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Friday, October 17th, 2003
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2:16p - Shameless promotion!
I made a community last night! I was messing about on Blurty, as I often do, and browsing LiveJournal at the same time. I searched for 'latin' or 'Vergil' or something on LJ and it matched about ten communities and endless users. I did it on Blurty and it gives me nothing! I think a grand total of four users have Vergil on their interests! This must be stopped! So to that end I created a comm - which I don't imagine will have much interest, even though 'latin' matched quite a few people on Blurty, but hey, I'm trying. I love tub-thumping for Classics. I really should do it for a living, although I believe that's called 'becoming a teacher'. So yeah, throwing it out there. I realise a lot of people, and particularly British people (the Americans are quite up with classics and especially Latin, which they have realised, unlike the British with their stupid prejudices, boosts learning power through logical thinking) - sorry, long bracket! - a lot of people haven't really herard of classics or don't know what it's about. but there really is a wealth of stuff there. It is, after all, the study of two, two, whole cultures! The literature alone has been a huge influence on the whole western world, yet now no-one seems to think it's at all important or even relevant. Which pisses me off. Quite a lot.
I mean, take literature: I worship Vergil and the Aeneid. I honestly think that it is one of, if not the greatest work of literature ever. If I had to pick a literary model, someone whose passion, style, dedication and skill I had to imitate, it would definitely be Vergil. Despite the fact that he wrote this magnificent poem between 29 and 19BC, in a language which no-one speaks anymore outside of the Vatican, about the legendary traditions of a race that is not my own. Yet the characters of the Aeneid, and particularly Aeneas himself, are as real to me as the people in my own life. In fact, I'm positive I have met Aeneas' re-incarnation! And, just by the way, fallen deeply in love with him. But that's off the point. (Though R. is a fond digression! Don't tempt me, wicked mind!) Aeneas is often criticised by those who first read the poem as being unheroic, whiny, angsty, immature etc etc. Though I don't happen to agree with those assessments ('cept angsty perhaps!) it is a strength of the poem that Aeneas is so very lifelike. Who could say that his slinky, slithering-out-ish behaviour towards (or rather, away from!) Dido in book 4 isn't like some man we've known trying to get out of a difficult situation with the minimum amount of fuss? (I know I've met a guy like that - see above!)
Anyway, suffice to say, it's all fab, and I wish, wish, wish more people knew about it and loved like I do.
Phew, classics tirade over *deep breath*
in other news, I think I might be getting an LJ of my very own soon, thanks to the 'invite_codes' comm on LJ. I don't know how I'll manage to sustain two journals, but we shall see.
current mood:  hyper (5 comments |comment on this)
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8:52p - Quizzes - sorry:(
I promised I wouldn't do this very often, but hey, it's a nice picture!
Discworld: Which Ankh-Morpork City Watch Character are YOU?
brought to you by Quizilla
current mood:  amused
current music: Sting - Shadows in the Rain (comment on this)
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