Douglas Young wrote a narrative which he entitled, "Chasing an Ancient
Greek". His wife thought that incompleat. "I'd love if you can think of a
subtitle for that."
"What about "Discursive reminiscences of an European journey", Young asked.
The wife nodded. She thought that 'discursive reminiscence' was a
synaesthesia. As she later explained, "we tend to think of reminiscences as
visual
rather than discursive, but Douglas thought otherwise; he also had a
penchant for pronouncing "European" as if the word started with a vowel; but I
did not want another marital fight over a pronunciation, did I?".
"Chasing an ancient Greek" is an entertaining travel narrative which
takes as its unlikely subject Young's journeys to European libraries while
working on Theognis -- the ancient Greek of the title.
The libraries are all European, and Young found that their copies of
Theognis, to use the vernacular "sucked -- some of them". "Plus, they were not
circulating". The implicature seems to be that he had to read the damned
Ancient Greek in the reading room, while he'd rather be at "an" European pub
("I did not find one.").
In a message dated 10/12/2015 9:18:06 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
jejunejesuit.geary2@xxxxxxxxx writes:
Look here, don't try to intimidate me with "A tall man, standing 6 feet
and 7 inches''. So? I'm only 5 foot 5 inches tall, but every inch is pure
killer. I ain't scared of no dress-wearing Scotsman. Hell, they're too
damn scared of the world to even separate themsissyselves from smog-fogged
England. Shout it from the highest hill "an hour" "a howitzer, or be prepared
to live among them what speaks English an horrible way.
Well, Young spoke Ancient Greek most of the time -- "it sounds arcane, but
then I _am_ arcane," he would say.
He found that Theognis* did not quite translate to Scots, which was his big
mistake since EVERYTHING translated to Scots.
Why this obsession with Theognis. Young once gave an explicit interview.
Q: Why did you engage in "an" European journey in search of an old book in
old Greek?
Young: Why not? I find Theognis erotic, and I hope you do too. Let me
recite some of his lines:
πᾶσι δ᾽ ὅσοισι μέμηλε καὶ ἐσσομένοισιν ἀοιδὴ
ἔσσῃ ὁμῶς, ὄφρ᾽ ἂν γῆ τε καὶ ἠέλιος,
αὐτὰρ ἐγὼν ὀλίγης παρὰ σεῦ οὐ τυγχάνω αἰδοῦς,
ἀλλ᾽ ὥσπερ μικρὸν παῖδα λόγοις μ᾽ ἀπατᾷς.
Strong, eh?
Q: Yes. Did you find variation in the books you found in your "an" European
journey?
Young: Not really. Some of the books had not been read by anyone -- I had
to cut the pages in some of the copies. They were out of the print, and
acquired by the libraries from local donors. But then Europe is Europe.
Q: If Theognis had been a woman, would he have been a lesbian, in the
modern usage of the expression?
Young: Possibly yes -- but then possibly no.
Q: He was from Megara, right? I suppose in that 'an' European library you
found most of his stuff?
Young: Don't be so sure. Megaran libraries leave much to be desired, by me,
at any rate. On top, as a local told me, there is confusion also about
Theognis's place of birth -- not of death. Plato thinks Theognis was born in
Megara Hyblaea in Sicily. This meant I had to buy a ticket to the island,
which was not precisely what we Scots call 'cheap'.
Q: And where you lucky?
Young: Well, apparently, Plato was wrong. A local in Megara Hyblaea told me
that I should have known that Didymus, a scholiast on Plato, refudiated
Plato by presenting a rival theory accoring to which Theognis was born in a
Megara in Attica. This meant I had to buy a not precisely cheap air ticket
to this area of Greece, all across the sea!
Q: How was Theognis, from a personality point of view?
Young: Megalomaniac. In a letter to a friend he writes: "everyone will say:
They are the verses of Theognis of Megara, a name known to all mankind" --
and he was wrong, since Theognis is NOT known to all mankind.
Q: But perhaps Theognis was engaged in the figure of rhetoric known as
hyperbole.
Young: You think so?
Q: What are the topics of Theognis's verse.
Young: Well, I made an alphabetic list of them. He wrote verse on wine,
politics, friendship, war, life's brevity, human nature, wealth, and love --
in that order. One poem for each topic.
Q: Wich of his poems are your favourite?
Young: Those on love, of course. I find them VERY erotic. Listen for
example to the flow of this:
Πάντων μὲν μὴ φῦναι ἐπιχθονίοισιν ἄριστον
μηδ᾽ ἐσιδεῖν αὐγὰς ὀξέος ἠελίου,
φύντα δ᾽ ὅπως ὤκιστα πύλας Ἀΐδαο περῆσαι
καὶ κεῖσθαι πολλὴν γῆν ἐπαμησάμενον.
Q: Indeed. VERY erotic.
Cheers,
Speranza
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