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Often appears with: marriage and betrothal · justice as a virtue · poverty and wealth · kinship, lineage, and clan · fate, destiny, and necessity · rank, class, and social order · equity, mercy, and pardon · forms of government · custom and the manners of a people · crime and punishment · the position of women · funeral rites and burial
Usually: detachment (62) · narrative (57) · argument (54) · injustice endured (29) · indignation (24) · curiosity (23) · the fall of the great (22) · skepticism (21) · censure (19) · lament (18)
“These ideas are, perhaps, too far stretched; but still it must be acknowledged, that, by representing the Deity as so intelligible and comprehensible, and so similar to a human mind, we are guilty of the grossest and most narrow partiality, and make ourselves the model of the whole universe.” David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion · insight
“Hope, he says, cherishes the soul of him who lives in justice and holiness and is the nurse of his age and the companion of his journey;” Plato, The Republic · insight
“It shows that the worst of our institutions, in its worst aspect, cannot keep down energy, truthfulness, and earnest struggle for the right.” Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom · insight
“Unlimited power is in itself a bad and dangerous thing; human beings are not competent to exercise it with discretion, and God alone can be omnipotent, because His wisdom and His justice are always equal to His power.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America — Volume 1 · precept
“it was impossible, thus, to detect the trick. A nephew of Don Antonio’s, a smart sharp-witted student, was the answerer, and as he had been told beforehand by his uncle who the persons were that would come with him that day into the chamber where the head was, it was an easy matter for him to answer the first question at once and correctly; the others he answered by guess-work, and, being clever, cleverly.” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote · insight
“Perhaps the correct way of viewing the whole subject, would be, to look at the inheritance of every character whatever as the rule, and non-inheritance as the anomaly.” Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selecti · insight
“Still, death is certain, and when a man’s hour is come, not even the gods can save him, no matter how fond they are of him.” Homer, The Odyssey · insight
“Twain are the gates of shadowy dreams, the one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory.” Homer, The Odyssey of Homer · precept
“for Zopyros opened the gates called the gates of Kissia and of Belos, and let in the Persians within the wall.” Herodotus, The History of Herodotus — Volume 1 · observation
“Laws frequently continue in force long after the circumstances which first gave occasion to them, and which could alone render them reasonable, are no more.” Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth · insight
“But if we consider the matter more closely, we shall find that this interested diligence of the clergy is what every wise legislator will study to prevent; because, in every religion except the true, it is highly pernicious, and it has even a natural tendency to pervert the truth, by infusing into it a strong mixture of superstition, folly, and delusion.” Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth · insight
“A double duty devolves on her; to educate them in the character of both father and mother; to form their principles and secure their property.” Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman · insight
Sura IV (Women) lays legal rules for fearing God, orphans, marriage and dowries, inheritance shares, and punishments, emphasizing justice, fairness in judgment, and obligations to relatives and orphans.
angels shall say to them, "Good tidings for you this day of gardens beneath whose shades the rivers flow, in which ye shall abide for ever!" This the great bliss! On that day the hypocrites, both men and women, shall say to those who believe, "Tarry for us, that we may kindle our light at yours." It shall be said, "Return ye back, and seek light for yourselves." But between them shall be set a wall with a gateway, w…
It instructs the people not to exaggerate in religion, states Islamic doctrine about Jesus as an apostle and God as one, encourages humility, and teaches inheritance shares for distant kin and siblings.
Believe then, it will be better for you. But if ye believe not, then, all that is in the Heavens and the Earth is God's; and God is Knowing, Wise! O ye people of the Book! overstep not bounds in your religion;31 and of God, speak only truth. The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, is only an apostle of God, and his Word which he conveyed into Mary, and a Spirit32 proceeding from himself. Believe therefore in God and his ap…
Thracian forces under Sitalces assemble at Doberus, descend into Lower Macedonia, capture places including Idomene, lay waste parts of Macedonia, and rely mainly on cavalry because their infantry cannot face Macedonian numbers.
The most warlike of the infantry were the independent swordsmen who came down from Rhodope; the rest of the mixed multitude that followed him being chiefly formidable by their numbers. Assembling in Doberus, they prepared for descending from the heights upon Lower Macedonia, where the dominions of Perdiccas lay; for the Lyncestae, Elimiots, and other tribes more inland, though Macedonians by blood, and allies and de…
After Zeus and Athena agree to help Odysseus, Athena plans to visit Ithaca as Mentes to encourage Telemachus, then she arrives disguised at Ulysses’ house where suitors are feasting and Telemachus greets her. Athena’s arrival is framed as preparation for confronting the suitors.
of this, and yet when Ulysses was before Troy did he not propitiate you with many a burnt sacrifice? Why then should you keep on being so angry with him?” And Jove said, “My child, what are you talking about? How can I forget Ulysses than whom there is no more capable man on earth, nor more liberal in his offerings to the immortal gods that live in heaven? Bear in mind, however, that Neptune is still furious with Ul…
Telemachus and Minerva discuss the suitors’ harassment, while Telemachus asks Nestor how Agamemnon died and what Menelaus was doing, leading Nestor to explain Aegisthus’ plot in Argos.
Orestes did, who killed false Aegisthus the murderer of his noble father. You too, then—for you are a tall smart-looking fellow—show your mettle and make yourself a name in story.” “Nestor son of Neleus,” answered Telemachus, “honour to the Achaean name, the Achaeans applaud Orestes and his name will live through all time for he has avenged his father nobly. Would that heaven might grant me to do like vengeance on t…
Telemachus explains to Ithacans that his father Odysseus is gone, and that Penelope’s suitors waste the household and harass his mother, threatening the family’s wealth and future; he warns of divine anger.
to speak, and he stood in mid assembly; and the herald Peisenor, skilled in sage counsels, placed the staff in his hands. Then he spake, accosting the old man first: “Old man, he is not far off, and soon shalt thou know it for thyself, he who called the folk together, even I: for sorrow hath come to me in chief. Neither have I heard any tidings of the host now returning, which I may plainly declare to you, for that …
Elpenor’s ghost recounts his death and begs Odysseus to bury him properly, while Odysseus then encounters his mother Anticleia and prepares to question Teiresias after restraining the sword from the blood.
my voice spake to him winged words: ‘Elpenor, how hast thou come beneath the darkness and the shadow? Thou hast come fleeter on foot than I in my black ship.’ “So spake I, and with a moan he answered me, saying: ‘Son of Laertes, of the seed of Zeus, Odysseus of many devices, an evil doom of some god was my bane and wine out of measure. When I laid me down on the house-top of Circe I minded me not to descend again by…
Telemachus questions Eumaeus about the stranger Odysseus, rejects letting him join the wooers, explains how Penelope’s suitors consume the household, and asks Eumaeus to warn Laertes and keep the secret.
Piraeus, spearsman renowned, answered him saying: “Telemachus, why, even if thou shouldest tarry here long, yet will I entertain this man, and he shall have no lack of stranger’s cheer.” Therewith he went on board, and bade his men themselves to mount and loose the hawsers. And quickly they embarked and sat upon the benches. And Telemachus bound his goodly sandals beneath his feet, and seized a mighty spear, shod wi…
Penelope returns in the evening, has the women clear away the feast, and Melantho again threatens Odysseus as a spy, but Penelope orders Odysseus seated and begins questioning his identity and origins.
we may get us home to bed. But the stranger let us leave in the halls of Odysseus for a charge to Telemachus: for to his home has he come.” Thus he spake, and his word was well-pleasing to them all. Then the lord Mulius mixed for them the bowl, the henchman out of Dulichium, who was squire of Amphinomus. And he stood by all and served it to them in their turn; and they poured forth before the blessed gods, and drank…
Penelope explains dream-lore through horn and ivory gates, then proposes a bow-and-axe contest for choosing her next husband, while Odysseus urges the contest begin because he will be back to shoot it.
himself hath showed thee how he will fulfil it. For the wooers destruction is clearly boded, for all and every one; not a man shall avoid death and the fates.” Then wise Penelope answered him: “Stranger, verily dreams are hard, and hard to be discerned; nor are all things therein fulfilled for men. Twain are the gates of shadowy dreams, the one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory. Such dreams as pass through the p…
He explains correlation of growth: changes in embryos or larvae tend to affect mature parts, so selection on one trait can modify other traits through linked development and heredity.
view suggested by some authors, that the drooping is due to the disuse of the muscles of the ear, from the animals not being much alarmed by danger, seems probable. There are many laws regulating variation, some few of which can be dimly seen, and will be hereafter briefly mentioned. I will here only allude to what may be called correlation of growth. Any change in the embryo or larva will almost certainly entail ch…
Darwin argues inheritance is the rule and non-inheritance is an anomaly, while noting inheritance laws are unknown and describing reversion and age-specific expression of traits.
be inheritable. Perhaps the correct way of viewing the whole subject, would be, to look at the inheritance of every character whatever as the rule, and non-inheritance as the anomaly. The laws governing inheritance are quite unknown; no one can say why the same peculiarity in different individuals of the same species, and in individuals of different species, is sometimes inherited and sometimes not so; why the child…
Darwin closes the section by claiming English plant reproduction depends on specialized insects—moths, humble-bees, and field mice—and that cats could indirectly shape flower frequency through these chains.
firs. Yet the heath was so extremely barren and so extensive that no one would ever have imagined that cattle would have so closely and effectually searched it for food. Here we see that cattle absolutely determine the existence of the Scotch fir; but in several parts of the world insects determine the existence of cattle. Perhaps Paraguay offers the most curious instance of this; for here neither cattle nor horses …
He explains how selection can act at different life stages because domestication-like stage-specific traits can reappear in offspring, and shows how modifying one part can drive further correlated changes without harming the species.
the organisation is modified through variation, and the modifications are accumulated by natural selection for the good of the being, will cause other modifications, often of the most unexpected nature. As we see that those variations which under domestication appear at any particular period of life, tend to reappear in the offspring at the same period;—for instance, in the seeds of the many varieties of our culinar…
He claims general dispositions and occasional strange habits arise in wild species, then argues inherited variations of instinct can be inferred from domestication, illustrated by inherited dog pointing, retrieving, and shepherding behaviors.
for in uninhabited islands large birds are not more fearful than small; and the magpie, so wary in England, is tame in Norway, as is the hooded crow in Egypt. That the general disposition of individuals of the same species, born in a state of nature, is extremely diversified, can be shown by a multitude of facts. Several cases also, could be given, of occasional and strange habits in certain species, which might, if…
Abraham marries Keturah, names her sons, gives Isaac his inheritance and sends concubine-sons east; Abraham then dies, and Isaac blesses and continues the genealogies of Ishmael and Isaac with Esau and Jacob.
Abraham took him another wife called Ketura, which bare him Simran, Iacksan, Medan, Midian, Iesback and Suah. And Iacksan begat Seba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Assurim, Letusim and Leumim. And the sons of Midian were Epha, Epher, Hanoch, Abida and Elda. All these were the children of Bethura. {Ketura} But Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. And unto the sons of his concubines he gave gifts, and sent t…
Jacob, sick near death, adopts Joseph’s sons Manasseh and Ephraim as his own, blesses them with crossed hands, recounts Rachel’s death and burial, and grants Joseph additional land.
After these deeds, tidings were brought unto Ioseph, that his father was sick. And he took with him his two sons, Manasse and Ephraim. Then was it said unto Iacob: behold, thy son Ioseph cometh unto thee. And Israel took his strength unto him, and sat up on the bed, and said unto Ioseph: God all mighty appeared unto me at Lus in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, and said unto me: behold, I will make thee grow and w…
The daughters of Zelaphead request land rights after their father dies without sons, leading Moses to receive God’s rule for inheritance, Joshua’s appointment, and Moses’ reminder of disobedience at Meribah.
And the daughters of Zelaphead the son of Heber the son of Gilead, the son of Machir the son of Manasse, of the kindreds of Manasse the son of Ioseph (whose names were Mahela, Noha, Hagla, Melcha and Thirza) came and stood before Moses and Eleazer the priest and before the lords and all the multitude in the door of the tabernacle of witness saying: our father died in the wilderness, and was not among the company of t…
Gileadite elders of Machir’s Manasse lines ask Moses to prevent inheritance from moving tribes through daughters, explaining the jubilee rule, and Moses orders that Zelaphead’s daughters marry within their father’s tribe.
And the ancient heads of the children of Gilead the son of Machir the son of Manasse of the kindred of the children of Ioseph, came forth and spake before Moses and the princes which were ancient heads among the children of Israel and said: The LORD commanded my lord to give the land to inherit by lot to the children of Israel. And then my lord commanded in the name of the LORD to give the inheritance of Zelaphead ou…
Moses blesses the tribes of Israel, describing God’s appearance from Sinai, then giving specific blessings to Reuben, Judah, Levi, Benjamin, Joseph, Zebulun, Issachar, Gad, Dan, Naphtali, and Asher.
This is the blessing wherewith Moses God's {gods} man blessed the children of Israel before his death saying: The LORD came from Sinai and shewed his beams from Seir unto them, and appeared gloriously from mount Pharan, and he came with thousands of saints, and in his right hand a law of fire for them. How loved he the people? All his saints are in his hand. They joined them selves unto thy foot and received thy word…
Ascanius promises lavish gifts to Nisus and Euryalus and vows that Euryalus must support his mother’s status, after which the boys accept armor, receive blessings, and depart toward the gate.
greatest, sure, and best you can receive, The gods and your own conscious worth will give. The rest our grateful gen’ral will bestow, And young Ascanius till his manhood owe.” “And I, whose welfare in my father lies,” Ascanius adds, “by the great deities, By my dear country, by my household gods, By hoary Vesta’s rites and dark abodes, Adjure you both, (on you my fortune stands; That an…
SURA IV (“Women”) sets rules for fearing God, protecting orphans’ property, distributing inheritance, paying women dowries, regulating marriage and forbidden relatives, and handling accusations of adultery.
against them from among yourselves; and if they bear witness to the fact, shut them up within their houses till death release them,4 or God make some way for them. And if two men among you commit the same crime, then punish them both; but if they turn and amend, then let them be: for God is He who turneth, Merciful! With God himself will the repentance of those who have done evil ignorantly, and then turn speedily …
It condemns invoking goddesses and Satan, describes Satan’s deceptive promises and their punishment, then teaches salvation by righteous deeds and discusses law and justice regarding women, orphans, and testimony.
They call, beside Him, upon mere goddesses! they invoke a rebel Satan! On them is the malison of God. For he said, "A portion of thy servants will I surely take, and will lead them astray, and will stir desires within them, and will command them and they shall cut the ears of animals;25 and I will command them, and they shall alter the creation of God."26 He who taketh Satan rather than God for his patron, is ruined…
It corrects people of the Book on limits in religion, insists on God’s oneness against a Trinity, then gives rules for inheritance between childless siblings and brothers/sisters.
Believe then, it will be better for you. But if ye believe not, then, all that is in the Heavens and the Earth is God's; and God is Knowing, Wise! O ye people of the Book! overstep not bounds in your religion;31 and of God, speak only truth. The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, is only an apostle of God, and his Word which he conveyed into Mary, and a Spirit32 proceeding from himself. Believe therefore in God and his ap…
Equiano describes being separated from enslaved companions in Virginia County, forced to labor on a plantation, and witnessing an enslaved Black woman restrained with an iron muzzle while the white owner sickens.
in conversing with my countrymen; the women too, who used to wash and take care of me, were all gone different ways, and I never saw one of them afterwards. I stayed in this island for a few days; I believe it could not be above a fortnight; when I and some few more slaves, that were not saleable amongst the rest, from very much fretting, were shipped off in a sloop for North America. On the passage we were better tr…
Paine condemns hereditary succession as an insult to posterity and a fundamentally unjust compact, arguing that kings’ origins are often forceful plunder and that later claims become superstition over time.
believe that there is as much of king-craft, as priest-craft, in withholding the scripture from the public in Popish countries. For monarchy in every instance is the Popery of government. To the evil of monarchy we have added that of hereditary succession; and as the first is a degradation and lessening of ourselves, so the second, claimed as a matter of right, is an insult and an imposition on posterity. For all me…
The narrator claims Douglass’s energy, perseverance, and eloquence come from his “Negro blood,” critiques “Caucasian” theories of paternity, and then frames Douglass’s life as proof of Immediate Emancipation’s justice and practicability.
mother rests upon the evidence of his memory, and judging from his almost marvelous feats of recollection of forms and outlines recorded in this book, this testimony may be admitted. These facts show that for his energy, perseverance, eloquence, invective, sagacity, and wide sympathy, he is indebted to his Negro blood. The very marvel of his style would seem to be a development of that other marvel—how his mother le…
Douglass shifts back to explain how deaths in his master’s family lead to valuation and division of slaves, sending him and others toward new owners on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
DEATH OF OLD MASTER’S SON RICHARD, SPEEDILY FOLLOWED BY THAT OF OLD MASTER—VALUATION AND DIVISION OF ALL THE PROPERTY, INCLUDING THE SLAVES—MY PRESENCE REQUIRED AT HILLSBOROUGH TO BE APPRAISED AND ALLOTTED TO A NEW OWNER—MY SAD PROSPECTS AND GRIEF—PARTING—THE UTTER POWERLESSNESS OF THE SLAVES TO DECIDE THEIR OWN DESTINY—A GENERAL DREAD OF MASTER ANDREW—HIS WICKEDNESS AND CRUELTY—MISS LUCRETIA MY NEW OWNER—MY RETURN T…
Lycurgus promotes controlled reproduction through shared, state-directed childbearing, claims adultery is effectively unknown, and tells of Geradas answering a stranger’s hypothetical about offenders.
the women of Lacedaemon were the only women of the world who could rule men; "With good reason," she said, "for we are the only women who bring forth men." These public processions of the maidens, and their appearing naked in their exercises and dancings, were incitements to marriage, operating upon the young with the rigor and certainty, as Plato says, of love, if not of mathematics. But besides all this, to promo…
Corinthian leaders respond to Timoleon’s letters by inviting exiles and other Siceliots back, arranging travel and convoys from Greece, and ultimately bringing a large colony that divides land, sells houses, and honors Gelo’s statue.
expedition, had caused his body to be nailed upon a cross, and that they were raising a mighty force, with design to make their descent upon Sicily the next summer. These letters from Timoleon being delivered at Corinth, and the ambassadors of Syracuse beseeching them at the same time, that they would take upon them the care of their poor city, and once again become the founders of it, the Corinthians were not tempt…
Plutarch contrasts superstition and disbelief, describing Alexander’s feverish fear of prodigies, his court of priests, and a diarised account of his sickness culminating in his death on the twenty-eighth.
sight of that of Alexander he was suddenly struck with alarm, and shook all over, his eyes rolled, his head grew dizzy, and it was long before he recovered himself. When once Alexander had given way to fears of supernatural influence, his mind grew so disturbed and so easily alarmed, that if the least unusual or extraordinary thing happened, he thought it a prodigy or a presage, and his court was thronged with divin…
Locke says paternal sovereignty cannot determine children’s status, because a son, once grown, has freedom equal to the father; he argues that compact cannot bind descendants, except through land ties under shared political jurisdiction.
not in a multitude together; people take no notice of it, and thinking it not done at all, or not necessary, conclude they are naturally subjects as they are men. Sect. 118. But, it is plain, governments themselves understand it otherwise; they claim no power over the son, because of that they had over the father; nor look on children as being their subjects, by their fathers being so. If a subject of England have a…
Locke sets out that every person is born free in personal liberty and entitled to inherit the father’s goods, and that descendants retain rights even when governments are forced upon their ancestors.
whatsoever he grants them, they have, so far as it is granted, property in. The nature whereof is, that without a man’s own consent it cannot be taken from him. Sect. 194. Their persons are free by a native right, and their properties, be they more or less, are their own, and at their own dispose, and not at his; or else it is no property. Supposing the conqueror gives to one man a thousand acres, to him and his hei…
He develops his theory of aristocracy as a conquest-born military order enforced by primogeniture, claiming it harms families by disinheriting younger children and enriching the firstborn at public expense.
up a succession of this order for the purpose for which it was established, all the younger branches of those families were disinherited and the law of primogenitureship set up. The nature and character of aristocracy shows itself to us in this law. It is the law against every other law of nature, and Nature herself calls for its destruction. Establish family justice, and aristocracy falls. By the aristocratical law…
To abolish the commutation tax, Paine argues for taxing estates as “luxuries,” claims taxation should target large landholding, and introduces progressive estate taxes to limit inheritance concentration and primogeniture.
and something else at another; but the real luxury does not consist in the article, but in the means of procuring it, and this is always kept out of sight. I know not why any plant or herb of the field should be a greater luxury in one country than another; but an overgrown estate in either is a luxury at all times, and, as such, is the proper object of taxation. It is, therefore, right to take those kind tax-making…
Paine continues by detailing how progressive taxation will keep net returns low after a threshold, causing estates to be divided among heirs, and links primogeniture to election corruption and national economic waste.
they are) is, as already stated, to extirpate the overgrown influence arising from the unnatural law of primogeniture, and which is one of the principal sources of corruption at elections. It would be attended with no good consequences to enquire how such vast estates as thirty, forty, or fifty thousand a year could commence, and that at a time when commerce and manufactures were not in a state to admit of such acqu…
Pedro explains that after returning from Salamanca Chrysostom dressed as a shepherd like his friend Ambrosio, inherited a large fortune, wrote verses and plays, and changed to roam the fields for Marcela.
“That science is called astrology,” said Don Quixote. “I do not know what it is called,” replied Pedro, “but I know that he knew all this and more besides. But, to make an end, not many months had passed after he returned from Salamanca, when one day he appeared dressed as a shepherd with his crook and sheepskin, having put off the long gown he wore as a scholar; and at the same time his great friend, Ambrosio by na…
Pedro recounts Marcela’s family: Guillermo’s wife dies at childbirth, Guillermo’s grief leaves Marcela wealthy under the care of a priest-uncle, whose seclusion preserves her beauty and draws many suitors.
I told you of it; however, you have answered very rightly, for sarna lives longer than Sarra: so continue your story, and I will not object any more to anything.” “I say then, my dear sir,” said the goatherd, “that in our village there was a farmer even richer than the father of Chrysostom, who was named Guillermo, and upon whom God bestowed, over and above great wealth, a daughter at whose birth her mother died, th…
The captive begins his autobiography, saying his family came from a poor mountain village in León, that his father spent his wealth, and that he proposes dividing the sons’ inheritances into four parts.
WHEREIN THE CAPTIVE RELATES HIS LIFE AND ADVENTURES c39a.jpg (137K) Full Size My family had its origin in a village in the mountains of Leon, and nature had been kinder and more generous to it than fortune; though in the general poverty of those communities my father passed for being even a rich man; and he would have been so in reality had he been as clever in preserving his property as he was in spending it. Thi…
Cide Hamete Benengeli reveals the trick behind the head: a hidden mechanism and a human answerer speak through tubes, but Don Quixote and Sancho keep believing it enchanted.
“Yes, it is enough,” said Sancho; “but I should have liked it to have made itself plainer and told me more.” The questions and answers came to an end here, but not the wonder with which all were filled, except Don Antonio’s two friends who were in the secret. This Cide Hamete Benengeli thought fit to reveal at once, not to keep the world in suspense, fancying that the head had some strange magical mystery in it. He …
She argues that educating women for pleasing rather than agency leaves them vulnerable when husbands die, forcing a double duty of raising children and managing property without the reason-based training that would make them truly independent.
as can be expected when reason is taken at second hand, yet she cannot ensure the life of her protector; he may die and leave her with a large family. A double duty devolves on her; to educate them in the character of both father and mother; to form their principles and secure their property. But, alas! she has never thought, much less acted for herself. She has only learned to please men, to depend gracefully on …
As common guardian of Theodosius’s sons, Stilicho divides inheritance and tries to send Eastward troops back, but Rufinus persuades the emperor Arcadius; Stilicho’s silence and actions lead to Rufinus’s death near Thessalonica and brutal public mutilation in Constantinople.
Theodosius.—Part II. The impartiality which Stilicho affected, as the common guardian of the royal brothers, engaged him to regulate the equal division of the arms, the jewels, and the magnificent wardrobe and furniture of the deceased emperor. 28 But the most important object of the inheritance consisted of the numerous legions, cohorts, and squadrons, of Romans, or Barbarians, whom th…
Gibbon notes that fear of contagious illness excuses visits only to yield to avarice: senators travel to Spoleto for inheritances, manipulate wills with lawyers, possibly plot against creditors, and indulge superstition like astrology and haruspices.
and instrumental music is incessantly repeated in the palaces of Rome. In those palaces, sound is preferred to sense, and the care of the body to that of the mind.” It is allowed as a salutary maxim, that the light and frivolous suspicion of a contagious malady, is of sufficient weight to excuse the visits of the most intimate friends; and even the servants, who are despatched to make the decent in…
Gibbon portrays Merovingian wealth as rural domains and villas, describes benefices granted to companions as early feudal holdings, then argues hereditary nobles later reduced royal control and expanded Salic allodial land rights.
abandoned to solitude and decay; and their coins, their charters, and their synods, are still inscribed with the names of the villas, or rural palaces, in which they successively resided. One hundred and sixty of these palaces, a title which need not excite any unseasonable ideas of art or luxury, were scattered through the provinces of their kingdom; and if some might claim the honors of a fortres…
At Port St. Julian and nearby visits, Darwin records scarce fresh water, insect observations (including horseflies and beetles), and then lays out a major account of Patagonia’s geology: uplifted tertiary shell beds, infusoria-rich strata, and extensive shingle formations.
pinnacles of porphyry. I do not think I ever saw a spot which appeared more secluded from the rest of the world, than this rocky crevice in the wide plain. The second day after our return to the anchorage, a party of officers and myself went to ransack an old Indian grave, which I had found on the summit of a neighbouring hill. Two immense stones, each probably weighing at least a couple of tons, had been placed in …
Darwin describes the Galapagos insects as sparse and mostly small, then gives botanical counts from flowering and cryptogamic plants, arguing the archipelago forms a distinct botanical province.
quarter of the world, three great conchological sea-provinces, quite distinct, though surprisingly near each other, being separated by long north and south spaces either of land or of open sea. I took great pains in collecting the insects, but excepting Tierra del Fuego, I never saw in this respect so poor a country. Even in the upper and damp region I procured very few, excepting some minute Diptera and Hymenoptera…
Engels explains how children’s earnings can turn them into “masters” who treat the parental home as lodging, and describes family role reversals when wives work in mills and husbands do domestic labor in Manchester.
the fourteenth or fifteenth year. {144} In a word, the children emancipate themselves, and regard the paternal dwelling as a lodging-house, which they often exchange for another, as suits them. In many cases the family is not wholly dissolved by the employment of the wife, but turned upside down. The wife supports the family, the husband sits at home, tends the children, sweeps the room and cooks. This case happen…
Tocqueville argues mixed government is a chimera because one principle always predominates, warns that unlimited power tends toward tyranny, and says the danger in the U.S. stems from inadequate safeguards rather than weakness.
each other: if, therefore, it be admitted that a nation can act tyrannically towards another nation, it cannot be denied that a party may do the same towards another party.] I do not think that it is possible to combine several principles in the same government, so as at the same time to maintain freedom, and really to oppose them to one another. The form of government which is usually termed mixed has always appear…
Democracy equalizes children by abolishing fixed rankings, so brothers grow close through daily shared life, free sympathy, and taste rather than through inherited interest or imposed hierarchy.
all its branches. The different members of an aristocratic family are therefore very closely bound together; their interests are connected, their minds agree, but their hearts are seldom in harmony. Democracy also binds brothers to each other, but by very different means. Under democratic laws all the children are perfectly equal, and consequently independent; nothing brings them forcibly together, but nothing keeps…
Tocqueville says manufactured property historically received less deference and security, and as manufacturing spread across Europe, despotism “lurks” inside it while the state builds needed infrastructure to increase dependence.
manufacturing class formed an exception in the midst of those aristocratic communities; as it had no certain patronage, it was not outwardly protected, and was often unable to protect itself. Hence a habit sprung up of considering manufacturing property as something of a peculiar nature, not entitled to the same deference, and not worthy of the same securities as property in general; and manufacturers were looked up…
Cicero laments how he had to separate from his loved ones, urges his brother to travel on to Rome for safety and effective help, and reports that his enemies control his prospects.
The express image of my face, of my speech, of my very soul! Or again a son, the prettiest boy, the very joy of my heart? Cruel inhuman monster that I am, I dismissed him from my arms better schooled in the world than I could have wished: for the poor child began to understand what was going on. So, too, your own son, your own image, whom my little Cicero loved as a brother, and was now beginning to respect as an eld…
He reports gossip about Pompey’s circle via Vedius, recounts an extravagant household episode involving property reversion, jokes about building a memorial at Athens like Appius’s Eleusis propyheum, and asks when Roman mysteries occur and how Atticus wintered.
the part of Pompey. For he thinks that you have snapped up money rightly his, and that Caesar will be no less lavish in his building at the Nemus Diame. I was told all this by P. Vedius, a hare-brained fellow enough, but yet an intimate friend of Pompey's. This Vedius came to meet me with two chariots, and a carriage and horses, and a sedan, and a large suite of servants, for which last, if Curio has carried his law…
Hector’s wife imagines Astyanax’s future poverty, expulsion, and forced servitude, comparing his childhood comfort to expected abandonment, as Trojan women continue her lament over Hector’s dishonoured death.
the reckless daring which possessed my husband, who would never remain with the body of his men, but would dash on far in front, foremost of them all in valour.” Her heart beat fast, and as she spoke she flew from the house like a maniac, with her waiting-women following after. When she reached the battlements and the crowd of people, she stood looking out upon the wall, and saw Hector being borne …
While Marco is imprisoned, his father-in-law and family worry about his long captivity; Nicolo Polo remarries and has three sons, then Marco is freed, marries, and has two daughters, followed by Nicolo’s tomb description and heraldry.
of the Sea Forces of the Republic, whose virtue and singular good qualities are represented with augmentation in the person of the Most Illustrious Prince Ser MARC’ANTONIO TREVISANO, his son.[9] “Such has been the history of this noble family of the Ca’ Polo, which lasted as we see till the year of our Redemption 1417, in which year died childless Marco Polo, the last of the five sons of Maffeo, and so it came…
The narrative outlines the later Polo family line, stating that Marco Polo is the author, describing descendants through Matthew’s children and Maria’s inheritance in 1417, and her marriage to AZZO TREVISANO linking to Domenico and Marc’Antonio TREVISANO.
[Sidenote: State of the Levant.] Christendom had recovered from the alarm into which it had been thrown some 18 years before when the Tartar cataclysm had threatened to engulph it. The Tartars themselves were already becoming an object of curiosity rather than of fear, and soon became an object of hope, as a possible help against the old Mahomedan foe. The frail Latin throne in Constantinople was still standing, but…
Polo describes reaching Sindafu’s plain and capital, explaining a royal succession in which the city was divided among three sons before the Great Kaan conquered them, and giving detailed claims about a huge fish-filled river and its customs bridge.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE AND CITY OF SINDAFU. When you have travelled those 20 days westward through the mountains, as I have told you, then you arrive at a plain belonging to a province called Sindafu, which still is on the confines of Manzi, and the capital city of which is (also) called SINDAFU. This city was in former days a rich and noble one, and the Kings who reigned there were very great and wealthy. It is a …
The editor’s notes continue: they discuss whether trades are hereditary in China, then identify the “Western Lake” (Si-Hu) and compile travelers’ descriptions and historical claims about islands, palaces, and Tang-era constructions.
178; *Q. Rashid*, p. lxxxviii.) Mr. Moule states that popular oral tradition does enclose the lake within the walls, but he can find no trace of this in the Topographies. Elsewhere Mr. Moule says: “Of the luxury of the (Sung) period, and its devotion to pleasure, evidence occurs everywhere. Hang-chow went at the time by the nickname of the melting-pot for money. The use, at houses of entertainment, of *linen a…
A will dated 9 January 1324 (1323 in the heading) sets out Marco Polo’s religious and family bequests, including money to monasteries, support for relatives, manumission of a servant, and distribution of remaining goods.
Will of MARCO POLO. (In St. Mark’s Library.)[4] In Nomine Dei Eterni Amen. Anno ab Incarnatione Dni. Nri. Jhu. Xri. millesimo trecentesimo vige- simo tertio, mensis Januarii die nono,[5] intrante Indictione septima, Rivoalti. Divine inspiracionis donum est et provide mentis arbitrium ut antequam superve- niat mortis iudicium quilibet sua bona sit ordinare sollicitus ne ipsa sua bona inordin…
Notes attempt to identify Caigiu (Hai chou/Ngan tung) and give details about the Grand Canal and tribute transport, including French scholarship on the canal’s construction timeline and imperial scale.
YANG CHAU. In a text of the *Yuen tien chang*, dated 1317, found by Prof. Pelliot, mention is made of a certain Ngao-la-han [Abraham?] still alive at Yang chau, who was, according to the text, the son of the founder of the Church of the Cross of the ãrkägün (*Ye-li-k’o-wen she-tze-sze*), one of the three Nestorian churches of Yang-chau mentioned by Odoric and omitted by Marco Polo. Cf. *Cathay*, II., p. 210, and PEL…
Nietzsche explains that men differ in their ideas of possessing others, using examples about women, charity, and parenting, and concludes that father-teacher-priest-prince all view new individuals as opportunities for possession.
fail--to long DIFFERENTLY for happiness? "Flight," such as is described by poets, must, when compared with his own "flying," be far too earthly, muscular, violent, far too "troublesome" for him. 194. The difference among men does not manifest itself only in the difference of their lists of desirable things--in their regarding different good things as worth striving for, and being disagreed as to the greater or less …