The MAGOT-PIE on the Gallows
Neuendorffer
The Magpie on the Gallows
http://www.homestead.com/medeia12/index26.html
http://www.homestead.com/medeia/index18.html
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Macbeth Act 3, Scene 4
MACBETH It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood:
Stones have been known to move and trees to speak;
Augurs and understood relations have
By magot-pies and choughs and rooks brought forth
The secret'st man of blood. What is the night?
|GLS| ** MAGOT-PIE a magpie, a pie which feeds on magots
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<<Magpie: A contraction of magotpie, or magata-pie. “Mag” is generally
thought to be a contraction of Margaret; thus we have Robin red-breast,
Tom-tit, Philip- i.e. a sparrow, etc.
Magpies. To see nine magpies is most unlucky.
Here is an old Scotch rhyme:
“One's sorrow, two's mirth,
Three's a wedding, four's a birth
Five's a christening, six a death
Seven's heaven, eight is hell,
And nine's the devil his ane sel'.”>>
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Poe, Edgar Allan ( MARGINALIA )
<<"We are Scotsmen to the spiner" says Sawney- as
if the thing were not more than self-evident. Mr. Lowell is
called a "magpie," an "ape," a "Yankee cockney," and his name
is intentionally mis-written John Russell Lowell.>>
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Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
Chapter 20. Showing how Dodson and Fogg were Men of
Business, and their Clerks Men of pleasure; and
how an affecting Interview took place between
Mr. Weller and his long-lost Parent; showing also
what Choice Spirits assembled at the Magpie and
Stump, and what a Capital Chapter the next one
will be.>>
<<When we add that the weather-beaten signboard bore the
half-obliterated semblance of a magpie intently eyeing a crooked streak
of brown paint, which the neighbours had been taught from infancy to
consider as the 'stump,' we have said all that need be said of the
exterior of the edifice.>>
<<Mr. Perker's laundress, who lived with a married daughter,
who had bestowed her hand upon a non-resident waiter,
who occupied the one-pair of some number in some street
closely adjoining to some brewery somewhere behind Gray's Inn
Lane, it was within fifteen minutes of closing the prison
for the night. Mr. Lowten had still to be ferreted out from
the back parlour of the Magpie and Stump; and Job had
scarcely accomplished this object, and communicated Sam
Weller's message, when the clock struck ten.>>
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<<When Reynard wanted to get talked about, he told Miss Magpie, under
the promise of secrecy, that "the lion king had given him three hairs
from the fifth leg of the amoronthologosphorus, ... a beast that lives
on the other side of the river Cylinx; it has five legs, and on the
fifth leg there are three hairs, and whoever has these three hairs will
be young and beautiful for ever." They had effect only on the fair sex,
and could be given only to the lady whom the donor married. (Sir E. B.
Lytton: Pilgrims of the Rhine, xii.)>>
Rykelot A magpie (?); a little rook. The German roche, Anglo-Saxon hroc,
seem to be cognate words. The last syllable is a diminutive.
MAGPIE, n. A bird whose thievish disposition suggested
to someone that it might be taught to talk.
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Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte ** ( CHAPTER XXXI )
<<'No books!' I exclaimed. 'How do you contrive to live here without
them? if I may take the liberty to inquire. Though provided with a
large library, I'm frequently very dull at the Grange; take my
books away, and I should be desperate!'
'I was always reading, when I had them,' said Catherine; 'and Mr.
Heathcliff never reads; so he took it into his head to destroy my
books. I have not had a glimpse of one for weeks. Only once, I
searched through Joseph's store of theology, to his great
irritation; and once, Hareton, I came upon a secret stock in your
room - some Latin and Greek, and some tales and poetry: all old
friends. I brought the last here - and you gathered them, as a
magpie gathers silver spoons, for the mere love of stealing! They
are of no use to you; or else you concealed them in the bad spirit
that, as you cannot enjoy them, nobody else shall. Perhaps YOUR
envy counselled Mr. Heathcliff to rob me of my treasures? But I've
most of them written on my brain and printed in my heart, and you
cannot deprive me of those!'>>
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Three Musketeers - Dumas
<<One day, when the king had halted to fly the magpie, and the four
friends, according to their custom, instead of following the sport had
stopped at a cabaret on the high road, a man coming from la Rochelle on
horseback pulled up at the door to drink a glass of wine, and darted a
searching glance into the room where the four Musketeers were sitting.>>
<<The king, however, who sought distraction, while traveling as fast as
possible--for he was anxious to be in Paris by the twenty-third--stopped
from time to time to fly the magpie, a pastime for which the taste had
been formerly inspired in him by De Luynes, and for which he had always
preserved a great predilection.>>
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Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
She also allowed her
to roam about the great house, and examine the curious and pretty
things stored away in the big wardrobes and the ancient chests,
for Aunt March hoarded like a magpie. Amy's chief delight was
an Indian cabinet, full of queer drawers, little pigeonholes,
and secret places, in which were kept all sorts of ornaments,
some precious, some merely curious, all more or less antique.
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THE WATER-LILY.
<<Having promised this, he joyfully returned home, and
as he was riding through the forest he could perfectly
understand all that the birds said. He heard a thrush say
to a magpie: "How stupid men are! they cannot understand
the simplest thing. It is now quite a year since the
maiden was transformed into a water-lily, and, though
she sings so sadly that anyone going over the bridge must
hear her, yet no one comes to her aid. Her former bridegroom
rode over it a few days ago and heard her singing,
but was no wiser than the rest."
"And he is to blame for all her misfortunes," added the
magpie. "If he heeds only the words of men she will remain
a flower for ever. She were soon delivered were the
matter only laid before the old wizard of Finland.">>
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A STORY ABOUT A DARNING-NEEDLE
<<So the next morning she blew on her pipe, and lo!
and behold every magpie in the world flew up. That is to say, all
the magpies except one who had broken a leg and a wing. The old
woman sent after it at once, and when she questioned the magpies
the crippled one was the only one who knew where the three
bulrushes were.
Then the prince started off with the lame magpie. They went on
and on till they reached a great stone wall, many, many feet high.
'Now, prince,' said the magpie, 'the three bulrushes are behind
that wall.'>>
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Adventures of Robin Hood
<<Thus do I punish those that come into the greenwood to deal dole to
me. As for thine own self, never knew I landlord yet that would not
charge twice an he could." At this the host smiled slyly, as though
saying to himself the rustic saw, "Teach a magpie to suck eggs.">>
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Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Alice replied eagerly, for she was always ready to talk about her
pet: 'Dinah's our cat. And she's such a capital one for catching
mice you can't think! And oh, I wish you could see her after the
birds! Why, she'll eat a little bird as soon as look at it!'
This speech caused a remarkable sensation among the party. Some
of the birds hurried off at once: one old Magpie began wrapping
itself up very carefully, remarking, 'I really must be getting
home; the night-air doesn't suit my throat!'
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THE SIX HUNGRY BEASTS
Now the fox was particularly fond of young magpies, and he set
about making a plan by which he could have one for dinner. At last
he hit upon something which he thought would do, and accordingly
he sat down near the tree and began to stare hard at it.
'What are you looking at, Michael?' asked the magpie, who was
watching him from a bough.
'I'm looking at this tree. It has just struck me what a good tree it
would be to cut my new snow-shoes out of.' But at this answer the
magpie screeched loudly, and exclaimed: 'Oh, not this tree, dear
brother, I implore you! I have built my nest on it, and my young
ones are not yet old enough to fly.'
'It will not be easy to find another tree that would make such good
snow-shoes,' answered the fox, cocking his head on one side, and
gazing at the tree thoughtfully; 'but I do not like to be ill-natured,
so if you will give me one of your young ones I will seek my
snow-shoes elsewhere.'
Not knowing what to do the poor magpie had to agree, and flying
back, with a heavy heart, he threw one of his young ones out of the
nest. The fox seized it in his mouth and ran off in triumph, while
the magpie, though deeply grieved for the loss of his little one,
found some comfort in the thought that only a bird of extraordinary
wisdom would have dreamed of saving the rest by the sacrifice of
the one. But what do you think happened? Why, a few days later,
Michael the fox might have been seen sitting under the very same
tree, and a dreadful pang shot through the heart of the magpie as he
peeped at him from a hole in the nest.
'What are you looking at?' he asked in a trembling voice.
'At this tree. I was just thinking what good snowshoes it would
make,' answered the fox in an absent voice, as if he was not
thinking of what he was saying.
'Oh, my brother, my dear little brother, don't do that,' cried the
magpie, hopping about in his anguish. 'You know you promised
only a few days ago that you would get your snow-shoes
elsewhere.'
'So I did; but though I have searched through the whole forest,
there is not a single tree that is as good as this. I am very sorry to
put you out, but really it is not my fault. The only thing I can do
for you is to offer to give up my snow-shoes altogether if you will
throw me down one of your young ones in exchange.'
And the poor magpie, in spite of his wisdom, was obliged to throw
another of his little ones out of the nest; and this time he was not
able to console himself with the thought that he had been much
cleverer than other people.
He sat on the edge of his nest, his head drooping and his feathers all
ruffled, looking the picture of misery. Indeed he was so different
from the gay, jaunty magpie whom every creature in the forest
knew, that a crow who was flying past, stopped to inquire what
was the matter. 'Where are the two young ones who are not in the
nest?' asked he.
'I had to give them to the fox,' replied the magpie in a quivering
voice; 'he has been here twice in the last week, and wanted to cut
down my tree for the purpose of making snow-shoes out of it, and
the only way I could buy him off was by giving him two of my
young ones.'
Oh, you fool,' cried the crow, 'the fox was only trying to frighten
you. He could not have cut down the tree, for he has neither axe
nor knife. Dear me, to think that you have sacrificed your young
ones for nothing! Dear, dear! how could you be so very foolish!'
And the crow flew away, leaving the magpie overcome with shame
and sorrow.
The next morning the fox came to his usual place in front of the
tree, for he was hungry, and a nice young magpie would have suited
him very well for dinner. But this time there was no cowering,
timid magpie to do his bidding, but a bird with his head erect and a
determined voice.
'My good fox,' said the magpie putting his head on one side and
looking very wise--'my good fox, if you take my advice, you will go
home as fast as you can. There is no use your talking about making
snow-shoes out of this tree, when you have neither knife nor axe to
cut it down with!'
'Who has been teaching you wisdom?' asked the fox, forgetting his
manners in his surprise at this new turn of affairs.
'The crow, who paid me a visit yesterday,' answered the magpie.
'The crow was it?' said the fox, 'well, the crow had better not meet
me for the future, or it may be the worse for him.'
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Art Neuendorffer
Neuendorffer
> Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte ** ( CHAPTER XXXI )
>
> <<'No books!' I exclaimed. 'How do you contrive to live here without
> them? if I may take the liberty to inquire. Though provided with a
> large library, I'm frequently very dull at the Grange; take my
> books away, and I should be desperate!'
> 'I was always reading, when I had them,' said Catherine; 'and Mr.
> Heathcliff never reads; so he took it into his head to destroy my
> books. I have not had a glimpse of one for weeks. Only once, I
> searched through Joseph's store of theology, to his great
> irritation; and once, Hareton, I came upon a secret stock in your
> room - some Latin and Greek, and some tales and poetry: all old
> friends. I brought the last here - and you gathered them, as a
> magpie gathers silver spoons, for the mere love of stealing! They
> are of no use to you; or else you concealed them in the bad spirit
> that, as you cannot enjoy them, nobody else shall. Perhaps YOUR
> envy counselled Mr. Heathcliff to rob me of my treasures? But I've
> most of them written on my brain and printed in my heart, and you
> cannot deprive me of those!'>>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
defeated the army of the Mexican President Santa Ana in the
Battle of San JACINTO near present-day Houston on April 21, 1836.>>
Charlotte Brontė was born in Yorkshire on April 21, 1816.
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Don Quixote by Cervantes - John Ormsby Introduction
<<Cervantes was more successful in a literary contest at Saragossa
in 1595 in honour of the canonisation of St. JACINTO,
when his composition won the first prize, THREE SILVER SPOONS.
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Silver Spoons
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Gilbert/Sullivan - Plays ** ( THE SORCERER )
Toil, sorrow, and plot,
Fly away quicker and quicker--
Three spoons in the pot--
That is the brew of your vicar!
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Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
<<Tom was a good deal bothered about what to do for
a spoon, but he said we'd got to have it; so he took a
think. When he had ciphered it out he told me how
we was to do; then we went and waited around the
spoon-basket till we see Aunt Sally coming, and then
Tom went to counting the spoons and laying them out
to one side, and I slid one of them up my sleeve, and
Tom says:
"Why, Aunt Sally, there ain't but nine spoons YET.">>
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Poe, Edgar Allan - THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE
<<Upon the floor were found four Napoleons, an ear-ring of topaz,
three large silver spoons, three smaller of metal d'Alger, and two
bags, containing nearly four thousand francs in gold.>>
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Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray ** ( CHAPTER XVII )
As for one dozen well-manufactured silver spoons and forks at per oz.,
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<<"Ah! here you are!" he exclaimed, looking at Jean Valjean.
"I am glad to see you. Well, but how is this? I gave you
the candlesticks too, which are of silver like the rest,
and for which you can certainly get two hundred francs.
Why did you not carry them away with your forks and spoons?" >>
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Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky
<<They don't make a noise, anyway, though I'm really afraid
for our landlady's silver spoons... Amalia Ivanovna!" she addressed
her suddenly, almost aloud, "if your spoons should happen to be
stolen, I won't be responsible, I warn you! Ha-ha-ha!">>
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Art Neuendorffer
Neuendorffer
> The Magpie on the Gallows
> http://www.homestead.com/medeia12/index26.html
> http://www.homestead.com/medeia/index18.html
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clever but coarse; and even sometimes vulgar." - G.F.Waagen
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<<We can now be sure that Bruegel was not himself a simple peasant, as
19th centrury critics still believed, but a cultured man in contact with
some of the best minds of the day. But Bruegel remains as dim and
shadowy - and in many ways as ambiguous - a figure as Shakespeare.>>
_Bruegel_ by Keith Roberts.
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http://www.fwkc.com/encyclopedia/low/articles/b/b003002760f.html
BRUEGHEL, Pieter, the Elder (c. 1525/30-69), Flemish artist, active in
Antwerp and Brussels, famous for his paintings and drawings of
landscapes and scenes of robust peasant life, and founder of a dynasty
of artists that remained active well into the 17th century.
Brueghel's art is often seen as the last phase in the development of a
long tradition of Netherlandish painting beginning with Jan van Eyck in
the 15th century. This tradition transformed the abstraction of medieval
art into a more empirical view of reality. Brueghel clearly rejected the
influences of Italian Renaissance art and its classical foundations,
which dominated the work of many of his Flemish contemporaries. Rather
than mythological subjects, muscular nudes, and idealized scenes,
Brueghel's art portrays figures observed from nature acting out
realistic situations in believable contemporaneous settings.
Brueghel is thought to have come from the town of Breda, located in
northern Brabant in present-day Holland.
Before he became a member of the painters' guild in Antwerp in 1551, he
seems to have studied with Pieter
Coecke (1502-50) in Brussels and worked for a short time in Malines.
After a trip to Italy between 1552 and 1555, Brueghel returned to
Antwerp. In 1563 he married Coecke's daughter and moved to Brussels,
where he lived until his death in September 1569. Their two children,
Pieter the Younger and Jan, both became painters of some renown.
Brueghel's earliest works were landscapes, an interest he retained
throughout his life. A number of panoramic landscape drawings made on
his Italian trip-for example, those preserved in Berlin (1552,
Staatliche Museen) and in London (1553, British Museum)-show Brueghel's
early ability to depict changing seasonal moods and the atmospheric
qualities of nature. These characteristics appear in his later landscape
paintings, such as Hunters in the Snow (1565, Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Vienna) and Magpie on the Gallows (1568, Hessiches Landesmuseum,
Darmstadt, Germany). After his return to Antwerp from Italy in 1555,
Brueghel regularly made drawings for engravings published by the
printing house owned by the graphic artist Hieronymus Cock (c. 1510-70).
Some of Brueghel's drawings for Cock were landscapes, but others were
clearly meant to capitalize on the popularity of the bizarre art of
Brueghel's famous Flemish predecessor Hieronymus Bosch. The fantastic,
monstrous figures and demonic dwarfs in Brueghel's series of engravings
The Seven Deadly Vices (1557) are within this category. Late in the
1550s, Brueghel began a series of large painted panels with complex
compositions of Flemish folk life. The earliest of these is an
encyclopedic portrayal of common sayings, Netherlandish Proverbs (1559,
Staatliche Museen), followed by Combat Between Carnival and Lent (1559)
and Children's Games (1560, both Kunsthistorisches Museum).
All are marked by a keen perception of human nature, pervasive wit, and
the vitality of his peasant figures.
Later examples include Peasant Kermis and Peasant Wedding Feast (both c.
1566-68, Kunsthistorisches Museum).
Modern scholars are far from interpreting Brueghel's art as simple
drolleries and folk subjects painted by an
artist from mere peasant stock, as Karel van Mander (1548-1606)
described him in 1604. Recent writers see him as a knowledgeable man
with such intellectual friends as geographer Abraham Ortelius.
Brueghel's art has been variously interpreted as referring to the
conflicts between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, to the political
domination of the Lowlands by the Spanish, and as parallels to dramatic
allegories performed publicly by Flemish societies of rhetoric.>>
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Art Neuendorffer
Neuendorffer
http://community.webshots.com/photo/2483502/2486285xfSFmRJCfG
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Peter Bruegel the Elder
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Tielemans/hp62marc.htm
<<Peter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569), the famous Flemish painter, is
considered the most important Northern painter of the mid-16th century.
He established the independence of landscape and genre subjects (scenes
of everyday life) from traditional figural painting.
Little is known about Bruegel's life or beliefs. Although he frequently
depicted scenes of rustic life, "Peasant Bruegel," as he was known, was
not a peasant but a townsman. His friends and patrons were humanists.
Unlike his predecessors, Bruegel painted almost entirely for private
patrons and produced no surviving works for churches or other public
buildings. Consequently, he was known in his own time primarily as an
inventor of moralistic figural scenes and landscapes, which were
reproduced in engravings by other artists.
Many of Bruegel's paintings have been interpreted as disguised criticism
of the harsh Spanish control of the Netherlands. Bruegel was patronized,
however, by Cardinal Antoine Perrenot de Granville, advisor to Philip
II, and about 1563 he moved from Antwerp to Brussels, the seat of the
Spanish government in the Netherlands. Given the sparse and
contradictory evidence, Bruegel's political convictions remain unknown.
Modern scholars are also unable to determine his religious beliefs.
Bruegel probably viewed organized religion as an obstacle between man
and God; his “Parable of the Blind”, also known as “The Blind Leading
the Blind” (1568; Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples) may be
interpreted as illustrating this idea.
Upon completing his artistic training in 1551, Bruegel travelled to
Italy. In spite of the influences of this journey, he continued
throughout his life to paint in a manner that was strongly Northern in
both subject and style. Only close study of his works reveals that he
absorbed figural poses and compositional ideas from Italian art. The
journey through the Alps had a more obvious impact on Bruegel's artistic
imagination. In a number of his landscapes, among them Hunters in the
Snow (1565; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), tall mountains are placed
in the backgrounds of his panoramic views while the centers and
foregrounds depict typical Netherlandish settings and subjects.
Bruegel's painting style changed considerably during the short span of
his career. His early works (until c.1562) are characterized by a
multiplicity of small elements, an overall composition, and a bird's-eye
perspective. A typical example is “Netherlandish Proverbs” (1559;
Staatliche Museum, West Berlin). Here, as in so many of his paintings,
Bruegel satirizes the folly and sinfulness of humankind.
During the last years of his life Bruegel usually painted figures that
appear more monumental in scale and closer to the viewer. As in “The
Blind Leading the Blind”, he steadily reduced his cast of characters to
a minimum in order to concentrate the composition on the essentials of
the story.
Two of Peter Bruegel's children were painters. Peter ("Hell") Bruegel
the Younger (1564-1638), frequently imitated his father's works. Jan I
("Velvet") Bruegel the Elder (1568-1625), the more talented of the two
sons, was court painter to the regents of the Southern Netherlands after
1610. Jan I favoured a miniaturistic style. His landscapes, such as
“Outskirts of a Village” (1597; State Art Collections, Kassel), differ
considerably from the panoramic "world views" of his father; their mood,
like their spaces, is more intimate. In his life-size flower paintings,
such as “Flowers in a Blue Vase” (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), Jan
I created an encyclopedic arrangement of the many individual flowers he
studied from life. In his allegorical and religious paintings, such as
“Paradise” (c.1620; Mauritshuis, The Hague), he occasionally
collaborated with Peter Paul Rubens and other painters.
Three of Peter Bruegel the Elder's grandsons were painters : Peter III
(1589-1634), son of Peter the Younger; and Ambrosius (1617-1675) and Jan
the Younger (1601-1678), both sons of Jan I. Each imitated the work of
his father. Five sons of Jan Bruegel the Younger were artists: Jan
Peter, Abraham, Filips, Ferdinand, and Jan Baptist. Abraham (1631-1690),
a still-life painter, was the most talented. None of these members of
the Bruegel family attained the artistic stature of Peter the Elder.>>
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<<Two religious paintings, “The Suicide of Saul” (1562) and “The
Conversion of St. Paul” (1567; both Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna),
exemplify the changes that took place in Bruegel's style during the
mid-1560s. These two paintings also show Bruegel's practice of depicting
religious subjects as contemporary events. After c.1562, Bruegel's
compositions were increasingly concentrated and were often organized
along diagonals; the main action was more frequently presented at eye
level.>>
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“The Suicide of Saul” (1562)
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1 Chronicles 10
3 And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him, and he
was wounded of the archers.
4 Then said Saul to his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me
through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me. But his
armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. So Saul took a sword,
and fell upon it.
5 And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise on
the sword, and died.
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BRUTUS It is more worthy to leap in ourselves,
Than tarry till they push us. Good Volumnius,
Thou know'st that we two went to school together:
Even for that our love of old, I prithee,
Hold thou my sword-hilts, whilst I run on it.
VOLUMNIUS That's not an office for a friend, my lord.
Alarum still
CLITUS Fly, fly, my lord; there is no tarrying here.
BRUTUS Farewell to you; and you; and you, Volumnius.
Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep;
Farewell to thee too, Strato. Countrymen,
My heart doth joy that yet in all my life
I found no man but he was true to me.
I shall have glory by this losing day
More than Octavius and Mark Antony
By this vile conquest shall attain unto.
So fare you well at once; for Brutus' tongue
Hath almost ended his life's history:
Night hangs upon mine eyes; my bones would rest,
That have but labour'd to attain this hour.
Alarum. Cry within, 'Fly, fly, fly!'
CLITUS Fly, my lord, fly.
BRUTUS Hence! I will follow.
Exeunt CLITUS, DARDANIUS, and VOLUMNIUS
I prithee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord:
Thou art a fellow of a good respect;
Thy life hath had some smatch of honour in it:
Hold then my sword, and turn away thy face,
While I do run upon it. Wilt thou, Strato?
STRATO Give me your hand first. Fare you well, my lord.
BRUTUS Farewell, good Strato.
Runs on his sword
Caesar, now be still:
I kill'd not thee with half so good a will.
Dies
Alarum. Retreat. Enter OCTAVIUS, ANTONY, MESSALA, LUCILIUS, and the
army
OCTAVIUS What man is that?
MESSALA My master's man. Strato, where is thy master?
STRATO Free from the bondage you are in, Messala:
The conquerors can but make a fire of him;
For Brutus only overcame himself,
And no man else hath honour by his death.
LUCILIUS So Brutus should be found. I thank thee, Brutus,
That thou hast proved Lucilius' saying true.
OCTAVIUS All that served Brutus, I will entertain them.
Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me?
STRATO Ay, if Messala will prefer me to you.
OCTAVIUS Do so, good Messala.
MESSALA How died my master, Strato?
STRATO I held the sword, and he did run on it.
MESSALA Octavius, then take him to follow thee,
That did the latest service to my master.
ANTONY This was the noblest Roman of them all:
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MARK ANTONY Thou art sworn, Eros,
That, when the exigent should come, which now
Is come indeed, when I should see behind me
The inevitable prosecution of
Disgrace and horror, that, on my command,
Thou then wouldst kill me: do't; the time is come:
Thou strikest not me, 'tis Caesar thou defeat'st.
Put colour in thy cheek.
EROS The gods withhold me!
Shall I do that which all the Parthian darts,
Though enemy, lost aim, and could not?
MARK ANTONY Eros,
Wouldst thou be window'd in great Rome and see
Thy master thus with pleach'd arms, bending down
His corrigible neck, his face subdued
To penetrative shame, whilst the wheel'd seat
Of fortunate Caesar, drawn before him, branded
His baseness that ensued?
EROS I would not see't.
MARK ANTONY Come, then; for with a wound I must be cured.
Draw that thy honest sword, which thou hast worn
Most useful for thy country.
EROS O, sir, pardon me!
MARK ANTONY When I did make thee free, sworest thou not then
To do this when I bade thee? Do it at once;
Or thy precedent services are all
But accidents unpurposed. Draw, and come.
EROS Turn from me, then, that noble countenance,
Wherein the worship of the whole world lies.
MARK ANTONY Lo thee!
Turning from him
EROS My sword is drawn.
MARK ANTONY Then let it do at once
The thing why thou hast drawn it.
EROS My dear master,
My captain, and my emperor, let me say,
Before I strike this bloody stroke, farewell.
MARK ANTONY 'Tis said, man; and farewell.
EROS Farewell, great chief. Shall I strike now?
MARK ANTONY Now, Eros.
EROS Why, there then: thus I do escape the sorrow
Of Antony's death.
Kills himself
MARK ANTONY Thrice-nobler than myself!
Thou teachest me, O valiant Eros, what
I should, and thou couldst not. My queen and Eros
Have by their brave instruction got upon me
A nobleness in record: but I will be
A bridegroom in my death, and run into't
As to a lover's bed. Come, then; and, Eros,
Thy master dies thy scholar: to do thus
Falling on his sword
I learn'd of thee. How! not dead? not dead?
The guard, ho! O, dispatch me!
Enter DERCETAS and Guard
First Guard What's the noise?
MARK ANTONY I have done my work in, friends:
O, make an end Of what I have begun.
Second Guard The star is fall'n.
First Guard And time is at his period.
All Alas, and woe!
MARK ANTONY Let him that loves me strike me dead.
First Guard Not I.
Second Guard Nor I.
Third Guard Nor any one.
Exeunt Guard
DERCETAS Thy death and fortunes bid thy followers fly.
This sword but shown to Caesar, with this tidings,
Shall enter me with him.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Art Neuendorffer
David L. Webb
the "To," "Cc," and "Newsgroups" headers for details. ]]
In article <398D5185...@erols.com>, Neuendorffer
(ph...@errors.comedy) <ph...@erols.com> wrote:
[Deleted selections from works of Bronte, Gilbert & Sullivan, Twain,
Poe, Dostoeyevsky, etc. which are utterly unrelated apart from the fact
that all the selections happen to mention spoons]
Is this post at all related to Shakespeare, Art? I didn't think so.
Was there any point at all to this post, apart from the obvious one
that many authors have used the word "spoon," Art? I didn't think so.
David Webb
Neuendorffer
> Is this post at all related to Shakespeare, Art? I didn't think so.
>
> Was there any point at all to this post, apart from the obvious one
> that many authors have used the word "spoon," Art? I didn't think so.
Shakespeare was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
Art N.
Neuendorffer
<<The Muses: These Greek deities of art and inspiration are among the
most familiar of the ancient divinities. Originally there were only
three, at Mount Helicon: Melete, Mneme, and Aoide. There were also only
three at Delphi: Nete, Mese, and Hypate. There were seven in Lesbos and
in Sicily, and eight in ancient Athens. Only much later was it agreed
that there were the nine we know today. According to most mythographers
they are the daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Mnemosyne (goddess of
memory), although this view is not unaminous. Some claim they were the
daughters of Uranus and Gaea, others say Pierus and Antiope (or even him
with the nymph Pimplea), and others say of Zeus and the nymph Neda. The
most accepted myth goes thusly: After the gods defeated the Titans in
their epic battle, Zeus was asked by them to create divinities who would
be capable of
leading a celebratory victory feast. To accomodate them, Zeus bedded
Mnemosyne for nine consecutive nights, whereupon, in due time, she
delivered the nine daughters who were to become the Muses. The Muses
were raised by the hunter Crotus (or Krotus, who later became the
constellation Sagittarius). The muses were not always harmonious, joyful
and carefree. Like most of the other gods they could be vengeful when
warranted; when Thamyris (a famous bard of Thrace) boasted that he
surpassed even the Muses, they struck him blind and dumb, when Pierus
and his nine daughters challenged them in a poetry contest, which was
won by the Muses, they had Apollo change the nine girls into magpies,
and when the Sirens challenged them, and lost, they had the feathers of
their wings plucked out by the Muses (therefore, the sirens lost their
wings, and the capability of flying, and the Muses gained the ability).
Originally the Muses were considered virgin deities, but later myths
attributed many love-affairs to them. (The Muses were also known by the
names Heliconiades, Parnassides, Carmentae, Pieriades, Aganippides,
Castalides, Maeonides)>>
-------------------------------------------------------------
Magpies on Mount Helicon Peter van Mensch
http://www.xs4all.nl/~rwa/stavange.htm
<<Nine magpies, birds who can imitate any kind of sound, had settled on
the boughs, and were lamenting their fate. As Minerva showed her
surprise, the Muse explained: 'These, too, have but recently joined the
ranks of the birds, as a result of being defeated in a competition.
Their father was Pierus, a rich landowner of Pella, and Euippe of
Paeonia was their mother. Nine times she called upon powerful Lucina to
come to her assistance, for nine times she found herself with child.
Then the foolish band of sisters, swollen with pride in their number,
journeyed through the many cities of Haemonia and Achaea, till they came
to Helicon, where they issued this challenge to us: "Stop imposing upon
uneducated people, pretending to be sweet singers: if you have
confidence in your powers, divine daughters of Thespis, enter into
competition with us. We are not inferior to you in voice or skill, we
are your equals in number. If you are defeated, you will leave the
spring (...); or else we, in our turn shall with draw beyond the plains
of Macedon (...). Let the nymphs judge our performance". Truly, it
shamed us to compete with them, but it seemed even more shameful to
yield without struggle. Nymphs were chosen, and sworn in by their
rivers. Then they took their seats on blocks of living rock. (...) The
nymphs agreed unanimously that the goddesses of Helicon were the
victors. Our defeated opponents replied by hurling abuse at us, until I
exclaimed: "So, it is not enough that you have deserved punishment by
forcing this contest, but you add insult to injury? Our patience is not
unlimited: we shall follow where our anger prompts, and proceed to
punish you". The Macedonian women laughed and scorned my threats, but as
they tried to speak, menacing us with loud cries and wanton gestures,
they saw feathers sprouting from their nails and plumage covering their
arms. They looked at each other, watching their faces narrow into horny
beaks, as a new addition was made to the birds of the forest. When they
tried to beat their breasts, the movement of their arms raised them, to
hover in the air. They had become magpies, the scandalmongers of the
woods. Even now, as birds, they still retain their original power of
speech. They still chatter harshly and have an insatiable desire to
talk.>>
-------------------------------------------------------
Art Neuendorffer