Solomon to exclaim: “Vanity of vanities!” And why? St. Augustine replies: “Thou hast, O Lord, created this heart for Thee, and it rests not until it rests in Thee.”

And if the worldling would really feel happy and contented in his possession, how soon–how very soon– will death deprive him of all, and then what awaits him in eternity?

For the little which the world has given him for his fidelity in her service, if thereby he has grievously offended God, she will prepare for him, for every sin ful thought, every desire, and every deed,–for every sinful enjoyment in her service,–eternal sufferings!

Beloved in Christ, when we reflect upon the character of the world, and upon the consequences of serving her, her persuasions lose their power of drawing us away from God; and yet we can scarcely comprehend how it is possible that, nevertheless, so many persons, even children of the Church, do not live in the service of God, but in that of the world,–the vain, wretched, sinful, selfish, deceptive, and transitory world, and in this manner expose themselves to the danger of perishing with her!

Therefore, children of the Church, reflect continually upon that, of which my sermon of today reminds you; examine your conscience daily in regard to it, and say to yourself: Should I serve such a deceitful world, and prefer her to my God? No–never!–Amen !

“You can not serve God and mammon.”–Matt. 9.

Christ speaks of two masters who demand our services, namely: God and the world. He declares, at the same time, that it is impossible to serve both. We can easily comprehend why Christ declares this twofold service impossible. The consideration of God and His nature, and of the world and her doings, will prove that to serve both is utterly impossible. God is infinite perfection and holiness; the world is full of wickedness.

The service of God has relation to our life in the next world; the service of the world regards only that which is temporal, that which exists at present, but will one day pass away. The service which God requires of us is inseparably united with the fulfillment of the duties of our holy religion. The world cares not for religion, nor for the sanctification of our lives. The service of God is incompatible with sin; the service of the world is inseparable from sin.

These are contrasts which are evidently not compatible. This opposition shows itself particularly in the wrong aim which the world pursues in her doings and movements, and which stamp the children of the world as worldlings, namely: The inordinate desire for money, covetousness and avarice.

The Gospel applies the word “blessed” to the poor; the world, on the contrary, applies it to the rich. This is even proven by an old saying: Money is the god of the world. The worldling is prepared to do anything for the sake of money.

Let us consider today how despicable, foolish and dangerous is covetousness and the inordinate desire for money. In other words: We will notice the contrast between the service of mammon and the service of God.

Mary, thou poor virgin of Nazareth, mother of the poor infant Jesus, pray for us, that our hearts may be freed from covetousness and avarice. I speak in the holy name of Jesus, to the greater honor of God!

Love of money, covetousness, avarice–the religion of the world! What is avarice? It is that pernicious tendency of the human heart to have and to possess, for the sake of having and possessing.

What does Scripture say of this disposition which prompts a man to attach himself to money, and to temporal possessions? Holy Scripture, through the mouth of St. Paul, calls it: Idolatry. This appellation is not an oratorical exaggeration, but it literally marks the character and the nature of covetousness; yes, it is truly idolatry, for idolatry consists in transferring to a creature the worship which we owe to God alone. And in what does this worship consist? Christ gives the answer: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength.” But it is thus exactly the avaricious person is disposed in regard to money and worldly possessions.

You, who love money, am I correct? Ask your heart. Christ says: “Where your treasure is, there is also your heart.” That is, there your thoughts, desires, resolutions and endeavors will center. Now, then, what is your first thought on awaking in the morning? Not God, but your business–your probable gain or loss. Of what do you think during the day? Your whole attention is given to your occupation, to gaining wealth. And this also is your last thought at night! Not what you have won or lost for heaven, during the course of the day; but what you have profited or lost in your business!

I believe there are persons of this kind even now before me, who, during their lives, have endeavored their utmost to gain every cent they possibly could. And what is the consequence? Your money is your god; the excessive care, the money-question, is your religion!

I therefore justly remark, in the first place: What an abominable vice is avarice, both in the sight of God and your own! No, you can not serve God and mammon at the same time.

I say, secondly: It is a degrading and absurd disposition of mind. Degrading, without doubt! Remember the words which St. Paul addressed to the heathens: “You are of a godly race, and you adore gold, your idols of gold!” Are you not ashamed to adore gold? The man of money, if he is a Christian, would not, of course, adore a statue of gold, as did the heathens, nor a golden calf, as did the faithless Israelites. But still the nature of their worship is precisely the same, as I have before shown you; and, in our times, this gold and money-service is still more degrading, since paper is the representative of gold at present. And what is paper? Rags and tatters are the materials of which it is made, and yet with what an eager eye the man of money regards such a rag when the worth of a hundred or a thousand dollars is stamped upon it; for its possession he sacrifices time and opportunity of doing good, and of laboring for the salvation of souls.

Deluded and foolish man! The more so when we reflect upon the words of the Holy Ghost, which affirms that: “Every sin shall in itself be punished.” These words may be justly applied to avarice.

For the covetous person, instead of being free from care, and using his accumulated wealth for the procuring of comforts which might render his life more pleasant and enjoyable, is every day more and more disturbed by the care of his money and possessions. And it frequently happens that the wealthier a person becomes, the less he imagines he possesses, and he strives with still greater anxiety to acquire more, and to secure what he has.

Christ speaks of the thorns which choke the good seed, and He Himself explains that the thorns signify the cares of man for the goods of this world.

And experience proves how disastrous temporal cares are to the spirit of piety. It is owing to our extreme anxiety about the goods of this world that in many cases the good resolutions which we form during a sermon, or in the confessional, are stifled and rendered fruitless.

What a dangerous disposition of mind is the inordinate desire of money! If we are in earnest, to serve God and be saved, it is necessary to begin even in our youth to raise our hearts heavenward. It is necessary that we not only earnestly and zealously strive to know our duties, but also to perform them. It is likewise necessary to use faithfully the means which God in His mercy has given us as children of the Church; namely: prayer, divine service, and the Holy Sacraments, and to seek carefully the means and opportunities of performing as many corporal and spiritual works of mercy as possible. The craving for money prevents all this.

Even in early youth, when there is question of choosing a path for life, the thought: whether such is the state to which God has called us, and which will offer the best opportunities for serving Him, does not enter our minds. We only take care to see whether it is a state which offers us prospects of becoming rich, of providing for ourselves. And this is our aim during all successive years; we thereby neglect the duties of our religion, excusing ourselves by saying: We have no time for prayer! And why? I must attend to my business. And how very often this could be postponed for a half hour or an hour; we could even hear a Mass; but for this we no longer find it worth the while to devote a few minutes.

Thus we begin the day without morning-prayer, and pass it without one thought of God; neglect spiritual reading and the reception of the Holy Sacraments, and thus become careless as to gathering treasures for the life to come; and, by committing mortal sins, we become traitors to Christ. Could our Lord have allowed a more heinous crime for the warning of the children of the Church than the base treachery of Judas!

He, as an Apostle, was chosen from among the whole race of mankind to come in daily contact with Christ. He was with our Lord during three years, conversed with Him, and listened to all His sermons, witnessed His miracles, even the resurrection of Lazarus; and, despite all these favors, his love for money caused him to become a traitor, and to sell his Lord and Master for an ignominious price . Take a look at him, suspended by the neck,–at him, the Apostle and suicide!

Christians! let this example be a warning to you! Woe to you, if your heart is more attached to mammon than to God, and if you labor more earnestly for money than in the service of God! I fear you are one of those souls in whom the threat of our Lord will be verified: “Woe to the rich!” Amen!

The Works Of The Flesh And The Fruits Of The Spirit by Fr. Johann Evangelist Zollner, 1883 In the Epistle of last Sunday, St. Paul brought before us the important truth that men are not justified by the observance of the Mosaic Law, but by the belief in Jesus Christ. But the faith which justifies us and leads to salvation is not an inactive, dead faith, but a living faith, which consists in this, that we not only believe all that God has revealed and proposes to our belief by the Catholic Church, but also that we live according to the precepts of faith; that therefore we keep the commandments, mortify all inordinate desires and passions, shun sin and vice and diligently practice the Christian virtues. St. Paul speaks in the Epistle of this day on that living, active faith. He treats,

I. Of the struggle between the flesh and the spirit, II. Of the works of the flesh, III. Of the fruits of the spirit.

Part I.

1. In the very beginning of the Epistle, he tells us what must be done in order not to succumb in the struggle with the flesh; he says: “Walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.” To walk in the spirit means to live according to the will of God, according to the doctrine of Jesus and the maxims of the Gospel, to obey the inspirations and impulses of the Holy Ghost. He who lives thus “shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh,” that is, he will not permit himself to be led into evil by concupiscence and the motions of corrupt nature, therefore he will not sin. By Baptism we have been made members of the Church of Christ, and the Holy Ghost has taken up his abode within our hearts; we are, therefore, in the happy condition of walking always in the spirit; for the Church teaches us what we must do and what avoid, and the indwelling Holy Ghost gives us His grace to overcome the lusts of the flesh and to live piously. We have therefore no excuse when we allow ourselves to be governed by the lusts of the flesh and thereby fall into sin. “The lust (of sin) shall be under thee, and thou shalt have dominion over it.”–Gen. 4: 7. These words, which God spoke to Cain, apply to us.

2. Now the Apostle describes the struggle between the flesh and the spirit, in these words: “The flesh lusteth against the spirit; and the spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary one to another, so that you do not the things that you would.”

(a) By flesh we understand that inclination to evil, which is a consequence of original sin, and is therefore found in all men. Of it God says in the Old Testament: “The imagination and thought of man's heart are prone to evil from his youth.”–Gen. 8: 21. And St. James writes: “Every man is tempted, being drawn away by his own concupiscence, and allured:”–I: 14. By spirit we understand the better disposition in man, which has its spring in God, who through the conscience and his Church and in many other ways operates upon us, that we know what is right and good, are pleased with what is good, and strive for it and practise it.

(b) The most perfect harmony existed between the spirit and the flesh in that state of innocence in which man came forth from the hand of God; man, indeed, had concupiscence, not to evil, but to good–a concupiscence which was perfectly subject to the spirit, and desired only what was right and comformable to the will of God. In consequence of original sin, a great change took place in our concupiscence; it often resists the spirit and will not obey, but desires to rule; it always desires what seems agreeable, without caring whether it be good or evil, it sets everything in motion in order to obtain the object of its desires. It allures man to impurity, revenge, envy, avarice and injustice; in short, to all sins and vices. It operates upon the senses of the body, upon the eyes and ears, and upon the faculties of the soul, upon the understanding, will and memory, and seeks to make them subservient to sin. Now when the spirit resists and rejects its demands, a struggle ensues; for concupiscence is not easily silenced, but insists upon its demand and makes vehement attacks to obtain its own way. If the spirit were depending on its natural powers, it would often yield in the combat with concupiscence; but, assisted by God's grace, it is able to come forth victorious even from the most desperate struggle. Hence the Apostle says: “I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me.”–Phil. 4: 13.

(c) This struggle between the spirit and the flesh lasts to the end of our lives. The concupiscence which dwells in us is never entirely subdued; it causes countless temptations, and renders all good actions difficult. For instance, you are patiently to bear a humiliation, to forgive an enemy, to suppress an unchaste desire, to renounce something agreeable. Concupiscence at once arises and tries to prevent these good actions. Thus our life upon earth is “a continual warfare.”–Job, 7: 1. The concupiscence within us will die only with our last breath.

(d) Because concupiscence operates upon our will and seeks to lead it into evil, the Apostle says that we must not do all things that we would. We must not yield to the allurements of concupiscence. If it entices to any sin and with vehemence demands its will, we must say with courage and determination: I must not, and I will not do it. A king once asked two clergymen at his court, who on account of their modesty were very highly esteemed, whether it was true that they carried with them a certain herb which had the virtue of driving away bad thoughts and desires. When they answered in the affirmative, he asked further, what kind of an herb it was. They replied, that the herb was the fear of God, that this banishes all sinful thoughts and desires. Thus the fear of God will be to us a shield from which all the arrows of concupiscence rebound.

3. But the Apostle shows us a still more effectual means to gain the victory over concupiscence, when he writes: “But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law.” He intends to say: Christians who have reached a higher degree of perfection and are filled altogether with the love of God, avoid evil and do good without being compelled to it by the law and its threats. Christians who love God do not ask whether something is commanded or forbidden under pain of sin; on the contrary, they esteem themselves happy and find their pleasure in doing whatever they know to be pleasing to God. They stand, therefore, above and outside of the law; it is as if they had no law at all, just because it is love that urges them everywhere and always to do the will of God. Therefore St. Augustine says: “Love, and do what you please.” He who loves God above all things, will not succumb in the combat with concupiscence, but will courageously fight against it and overcome it and serve God with fidelity all the days of his life. Love is strong as death. Many waters cannot quench charity.–Canticle 8: 6, 7.

Part II.

The Apostle now enumerates the works of the flesh: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest; which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcraft, enmities, contentions, emulations, wrath, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envy, murders, drunkenness, retellings, and such like. Of which I foretell you, us I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God.”

1. First in order appears the vice of voluptuousness in all its kinds. This vice is disgraceful for every man, because it degrades him to the low rank of the irrational beast, but especially for the Christian, whose body is a temple of the Holy Ghost (I. Cor. 6: 18-20), and which becomes most intimately united with Jesus in holy Communion. Hence the Apostle elsewhere says: “Fornication and all uncleaness, let it not so much as be named among you, as it becometh saints.”–Eph. 5: 3. The vice of voluptuousness robs man of innocence, that precious jewel which makes him even in this life equal to the Angels of heaven, but which once lost, can never be recovered. The vice of voluptuousness denies man and degrades all the senses, powers and faculties of man: the eyes by unchaste looks, the ears by the wanton hearing of immodest words, the tongue by immodest conversation, the imagination by thousands of shameful representations, the will by complacency in abominable things; the vice of voluptuousness leads to all other sins and vices, especially to unbelief, to despair, and to suicide. How much God hates this vice history shows us in terrible examples. This vice caused the deluge to drown the whole human race, with the exception of Noe and his family (Gen. 6: 12); that five and twenty thousand Israelites perished in the desert (Numb. 25: 9); that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah with all their inhabitants were destroyed from the face of the earth.–Gen. 19. The lot of the voluptuous in the next world is eternal damnation. “Their portion shall be in the pool burning with fire and brimstone.”–Apoc. 21: 8. Ah! shun the vice of impurity, which in our time is so prevalent in the world, and on account of which countless men will be damned forever. Be modest and reserved and take no indecent liberties with yourselves or others. Take an example from the Emperor Maximilian I., who had such a tender modesty, that going to bed or getting up from bed he did not allow himself to be assisted either in taking off or putting on his clothes. Even in death, he gave a splendid proof of this beautiful virtue. When he felt his end approach, he ordered a shirt and a pair of pantaloons; he put them on himself, and gave directions that he should be buried in these clothes.

2. The second class comprises the sins against the love of our neighbor; enmities, contentions, emulations, wrath, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envy, murders. These sins also deserve all our hatred and detestation, because they break the bond of peace and concord, and cause great mischief. Was it not hatred that made Cain a fratricide? Was it not envy that made Jacob's sons persecutors of their innocent brother Joseph? Was it not anger that made King Asa the tyrant of his subjects?–II. Paralip. 16: 14. These sins are especially damnable among us Christians, because they are directly opposed to our principal law, the love of God, which Christ has given us. “This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.”–John, 15: 12. “Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you; and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you.”–Matt. 5: 44. Shun all sins against the love of your neighbor, especially hatred, envy, contentions and quarrels. Do not forget that you are all brothers in Christ Jesus, and are called to be admitted into heaven, where only heart-felt love and friendship reign among the elect.

3. The third class comprises the sins against temperance, viz., drunkenness and gluttony. Those who use intoxicating drink to excess and often come to such a pass that they lose reason and no longer know what they are saying or doing, are guilty of drunkenness. One can see drunken men reel and stagger, fall down, roll in the mire, and do things of which they are ashamed when they become sober. Those sin by gluttony who in eating transgress the right measure, who find their happiness in the gratification of the palate, and make their belly their god. Drunkenness and gluttony are vices which disgrace man and lower him below the level of the brute, for the dumb animal ceases to eat and drink when it has enough. These vices are particularly dangerous for Christians, who ought to lead a sober, mortified life. Having enumerated these works of the flesh, the Apostle says: “They who do such things, shall not obtain the kingdom of God.” Therefore, the unchaste, the uncharitable, and the intemperate shall be excluded from the kingdom of God and shall be condemned to everlasting fire. Who should not carefully guard against these vices? Who should not, if he be contaminated with one or the other of them, tear himself from it at once and do penance? Reflect on the words of St. Augustine: “Short is what rejoices; but eternal what burns.”

Part III,

The Apostle contrasts the fruits of the spirit with the works of the flesh, in these words: “The fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity.” St. Paul does not say the fruits, but the fruit of the Spirit, because these virtues have their origin in charity; all come forth from it, like branches from the trunk, and are properly nothing else than effects of charity. He calls them the fruit “of the Spirit,” that is, of the Christian enlightened and governed by the Holy Ghost; for as a good tree yields good fruit, so also Christians in whom the Holy Ghost abides, bring forth virtues and good works. The fruits of the Spirit then are:

1. Charity; that is, the love of God and of our neighbor; the love of God, which manifests itself especially by a conscientious fulfilment of his commandments; the love of our neighbor, which requires that we wish well to our fellow-men, and help them in their necessities according to our ability. Where charity is, there God is; and he that remains in charity remains in God, and God in him. Joy: It is a pure pleasure in God's grace, in His wise and merciful providence, in the purity of conscience, and in all that is truly good and pleasing to God. This joy is a hidden manna, of which worldlings have no idea, and in comparison with which all earthly and sensual joys are a mere nothing. He who carries this joy in his heart is rich even in poverty, and rejoices in persecutions and sufferings. Peace: Peace with God, with our neighbor and with ourselves. A result of this peace is the quietude of conscience and the sweet conviction that we possess the grace and friendship of God. He who possesses this fruit of the Spirit possesses the most desirable good of life, contentedness; he lives quietly, dies quietly, and enters into the house of eternal rest.

2. Other fruits of the Spirit are: Patience, which renders everything easy. He who possesses this virtue, remains composed under the severest hardships and trials; he murmurs not, complains not, but is perfectly resigned to the will of God, and says: “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord, so it is done; blessed be the name of the Lord.”–Job, 1: 21. Benignity, a lovely virtue, which causes us to meet all men, even the lowliest, affably and kindly, and carefully avoid in our conduct what could irritate or repulse any one. Goodness: Christians who possess this virtue do good to their fellow-men according to their ability. They are not satisfied with doing to them what they owe them from justice, but they are also ready everywhere to help, without having any other obligation than that of charity, and without expecting any reward in this world.

3. Other fruits of the Spirit are: Longanimity, which bears the weaknesses and frailties of our fellow-men with patience, which defers reprimand and chastisement as long as possible, and never despairs of the amendment of the erring. It is a principal virtue for parents, teachers, and educators, and all spiritual and temporal superiors. Mildness: He who possesses this virtue is always quiet and calm; his speech is mild; his admonitions affectionate; even when reproving he is gentle and sparing. He bears everything with a quiet mind, is not irritated by anything; he keeps silence when wrong is done him, and defends himself calmly; he smothers every motion of indignation in his heart, forgives those who offend him, and does them good, when he can. Oh, that we all would learn of our divine Saviour to be meek and humble of heart! Faith, which refers to God and man. We are faithful to God when we conscientiously keep our promises and resolutions and cling to Him in good and in evil days. We are faithful to our neighbor when we keep our word in all our dealings with him, and do not allow ourselves to be induced by any temptation of ambition, avarice or self-interest to commit an act of injustice.

4. Lastly, the Apostle designates moderation as a fruit of the Spirit. He who is moderate eats and drinks only as much as is necessary for the preservation of his life, health and strength; he is content with clothes corresponding with his state, and enjoys innocent pleasures only for his recreation; and, consequently, sparingly, and at the right time. Continency: Those Christians practice this virtue who manfully deny themselves everything that is against the will of God, no matter how agreeable it may be to sensuality, and who lead a mortified life. Chastity: Those have this virtue who detest every unchaste thought and every impure desire, who shun even the shadow of impurity, and keep body and soul undefiled.

PERORATION.

These are the noble fruits of the Spirit; these are the virtues and marks of a true Christian; for they that are Christ's, have crucified their flesh, with its vices and concupiscences: they mortify their evil inclinations and passions, deny themselves and follow Jesus. Let us take to heart the words of our divine Saviour: “Every tree that yieldeth not good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire.”–Matt. 7: 19. Let us therefore shun all works of the flesh, and consider it the most important task of our life to yield good fruit, i.e., to practice virtues and good works, that we may be able to stand before the judgmentseat of God and be called to eternal beatitude. Amen.

From: https://www.pamphletstoinspire.com/

#14th sunday after pentecost

4 notes · View notes

osmw1 · 5 years

Text

Poison-Wielding Fugitive Chapter 48

“Whew… what happened to staying low-key as fugitives? That was all sorts of wack.”

Veno and I have finally finished clearing the sewers of corpses. Now I’m resting up in Wayne’s living room.

“… oh, hey, how you doin’? How are things?” “The workers and merchants in town are saying how things are noticeably better already and that they haven’t seen a single rat.”

Sounds like Rurika has been keeping up with the situation. And I’m glad things are turning out fine.

‘Those rats carried diseases as well. I am sure the town is now more sanitary than ever before.’

I sure hope so.

“Mu!”

Muu hops onto a chair to give me a shoulder rub. Aww, thanks, buddy.

“You’ll want to report to the guildhall next. Before you guys went down, they also asked ‘til when they should close off the sewers or something like that.” ‘The lass’ cooking is still moving around… we should give it about two weeks and see how the land lies.’

By the way, does Arleaf’s cooking… spoil? Deteriorate? I’m imagining the monsters be like rocks exposed to the element—immobile but yet still holding their shape. Though they’re food, but technically, they’re monsters. So, I guess it’s not so much spoilage, but “lifespan”?

“We should monitor it for another two weeks, lest any casualties arise.” “Got it.” “Oh, and Arleaf, you’ve leveled up quite a bit. Are you going to change into an advanced job?”

I remember she said something about going to the church to find out what classes she could advance into.

“I wanted to do so very much… but however, I found out at the church that all my possible ones are banned.” “Huh… what kind of jobs were there?” “Dark Alchemist, Dark Witch, Evil Shaman, Genocider, Evil Druid, and Dark Marionetter. Apparently, they are so notorious that if I were to choose any of them, sirens will sound.”

Their names all sound pretty wicked. She’s really getting screwed over.

“It’s all Veno’s fault, huh?” ‘I have merely suggested an efficient way to complete the quest!’ “Well… it’s probably because we exterminated them by the roots, right?”

Rurika explains to us why those classes are all considered evil.

‘It might be just that other people had been punching above their weight, so to say. If thou trainst thyself well, perhaps thou may find good results.’ “That would be nice, but…” “Well, you could temporarily spec into another base job and pile on the experience.” ‘Hold your thoughts. I believe that would be quite wasteful. Thou should utilize the fact the lass is more than twice your level. I recommend thee to borrow her strength and train thyself before she changes to another class.’ “I thought you don’t get that much weaker after a sidegrade though.”

Though you don’t lose everything, you’re back at level 1 and have half of your stats. That means Arleaf would be as strong as someone who’s level 30. That’s what either Veno or Arleaf told me anyway.

‘However, as it stands, she is level 60. Though thy statistics may increase by consuming her cooking, it is no replacement for actual experience. It would not be a bad idea to rely on her.’ “Umm… I would be more than happy to give it my all to help you get stronger, Yukihisa. It’s not like I stop leveling either.”

I guess that’s fine then. Normally, I’d get some quintessence or exp from being in the same party, but this time seemed to be unusual.

“Not only have I gained many Senses from leveling up, I am strong enough to use some pretty difficult magic too.” ‘Has any skill caught your attention in particular?’ “I have a few I am interested in—Knife Sense, Staff Sense, Dart Sense, Medicine’s Blessing, Magic Handling Assist. There is also Undead Summoner Sense… but it seems to be a sense for rituals that would summon questionable entities.”

I suppose that, like Shamans, it’d be normal for Thaumaturges to be capable of “evil” magic as well. But I was thinking it’d be more like curses.

“I also now have a skill called Mask Master, but I wonder how one could be more proficient with a mask.”

Arleaf always has a gas mask on when she’s in the miasma. Maybe that’s why. But for some reason, after seeing all her skills, she reminds me of some kind of tribal warrior.

‘It is likely the same as Armor Mastery in that thine equipment would be more effective than normal. Perhaps thou art more resistant to the miasma when equipped with a gas mask.’

But she’s a Thaumaturge, not “Tribal Warrior”.

“That would be quite practical, wouldn’t it be?” ‘I have seen cursed masks before. Thou may be able to gain class-specific magics with one of those. However… they all seem to be considered evil.’ “What kind of magic is it?” ‘There is Fetish Enchantment—breathing life into dolls and figures to do thy bidding. As well, Create Undead for granting a temporary soul to the dea—’ “Okay, I see your point…”

That’s totally dark magic, without a doubt. I can’t imagine anything good if we were to use magic like that.

‘Being so self-conscious would only bring us trouble. After all, living the fugitive life is not easy.’ “Surely you see how those skills would be catastrophic though?” ‘Magic Handling Assist brings to mind an offensive spell that creates a living creature to attack thine enemies. Bats made of flame, predatory fish made of water, or perhaps a swarm of spiders made of air would be possible.’

That sounds a little better.

“Maybe that’s not a bad choice then.” ‘Aye… it may be a little difficult, but why not challenge thyself with it? And of course, as thy ability in magic has increased, even Fire Bullet is rather strong now.’

Maybe Arleaf would be good as a support magic specialist.

‘Dart Sense, as the name suggests, grants proficiency in weapons such as a blowgun. As it is not quite a difficult weapon to handle, thou canst learn it along the way.’

There’s a lot to do, eh?

‘Hmm? It is not as if I have ordered to learn it all right away. Start with the easy ones. A blowgun would be quite effective in a pinch when combined with thine poison.’

Well, it sounds easy enough.

previously: /ch001/ /ch002/ /ch003/ /ch004/ /ch005/ /ch006/ /ch007/ /ch008/ /ch009/ /ch010/ /ch011/ /ch012/ /ch013/ /ch014/ /ch015/ /ch016/ /ch017/ /ch018/ /ch019/ /ch020/ /ch021/ /ch022/ /ch023/ /ch024/ /ch025/ /ch026/ /ch027/ /ch028/ /ch029/ /ch030/ /ch031/ /ch032/ /ch033/ /ch034/ /ch035/ /ch036/ /ch037/ /ch038/ /ch039/ /ch040/ /ch041/ /ch042/ /ch043/ /ch044/ /ch045/ /ch046/ /ch047/ /ch048/ /next/

(please support me on Patreon or Paypal)

(check out this new series I’m translating—written by the same author!)

4 notes · View notes

noshitshakespeare · 7 years

Note

I just performed a scene from 12th night in acting class. No one in my class knew what Malvolio's letter with the MAOI meant- do you have any ideas?

Do you mean that whole section, just the letter, or just the M.O.A.I riddle? Well, the letter alone will be long enough (possibly too long) for a single post. Let’s see… The first section first:

To the unknown beloved, this, and my good wishes.Jove knows I love But who?Lips, do not move,No man must know. (2.5.90-91 & 95-98)

On some level, this is a parody of a certain strain of Elizabethan love poetry that places more importance on the wittiness of the poetry than on the expression of love. The beginning is quite obvious: it’s a letter addressed anonymously (with the writer’s best wishes) to a mysterious lover, presumably left somewhere this lover is going to find the letter. The reason that the write invokes Jove is partly in reference to his numerous amorous exploits, but it’s probably also a substitution for the all-knowing Christian God (because it was forbidden to mention God on stage since the 1606 Act of Abuses). It’s a trope for the beloved’s name to always be on the lover’s lips, but in this case, the lover must prevent her lips from moving in case she gets found out, since ‘no man must know’. This is the first suggestion that it’s not exactly a socially acceptable kind of love.

I may command where I adore,But silence like a Lucrece knife,With bloodless stroke my heart doth gore.M. O. A. I. doth sway my life. (2.5.103-106)

The socially unacceptable element of this love is expanded upon in this second quatrain: there is a difference in rank. The lover is in a position to ‘command’, despite the fact that her adoration of her lover places her in a lower position to him in terms of love. This is also an avowal of the fact that, despite the fact that she has the power to command, she won’t. Hence silence hurts her internally, like a metaphorical, invisible (and therefore bloodless) version of the knife with which Lucrece killed herself. The reference to Lucrece is odd, since the reason that Lucrece commits suicide kills herself is because she’s been violated. It presents the uncomfortable suggestion that Lucrece killed herself to hide her love (possibly for Tarquin). The more obvious suggestion is that Lucrece is the model of chastity, and, therefore like Lucrece, the writer’s chaste feelings are killing her. But it is also a reference to Olivia’s seal which is a picture of Lucrece: ‘the impressure her Lucrece, with which she uses to seal’ (2.3.92-3). The ‘sway’ in the last line means ‘govern’; thus whatever ‘M.O.A.I.’ is rules over her life.

There’s been no satisfactory description for what ‘M.O.A.I.’ means, though many have tried to explain it. To quote from the introduction to the Arden Edition of Twelfth Night:

[Leslie] Hotson, for example, sees the letters as the initials of the four elements: Mare (sea), Orbis (earth), Aer (air) and Ignis (fire) – although, as Craik points out (Ard2, 68), the first two elements should surely be Aqua and Terra. L.S. Cox in 1962 read them as an anagram of ‘I am O[livia]’ – although they might equally well be taken as a clue to the dubious authorship of the letter: M(aria or) O(livia) A(m) I? Some readings have been based on early modern theories of language. Thus [Keir] Elam sees Malvolio’s hermeneutic labours as a parody of the earnest anagrammatic endeavours of Renaissance magi to discover the sacred Tetragrammaton, the secret four-letter name of God (in this case Malvolio himself; compare 'Pigrogromitus’ above)...

I personally think it might be something as simple as the first letter of Malvolio’s name, followed by the last letter of his name, and then by the second letter of his name, and finally by the second last letter of his name. Considering the context of the little riddle it makes very little sense for the ‘M.O.A.I’ to refer to anything other than the [supposed] lover’s name: ‘O(livia) am I’ doth sway my life’ just makes no sense. But perhaps it doesn’t really matter what the actual answer to the riddle is, since Malvolio is so ready to fall for it from the beginning: 'M.' Malvolio. 'M' – why, that begins my name!’ (2.3.124-5) and is more concerned to make the riddle fit his name than to find out its true meaning: ‘to crush this a little it would bow to me’ (2.5.137-38). If anything, the enigma of ‘M.O.A.I.’ gives Malvolio a chance to redeem himself by making it not about him. But then, he failed at the first test when he chose to open a letter addressed to an ‘unknown beloved’, especially since he thinks it was written by Olivia, showing that he already thinks that he could be the beloved it addresses.

In any case, it becomes quite obvious who the letter is referring to in the next prose section:

If this fall into thy hand, revolve. In my stars I am above thee; but be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em. Thy Fates open their hands; let thy blood and spirit embrace them; and, to inure thyself to what thou art like to be, cast thy humble slough and appear fresh. Be opposite with a kinsman, surly with servants; let thy tongue tang arguments of state; put thyself into the trick of singularity: she thus advises thee that sighs for thee. Remember who commended thy yellow stockings, and wished to see thee ever cross-gartered: I say, remember. Go to, thou art made, if thou desirest to be so; if not, let me see thee a steward still, the fellow of servants, and not worthy to touch Fortune’s fingers. Farewell.

She that would alter services with thee,

The Fortunate Unhappy

This is simpler than the first part. The writer importunes the beloved to ‘revolve’ – that is, to think carefully. She may have been born into a higher rank (it’s in her stars – meaning it was decided by fate), but he shouldn’t be scared of becoming more noble. To paraphrase, people are noble by birth, or because they earn their rank (Shakespeare himself became a gentleman), because they become noble by a lucky chance (I really don’t think there is any sexual innuendo involved in these lines). The fates ‘open their hands’ – meaning they make a generous offer –so he should embrace it body and soul. And, to get used to what he is going to be, he should shed his humble behaviour. He should be hostile to a particular family member of hers, talk about important political topics, and be original/act unusually. The one who advises him so is the one who sighs amorously for him.

The bit about the yellow stockings is either that yellow stocking were a young people’s garish fashion associated with bachelors, or, more likely, a fashion hilariously out of date by the time the play was written. The same applies to cross-gartering, since references to cross-gartering appear in texts from the 1580s, and the play was probably written in 1602. ‘Go to’ means something like ‘Come on’, and ‘thou art made’ means ‘your fortune is made’. If he doesn’t take this opportunity, then he doesn’t deserve to be fortunate, and should stay a servant and a steward. The last is either an exhortation and an encouragement, or the last chance for Malvolio to be humble about his life and duties.

‘She that would alter service with thee’ means that he is a servant and she is the mistress even though she would prefer to be his servant, and she is Fortunate-Unhappy because she has fortune and nobility but is unhappy in love.

Does that help? It’s not all that obscure, but it does involve a lot of small references to various not-so-obvious facts.

#Anonymous #anon anon sir!#Twelfth Night #Malvolio #long post #Lucrece #suicide #rape #letter #This is way too long #I would prefer to answer more specific and succinct questions if possible #asks

52 notes · View notes

ciathyzareposts · 4 years

Text

The Black Gate: My Way

Regrets: I’ve had a few. But then again, I’m riding a goddamned magic carpet.

There he was in front of me: Batlin of Britain. The anti-Avatar. The con man with a shuck-and-jive so powerful that he even seduced the in-game narration. “At once humble yet dignified, his gentle eyes exude caring for his fellow person,” the game fawns.

He knows who I am immediately. I pretend to be ignorant about him. He tells me he’s the Fellowship founder and leader. “It is rapidly growing throughout Britannia,” he brags, “and keeps me very busy as thou canst well imagine. Ha! Ha! Ha!” He doesn’t laugh; he actually says, “Ha! Ha! Ha!” God, I hate everything about him.

I ask him about this “voice” that people talk about; he says I have to take a test to learn more. I ask him about the so-called “Meditation Retreat”; he says that it’s east of Serpent’s Hold but only active Fellowship members can visit. Finally, he gives me the Test.

Oh, it’s a clever device. He poses questions just like the gypsy of yore who first started me on this path. But he twists every answer I give into his own foul interpretation, becoming less charitable and more irritable as the questions go forward.

“Thou art feeling depressed right now. It is more likely because A) thou hast disappointed a friend or B) a friend has disappointed thee?” Answer A) and you take your responsibilities seriously and put too much pressure on yourself. B) means you trust people too much even when they’re not worthy. He smiles and nods after this interpretation.

I don’t even understand this question.

“Thou art at a feast hosted by a very high-ranking official. Thou dost believe the food he has ordered to be served is little more than swill, and thou dost notice that the other guests certainly think so. When thine host asks if thou dost like the food, dost thou: A) Tell the truth, or B) lie to him.” A) means you’re bluntly honest but your intentions are noble overall; B) means you’re concerned about others’ feelings. Batlin follows either with a sweeping hand gesture.

“Thou hast taken the last room available at an inn. Upon entering it thou dost find that it is filthy. t is the middle of the night; there is no one to clean it and there is nowhere else to stay. Dost thou: A) clean up the room thyself, or B) just go to sleep.” A) means you think you’re responsible for everything. B) means you refuse to accept your fate and expect life to offer protection. Either way, Batlin sighs.

“At a festive gathering thou dost tell a humorous anecdote, and thou dost tell it very well, creating much amusement Didst thou tell this story because: A) thou didst enjoy the response that thou didst receive from thine audience, or B) because thou didst want to please thy friends. A), you’re using your friends for self-gratification. B), you feel unworthy of having friends and have to buy their attention. Either way, now Batlin now frowns.

“If thou wert to become a person of leisure, one who had amassed a fantastic fortune of wealth, would it most likely be because: A) thou hadst discovered an infallible method of stealing the money of others, or B) thou hadst discovered an infallible method of illicitly duplicating the coin of the realm?” Either way, you feel that you’re incapable of achieving success legitimately (not that that’s one of the options!) and either have to exploit others or present the illusion of success. Now Batlin is sadly shaking his head at my answers. It was all I could do not to cut it off.

“While travelling thou dost find a man in terrible pain. His arm has been grievously injured. A healer tending to him tells thee that the man’s arm will have to be removed and that he will require thine assistance to do it. The man says he will recover from his injury and asks thee not to let the healer amputate his arm. Dost thou: A) heed the words of the healer, or B) respect the wishes of the injured man?” This is an odd one, colored by Batlin’s hatred of healers. But either way, Batlin reverses himself and interprets your answer positively. You either believe in mercy or value human life.

“Thou hast just killed a small dog by throwing a rock at it. Is it more likely that thou hast done this because: A) the dog was going to attack thee, or B) the dog was going to attack someone else.” You’re either overly-defensive or overly-aggressive. Batlin is now stroking his chin.

“Thou art in a boat with thy betrothed and thy mother. The boat capsizes. In the choppy waters thou canst only save thyself and one other person. Who dost thou save from drowning?” Whichever you choose, Batlin reacts with horror that you didn’t choose the other.

This reminds me of a joke: A woman buys her husband two ties for this birthday. To please her, the next day he wears one. She looks at him and says, “What’s the matter? Don’t you like the other one!?”

Finally, he concludes that you’re a person of strong character, but “troubled by deep personal problems that prevent thee from achieving thy true potential for greatness”–in other words, perfect for the Fellowship. He welcomes me to the fold.

“No,” I say.

“I’m sorry?” he replies, concern on his face.

“No. I won’t be joining your corrupt little organization. You think I don’t see through you, Batlin? You think I can’t read between the lines of your vile little book? You think I don’t know what a ‘loaded question’ and a ‘spurious interpretation’ are? Sod off. I don’t know what you have to do with these serial murders and this ‘Guardian’ fiend, but I know you’re involved. I’m going to figure it out, come back, and nail you to the wall. And if I can’t find proof, I’ll just kill you anyway because this world is my sandbox and I can do what I want.”

He was non-plussed. “Until we meet again, Avatar,” he said dismissively, betraying nothing.

Smug bastard.

Okay, obviously the game doesn’t give that dialogue option. You can’t even refuse to join the Fellowship after answering the questions. You can only refuse to do the little errand that Batlin wants to send you on, involving the delivery of a sealed document to Minoc. I reloaded to before taking the test and refused to join.

Time for a little reconnaissance. Batlin clearly sleeps here, so we can’t wait until the place is empty. We wait until he wanders outside instead. There’s nothing in the collection box, and only clothing in his dresser. There’s a yellow healing potion on his shelf. On the shelf underneath is a key, which opens a magically-locked chest in the next room. It has 48 gold pieces (which I don’t steal) plus a note that says, “once the construction is complete, store the blackrock in the hold of the Crown Jewel.” That ought to be enough right there. Batlin has a clear association with the ship that carried the murderers from Trinsic, and he’s building something that involves the substance that’s driving all the mages insane. But the note opens up no new dialogue options.

It’s 19:00, so we wait for a couple of hours for the Fellowship meeting. As the members file in, we observe from the back. Batlin gives a sermon and the various members offer platitudes about how the Fellowship has helped their lives. At least my party members aren’t fooled.

You said it, Shamino.

As we prepare for bed, we look over our notes and try to figure out the best next move. I’ve got:

Britain: Buy swamp boots

Castle: Buy spells and reagents from Nystul (this and the above await my accumulating the funds)

Cove: Deliver bill, check on Rudyom

Great Forest: Check on Nikademus

Jhelom: Pick up Dupre

Minoc: Consult gypsy fortune-teller

Terfin: Report to Lord Draxinusom the death of Inamo

Vesper: Pick up ship and check out the Isle of Fire

In a broader sense, I can look for the Crown Jewel by visiting ports across the map. After studying the map, I decide to go east to Cove first, then pick up the ship in Vesper, and then probably visit Moonglow to see if Mariah has uncovered anything (or is at least okay).

Before leaving town, I stop by the Royal Orchards to talk to Figg, who I saw at the Fellowship meeting. He’s the caretaker whose testimony got Weston thrown in jail. He’s unrepentant, still selling apples for an absurd 5 gold pieces, and denies giving them for free to the Fellowship. There isn’t much else I can do with him.

On the way out of town to the east, I meet a farmer who I missed before. His name is Brownie. He ran against Patterson in the last mayoral election, but Patterson had the support of the Fellowship. Brownie could have won–he knew about Patterson’s affair–but he refused to stoop to that level. We also run across another farm run by a guy named Mack. There’s an alien spaceship inexplicably in his field. He claims that a “mean, ugly, liontiger” came out of the ship and attacked him, but Mack was holding his magic hoe and managed to kill the creature. (The ship and creature are references to ORIGIN’s Wing Commander. There’s a fan theory that Wing Commander‘s villains, the feline Kilrathi, allied with Mondain in Ultima; hence, the space fighting sequence.) The hoe, it transpires, was accidentally enchanted by a mage to be the Hoe of Destruction. Mack keeps it locked in his shed, but he lost the key on the shores of Lock Lake. I stop by the shores of the lake in the way to Cove–they are indeed polluted–but exploring the circumference is going to require swamp boots.

On the other hand, it doesn’t look like the ship could fit many of them.

On the way into Cove, the first thing I see is the Shrine of Compassion, which has a ring on the altar. A sad young woman is moping nearby. She introduces herself as Nastassia. She turns out to be the great-granddaughter of Ariana, the little toothless girl from Britain who gave me the Rune of Compassion in Ultima VI. Arianna apparently later took on the responsibility for caring for the Shrine of Compassion, a tradition that carries to this day. Nastassia is cagey about her personal reasons for upholding the tradition, but she warns me that not all the shrines of virtue are in the same good condition.

In town, we find Jaana running a clinic. She was elderly and white-haired the last time I saw her in Ultima VI, but now she looks like a young Olivia Arquette. She immediately wants to abandon her post, join the party, go find Dupre, and have a drink. I reluctantly take her, but something’s gotta give soon. Jaana oddly comes with a hawk in her bag and can equip it as a weapon. She otherwise has no armor, so I gave her the Avatar costume to wear.

Does it bother you that you’re saying that in front of two wounded men who you’re about to abandon to the care of no other employees?

More Cove notes:

Pamela runs the Out-‘n-Inn, a deliberate double-entendre since Cove is the “city of love and passion.”

Lord Heather is the mayor. He says the Britannian Mining Company out of Minoc is to blame for the pollution of Lock Lake, so he happily signs the bill and takes it out of my hands. He also calls his city the “city of passion” and says that everyone in town loves someone else (he himself is in love with Jaana), save Nastassia who has a sad story.

Jaana says goodbye to her lover, who’s like 150 years younger than her.

I don’t know about the mayor’s explanation for the pollution. Visiting the shores of Lock Lake, we find discarded garbage, broken cutlery, fishbones, furniture, and other things that look like they probably came from Cove itself. There’s a dead cat north of one of Cove’s houses, and “opening” it finds a dead rat, and opening the dead rat finds a piece of cheese and a Ring of Regeneration.

I’m keeping this cheese for the next person who complains he’s hungry.

Zinaida runs the Emerald Tavern at which her boyfriend, the bard De Maria, performs. De Maria tells me the tale of Nastassia, the only unhappy person in town. Her mother, Nadia, was impregnated by a cad who abandoned his young family and got himself killed by some monster near Yew. After Nadia gave birth–prematurely–she committed suicide on the Shrine of Compassion, and Nastassia was raised as an orphan. Yikes. I guess I can see why Nastassia didn’t want to talk about it.

I returned to see Nastassia after hearing her story. She mentioned that Ariana had met the Avatar, which gave me the opportunity to tell her that I am the Avatar. She begged me to try to find out what actually happened to her father, Julius, in Yew, and I agreed. Then she suddenly kissed me.

This is a little uncomfortable given the age difference and the fact that you’ve clearly got some issues.

Rudyom is indeed a little odd, but this is the mage who kept a drake in his foyer in the last game, so the bar was pretty low already. He says he went mad when he was doing experiments with blackrock but he can’t remember any of them; his nearby notebook reveals that blackrock can only be shaped with magic and may have something to do with teleportation (say, a Black Gate)? He offers me his wand, a “blackrock transmuter,” which actually causes blackrock to explode violently. He also says the magic carpet isn’t working quite right, either, and that some adventurers borrowed it recently and “lost it near Serpent’s Spine, somewhere in the vicinity of the Lost River.”

Call our travel agent, Jaana, ’cause our itinerary has just changed.

Rudyom’s revelation about the magic carpet changed everything. There’s no point heading to vesper and a clunky boat when a method of conveyance exists that will get me across both land and sea. Serpent’s Spine surrounds Lord British’s Castle to the east, north, and west, and the Lost River enters the mountains to the west, ending in a pool. I figured I could circle around the western part of the mountains and the river and see what I could find. I stopped by the castle for food on the way, and to return the signed bill to Miranda.

Not with any kind of coin, I notice.

I left the castle, cut across the orchard to the east of the mountains, and started following them around to the north. We looped around the north, then south along the west side to the Lost River, where a thin sliver of land allowed us to walk along the banks between the mountains and the river. And suddenly, right outside a dungeon entrance, there it was: the magic carpet. With seats for eight passengers and everything.

Before we rode off singing “A Whole New World,” we figured we should search around the dungeon for the adventurers who had come here on the carpet. After all, if they were to emerge, broken and bleeding, to find their ride had been jacked, I’d feel pretty bad about that. As we entered, someone announced we were entering the Dungeon Despise. I thought Despise was more to the north and Shame was here, but whatever. I have Spark light up a torch and we enter.

Moments later, the party’s first combat ends in disaster as we encounter a ghost and mongbats in the dungeon corridors. After reloading, I try exploring in a different direction and encounter an obelisk spewing fireballs from all sides. The party is soon destroyed again.

Maybe we need to peek around bends in corridors from now on.

When you die in Ultima VII, you’re not resurrected in Lord British’s throne room. Instead, you wake up in the Fellowship homeless shelter in Paws. The proprietor explains that two Fellowship members, Elizabeth and Abraham, found you and brought you there. Screw that. I don’t know what those monsters did to me while I was unconscious. I reload instead.

So I guess we’ll assume that if we can’t survive Shame right now, some amateur party of adventurers couldn’t, either. It’s an interesting contraption. When you double-click on it, everyone takes their seats and it rises a few dozen feet into the air. To land it, you have to find an area with a carpet’s amount of space clear, and you have to position yourself to land above and to the left of the actual landing zone, as from the game’s axonometric perspective, the carpet descends down and to the right. It takes some practice. Otherwise, it’s pretty cool, and not for the first time, I wonder why the game bothered with horses and carts and ships and then put such an easy method of conveyance in the player’s hands so early in the game. Of course, such a statement reminds me that I have the Orb of Moons, too, and should probably investigate its various destinations when I get a chance.

Miscellaneous notes:

As with Ultima VI (but not Ultima V), the game does not require NPCs to travel between appointed places. They won’t disappear while you’re watching them, but otherwise they can simply teleport where they need to be.

The “Books of Britannia” page has been updated with practically double the number it had before. Cove had a lot of books.

Looking in a crystal ball in Rudyom’s place causes the Guardian’s face to appear and say “go away!”

I wasn’t even looking for you.

In a reversal of what we saw in Lord British’s castle, Cove’s city hall has enough chairs for more people than exist in the city.

Why doesn’t the Great Council just meet here?

I know this is probably the most frequent complaint about Ultima VII, but it bears repeating: God, is the party members’ constantly mewling for food annoying.

Now that I can go anywhere, the choices are a bit paralyzing. From a role-playing perspective, perhaps I should keep searching for the Crown Jewel. On the other hand, I already know (not from previous plays, just from logic) that the Fellowship is behind the murders because of some dispute they had with Christopher. Maybe I should head directly for their so-called “Meditation Retreat” and see what I can find.

On the other hand, my experience in Shame showed me I can’t just blunder into dangerous situations. I need more money, better equipment, and some character advancement. I also have space for two more party members (even if I keep all the people I already have), and it feels wrong to keep going for much longer without Dupre. Then again, I’ve been gone for 200 years, and I have no idea where the best place would be to grind for riches and experience. It’s a tough call. Next time, we’ll see what I decided.

Time so far: 12 hours

*****

Karkoth’s Keep (1983) was supposed to be next, but I can’t get it to run. If I say I don’t have an existing character at character creation, it doesn’t run the generator. If I try to run the generator myself, it quits after a few questions for which it doesn’t seem to accept my answers. These things happen with the versions I can download and with the online version hosted by Archive.org. There are screenshots from beyond this point online, so I know it’s possible. Fiddling with DOSBox cycles doesn’t seem to solve anything. I thus rolled again for a random game and came up with Morabis 1: The Dungeons of Morabis.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/the-black-gate-my-way/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

0 notes

networkingdefinition · 4 years

Text

Peacock Quotes

Official Website: Peacock Quotes

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push();

• A few months ago, I had the pleasure of actually visiting the Playboy Mansion. I saw the peacocks, fed grapes to the monkeys, and even braved the fabled Grotto. After seeing the estate, I understood why anyone would be reluctant to leave. – Diablo Cody • A peacock escaped from the Central Park Zoo and wandered around the city. Either that or I just saw a pigeon on his way to a gay pride parade. – Jimmy Fallon • A peacock that rests on his feathers is just another turkey. – Dolly Parton • An example I often use to illustrate the reality of vanity, is this: look at the peacock; it’s beautiful if you look at it from the front. But if you look at it from behind, you discover the truth… Whoever gives in to such self-absorbed vanity has huge misery hiding inside them. – Pope Francis • And that’s how the Peacock saved the Chameleon – Ally Carter • As regards this vice, we read that the peacock is more guilty of it than any other animal. For it is always contemplating the beauty of its tail, which it spreads in the form of a wheel, and by its cries attracts to itself the gaze of the creatures that surround it. And this is the last vice to be conquered. – Leonardo da Vinci • At twenty a man is a peacock, at thirty a lion, at forty a camel, at fifty a serpent, at sixty a dog, at seventy an ape, at eighty a nothing at all. – Baltasar Gracian

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Peacock', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_peacock').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_peacock img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

• Be motivated like the falcon, hunt gloriously. Be magnificent as the leopard, fight to win. Spend less time with nightingales and peacocks. One is all talk, the other only color. – Rumi • British men are peacocks. You see a lot more style on the streets here than you see anywhere else, on every level. – Tom Ford • But why wasn’t I born, alas, in an age of Adjectives; why can one no longer write of silver-shedding Tears and moon-tailed Peacocks, of eloquent Death, of the Negro and star-enameled Night? – Logan Pearsall Smith • Dear Alec and Magnus, This is the first postcard of five. Don’t freak out or anything, but I need you to send me $150,000 to cover the cost of: 1) Two diamanté crowns 2) 20 peacocks 3) 300 chocolate lollipops in the shape of your heads 4) My dress 5) 500 lbs of glitter 6) One white horse (More to come in other cards) -Isabelle – Cassandra Clare Death, Stars, Writing • Dream tonight of peacock tails, Diamond fields and spouter whales. Ills are many, blessing few, But dreams tonight will shelter you. – Herman Melville • For all the feminist jabber about women being victimized by fashion, it is men who most suffer from conventions of dress. Every day, a woman can choose from an army of personae, femme to butch, and can cut or curl her hair or adorn herself with a staggering variety of artistic aids. But despite the Sixties experiments in peacock dress, no man can rise in the corporate world today, outside the entertainment industry, with long hair or makeup or purple velvet suits. – Camille Paglia • Genius and virtue are to be more often found clothed in gray than in peacock bright. – Van Wyck Brooks • Hansel is certainly about comfort, while still sort of having a peacock principle of wanting to attract attention. – Owen Wilson • He said that people who loved [animals] to excess were capable of the worst cruelties toward human beings. He said that dogs were not loyal but servile, that cats were opportunists and traitors, that peacocks were heralds of death, that macaws were simply decorative annoyances, that rabbits fomented greed, that monkeys carried the fever of lust, and that roosters were damned because they had been complicit in the three denials of Christ. – Gabriel Garcia Marquez • Here is a kitchen improvement, in return for Peacock. For roasting or basting a chicken, render down your fat or butter with cider: about a third cider. Let it come together slowly, till the smell of cider and the smell of fat are as one. This will enliven even a frozen chicken. – Sylvia Townsend Warner • How come it can’t fly no better than a chicken?’ Milkman asked. Too much tail. All that jewelry weighs it down. Like vanity. Can’t nobody fly with all that [stuff]. Wanna fly, you got to give up the [stuff] that weighs you down.’ The peacock jumped onto the hood of the Buick and once more spread its tail, sending the flashy Buick into oblivion. – Toni Morrison • I am Plato’s Republic. Mr. Simmons is Marcus. I want you to meet Jonathan Swift, the author of that evil political book, Gulliver’s Travels! And this other fellow is Charles Darwin, and-this one is Schopenhauer, and this one is Einstein, and this one here at my elbow is Mr. Albert Schweitzer, a very kind philosopher indeed. Here we all are, Montag. Aristophanes and Mahatma Gandhi and Gautama Buddha and Confucius and Thomas Love Peacock and Thomas Jefferson and Mr. Lincoln, if you please. We are also Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. – Ray Bradbury • I can live without it all – love with its blood pump, sex with its messy hungers, men with their peacock strutting, their silly sexual baggage, their wet tongues in my ear. – Erica Jong • I designed collections around whatever struck my fancy … fruits, vegetables, politics, or peacocks! – Lilly Pulitzer • I do not believe that any peacock envies another peacock his tail, because every peacock is persuaded that his own tail is the finest in the world. The consequence of this is that peacocks are peaceable birds. – John Ruskin • I don’t know if it’s animalistic or what, but men become like peacocks with their feathers up when women are around. – Bradley Cooper • I fear I must agree,” Magnus murmured. He pressed a hand over his heart and his new peacock-blue waistcoast. “I strive to find some respect in my heart for you, but alas! It seems an impossible quest. – Cassandra Clare • I just love the way the ’60s rock stars put themselves together, because they were like dandies and peacocks. They really lived out their fantasies – and dressed their fantasies. – Anna Sui • I know exactly how strong he is… He is like a peacock, spreading his feathers and squawking loudly to distract you from the back that his body is but weak.” -Jason to Mahiya – Nalini Singh • If a man knew anything, he would sit in a corner and be modest; but he is such an ignorant peacock, that he goes bustling up and down, and hits on extraordinary discoveries. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • If thou seest anything in thyself which may make thee proud, look a little further and thou shalt find enough to humble thee; if thou be wise, view the peacock’s feathers with his feet, and weigh thy best parts with thy imperfections. – Francis Quarles • If you get bored of doing it (Peacock Pose) with two hands, try it with one. – Dharma Mittra • It dances today, my heart, like a peacock it dances, it dances. It sports a mosaic of passions like a peacock’s tail, It soars to the sky with delight, it quests, Oh wildly, it dances today, my heart, like a peacock it dances. – Rabindranath Tagore • It is reported of the peacock that priding himself in his gay feathers he ruffles them up; but spying his black feet he soon lets fall his plumes. So he that glories in his gifts and adornings should look upon his corruptions, and that will damp his high thoughts. – Anne Bradstreet • It’s an awful stretcher to believe that a peacock’s tail was thus formed but … most people just don’t get it – I must be a very bad explainer – Charles Darwin • Le geai pare des plumes du paon. A bluejay in peacock feathers. – Jean de La Fontaine • Let me drive,” she said, reaching for the reins. He turned to her in disbelief. “This is a phaeton, not a single-horse wagon.” Sophie fought the urge to throttle him. His nose was running, his eyes were red, he couldn’t stop coughing, and still he found the energy to act like an arrogant peacock. “I assure you,” she said slowly, “that I know how to drive a team of horses. – Julia Quinn • Maggie threw her head back and laughed. ‘So you’re going to try…what? Birds of a Feather?’ she quested. ‘Of course not,’ Kat said. ‘Everyone knows the French government banned the importation of peacocks in 1987. – Ally Carter • Many a peacock hides his peacock tail from all eyes–and calls it his pride. – Friedrich Nietzsche • Men’s clothes are becoming kind of mod. They’re becoming more colorful and more flamboyant, and the male peacock is beginning to show his true plumage. – Liberace • Music really influenced me when I was growing up. I did go through a Jimi Hendrix phase. My hair was naturally quite afro, and I wore low-slung jeans with very high heels. Siouxsie and the Banshees had a lot to answer for. I was in a top hat with peacock feathers and thigh-high black boots. I was 17 — old enough to know better. – Helen McCrory • My heart is like a singing bird Whose nest is in a water’d shoot; My heart is like an apple-tree Whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit; My heart is like a rainbow shell That paddles in a halcyon sea; My heart is gladder than all these, Because my love is come to me. Raise me a daïs of silk and down; Hang it with vair and purple dyes; Carve it in doves and pomegranates, And peacocks with a hundred eyes; Work it in gold and silver grapes, In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys; Because the birthday of my life Is come, my love is come to me. – Christina Rossetti • My philosophy on what makeup is…it’s very different from what a woman’s is. Makeup came from a very psychological place – of the peacock. – Jeremy Renner • News is history shot on the wing. The huntsmen from the Fourth Estate seek to bag only the peacock or the eagle of the swifting day. – Gene Fowler • Only you could love such a vile, selfish peacock, Evie. – Lisa Kleypas Paradise, Way, Satan • Patterns drawn in ultraviolet might make those ordinary little petals into the exotic peacocks of the botanical world, and yet we cannot appreciate them. – Victoria Finlay • Peacock bass like to hide at ambush points, away from the strong canal currents. If you fish early and know those peacock hangouts, you will have little or no trouble catching peacocks on lures and live bait. – Mark Hall • Peacocks have the bright feathers. Fish have the long tails. Women have the mall. – Janette Rallison • People are crying up the rich and variegated plumage of the peacock, and he is himself blushing at the sight of his ugly feet. – Saadi • Play not the Peacock, looking everywhere about you, to see if you be well deck’t. – George Washington • Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir, Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine, With a cargo of ivory, And apes and peacocks, Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine. – John Masefield • Recently, while I was in England, I saw a documentary on the BBC about the border between India and Pakistan at Wagah. When the border closes each evening around six o’ clock, the soldiers on each side do these amazing high-stepping peacock march-offs (like a dance-off). The displays are almost identical on each side and thousands gather to watch them. Though they’re patrolling along their separate borders, what comes across is how similar they are. – Matthea Harvey • Ruin, weariness, death, perpetually death, stand grimly to confront the other presence of Elizabethan drama which is life: life compact of frigates, fir trees and ivory, of dolphins and the juice of July flowers, of the milk of unicorns and panthers’ breath, of ropes of pearl, brains of peacocks and Cretan wine. – Virginia Woolf • She is a peacock in everything but beauty! – Oscar Wilde • Simple DNA gradually morphed and evolved, so that you had the coming into being of ever more complex and diverse creatures, until one day you wake up and find there are peacocks and giraffes. Nature is an open-ended experiment based on morphing a DNA code, and ours is an open-ended experiment based on morphing a crochet code. – Margaret Wertheim • Skaters are very much like peacocks. – Jon Heder • Tell me about this Wizard Howl of yours.” “He’s the best wizard in Ingary or anywhere else. If he’d only had time, he would have defeated that djinn. And he’s sly and selfish and vain as a peacock and cowardly, and you can’t pin him down to anything.” “Indeed? Strange that you should speak so proudly such a list of vices, most loving of ladies.” “What do you mean, vices? I was just describing Howl. He comes from another world entirely, you know, called Wales, and I refuse to believe he’s dead! – Diana Wynne Jones • The Italians are fond of red clothes, peacock plumes, and embroidery; and I remember one rainy morning in the city of Palermo, the street was ablaze with scarlet umbrellas. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • The Italians have voices like peacocks – German gives me a cold in the head – and Russian is nothing but sneezing – Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton • The masculine imagination lives in a state of perpetual revolt against the limitations of human life. In theological terms, one might say that all men, left to themselves, become gnostics. They may swagger like peacocks, but in their heart of hearts they all think sex an indignity and wish they could beget themselves on themselves. Hence the aggressive hostility toward women so manifest in most club-car stories. – W. H. Auden • The peacock in all his pride does not display half the colors that appear in the garments of a British lady when she is dressed. – Joseph Addison • The pride of the peacock is the glory of God. – William Blake • The pride of the peacock is the glory of God. The lust of the goat is the bounty of God. The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God. The nakedness of woman is the work of God. – William Blake • The sparrow is sorry for the peacock at the burden of its tail. – Rabindranath Tagore • The sun fades like the spreading Of a peacock’s tail, as though twilight Might be read as a warning to those desperate For easy solutions.- John – Ashbery • The thing you fail to grasp is that people are not basically good. We are basically selfish. We shove and clamour and cry for adoration, and beat down everyone else to get it. Life is a competition of prattling peacocks enraptured in inane mating rituals. But for all our effacing and self-importance, we are all slaves to what we fear most. You have so very much to learn. Here. Let me teach you. – Christopher Nolan • There are eight different breeds of peacock. I have them all. – Bidzina Ivanishvili • There are no preconditions for jealousy. You don’t have to be right, you don’t have to be reasonable. Take Othello. He was neither right nor reasonable, and Desdemona ended up dead. I wouldn’t mind Leanne ending up dead. I wouldn’t mind exploding her into fireworks of peacock and pearl. – Franny Billingsley • To frame the little animal, provide All the gay hues that wait on female pride: Let Nature guide thee; sometimes golden wire The shining bellies of the fly require; The peacock’s plumes thy tackle must not fail, Nor the dear purchase of the sable’s tail. – John Gay • To Paradise, the Arabs say, Satan could never find the way Until the peacock led him in. – Charles Godfrey Leland • Turkeys are peacocks that have really let themselves go. – Kristen Schaal • We ask ourselves all kinds of questions, such as why does a peacock have such beautiful feathers, and we may answer that he needs the feathers to impress a female peacock, but then we ask ourselves, and why is there a peacock? And then we ask, why is there anything living? And then we ask, why is there anything at all? And if you tell some advocate of scientism that the answer is a secret, he will go white hot and write a book. But it is a secret. And the experience of living with the secret and thinking about it is in itself a kind of faith. – Vaclav Havel • We may put too high a premium on speech from platform and pulpit, at the bar and in the legislative hall, and pay dear for the whistle of our endless harangues. England and especially Germany, are less loquacious, and attend more to business. We let the eagle, and perhaps too often the peacock, scream. – Bill Vaughan • When the peacock has presented his back, the spectator will usually begin to walk around him to get a front view; but the peacock will continue to turn so that no front view is possible. The thing to do then is to stand still and wait until it pleases him to turn. When it suits him, the peacock will face you. Then you will see in a green-bronze arch around him a galaxy of gazing, haloed suns. – Flannery O’Connor • Who cares what a man’s style is, so it is intelligible,–as intelligible as his thought. Literally and really, the style is no more than the stylus, the pen he writes with; and it is not worth scraping and polishing, and gilding, unless it will write his thoughts the better for it. It is something for use, and not to look at. The question for us is, not whether Pope had a fine style, wrote with a peacock’s feather, but whether he uttered useful thoughts. – Henry David Thoreau • Women are a source of energy in life. I’ve always wanted to be in a war or baseball movie, but the thought of having no women on set for six months – that’s hell. I don’t know if it’s animalistic or what, but men become like peacocks with their feathers up when women are around. – Bradley Cooper

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'a', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_a').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_a img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'e', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_e').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_e img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'i', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_i').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_i img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'o', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_o').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_o img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'u', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_u').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_u img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'y', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_y').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_y img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

0 notes

equitiesstocks · 4 years

Text

Peacock Quotes

Official Website: Peacock Quotes

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push();

0 notes