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Often appears with: geography and the description of places · the earth and its formation · fate, destiny, and necessity · matter, motion, and cause · experiment, observation, and evidence · voyages and seafaring · animals and their habits · fossils and the record of past life · strata, rocks, and the geological record · medicine, disease, and healing · famine, scarcity, and plenty · agriculture and the land
Usually: curiosity (278) · argument (232) · narrative (166) · detachment (166) · wonder (80) · skepticism (73) · description (51) · confronting death (45) · sudden reversal of fortune (41) · commentary or gloss (35)
“From this we conclude, that, in general, rays of light are propagated curvilinearly in gravitational fields.” Albert Einstein, Relativity: The Special and General Theory · insight
“Undaunted by the [first world] war and by difficulties of both a material and a psychological nature aroused by the war, these societies equipped two expeditions—to Sobral (Brazil), and to the island of Principe (West Africa)—and sent several of Britain’s most celebrated astronomers in order to obtain photographs of the solar eclipse of 29th May, 1919.” Albert Einstein, Relativity: The Special and General Theory · observation
“Some may think these trifling matters not worth minding or relating; but when they consider that tho' dust blown into the eyes of a single person, or into a single shop on a windy day, is but of small importance, yet the great number of the instances in a populous city, and its frequent repetitions give it weight and consequence, perhaps they will not censure very severely those who bestow some attention to affairs of this seemingly low nature.” Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin · insight
“Human felicity is produc'd not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day.” Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin · insight
“From this ill-omen’d hour in time arose Debate and death, and all succeeding woes.” Virgil, The Aeneid · observation
“Things done relates, not done she feigns, and mingles truth with lies.” Virgil, The Aeneid · observation
“Me dost thou bid to trust the treach’rous deep, The harlot smiles of her dissembling face, And to her faith commit the Trojan race?” Virgil, The Aeneid · observation
“Quick ice-crusts curdle on the running stream, And iron-hooped wheels the water's back now bears, To broad wains opened, as erewhile to ships; Brass vessels oft asunder burst, and clothes Stiffen upon the wearers; juicy wines They cleave with axes; to one frozen mass Whole pools are turned;” Virgil, The Georgics · vivid
“Then divers arts arose; toil conquered all, Remorseless toil, and poverty's shrewd push In times of hardship.” Virgil, The Georgics · insight
“Before all Worship the Gods, and to great Ceres pay Her yearly dues upon the happy sward With sacrifice, anigh the utmost end Of winter, and when Spring begins to smile.” Virgil, The Georgics · precept
“He died at eventide, when the sun lay like a brooding sorrow above the western hills, veiling its face; when the winds spoke not, and the trees, the great green trees he loved, stood motionless.” W. E. B. Du Bois (William Edward Burghardt Du Bois), The Souls of Black Folk · vivid
“Certainly it is a marvellous fact in the history of the Mammalia, that in South America a native horse should have lived and disappeared, to be succeeded in after-ages by the countless herds descended from the few introduced with the Spanish colonists!” Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle · insight
Pepys records multiple dated incidents: Sir Richard Fanshaw’s sudden arrival from Portugal, talk in London of French-Dutch war plans, visits and purchases of art, court sports and offices, and repeated worries about weather, plague, and politics in Parliament.
the great limner in little. [ Samuel Cooper, the celebrated miniature painter, Ob. 1672.] Sir Richd. Fanshaw is come suddenly from Portugal, and nobody knows what his business is about. To Faithorne's, [William Faithorne, the well known engraver Ob. 1691.] and there bought some pictures of him; and while I was there, comes by the King's life-guard, he being gone to Lincoln's Inne this afternoon to see the Revells t…
Pepys reports travel and governance by the sea: orders at Deptford and Woolwich, a scheduled yearly execution ritual for regicides, news of Tangier and Portuguese conflict, and major weather disaster from an extraordinary wind.
in Chief to the Protector Richard, whose sister, Bridget, widow of Ireton, he had married. After the King's return he lived in contemptible obscurity, and died circa 1689.] and Downes. 25th. At home and the office all the morning. Walking in the garden to give the gardener directions what to do this year (for I intend to have the garden handsome), Sir W. Pen come to me, and did break a business to me about removin…
Pepys notes changes in London civic entertainments under the Lord Mayor, reports court travel toward Bath, inspects Deptford Yard officers, and mentions a severe cold frost followed by a frost-heavy start to September.
his old bond for 500l. and took a new one of him for 700l., which I am by lending him more money to make up: and am glad of it. 25th. This noon going to the Exchange, I met a fine fellow with trumpets before him in Leadenhall-street, and upon enquiry I find that he is the clerke of the City Market; and three or four men carried each of them an arrow of a pound weight in their hands. It seems this Lord Mayor [Sir Jo…
Pepys and Brouncker reopen chests of William How’s jewels at Carteret’s Deptford house, walk back through violent storms and damage on bridges and streets, and then records news of France declaring war.
the lateness of the year, and the fear, we may with reason have, of its continuing with us the next summer. The total being now 375, and the plague 158. 17th. I rode to Dagenhams in the dark. It was my Lord Crewe's desire that I should come, and chiefly to discourse with me of my Lord Sandwich's matters; and therein to persuade, what I had done already, that my Lord should sue out a pardon for his business of the …
On 4th of July Pepys says the plague is rising but still limited, discusses building new ships with the Duke, and records criticism of the recent battle’s tactics and training from Sir W. Pen.
wives and families, taken up on a sudden by strangers, was very hard, and that without press-money, but forced against all law to be gone. It is a great tyranny. 2nd. Up betimes, and forced to go to my Lord Mayor's, about the business of the pressed men; and indeed I find him a mean man of understanding and dispatch of any publick business. Thence out of curiosity to Bridewell to see the pressed men, where there a…
Pepys records his purchase news, urban talk about a meteor or fire near Cheapside, preparations for travel to Brampton, and his wet journey onward by coach toward Bishop’s Stortford and Cambridge.
them down, and we avoiding the bad way in the forest by a privy way, which brought us to Hodsden; and so to Tibald's that road; which was mighty pleasant. 27th. Met Mr. Sawyer, my old chamber-fellow; and he and I by water together to the Temple, he giving me an account of the base, rude usage which he and Sir G. Carteret had lately before the Commissioners of Accounts, where he was as Counsel to Sir G. Carteret; wh…
After their engines fail, Peloponnesians attempt a massive fire using faggots with sulphur and pitch, but rain and thunder extinguish it; they then switch to full circumvallation with a ditch and blockade.
no less rapid progress. The Plataeans also thought of another expedient; they pulled out part of the wall upon which the mound abutted, and carried the earth into the city. Discovering this the Peloponnesians twisted up clay in wattles of reed and threw it into the breach formed in the mound, in order to give it consistency and prevent its being carried away like the soil. Stopped in this way the Plataeans changed t…
The two Athenian divisions march in a hollow square past the ford of the river Anapus, fight Syracusan forces, encamp near the plain, then repeatedly attempt to force the fortified Acraean cliff pass as omens and weather demoralize them.
who are Athenians will raise up again the great power of the state, fallen though it be. Men make the city and not walls or ships without men in them.” As he made this address, Nicias went along the ranks, and brought back to their place any of the troops that he saw straggling out of the line; while Demosthenes did as much for his part of the army, addressing them in words very similar. The army marched in a hollow…
Nestor recounts post-Troy quarrels among the Achaeans, especially the conflict between Menelaus and Agamemnon driven by Minerva, and describes how storms split the fleets, with separate fates for many leaders.
either wise or understanding, and hence many came to a bad end through the displeasure of Jove’s daughter Minerva, who brought about a quarrel between the two sons of Atreus. “The sons of Atreus called a meeting which was not as it should be, for it was sunset and the Achaeans were heavy with wine. When they explained why they had called the people together, it seemed that Menelaus was for sailing homeward at once, …
Ulysses and Calypso complete raft building over four days, then on the fifth he sails with fair wind, steering by stars (Pleiads, Bootes, Bear), until Neptune sees him and forecasts further hardships near Phaeacia.
Presently the sun set and it became dark, whereon the pair retired into the inner part of the cave and went to bed. When the child of morning rosy-fingered Dawn appeared, Ulysses put on his shirt and cloak, while the goddess wore a dress of a light gossamer fabric, very fine and graceful, with a beautiful golden girdle about her waist and a veil to cover her head. She at once set herself to think how she could speed…
Penelope explains her loss and pressure to remarry, describes her three-year stratagem of weaving and unweaving a funeral pall for Laertes, and asks the stranger for his origin.
thus grieving continually. I shall have one of the servants or even yourself complaining of me, and saying that my eyes swim with tears because I am heavy with wine.” Then Penelope answered, “Stranger, heaven robbed me of all beauty, whether of face or figure, when the Argives set sail for Troy and my dear husband with them. If he were to return and look after my affairs I should be both more respected and should sh…
Athene restrains the winds so Odysseus drifts for two nights and two days until calm comes on the third day; he reaches land but fears dangerous reefs and no harbors, then keeps thinking of Poseidon’s wrath.
that I deem not that thou shalt think thyself too lightly afflicted.” Therewith he lashed his steeds of the flowing manes, and came to Aegae, where is his lordly home. But Athene, daughter of Zeus, turned to new thoughts. Behold, she bound up the courses of the other winds, and charged them all to cease and be still; but she roused the swift North and brake the waves before him, that so Odysseus, of the seed of Zeus…
Telemachus rejects others controlling the bow, sends Penelope to her chamber, then the servants bring the bow to Odysseus while the wooers mock the swineherd and Telemachus warns the older generation.
defend him against dogs and men, and a two-edged sword and sandals to bind beneath his feet, and I will send him whithersoever his heart and spirit bid him go.” Then wise Telemachus answered her, saying: “My mother, as for the bow, no Achaean is mightier than I to give or to deny it to whomso I will, neither as many as are lords in rocky Ithaca nor in the isles on the side of Elis, the pastureland of horses. Not one…
Darwin continues that geometrical tendency to increase is universal for plants and animals, but must be checked by destruction, with average population tied more to survival losses than egg counts.
disseminate its seeds rather than those of other plants. In these several senses, which pass into each other, I use for convenience sake the general term of struggle for existence. A struggle for existence inevitably follows from the high rate at which all organic beings tend to increase. Every being, which during its natural lifetime produces several eggs or seeds, must suffer destruction during some period of its …
He describes how subtle reductions in checks cause rapid increases, likening nature to wedges driven inward, and notes that the strongest checks are often obscure and vary by life stage and enemies.
the geometrical ratio of increase, the result of which never fails to be surprising, simply explains the extraordinarily rapid increase and wide diffusion of naturalised productions in their new homes. In a state of nature almost every plant produces seed, and amongst animals there are very few which do not annually pair. Hence we may confidently assert, that all plants and animals are tending to increase at a geome…
Darwin catalogs potential checks—severe destruction of eggs, seedlings, prey availability, food limits, vermin control, and climate—arguing climate mainly matters by altering competition and predators.
compared to a yielding surface, with ten thousand sharp wedges packed close together and driven inwards by incessant blows, sometimes one wedge being struck, and then another with greater force. What checks the natural tendency of each species to increase in number is most obscure. Look at the most vigorous species; by as much as it swarms in numbers, by so much will its tendency to increase be still further increas…
He explains that checks can include indirect effects where favored competitors or enemies expand, gives an example from his travels with latitude and mountains, and emphasizes that extreme regions rely on elemental struggle.
as with the elephant and rhinoceros, none are destroyed by beasts of prey: even the tiger in India most rarely dares to attack a young elephant protected by its dam. Climate plays an important part in determining the average numbers of a species, and periodical seasons of extreme cold or drought, I believe to be the most effective of all checks. I estimated that the winter of 1854-55 destroyed four-fifths of the bir…
He argues that climate and food can cause small color and body differences but cannot account for complex co-adaptations, so indirect effects via variability and natural selection explain most useful traits.
Moquin-Tandon gives a list of plants which when growing near the sea-shore have their leaves in some degree fleshy, though not elsewhere fleshy. Several other such cases could be given. The fact of varieties of one species, when they range into the zone of habitation of other species, often acquiring in a very slight degree some of the characters of such species, accords with our view that species of all kinds are o…
He claims species ranges are sharply bounded due to biotic interactions and competition, so intermediate varieties in narrow neutral zones should be rarer and less likely to persist.
do not doubt that the formerly broken condition of areas now continuous has played an important part in the formation of new species, more especially with freely-crossing and wandering animals. In looking at species as they are now distributed over a wide area, we generally find them tolerably numerous over a large territory, then becoming somewhat abruptly rarer and rarer on the confines, and finally disappearing. …
Darwin describes how tides, waves, and sand wear down sea cliffs very slowly, so retreating coasts show long pauses between active erosion periods and imply vast geological time.
at work grinding down old rocks and making fresh sediment, before he can hope to comprehend anything of the lapse of time, the monuments of which we see around us. It is good to wander along lines of sea-coast, when formed of moderately hard rocks, and mark the process of degradation. The tides in most cases reach the cliffs only for a short time twice a day, and the waves eat into them only when they are charged wi…
Darwin introduces geographical distribution by arguing that climate alone cannot explain biotic similarity or difference, emphasizing barriers to migration, affinity within continents, dispersal methods, and especially glacial-period wide dispersal.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. Present distribution cannot be accounted for by differences in physical conditions. Importance of barriers. Affinity of the productions of the same continent. Centres of creation. Means of dispersal, by changes of climate and of the level of the land, and by occasional means. Dispersal during the Glacial period co-extensive with the world. In considering the distribution of organic beings…
He explains identical alpine and arctic species on widely separated mountains via glacial history: cooling replaced temperate organisms, drove southward movement, and then stranded arctic species on isolated summits as warmth returned.
with inhabitants. On almost bare land, with few or no destructive insects or birds living there, nearly every seed, which chanced to arrive, would be sure to germinate and survive. *Dispersal during the Glacial period*.—The identity of many plants and animals, on mountain-summits, separated from each other by hundreds of miles of lowlands, where the Alpine species could not possibly exist, is one of the most strikin…
Darwin continues the glacial model, describing northward retreat of arctic forms and stepwise recolonization upslope, yielding present-day identities and stronger affinities between each mountain range and the latitude to its north.
later in North America than in Europe, so will the southern migration there have been a little earlier or later; but this will make no difference in the final result. As the warmth returned, the arctic forms would retreat northward, closely followed up in their retreat by the productions of the more temperate regions. And as the snow melted from the bases of the mountains, the arctic forms would seize on the cleared…
Darwin argues that during the Glacial period arctic species migrating together would resist major change, while isolated Alpine species—mixing with older alpine forms—would become varied, as seen in European mountain plants and animals.
further north, and subsequently have retreated to their present homes; but I have met with no satisfactory evidence with respect to this intercalated slightly warmer period, since the Glacial period. The arctic forms, during their long southern migration and re-migration northward, will have been exposed to nearly the same climate, and, as is especially to be noticed, they will have kept in a body together; conseque…
He explains uniformity among sub-arctic and northern temperate species before the Glacial epoch by earlier warm climates that created an almost continuous circumpolar land bridge between western Europe, Siberia, and eastern America.
favourable climate, I attribute the necessary amount of uniformity in the sub-arctic and northern temperate productions of the Old and New Worlds, at a period anterior to the Glacial epoch. Believing, from reasons before alluded to, that our continents have long remained in nearly the same relative position, though subjected to large, but partial oscillations of level, I am strongly inclined to extend the above view…
Darwin rejects creationism by arguing that related but non-identical plants and animals across disconnected seas and continents fit a modification theory, then surveys global evidence of Glacial action from Europe to the Americas, Himalaya, and Australia.
work), of some fish and other marine animals, in the Mediterranean and in the seas of Japan,—areas now separated by a continent and by nearly a hemisphere of equatorial ocean. These cases of relationship, without identity, of the inhabitants of seas now disjoined, and likewise of the past and present inhabitants of the temperate lands of North America and Europe, are inexplicable on the theory of creation. We cannot…
He notes that many northern-temperate-looking species found in southern hemispheres and tropical mountains are not arctic, and discusses how Alpine floras become less arctic toward the tropics, mixing identical and distinct forms.
forms of fish. Dr. Hooker informs me that twenty-five species of Algæ are common to New Zealand and to Europe, but have not been found in the intermediate tropical seas. It should be observed that the northern species and forms found in the southern parts of the southern hemisphere, and on the mountain-ranges of the intertropical regions, are not arctic, but belong to the northern temperate zones. As Mr. H. C. Watso…
Darwin argues that as cold slowly set in, tropical species retreated toward the equator, while temperate species migrated further and could sometimes invade into lowland tropics, especially via humid and high-land “lines of invasion.”
ranked by some naturalists as specifically distinct, by others as varieties; but some are certainly identical, and many, though closely related to northern forms, must be ranked as distinct species. Now let us see what light can be thrown on the foregoing facts, on the belief, supported as it is by a large body of geological evidence, that the whole world, or a large part of it, was during the Glacial period simulta…
Darwin admits remaining difficulties in explaining specific dispersal routes and selective outcomes, then discusses antarctic-related distributions, including the role of icebergs, radiating migrations from a warmer southern centre, and cycles of climate change.
produced within the larger areas of the north, just in the same way as the productions of real islands have everywhere lately yielded to continental forms, naturalised by man’s agency. I am far from supposing that all difficulties are removed on the view here given in regard to the range and affinities of the allied species which live in the northern and southern temperate zones and on the mountains of the intertrop…
Darwin explains geology’s imperfect fossil record, proposes using rates of organic change between formations as a rough measure of time, and argues that “secondary causes” rather than catastrophes produce species turnover.
sides of a continent, and the nature of the various inhabitants of that continent in relation to their apparent means of immigration, some light can be thrown on ancient geography. The noble science of Geology loses glory from the extreme imperfection of the record. The crust of the earth with its embedded remains must not be looked at as a well-filled museum, but as a poor collection made at hazard and at rare inte…
Continuing the child’s final days, the narrator hears midnight cries of “The Shadow of Death,” watches the child die at eventide, and mourns the creation of a childless mother.
black fathers stagger a step onward in the wild phantasm of the world; heard in his baby voice the voice of the Prophet that was to rise within the Veil. And so we dreamed and loved and planned by fall and winter, and the full flush of the long Southern spring, till the hot winds rolled from the fetid Gulf, till the roses shivered and the still stern sun quivered its awful light over the hills of Atlanta. And then o…
Livy describes Hannibal’s deployment at Cannae—Gallic and Spanish cavalry left, Numidian cavalry right, African-centered infantry—plus the wind and dust conditions favoring the Carthaginians.
light-armed auxiliaries, formed the van. The consuls commanded the wings; Terentius the left, Aemilius the right. To Geminus Sevilius was committed the charge of maintaining the battle in the centre. 46. Hannibal, at break of day, having sent before him the Baliares and other light-armed troops, crossed the river, and placed his troops in line of battle, as he had conveyed them across the river. The Gallic and Spani…
Scipio prays before sailing for Africa, sacrifices and departs, but mist and bad winds delay the fleet until the coast is revealed and the troops land at Cape Pulcher.
a grand sight to those who viewed it from the land, but the shore also, crowded as it was all around, afforded the same to those who were sailing away. 27. As soon as day appeared, silence having been obtained by a herald, Scipio thus spoke from the ship of the commander-in-chief: "Ye gods and goddesses who preside over the seas and lands, I pray and entreat you, that whatever things have been, are now, or shall be …
Aeneas and Ascanius hunt in the Libyan hills as storm clouds gather; the Trojans scatter toward Dido, and Dido and Aeneas’ first secret love act foretells “debate and death” and later disasters for them.
of bays his length of hair inclose; A golden fillet binds his awful brows; His quiver sounds: not less the prince is seen In manly presence, or in lofty mien. Now had they reach’d the hills, and storm’d the seat Of salvage beasts, in dens, their last retreat. The cry pursues the mountain goats: they bound From rock to rock, and keep the craggy ground; Quite otherwise the stags, a trembling tr…
Venus prays to Neptune to protect Aeneas’s remaining fleet, Neptune promises safety to the Latin shore, then Sleep and Phorbas bring Palinurus’s death as the fleet sails past dangerous rocks.
coast. For what remains, your godhead I implore, And trust my son to your protecting pow’r. If neither Jove’s nor Fate’s decree withstand, Secure his passage to the Latian land.” Then thus the mighty Ruler of the Main: “What may not Venus hope from Neptune’s reign? My kingdom claims your birth; my late defence Of your indanger’d fleet may claim your confidence. Nor less by land than sea my de…
Sura 67 continues with threats of earth-quaking and stone-charged whirlwind, rebukes earlier peoples for rejecting prophets, uses birds as proof of God’s sustaining power, and calls humans to trust God’s revelation about promised judgment.
What! are ye sure that He who is in Heaven will not cleave the Earth beneath you? And lo, it shall quake. Or are ye sure that He who is in Heaven will not send against you a stone- charged whirlwind? Then shall ye know what my warning meant! And verily, those who flourish before you treated their prophets as liars: and how grievous my wrath! Behold they not the birds over their heads, outstretching and drawing in …
Equiano describes visiting Brimstone-Hill in Montserrat, where boiling ponds of sulfurous waters turn metals black and can boil potatoes, showing the hill’s natural wonders and strange colors.
FOOTNOTES: [Footnote O: Thus was I sacrificed to the envy and resentment of this woman for knowing that the lady whom she had succeeded in my master's good graces designed to take me into her service; which, had I once got on shore, she would not have been able to prevent. She felt her pride alarmed at the superiority of her rival in being attended by a black servant: it was not less to prevent this than to be reven…
After ensuring all thirty-two survive, Equiano plants limes, oranges, and lemons on a Bahama key; he observes flamingoes, doubts cannibal fears, finds abundant fish and turtles, and discovers a rock that yields fresh rainwater.
shore by force. This want of assistance made our labour intolerably severe; insomuch, that, by putting on shore so often that day, the skin was entirely stript off my hands. However, we continued all the day to toil and strain our exertions, till we had brought all on board safe to the shore; so that out of thirty-two people we lost not one. My dream now returned upon my mind with all its force; it was fulfilled in …
After about 17–18 days in New Providence, Equiano departs with Captain Phillips toward Georgia, is briefly dashed against rocks by another gale, returns for refitting, and reaches Georgia in seven days.
but my fellow-sufferers not having any money to help themselves with, necessity obliged them to accept of the offer, and to steer that course, though they did not like it. We stayed in New Providence about seventeen or eighteen days; during which time I met with many friends, who gave me encouragement to stay there with them: but I declined it; though, had not my heart been fixed on England, I should have stayed, as…
Equiano describes escape from the ice after about thirty hours into open water, anchoring and refitting, sailing south on 19 August, enduring storms and losing items, and ending the Arctic voyage in London/Deptford.
Many of us on this got on board again, and with all our might we hove the ships into every open water we could find, and made all the sail on them in our power; and now, having a prospect of success, we made signals for the boats and the remainder of the people. This seemed to us like a reprieve from death; and happy was the man who could first get on board of any ship, or the first boat he could meet. We then procee…
Defoe attributes later improvement to exhausted contagion and cold winter weather, notes some December returns, and observes the city’s population quickly recovered though the public manners changed little.
within about five days they all died, except one; that is to say, himself, his wife, all his five children, and his two apprentices; and only the maid remained alive. But the mercy of God was greater to the rest than we had reason to expect; for the malignity (as I have said) of the distemper was spent, the contagion was exhausted, and also the winter weather came on apace, and the air was clear an…
A storm with thunder, lightning, rain, hail, and mud disrupts Carthaginian troops in a decisive battle, causing many to be killed or swept away as the Greeks cut down the front ranks.
in the flank; then, making his vanguard firm by joining man to man and buckler to buckler, he caused the trumpet to sound, and so bore in upon the Carthaginians. They, for their part, stoutly received and sustained his first onset; and having their bodies armed with breastplates of iron, and helmets of brass on their heads, besides great bucklers to cover and secure them, they could easily repel the charge of the Gr…
After Mithridates flees to Tigranes in Armenia, Lucullus subdues Chaldeans and Tibarenians, besieges Amisus again, lets soldiers plunder but extinguishes the fire with difficulty, and repairs damage aided by rain.
but, on the contrary, commended her brother, who in his own danger neglected not theirs, but carefully provided that they might go out of the world without shame or disgrace. Lucullus, being a good and humane man, was concerned at these things. However, going on he came to Talaura, from whence four days before his arrival Mithridates had fled, and was got to Tigranes in Armenia. He turned off, therefore, and subdu…
Alexander’s letters describe his crossing of the Hydaspes against Porus amid a storm, hand-to-hand fighting, and final victory by splitting attacks on wings and breaking the enemy’s formation.
philosophers, who inveighed against those princes who joined his party, and solicited the free nations to oppose him. He took several of these also, and caused them to be hanged. Alexander, in his own letters, has given us an account of his war with Porus. He says the two armies were separated by the river Hydaspes, on whose opposite bank Porus continually kept his elephants in order of battle, with their heads tow…
They burn most Egyptian ships and man sixty best vessels for a final sea engagement; Antony fights from ship to ship and Caesar uses maneuver, but weather delays fighting until calm arrives.
would not be difficult to surprise him, laid an ambush, which, rising up somewhat too hastily, seized the man that came just before him, he himself escaping narrowly by flight. When it was resolved to stand to a fight at sea, they set fire to all the Egyptian ships except sixty; and of these the best and largest, from ten banks down to three, he manned with twenty thousand full-armed men, and two thousand archers. …
Caesar and Antony suffer a freezing winter camp near marshes while Brutus’s fleet defeats their sea supply, and Brutus fights without knowing this victory for twenty days.
they were very headstrong and intractable, bold and insolent in the camp for want of their general, but in the field cowardly and fearful, remembering that they had been beaten. Neither were the affairs of Caesar and Antony in any better posture; for they were straitened for provision, and, the camp being in a low ground, they expected to pass a very hard winter. For being driven close upon the marshes, and a great …
The crusader fleet gathers in eight days at Abydos with God granting fair weather, and the army begins sailing toward Constantinople while preparing for whatever need arises soon.
and great was their need thereof, for before they had but little. And within those eight days all the ships and barons had come up. God gave them fair weather. ARRIVAL AT ST. STEPHEN—DELIBERATION AS TO PLAN OF ATTACK All started from the port of Abydos together. Then might you have seen the Straits of St. George (as it were) in flower with ships and galleys sailing upwards, and the beauty thereof was a great marvel…
Don Quixote forces the farmer Juan Haldudo the Rich of Quintanar to pay Andres’s wages, calculating the owed amount and settling disputes over shoes and blood-lettings, then threatens punishment if payment is withheld.
Don Quixote added it up, found that it came to sixty-three reals, and told the farmer to pay it down immediately, if he did not want to die for it. The trembling clown replied that as he lived and by the oath he had sworn (though he had not sworn any) it was not so much; for there were to be taken into account and deducted three pairs of shoes he had given him, and a real for two blood-lettings when he was sick. “A…
Sancho notes the grass suggests a nearby spring, and they search through the dark; after hearing water, they also hear measured strokes, rattling iron and chains, and the ominous sounds of tall trees.
OF THE UNEXAMPLED AND UNHEARD-OF ADVENTURE WHICH WAS ACHIEVED BY THE VALIANT DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA WITH LESS PERIL THAN ANY EVER ACHIEVED BY ANY FAMOUS KNIGHT IN THE WORLD c19a.jpg (147K) Full Size “It cannot be, señor, but that this grass is a proof that there must be hard by some spring or brook to give it moisture, so it would be well to move a little farther on, that we may find some place where we may quen…
After crossing, the army marches through Armenian territory to a satrap’s palace, then faces heavy snow that covers men and arms, forcing them to split wood, make fire, and use scented ointment.
Hellenes, if they would not burn his houses, but merely take such provisions as they needed. This proposal satisfied the generals, and a treaty was made on the terms suggested. From this place they marched three stages--fifteen parasangs--through plain country, Tiribazus the while keeping close behind with his own forces more than a mile off. Presently they reached a palace with villages clustered round about it, wh…
To avoid being trapped, the Hellenes march quickly through deep snow, cross the Euphrates, then attempt hard desert stages across snowy flat country; sacrifice to Boreas reduces the wind but many men and animals still die.
V The next day it was resolved that they should set off with all 1 possible speed, before the enemy had time to collect and occupy the defile. Having got their kit and baggage together, they at once began their march through deep snow with several guides, and, crossing the high pass the same day on which Tiribazus was to have attacked them, got safely into cantonments. From this point they marched three des…
A long description of Egyptian geography and beliefs follows: Egypt’s borders and the Nile’s origins, winds, cataracts, seven mouths, inundation effects, and animals like crocodiles and hippos.
he had been seeking with great labour, a circumstance which, in the opinion of the inhabitants of those regions, indicates prosperity, abundant crops, and several other kinds of good fortune. 7. On this subject it seems desirable to say a few words. Among the animals which have been consecrated by the reverence of the ancients, Mnevis and Apis are the most eminent. Mnevis, concerning whom there is nothing remarkable…
Durkheim gives rain Intichiuma examples where people imitate clouds, rainbow concealment, plover calls, and even rain as blood, including a Dieri hut collapse meant to represent clouds bursting and rain falling.
end of his force, and then his son replaced him; then he commenced again as soon as he felt a little refreshed. These exhausting exercises continued until morning without interruption.[1169] Living beings are not the only ones which they try to imitate. In a large number of tribes, the Intichiuma of rain consists essentially in imitative rites. One of the most simple of these is that celebrated among the Arabunna. T…
In A.D. 1089 Archbishop Lanfranc dies, and the chronicle notes earth tremors and unusually late harvests across England, emphasizing prolonged seasonal disruption and hardship.
his bishopric, and went to Normandy. Many Frenchmen also abandoned their lands, and went over sea; and the king gave their lands to the men that were faithful to him. A.D. 1089. In this year the venerable father and favourer of monks, Archbishop Landfranc, departed this life; but we hope that he is gone to the heavenly kingdom. There was also over all England much earth-stirring on the third day before the ides of…
In A.D. 1097 William becomes weather-bound, lands at Arundel, campaigns deeply in Wales until midsummer, then builds border castles, records a comet-like star, and continues burdensome contributions and labor.
also the principal men who held this land, frequently sent forces into Wales, and many men thereby grievously afflicted, producing no results but destruction of men and waste of money. A.D. 1097. In this year was the King William at Christmas in Normandy; and afterwards against Easter he embarked for this land; for that he thought to hold his court at Winchester; but he was weather-bound until Easter-eve, when he f…
In A.D. 1109–1110, Henry settles conditions for giving his daughter to the emperor, Anselm dies, Easter dates are noted, and Henry sends his daughter with treasures over sea, alongside weather and frost damage.
great worship at his archiepiscopal stall in Canterbury. It was brought hither from Rome by Abbot Anselm, who was the nephew of Archbishop Anselm, and the Abbot John of Peterborough. A.D. 1116. In this year was the King Henry on the Nativity at St. Alban's, where he permitted the consecration of that monastery; and at Easter he was at Odiham. And there was also this year a very heavy-timed winter, strong and long,…
In A.D. 1110–1111, the chronicle reports deprivation of nobles’ lands, continued “calamitous” conditions from royal daughter’s portion and bad weather, the opening of a new minster at Chertsey, and severe political hardship.
Westminster died on the eighth day before the ides of December; and Faritz, Abbot of Abingdon, on the seventh day before the calends of March. And in this same year.... A.D. 1118. All this year abode the King Henry in Normandy on account of the war of the King of France and the Earl of Anjou, and the Earl of Flanders. And the Earl of Flanders was wounded in Normandy, and went so wounded into Flanders. By this war…
It argues that cold shaped German bodies and wars, giving examples like the Rhine and Danube freezing for heavy transport, reindeer limitations to northern climates, and claims about deforestation and drainage making later climates milder.
the year of Rome 531, is said to have defeated the Gauls, the Insubrians, and the Germans, commanded by Virdomar. See Adelung, Ælt. Geschichte der Deutsch, p. 102.—Compressed from G.] 1001a (return) [ The modern philosophers of Sweden seem agreed that the waters of the Baltic gradually sink in a regular proportion, which they have ventured to estimate at half an inch every year. Twenty centuries ag…
It doubts extreme claims about climate determining long life and fertility but asserts that Germany’s cold produced tall, hardy bodies and bravery, while Romans in winter suffer and northerners break in Italian summer heat.
2 (return) [ In particular, Mr. Hume, the Abbé du Bos, and M. Pelloutier. Hist. des Celtes, tom. i.] 3 (return) [ Diodorus Siculus, l. v. p. 340, edit. Wessel. Herodian, l. vi. p. 221. Jornandes, c. 55. On the banks of the Danube, the wine, when brought to table, was frequently frozen into great lumps, frusta vini. Ovid. Epist. ex Ponto, l. iv. 7, 9, 10. Virgil. Georgic. l. iii. 355. The fact…
He explains German intoxication practices with beer and compares them to Italian and Gaulish wine, arguing that thirst and appetite spurred invasions, and later claims long-term climate and agricultural change since Charlemagne.
32 (return) [ Id. 24. The Germans might borrow the arts of play from the Romans, but the passion is wonderfully inherent in the human species.] Strong beer, a liquor extracted with very little art from wheat or barley, and *corrupted* (as it is strongly expressed by Tacitus) into a certain semblance of wine, was sufficient for the gross purposes of German debauchery. But those who had tasted the …