[lit-ideas] Thermopylai
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:33:57 EST
Helm:
"The translation I have is copyrighted 1871 and
published in 1883. I sent for a history of the battle of Thermopylae but
in the meantime I thought I would see what Curtius had to say about Xerxes,
the Spartans, Leonidas and the Battle of Thermopylae."
And share when it arrives. I only have Herodotus vol. 1 (Loeb) so far, and
there's only one page reference to Xerxes -- the gist of the battle is of
course in later volumes:
Herodotus writes:
"Darius purposed to take this statue but dared not; Xerxes his son took it,
and slew the priest who warned him not to move the statue."
(Herodotus, I, 183).
So we see the mastery of Herodotus who is already biasing the reader's
emotions _against_ Xerxes, unless you like a 'youthful and impetuous' king, as
the
Loeb translation of "The Persians" goes.
Personally, I cannot think (HOW REALLY MAGNANIMOUS, the Greeks were).
Imagine having a whole tragedy on your ENEMIES. I know Buenos Aires could never
Swallow a staging of Berkoff's "Sink the Belgrano!" -- and I met the man,
Berkoff, when he _was_ in Buenos Aires, brought by the brain-drain
British-Council,
but he was touring with a one-man play entitled, "Shakespeare's Villains" --
and what a pretentious Cockney the man is!
Cheers,
JL
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