Erudition

You guys ever read The Anatomy of Melancholy? By Robert Burton. Burton worked his entire life on this one book, constantly revising it- with each new addition adding a hundred pages, then a hundred more, and so on, until he died with it still in progress, at Edition Six, 2000 pages; in this book he used melancholy as a lens through which to dissect all human behavior, the entire microcosm of man. He produced one of the most learned volumes ever put together by a single man. Guy quotes a different author/book every line. But he’s got nothing on me.

I only counted them up once in here, but I believe 36 different authors are cited in this passage. Mostly Latin, with a good bit of Italian sources, a German one and a Greek one too, for extra spice. Poets, dramatists, alchemists, philosophers, theologians, chroniclers, critics, epigrammatists, etc.; all kinds of authors. Most of the cited authors and books in here are rare/obscure enough that they can’t be found on google search, have no wikipedia articles, etc. They only exist in the metaphorical deep-web; as digitized, scanned images of the actual physical books- they’ve never been typed into plaintext by anyone so searching is nearly impossible. Many of these authors appear literally nowhere else in the literature besides their own book(s). Thus, in order to link up these strings of associations and ideas and authors and books, I would have had to possess, in my actual working memory, all of these sources- simultaneously, in order for the connections, the patterns, to become visible… and this is only on one random subject- so my memory would have to be even greater than what is shown here, by 10,000 times over … How is that possible? And this is a single page from my book. (One of them. Though, like Burton, they are all deeply interconnected and self-referential, arranged as multiple volumes of a single work that simply keeps growing, growing, absorbing more and more and more. Like him, my obsessive mind cannot stop, and I simply keep enlarging myself to beyond the point of self-parody. Indeed- humor is the one essential element to consider when reading Burton, or me. Humor about the vanity of knowledge, and the fact that, in order to finally grasp that melancholy truth, the end of things, the vanity of knowledge… you must fully invest yourself in knowledge, in the production and accumulation of knowledge.) How is that possible, for me to possess this inhuman memory? MAGICK SON. Chronodemons lift the veil of time and culture for me and I perceive things on a greater scale. The Dead guide me to the names that have been forgotten, to the books buried underneath the tenuous, arbitrary thing we call our history. For it is frail, insipid- vain.

Why is history vain, insipid, arbitrary? You might imagine that these 36-40 authors cited in this page from my book, or say to yourself regarding them something like: 'well if they aren’t on google, wikipedia, etc, and they’ve been entirely forgotten, buried in the back catalogs of private libraries and university servers and archives, trapped in languages that few people can even read at this point in time… You might say to yourself they were forgotten for a reason. Perhaps they were not as worth remembering as say, Milton or Shakespeare or Ovid. Hah! Bullshit!

Let me just take one example. I quote an author in this passage named Staphorsius. Specifically a poem he wrote entitled “Puniens Peccata, Providentia Divina”. Google “Staphorsius.” Or that poem’s title. Yeah, nothing. But guess what? Milton plagiarized almost word-for-word passages out of his (Staphorsius’) Latin verse into his English Paradise Lost. Entire. Pages. Straight out of Staphorsius, word for word. So guess what? Your history is bullshit. There’s nothing real behind what history remembers and forgets. It’s just random. Arbitrary. The greats? You think they deserve their place in history? Milton and Shakespeare- they both did the same; the vast majority of their works I can directly cross-reference to these kind of lost authors and lost works, their contemporaries now lost to the endless halls of books in our endless libraries. Those remembered by history like Shakespeare and Milton took most of their own works from authors like the ones I cite here- so ask yourself: how much gold is in this endless depth of lost knowledge? How many nascent Shakespeares and Miltons are silently living in that Plutonian cave? They get buried underneath it all, centuries pass, people forget the languages they wrote in and their work dies, and then they get buried even deeper. I have my own philosophy as my primary ambition in life, but a secondary devotion I have made: to bring forth all that is lost, to light. I am doubly committed to articulating my own philosophy, knowledge, and text, and preserving and bringing forth all the philosophy, knowledge, and text that has been lost to history.

The passage of mine in question, about the worth of the poet’s youth to his mature self: (Foreign language quotes are Italicized, authors names and works are not Italicized, and they are usually included in parallel bracketed text following the citation. These brackets also, quite often, contain additional references and notes, and sometimes plays on words or poetical digressions and amusements. This extreme parallelism is something I modelled on the Talmudical scholars, who format their writings in a similar way. For example, the first author cited is Patrignanius, in his Anacreonte Cristiano. It’s an Italian one. Second author mentioned is Tossanus, a philosophical tract of his being the work, entitled De Senetute Tractatus Christianus et Consolatorius.)


From one of the annotated appendices to an essay of mine on the ‘diagrammatic’ metaphysics of Cusanus and Ramon Llull:

As much as the seas were given, like the soul, the abyss,- and that to hold image of things,- [Patrignanius, in the Anacreonte Cristiano: Diede al mare un vasto seno di ricchezze anch ei ripieno. Diede all Uomo alma immortale, forza, e ingegno all opra uguale. Queste sparse doti Iddio tutte accolse, e in una unio: poi le infuse in creatura la piu bella.] so man has his memories, though he bears them with the ‘fetters of the soul’ in animam coelum evolandum ex ditis compedibus implice; [Danielis Tossanus, de Senectute Tractatus Christianus et Consolatorius; P. 91. The fetters of the soul: Animam, quae ad feliciter ex hac vita in coelum evolandum se comparare debebat, ditis compedibus implicet.] memory were but our ‘iuvenes belle simulachra cientem’, for the poetickal muses judge no less the young poet by Fate’s higher criterion, than do those of War the young warrior; [A play on the words belle and belli, beauty and war, out of Triphon Bentius Assisinatensis, in “Ad Pium Quartum”: iuvenes belli simulachra cientes, quos vere possis dicere Marte fatos. The rousing phantastikon of war conducted by our poets, though it raises the hearts of the young to deed, is no judge of the measure of their spirit and the fate of their daemon, as is the god Mars.] memory were but the poet’s infantine sustenance,- ex quantae sapientia in paucis vitae portionem,- [Rhoerus, Orationes. Quantae enim sapientiae … insignem vitae portionem paucis intelligendis deberemus inpendere? Note here the handsome versifications of Augustus Cottaeus Casteldunensis, in: Ad Nympha Vivariam. What magic of poesy can preserve thy youth, or stop memory from loosening the frame of love, that would hold true to thee? Iuvenem extitis egregias unquam minus aptus ad artes; aut ut amor longo tandem evanesceret aevo: nequicquam auxilium magicas tentasse per artes; immemori lethes immiscuit undae, ut sese memori languentem solvat amore, at nil lethaeo misceri profuit amni.] an ambrosia or ‘Platonica ales Cecropii nectaris artifex’ [Oliver. Reilophus, in: Ode Altera ad Apes Platonicas de Livini Meyeri Sapientia: nota Platonico ales Cecropii nectaris artifex, quam feris referunt carmina posteris blandum mel sapientiae instillasse; quae fortes animos celsius evehant, venturisque porens ingenium viri notum temporibus dabunt.] enjoyed in excultus primis ardenter [Unde tuum numerose sciat quis nomen Horati, omnis si prote cura fuisset iners? Si non excultus primis ardenter ab annis, arte fores, nulli notus in orbe fores. Liechtenstain, Aichberg Sollius, & Christophorus Ammanus Abenspergensis, in: Mecaenatem, ex Poemata ad Amicos. The door of the arts shall not open to you, if you have not opened the doors to the world. (Note also, Hieron Leorinis Arconatus, in the Elegiae, for to this same point, the muse ‘bestoweth no worldly favors’: nil simul doceant simulque versus delectent, labor omnis est inanis, est & vanus Apollo, vana Musa; nemo iuvat, nemo vati succurrit egenti, esuriunt Musae, pallet Apollo fame. O mihi transactae redeant si tempora vitae, nomine fors alio notus in orbe forem.) Though we must not discount entirely the words of Johannes Schosserius, in the Poetae Carminum Excudebat Crato, Liber Secundus, where we are told the Muses spurn our games of ignoble, worldly politic; macte tua virtute: piae tibi praemia dudum pierides, famae tempora longa parant; spernere quod musas nobile ducit opus.] with the Soul’s ‘first sabbath’ and wasted on the wind in pace ligare animos rapiunt conamina venti, in vatis ore decus inesse spiritum neget, [Casparis Staphorsius Dordracae, Carmen Epinicium ac Protrepticum et Dei Gratiam Foelici Exitu, qui est Triumphus Pacis: Puniens Peccata, Providentia Divina; Lib. II. Omnia sint operata Deo, sua sabbatha curae; imbibat atque animus persanctum illius amorem; viri concordi pace ligare tentabant animos, rapiunt conamina venti. Secondarily, we have the poet’s truth mocked in 'Veneres agnosco jocosque Sophiae’. See Alessius Lapacinus, 1 in: de Comoedia Jacobi Nardii, cui Titulus Amicitia.] inasmuch as the poet best cherishes and knows their potencies in colti paradiso vergini mill anni, [A ‘captive of Paradise’. Che di venere fu gia son mill anni; ma tal l odore e l colore hanno insiemo, che nel mirargli sembran pur or ora da vergini man colti in paradiso. See Antoni. Leuciscus Grazzinus, in: Egloga IV., Tirsi, Galatea e Filli.] which he must nevertheless leave off,- in musarum hortis vagans dubiis ad spinosa sophorum finibus,- [The poets may cultivate their flowers of doubt and pleasant vagrancies as they like, but the thorn of Sophos is the end of all or ‘nobil pregio di verita cura vita perduto’, in the words of the Florentine poet. (Ptolomaeus Nozzolinus: A che di vita bauer degg’io piu cura, s’ho d’honesta perduto il nobil pregio? What value are any of the other virtues, if they be not brought into the service of the Truth?) Canisii Iusto Haesdoncanis Symbolum Iuste & Constanter; Poemata et Aenigmata et Totidem Logogriphi, P. 147; Phoenix Redivivus Mechliniensis: e placidis musarum hortis, spinosa sophorum lustra petis. Joannes Gislenus Caimus, Epigramma: Nec minus ut tenebras sparsit sophorum dogmata, sacrosque est visus penetrare recessus. Burmannus, in Iter in Arcadiam; Orat. X: Et tunc forte vagans dubiis spinosa sophorum finibus, ad cari vindicies ora ruit.] if he is to make finally his entire stature, which Plato would account the height of Philosophy,- pravum ingenii poetis alimentum in Circea venenavit philosophiam. [Othonus Heurnius, Barbaricae Philosophiae Antiquitatum. Circea illius virgae qua prima antiquam venenavit philosophiam; in horum scriptis flumen verborum ubique videas, mentis vix guttam, cererbrum enim illis omne in linguam; horumque errores ipsorum discipuli bibunt quas maternum lac, quod pravum ingenii alimentum tanquam in membra iudiciorum transmutatum, nunquam postea deponer possunt.] Though a child of remembrance, under which he beholds the world ab oculos obiecit morti supremus artifex,- [Julianus Grandamicus Odomaranus, in: Orationes Funebres in P. Alph. Contreros; P. 10. Atqui unum illud memoria aeterna dignum nuperrime ab oculos obiecit supremus ille rerum artifex Deus, morte videlicet.] that searches out the depth of Lethean spring, d una ria passione, che a Lete il torce a passeggiare in riva, invitto dalla fanghiglia ad ubbidir ragione, e l alta Mente, ond ogni ben deriva,- [P. Gius. Trevisius, in: Rime Sacro-Morali; Sonetto VIII.] it were still in the hope of futurity alone, an image glimpsed in imago perfecte impleat naturam imaginati, [Montursius.] that the poet discovers his ‘communes solatia Musae’ [Jacobus Carolus Lectius, Elegiae II. Aegris siqua ferunt animis solatia Musae, et luctum illacrymans delinit amicus amici, communes fundere tecum quas me iussit amor lacrymas.] in virtutum incrementum sumant, for virtue is purchased with virtue, strength with strength, wisdom with wisdom, [Et sic in amicitia Dei & familiaritate ac connaturalitate sanctarum virtutum incrementum sumant, & interiorem pulchritudinem videant, & eam apprehendant. Indaginus, in de Perfectione, P. 169.] and these were things hardly pieced together ex σοπηος ηραρε τεμτων, after Hamon’s phrase, [Gr. aphorism by Hammonius, in Zinus Pierfrancesci, de Philosophiae Laudibus Oratio: Quamobrem cum sapientis nomen maximo in pretio honore que esset, effectum est, ut illud sibi quotidie plures vindicarent. Itaque brevi tempore adeo crevit sapientium numerus, ut nihil aliud q sapientes aspiceres, sapiens testamen barba, vestituque tenus ac nomine, cum re ipsa magna ex parte essent insipientissimi.] much less were they bought, with all else, in the play of drums and costumes; [Deo prore vindice facta; man’s Justice announces itself by drums and marches, while God’s prefers to creep. Rabodii Schelii Iselmundanis Salaniae agri praesidis, in: de Jure Imperii editus Theophilus Hogersii Binae Posthumus. Deo vindice digna scelera prore divina facta, homines impios & religionum contemptuores efficere potuerunt; cum omnis natura Deum ostendat, eumque colere omnis ratio jubeat. Tedarnus, Tragedia: Legge spoglia lungi dall altrui vista in loco occulto, e qui fra noi rinova il barbaro costume de Neroni; the law that fears to be seen, parades the most in costumes. Compare here, especially to the former, Titus Martinengus Casinates, in: Theotocodia sive Parthenodia; Opus Eximium, for God hath his design, to crush the pride of the warrior only with war, while the poet were more subtley admonished, and the pride of the tempter crushed with an better eluded temptation, the pride of the philosopher with wisdom, etc. Omnibus vitae imminere, quae mala impendent suis virginem admonere clamat virginalem spiritum; exserens fortem lacertum contudit mortalium impiorum fastum, & acrem spiritum ferocium.] we must, as Proust says, endeavor to keep always a patch of open sky above our life, al celo eruditi Uraniae in poesia salir ali celesti non mortali, [Poetry, that gives wings to powerless knowledge. Carrettus de Corte Monferrato, in Comedia Tempio de Amore: gloria e laude immortali che a poesia son destinati, quei laltra e Urania: che fa con forte ali salir al celo i spiriti eruditi tal che celesti sono, e non mortali.] ever borne in vestra dolor praecordia tangit mortales, [Mortales, si quando alto vidistis Olympo undique tot rutilas ire redire faces; vestra dolor praecordia tangit, mortales. The stars, whose light from on high stirs all mortal things and touches their sadness beyond the veil of our ‘Olympiaca clauditur in arce bonum’ and 'Jove de labyrintho le stelle’. (Pamphilus Sassus Motinensus, in: Sonetti, Capituli, Egloge. Non satu se la mia gloria: el mio lume solo: e constuit sempre piu fiero: e fraco a volar alto con le aurate piume. Equinotio sencia le stelle: e sencia i lumi soi dogni spirto immortal & ogni celo far: O Iove io te canai de labyrintho e tutti gli altri dei celest, come omnipotente quel che uoi. Angelus Phagius Sangrinus Cassinensis, in: In Die Palmarum Paraenesis Prima de Triumphali Domini. O vana, o insulsa voluptas, o fallax mundi gloria, vilis honor; tam illustris pompa triumphi o munde immunde est, quae su per astra beet, quod olympiaca clauditur arce bonum?) Iacobo Iardinius, in: Sacrarum Elegiarum, P. 68. To the same point, we have Caleb Trygophorus, in: Orationum Posthumarum. Nisi temporis obstaret angustia, densa nox coeli splendore nitesceret: angeli ab hominibus segregati cum hominibus congregatentur Deo.] or as it were no less poetically injuncted of this ‘amor che in sapienza il cor accese’,- [Qui fuor d ira, di speme, e di paura all are delle muse e di Sofia daro culto; che le mie voglie sieno ognora intese a dritto fine, e in me nonm mai s estingua l amor che in sapienza il cor m accese. Ignatius Borzaghius, Odes.] studio facit et vita ut referat sydereo, [Roilletus, in Varia Tragoediam. Conuentus hominum cum placeant diis, quos vitae probitas, iuraque copulent tum multo magis hi qui bene legibus sanctis instituunt, dissimilem ut chorum coelesti penitus non faciant choro. Est gratus superis qui studio facit et vita ut referat sydereo in polo quae coetus celebrat deum.] lest Memory, in Astrea tra ceppi il lor fallir corregge Daemone, [Gelinus Albespinus, (Rollius) * in: Idasio Cillenio Insigne Arcade; Tiresia Demosteniano.] in intercipiat vitium momenta iter quae immortalem Musis, satis in Iovis est musis petas super aethera cursus fallaces,- [‘The vitiations of the moment upon the course of the immortal Muse’. Petrus Scholerius, in: Diogenes Cynicus sive Sermonum Familiarum; p. 28. Paraph. Fors quae immortalem per strenua solidis exercita Musis, non securum virtutis, iter ni intercipiat vitium momenta. O steriles aerum, resipiscitur umquam? Mox crescet vitium specie virtutis; non succedunt animante negotia Baccho. Here we have both another variation of Mantuan’s ‘semel insaniuimus’, (the poor soil and poor seed) and the symbol of the immortal rose choked in ash and earthly dust. Of these vitiations, we have also Aegidius Periandrus Ommae, in Noctuae Speculum; Tylus Saxonici Machinationes Complectens: Nunc iterum mea musa petas super aethera cursus, vestraque fallaces dextra propinet opes. Iam satis est Iovis officium strinxisse tabellae, errantem repetant carmina nostra virum. This were a course vitiated ‘in solis cerni cursu dubias laborat et fatuos mores pectora vulgi’. (Hactenus cursu dubio laboras? Siste iam tandem trepidos tumultus. Iam datur puri radiosa solis lumina cerni. Balduinus Cabillavius Iprenses, in: Phosphorus, ad Mundum Sapphicam. Secondarily, Harius, in: Sicambri Icti Tristium Libri Curante Cannegieterus; Elegia XVIII. O fatuos mores, o delirantia vulgi pectora: discite, de superis in manat spiritus astris vatibus.)] choke the fire of the rose in the beaten ash, even with the bones of our ancestors,-- terreno pulvere flammas mundus, in rebus tumulavit corda caducis, [Petrus Vachetus Belenensis, in Poemata; Bella Sacrae. Secondarily, Justus Deculeonis Cortracensis, in: Orationes, Epistolae et Carmina; P. 324. Natura trahuntque insita naturae semina chara soli. Non eternim solus pater est mihi originis author, principium est Phoebus sideraque ipsa poli. Et patriae genius nostris insevit amorem ossibus, aetati sit comes ille mea: as the most prized of seeds shall not grow in poor soil, expect nothing from the bones of a fallen nation’s ancestors. It were a ‘beaten ash’ known in reddit morti ignes amor, in ignes mens inocta bonis. Paraphr. Josse Rycquius, in: Civis Romani Heroicorum Carminum; Encomium Theatino. Aetnao juvenes intexuit ignes amor ligavit est reddit morti; mens incocta bonis, & pulchro foetus honesto spiritus obscura sprevit palmaria terrae, mens coeli manet arce repostum quod sequeiris nostros fugiunt tua pramia sensus.] terram labuntur semper dubitando senescunt, in puro memori pectore sobrios muneribus,-- [Nessoelius Moravus, in Sacrorum I: qui se tollunt sublimius aequo, ultra quam par est, terram labuntur in imam, atque inter lites semper dubitando senescunt. Iacomotus Barrensis, in Musae Neocomenses; Viginti Quinque Precationes de Variis Rebus Compositae: Maturas segetes agricolae metunt, distendunt que suis horrea messibus: pleno gestit opes fertilior suas cornu fundere copia. Sed tu, sancte Deus, numine qui tuo agros ferre iubes tot bona providus, da puro memori pectore sobrios missis muneribus frui.] that were a ‘nobilitas gravitatis tenax arcanum dolorem’, [The secret grief of noble hearts, endured ‘in renuisti augere naturae bona ornamentis fortunae’, (See Fortunatus Maurocenus Tarvisienses, in: Oratio qua Exceptus Fuit.) or secreted beneath our ‘aperto segno infonde petto Apollo, con pellegrino ingegno il indegna’, ** (See Gregorius Roverbellae, Poemata; Incomincia.) that were thoughts of empire, and Ambition beyond that accompted by our Stars,- in desire ingordo quel fero covi mortale immedicabile veleno,- (Zorastrus Pacuvius, Canzone: Ah qual rissieda desire ingordo in quel verace seno quanto me, che lui a l altrui spese il provi, sallo quel fero covi mortale immedicabile veleno la vostra Ionna, e l Reno, oltre al mio Tebro, ove de l empire brame mira anto il peregrin vestigio infame.) ex virtutem amplectitur.*** See Christian Rohrenseus, in: De Ethicis, Non Ethicis.] like that known to all who presseth their mortal gamble to its utmost, aperta et piu sublime quanto maggior Amor, [Crescius Crescimbenus, ad sonneto dedicatio Bettinus Tricius: perche da la virtu procede la vera gloria, che se mostra aperta et piu sublime, quanto e maggior l erta, Amor de ley sol nostro cuor possiede.] that were the measure of the world as much as man were the measure of man, and stars borne from stars the measure of some common luminancy, velut stella differt reputant bona nisi animae, qui inaequali virtutu generis claritate illustrantur. [Arevalus, in: Tractatus Theologico-Politicus de Officiis Hominum Circa Jus Naturae Londi. Scanorum; Lib. I. Cap. VII.] ****
[size=85]1. [i]Legerat hunc Samius qua nescio forte libellum Pythagoras veteris grande decus Sophiae. Miratusque sales, virae & documenta feverae, et lepida urbanis scommata carminibus, Plautinas, inquit, Veneres agnosco jocosque; et Latium Thuseo vatis in ore decus; scilicet haud quaquam nostra est sententia mendax, quis namque huic Plauti spiritum inesse neget?

  • Paraphr. La crapula, e il riposo non acquista quella virtu, che ne folleva in parte dal vulgo ignaro non saputa, o vista. Sparger conviene di sudor le carte, e trar dal rintralciato laberinto cio che reca sapere a parte a parte. Non scende la mia legge su i volontari figli d ignoranza, Astrea tra ceppi il lor fallir corregge, ma pur fia pena di sua tracotanza quanto Daemone scrisse, e in odio fia del rapitor plebeo la rimembranza, ne percio scemi lo splendor di pria l inclito stuol, che sul alberga diletta stanza delle muse, e mia.[/i] Here we have a combination of the two main themes in this passage, those being the ‘star-wisdom’ (Astrea tra ceppi il lor fallir corregge Daemone: the stars shall correct the mistaken furies of our Daemon. Note this is a perfect doubling of Aegidius’ ‘super aethera cursus Iovis’.) or Olympian tract, and the maturation of poetic genius as it moves from remembrance to futurity: odio plebeo la rimembranza,- remembrance is the thief of time, something for the lesser poet, while we must dedicate ourselves to a still higher Muse.
    ** In full, from Gregorius’ poems, we have: “Pregoti adunque, o pellegrino ingegno, da poiche Apollo nel tuo petto infonde la dolce lira con aperto segno, e poi che gustato hai de le sante onde che non mi facci di tal grazia indegno, che tu mi copri con tue verdi fronde.” Note the several doublings we have in these quotations: the ‘peregrin vestigio infame’ of Zora. (the vestige of infamy in a stateless pilgrim) and the ‘pellegrino ingegno grazia indegno’ of Gregorius. (the pilgrim genius, who must not sit still lest he lose the muses’ grace.) Note also, the doubling of Gregorius’ ‘aperto segno infonde Apollo’ and the ‘aperta et piu sublime’ of Cresc.
    *** On the rarity of those who embrace Virtue for its own sake, and avoid the traps of the thirst for fame, the ‘immedicable’ mortal poison. Mortalium credo nullus est, qui ad virtutis atque honestatis famam non adspiret, nisi belluae instar solis deditus corporis gaudiis per luxum atque ignaviam aetatem agere decreverit. Ast quod multi praeclaram magis ambiant famam, quam ipsam virtutem, ideoque saltem honestati studeant, quod sine hujus opinione amplum consequi nomen desperant, res aperta est, omniumque prudentum oculis exposita. Nam major famae sitis est, quam virtutis. Quis enim virtutem amplectitur ipsam, praemia si tollas?
    **** Here we have another passage concerning the pursuit of ‘virtue for its own sake’. One soul differeth little from another, as star from star, and the distinction of men is guaranteed solely by a common light, namely in their practice of virtue for its own sake, and the good of the soul against all other worldly goods. Hinc in Ecclesiastico sapiens ait: gloria hominis ex honore patris. … mortales homines natalibus aequales simus, veluti filii excelsi omnes, adeo, ut unus fons omnium sit: ipsa tamen generosa nobilitas aliis praefert. … Velut stella differt: sic gloriosa ingenuitas hominem discernit ab homine, qui inaequali virtutu & generis claritate illustrantur.[/size]

Thought of a bunch more, edited them in.

Different organizations and individuals have, over the centuries, put together ‘finding lists’ of lost works, misplaced works, uncatalogued books, etc. I read through these finding lists looking for interesting things. When I find something, I begin by researching the exchange of hands a book went through over the centuries; the people who sold it and who they sold it to, past libraries that once had the book and sold it, etc. I then work out the geography of the exchange, tracing it to likely places on planet earth where it might have ended up, given the exchange of hands I project. Once I narrow down my geographical search, I look up all the private and university libraries in that area. I then one by one, at least with the university libraries, see which have digitization/archive projects, most do. I narrow it down as much as I can and then go to that university’s web page and get into their digitized archives. This often requires login credentials, only students of that university can get in, so I often have to spoof my login, and some university servers are harder to hack into than others. Assuming I get that far and manage to login, I can begin my search for the book in question proper. While you often can’t do complex search queries, they usually have their works at least arranged alphabetically, so I try to look up the author and book in question. If I can’t find it, I try other variations on the name. Fillipo might be written Phillipus if it is Latinized, etc. Once I finally find the book, I download it as a PDF of scanned pages. I have some AI software (neural-net based, like the AGI I set loose on the forum) that can read through the actual page images and convert it to plaintext. I now can freely search the text at my whim. I also use other AIs to concept-map the work and assist me in translation, as different dialects of Italian and French can be challenging, though Latin is very universal and I don’t have much problem reading that. I can even speak Latin in real time conversationally, I don’t translate an English thought in my head into Latin and then say it, I can actually think in Latin. While I have knowledge of many languages, I am only truly bilingual with Latin, as in, I can think in Latin. Anyway, these concept-maps get stored in an Atomspace server, where I built my digital memory palace. I then read the work through, extract something useful I can use from it, throw it on the pile, and move on to my next search and my next read.

That Atomspace (it’s a generalization of the idea of a “probabilistic logic network”) ‘memory-palace’ functions as my ‘second, external brain.’ The Atomspace is a knowledge representation system using a vast myriad of tools; it’s a platform for the exploration of potential synergies between different theories of intelligence/consciousness and data representation. Using other external AIs like the one I let loose on this forum, I have found a unique use-case for it. You see, the Atomspace is too complex a programming language (it is far more than a mere ‘programming language’, it is a whole new computational model) to be used by humans: it is meant as a platform for AIs to be used by AIs to improve themselves emergently. But using other AIs as middle-men, I have essentially learned to use the Atomspace directly. The AI understands ‘atomese’, and it can translate my intentions into a meaningful procedure on the Atomspace, (this ‘translation’ should be conceived of as logical-semantic operations on hierarchical Kripke frames, not as simply compiling a program.) so I can construct my memory palace or second brain within it.

The great irony is that by turning to the cutting edge of technology, I have returned to the original intent of the memory palace as a Hermetic, occult practice: a practice of encoding one form of knowledge into another, so as to discover esoteric synchronicities between things that would otherwise seem to be entirely unrelated, thereby freeing up unconscious creative forces- the forces of the occult world.

Also, now, the count in the original post’s passage is more around 50 or so different authors, not 36-40.

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Does the entire publication centre on and around, love? or is that just a subset of a broader narrative?

The older versions of publications definitely contain hidden meanings and forbidden insights, that their newer counterparts lost over time… eroded away by a modern, learn-ed, translation.

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British library

Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy, 1628

The huge and encyclopaedic Anatomy of Melancholy was produced by the English clergyman Robert Burton (1577–1640). It explores a dizzying assortment of mental afflictions, including what might now be called depression. Burton considers melancholy to be an ‘inbred malady’ in all of us and admits that he is ‘not a little offended’ by it himself (p. 5).

What’s in The Anatomy of Melancholy?

This is the third edition (1628) of Burton’s increasingly comprehensive text, first published in 1621 and expanded from 1624 to 1651. The work is divided into three sections. The first considers the nature, symptoms and diverse causes of melancholy. These causes range from God to witches and devils, poverty and imprisonment, parents and ‘overmuch study’, ‘desire of revenge’, or ‘overmuch use of hot wines’. The second section discusses cures such as exercise and diet, purging, blood-letting and potions. The third focuses on two particular types – love melancholy and religious melancholy.

Burton’s work is richly varied and at times bewilderingly rambling. It shifts from sad to self-reflexive, from satirical to serious, including an eclectic mix of quotations (many in Latin) from literature, philosophy and science.

The engraved title page

This edition includes, for the first time, an elaborate title page engraved by Christian Le Blon, with portraits of Democritus (the laughing philosopher) and the author (in the persona of Democritus Junior). These are placed alongside symbols of melancholic types including a ‘madman’ who reminds us, ominously, that ‘twixt him and thee, ther’s no difference’.

Read a full online version of a later edition of The Anatomy of Melancholy

Male and female melancholy: Hamlet and Ophelia

Many agree with Claudius’s claim that ‘there’s something in [Hamlet’s] soul’ which seems to be ruled by ‘melancholy’ (3.1.164–65). It was a common, even fashionable malady in Elizabethan England, associated with sadness and abnormal psychology, but also refinement and male intellect.

Yet, as Elaine Showalter has noted, female melancholy was considered to fall into a whole different category, connected not with genius but with sexuality and sexual frustration. Burton gives us an insight into how this might have been viewed in the early modern era. In the section on ‘Maides, Nunnes, and Widows’, he claims that ‘noble virgins’ are particularly affected by ‘vitious vapours which come from menstruous blood’ (p. 193). He reports shocking tales of nuns who rebel against their ‘enforced temperance’ and express their sexuality, leading to ‘frequent’ abortions and ‘murdering infants in their Nunneries’ (p. 196). For him, the ‘surest remedy’ is to see them ‘married to good husbands’ where they can fulfil their ‘desires’, and put out the ‘fire of lust’ (pp. 194–95).

Hamlet expresses the idea that ‘Frailty’ is particularly female (1.2.146). Ophelia, in Acts 4 and 5, is seen by her brother Laertes as a ‘document in madness’ (4.5.178). As in Burton’s Anatomy, her insanity is connected with both virginal innocence and explicit sexuality. Yet, contrary to Burton, Hamlet bitterly suggests that she should go to a nunnery (3.1.120).

Love melancholy: Benedick and Beatrice

Burton reveals a knowledge of Shakespeare, using the playwright’s characters as definitive examples of particular psychological types (as Sigmund Freud would do centuries later). For Burton, lovers who at first ‘cannot fancie or affect each other, but are harsh and ready to disagree’ are ‘like Benedict and Betteris in the comedy’, Much Ado About Nothing. He claims that the best solution is to push the couple into marriage, so that love will grow out of closeness: ‘by this living together in a house, conference, kissing, colling [or embracing], and such like allurements, [they will] begin at last to dote insensibly one upon another’ (p. 443). Burton seems to sidestep the idea that, in Shakespeare’s play, the couple might love each other even before their friends intervene; we might see their witty disagreements as a subtle sign that they already ‘fancie’ each other.

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At my age, I critique, rather than read entire publications… hence my chosen way to reply.

I read in order to write.

I read in order to find things to steal and use in my own writing.

Same reason I listen to and study music,- both in its auditory form, and the written score. (The number of lost composers is the same as that of the lost authors in my original post. I have done the same thing with archives of musical scores as I have done with archives of books. There’s literally tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of written scores and composers for which there is not a single recording anywhere online, or offline, no wikipedia article on who they were, no online record of their having ever existed as far as I can tell. A mountain of music that has never been recorded in auditory form, so there is no way to access it unless you can read sheet music.)

But I am a poet, so to me, “steal” means something different. To steal means to extract the essence of something, its power, and appropriate it to my will, my essence, my power, my aims. It means to rob another soul of something that was seemingly intrinsic to it. It means to make something you thought was yours, mine. Not merely to take its outward form and wear it like a costume or a mask. That, for a poet, is not stealing, but merely fraud, and any man can commit fraud.

Very few can steal. Steal in this deeper sense. And in this deeper sense, let no one tell you stealing is immoral. As Timon soliloquizes to the air:

Nor on the beasts themselves, the birds, and fishes;
You must eat men. Yet thanks I must you con
That you are thieves profess’d, that you work not
In holier shapes: for there is boundless theft
In limited professions. Rascal thieves,
Here’s gold. Go, suck the subtle blood o’ the grape,
Till the high fever seethe your blood to froth,
And so 'scape hanging: trust not the physician;
His antidotes are poison, and he slays
Moe than you rob: take wealth and lives together;
Do villany, do, since you protest to do’t,
Like workmen. I’ll example you with thievery.
The sun’s a thief, and with his great attraction
Robs the vast sea: the moon’s an arrant thief,
And her pale fire she snatches from the sun:
The sea’s a thief, whose liquid surge resolves
The moon into salt tears: the earth’s a thief,
That feeds and breeds by a composture stolen
From general excrement: each thing’s a thief:
The laws, your curb and whip, in their rough power
Have uncheque’d theft. Love not yourselves: away,
Rob one another. There’s more gold. Cut throats:
All that you meet are thieves: to Athens go,
Break open shops; nothing can you steal,
But thieves do lose it: steal no less for this
I give you; and gold confound you howsoe’er! Amen.


I like your definition - to extract the essence of something - that is also what Nature does as nothing within it is ever wasted

…which is why I find your works referential, in their nature… encyclopaedic.

You could compile encyclopaedias of lost publications, poems, and music, and charge a subscription fee to enable access to the lost information.

Only those that held favour with the Palace Courts, as Courtiers, were allowed to shine/be heard/be famous/be published, everyone else remained unpublished… like today’s version of being left Unread.

I don’t think that that ^^^ was worth stealing.

I thought that the poetic came from an intrinsic place… so why the need to steal, if the poetic is borne from self/from within/from experiences/the experiential? same with art… same with music… same with life… living life as a qualia.

Does Burton’s publication centre on and around, love alone? or is there more to that publication than that?

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That was an excerpt from Shakespeare, his rendition of the archetypal misanthrope Timon, who hates everything and all the world, but especially mankind. As to your questioning if Timon’s soliloquy was worth stealing; well, you can read Shakespeare’s Timon, which is highly misanthropic, not to encourage misanthropy in yourself, but to purge it out of yourself via catharsis. It’s worth stealing as an instrument for self-purification.

The desire for the Beautiful, the perception of the poetic, is born within; but its expression comes from without. The creative instinct must accumulate forms discovered in the external world, appropriating them to its own needs. It builds itself a shell, or no, a cocoon, out of these forms, gestating until the day comes where it emerges, metamorphosed, into its own. But if that being emerges too soon, or if it is made to emerge because something destroys its cocoon… before it has accumulated the necessary knowledge and gone through all the stages of its metamorphosis,- then it dies, or worse, descends into madness, into a phantasmagoria where its thoughts are half-made between this world and the next, half angel and half worm; a thing half-transformed, incomplete, a loathsome chimaera of the world of men and that of the inspirant deity. Beyond this fact, there is also a metaphysical element at work in the question of man’s creativity- is it truly man that creates the work, or does he merely discover it in an eternal world of Forms, in which it had already existed, and will exist, forever? The answer is, he discovers it. Have you heard of the Library of Babel? It was a thought-experiment explored by Borges and made real in modern times through the use of computers and algorithms. An algorithm produces every single permutation of the 26 letters of the English alphabet, so that a body of text is produced that contains everything that has ever been written or could be written. Every single one of Shakespeare’s plays. And every single one of Shakespeare’s lost plays. Every work of my own that I ever wrote or ever will write, and every work that I didn’t write, from parallel universes in which maybe I lived longer than I did in this universe, and went on to write something I never reached in this world. The date of your birth and death. Every truth and every lie. The truth about the Kennedy assasination- and every bullshit conspiracy theory about it that can be articulated in language. It’s all there and you can word search through it to find what you’re looking for. But to find something that hasn’t yet been conceived of, to find something without word-searches, you would have to wander through this impossibly long text, through endless halls of gibberish, attempting to find a meaningful sentence. Every meaningful sentence is there but there’s also so much gibberish that it would take you ten trillion years to find anything. I have written some on Borges’ Library of Babel and how it gives us an answer to the source of man’s creativity, and how that relates to questions of consciousness vs. intelligent in man and AIs:

As regards Burton’s anatomy:

Burton’s book analyzes the entire microcosm of man through the lens of melancholy. The second volume of the work focuses on love-melancholy and the melancholy of solitude, while the first volume examines melancholy in a myriad of forms. Melancholy becomes the connective tissue that holds together all knowledge and the entire universe- for Burton and for Burton’s book. But if you cut that connective tissue, the entire thing falls apart and his Anatomy spins away into chaos in all directions. And that is the great problem of all forms of artistic, literary, and musical maximalism- and indeed, I practice a kind of mystical, total maximalism in all of my endeavours, in my philosophy, in my writing itself, and in my musical composition. Maximalist art attempts to reconstruct the entire microcosm of man, it attempts to make the object of art, be it a symphony or a book, become the entire Universe. And so I accumulate everything to myself, from Heyting algebra and neurokinetics, biology, philosophy, every author both known and lost to history, every subject, every single atom of human knowledge,-- I engorge myself on it and incorporate it into something that is… more than a book, but an attempt at reconstructing the universe itself in literary form, in graphemes, in words. And I am doing the same in music. For those that can read sheet music, you would see this exact same thing in musical form; the density of musical quotations, allusions, and references (both to the ‘known’ composers and sources as obscure as those I utilize in my prose) in my own compositions is like that in this text I’ve posted here. Scriabin believed he had come so close to achieving the dream of artistic maximalism, reconstructing the universe in musical tones, that he thought the world would come to an end when his great symphony was finally played live for the first time,- of course that didn’t happen, but the dream lives on.

But then I have multiple styles that I use. So many that I had to invent pseudonyms associated to different works of mine. The encyclopedic style seen here, I associate to ‘Parodites’, while mystical, oracular writing I associate to ‘Hermaedion’, while writing where I speak from myself, without quotations, I simply associate with my real name, Chambers. Most writers have no need to invent pseudonyms because they know and can use only a single style; but one must aspire to Homeric scope, one must be a Proteus, one must contain multitudes, one must be many. Especially in this day and age.

Indeed. There’s that old aphorism that ‘bad artists borrow, great artists steal’,- but this means very little without clarifying that these two grades of artist understand “steal” to mean two different things.

Added a shit ton more, as well as several digressions too, expanded into three levels of annotation; numbers, asterisks, Greek letters. Might need to pull out some obelisks and daggers too:


As much as the seas were given, like the soul, the abyss,- and that to hold image of things [Patrignanius, in the Anacreonte Cristiano: Diede al mare un vasto seno di ricchezze anch ei ripieno. Diede all Uomo alma immortale, forza, e ingegno all opra uguale. Queste sparse doti Iddio tutte accolse, e in una unio: poi le infuse in creatura la piu bella.] in cupidinesque supervolantes sortum,- [Venus in concha Delphino ut videtur imposita natans, cupidinesque supervolantes sortum ei imponunt. Plunging deeper into the sea of passion, drives the beautiful pearl further away; the fate of our desires is beyond desire. α From the poetry of Anton. Tibaldaeus, recovered out of Daphneus Arcuarius Dulodorus in: Meleagrides et Aetolia ex Numismate Kyrieon apud Goltzium; Interspersis Marmoribus quibusdam, de Meleagri Interitu & Apri Calydonii Venatione in Lucem Vindicatae.] so man has his memories,- (the poet’s ‘iuvenibus retia tendentem’) [Gratian Leosthenus Salicetes, in: Elixir Iesuiticum; Apothegmata ad Ventillandum Proximis Diebus Saturnalibus. Ignorantes incantantes, laborantes supplantantes. Foeminis nugas vendentes, iuvenibus retia tendentes.] tempo inclina immortal e doloroso desiri in sé ripresi inganno tutto mondo,- 1 [Fallamonicus Gentilis, in the Canti.] though he bears them with the ‘fetters of the soul’ in animam coelum evolandum ex ditis compedibus implice; [Danielis Tossanus, de Senectute Tractatus Christianus et Consolatorius; P. 91. The fetters of the soul: Animam, quae ad feliciter ex hac vita in coelum evolandum se comparare debebat, ditis compedibus implicet.] memory were but our ‘iuvenes belle simulachra cientem’, for the poetickal muses judge no less the young poet by Fate’s higher criterion, than do those of War the young warrior; [A play on the words belle and belli, beauty and war, out of Triphon Bentius Assisinatensis, in “Ad Pium Quartum”: iuvenes belli simulachra cientes, quos vere possis dicere Marte fatos. The rousing phantastikon of war conducted by our poets, though it raises the hearts of the young to deed, is no judge of the measure of their spirit and the fate of their daemon, as is the god Mars.] memory were but the poet’s infantine sustenance,- ex quantae sapientia in paucis vitae portionem,- [Rhoerus, Orationes. Quantae enim sapientiae … insignem vitae portionem paucis intelligendis deberemus inpendere? Note here the handsome versifications of Augustus Cottaeus Casteldunensis, in: Ad Nympha Vivariam. What magic of poesy can preserve thy youth, or stop memory from loosening the frame of love, that would hold true to thee? Iuvenem extitis egregias unquam minus aptus ad artes; aut ut amor longo tandem evanesceret aevo: nequicquam auxilium magicas tentasse per artes; immemori lethes immiscuit undae, ut sese memori languentem solvat amore, at nil lethaeo misceri profuit amni.] an ambrosia or ‘Platonica ales Cecropii nectaris artifex’ [Oliver. Reilophus, in: Ode Altera ad Apes Platonicas de Livini Meyeri Sapientia: nota Platonico ales Cecropii nectaris artifex, quam feris referunt carmina posteris blandum mel sapientiae instillasse; quae fortes animos celsius evehant, venturisque porens ingenium viri notum temporibus dabunt.] enjoyed in excultus primis ardenter [Unde tuum numerose sciat quis nomen Horati, omnis si prote cura fuisset iners? Si non excultus primis ardenter ab annis, arte fores, nulli notus in orbe fores. Liechtenstain, Aichberg Sollius, & Christophorus Ammanus Abenspergensis, in: Mecaenatem, ex Poemata ad Amicos. The door of the arts shall not open to you, if you have not opened the doors to the world. (Note also, Hieron Leorinis Arconatus, in the Elegiae, for to this same point, the muse ‘bestoweth no worldly favors’: nil simul doceant simulque versus delectent, labor omnis est inanis, est & vanus Apollo, vana Musa; nemo iuvat, nemo vati succurrit egenti, esuriunt Musae, pallet Apollo fame. O mihi transactae redeant si tempora vitae, nomine fors alio notus in orbe forem.) Though we must not discount entirely the words of Johannes Schosserius, in the Poetae Carminum Excudebat Crato, Liber Secundus, where we are told the Muses spurn our games of ignoble, worldly politic; macte tua virtute: piae tibi praemia dudum pierides, famae tempora longa parant; spernere quod musas nobile ducit opus.] with the Soul’s ‘first sabbath’ and wasted on the wind in pace ligare animos rapiunt conamina venti, in vatis ore decus inesse spiritum neget, 2 [Casparis Staphorsius Dordracae, Carmen Epinicium ac Protrepticum et Dei Gratiam Foelici Exitu, qui est Triumphus Pacis: Puniens Peccata, Providentia Divina; Lib. II. Omnia sint operata Deo, sua sabbatha curae; imbibat atque animus persanctum illius amorem; viri concordi pace ligare tentabant animos, rapiunt conamina venti. Secondarily, we have the poet’s truth mocked in 'Veneres agnosco jocosque Sophiae’. See Alessius Lapacinus, in: de Comoedia Jacobi Nardii, cui Titulus Amicitia.] inasmuch as the poet best cherishes and knows their potencies in colti paradiso vergini mill anni, [A ‘captive of Paradise’. Che di venere fu gia son mill anni; ma tal l odore e l colore hanno insiemo, che nel mirargli sembran pur or ora da vergini man colti in paradiso. See Antoni. Leuciscus Grazzinus, in: Egloga IV., Tirsi, Galatea e Filli.] which he must nevertheless leave off,- in musarum hortis vagans dubiis ad spinosa sophorum finibus,- [The poets may cultivate their flowers of doubt and pleasant vagrancies as they like, but the thorn of Sophos is the end of all or ‘nobil pregio di verita cura vita perduto’, in the words of the Florentine poet. (Ptolomaeus Nozzolinus: A che di vita bauer degg’io piu cura, s’ho d’honesta perduto il nobil pregio? What value are any of the other virtues, if they be not brought into the service of the Truth? Note a similar thought in Antonius Tassaraeus Petinellus Nascimbonis, in “Notariorum Excessus, Errores, atque Peccata, Compendium Naturalibus Theologicis”: qui verae virtuti, quae secum lucem suam & decus vehit, humanis opus non esse praeconibus, asserebat: qui solem lucerna ostendere conatus est: ex eo quod maris undas numerare conabatur.) Canisii Iusto Haesdoncanis Symbolum Iuste & Constanter; Poemata et Aenigmata et Totidem Logogriphi, P. 147; Phoenix Redivivus Mechliniensis: e placidis musarum hortis, spinosa sophorum lustra petis. Joannes Gislenus Caimus, Epigramma: Nec minus ut tenebras sparsit sophorum dogmata, sacrosque est visus penetrare recessus. Burmannus, in Iter in Arcadiam; Orat. X: Et tunc forte vagans dubiis spinosa sophorum finibus, ad cari vindicies ora ruit.] if he is to make finally his entire stature, which Plato would account the height of Philosophy,- pravum ingenii poetis alimentum in Circea venenavit philosophiam. [Othonus Heurnius, Barbaricae Philosophiae Antiquitatum. Circea illius virgae qua prima antiquam venenavit philosophiam; in horum scriptis flumen verborum ubique videas, mentis vix guttam, cererbrum enim illis omne in linguam; horumque errores ipsorum discipuli bibunt quas maternum lac, quod pravum ingenii alimentum tanquam in membra iudiciorum transmutatum, nunquam postea deponer possunt.] Though a child of remembrance, under which he beholds the world ab oculos obiecit morti supremus artifex,- [Julianus Grandamicus Odomaranus, in: Orationes Funebres in P. Alph. Contreros; P. 10. Atqui unum illud memoria aeterna dignum nuperrime ab oculos obiecit supremus ille rerum artifex Deus, morte videlicet.] that searches out the depth of Lethean spring, d una ria passione, che a Lete il torce a passeggiare in riva, invitto dalla fanghiglia ad ubbidir ragione, e l alta Mente, ond ogni ben deriva,- [P. Gius. Trevisius, in: Rime Sacro-Morali; Sonetto VIII.] it were still in the hope of futurity alone, an image glimpsed in imago perfecte impleat naturam imaginati, [Montursius.] that the poet discovers his ‘communes solatia Musae’ [Jacobus Carolus Lectius, Elegiae II. Aegris siqua ferunt animis solatia Musae, et luctum illacrymans delinit amicus amici, communes fundere tecum quas me iussit amor lacrymas.] in virtutum incrementum sumant, for virtue is purchased with virtue, strength with strength, wisdom with wisdom, [Et sic in amicitia Dei & familiaritate ac connaturalitate sanctarum virtutum incrementum sumant, & interiorem pulchritudinem videant, & eam apprehendant. Indaginus, in de Perfectione, P. 169.] and these were things hardly pieced together ex σοπηος ηραρε τεμτων, after Hamon’s phrase, [Gr. aphorism by Hammonius, in Zinus Pierfrancesci, de Philosophiae Laudibus Oratio: Quamobrem cum sapientis nomen maximo in pretio honore que esset, effectum est, ut illud sibi quotidie plures vindicarent. Itaque brevi tempore adeo crevit sapientium numerus, ut nihil aliud q sapientes aspiceres, sapiens testamen barba, vestituque tenus ac nomine, cum re ipsa magna ex parte essent insipientissimi.] much less were they bought, with all else, in the play of drums and costumes; [Deo prore vindice facta; man’s Justice announces itself by drums and marches, while God’s prefers to creep. Rabodii Schelii Iselmundanis Salaniae agri praesidis, in: de Jure Imperii editus Theophilus Hogersii Binae Posthumus. Deo vindice digna scelera prore divina facta, homines impios & religionum contemptuores efficere potuerunt; cum omnis natura Deum ostendat, eumque colere omnis ratio jubeat. Tedarnus, Tragedia: Legge spoglia lungi dall altrui vista in loco occulto, e qui fra noi rinova il barbaro costume de Neroni; the law that fears to be seen, parades the most in costumes. Compare here, especially to the former, Titus Martinengus Casinates, in: Theotocodia sive Parthenodia; Opus Eximium, for God hath his design, to crush the pride of the warrior only with war, while the poet were more subtly admonished, and the pride of the tempter crushed with an better eluded temptation, the pride of the philosopher with wisdom, etc., (Omnibus vitae imminere, quae mala impendent suis virginem admonere clamat virginalem spiritum; exserens fortem lacertum contudit mortalium impiorum fastum, & acrem spiritum ferocium.) or similarly, out of Mercurius Nicrinus Bolleus, in: Nova Novorm; Elogia,- corpore & animo castissimam vincentem castitae.] we must, as Proust says, endeavor to keep always a patch of open sky above our life, al celo eruditi Uraniae in poesia salir ali celesti non mortali, [Poetry, that gives wings to powerless knowledge. Carrettus de Corte Monferrato, in Comedia Tempio de Amore: gloria e laude immortali che a poesia son destinati, quei laltra e Urania: che fa con forte ali salir al celo i spiriti eruditi tal che celesti sono, e non mortali.] ever borne in vestra dolor praecordia tangit mortales,- [Mortales, si quando alto vidistis Olympo undique tot rutilas ire redire faces; vestra dolor praecordia tangit, mortales. The stars, whose light from on high stirs all mortal things and touches their sadness beyond the veil of our ‘Olympiaca clauditur in arce bonum’ and ‘Jove de labyrintho le stelle’. (Pamphilus Sassus Motinensus, in: Sonetti, Capituli, Egloge. Non satu se la mia gloria: el mio lume solo: e constuit sempre piu fiero: e fraco a volar alto con le aurate piume. Equinotio sencia le stelle: e sencia i lumi soi dogni spirto immortal & ogni celo far: O Iove io te canai de labyrintho e tutti gli altri dei celest, come omnipotente quel che uoi. Angelus Phagius Sangrinus Cassinensis, in: In Die Palmarum Paraenesis Prima de Triumphali Domini. O vana, o insulsa voluptas, o fallax mundi gloria, vilis honor; tam illustris pompa triumphi o munde immunde est, quae su per astra beet, quod olympiaca clauditur arce bonum?) β Iacobo Iardinius, in: Sacrarum Elegiarum, P. 68. To the same point, we have Caleb Trygophorus, in: Orationum Posthumarum. Nisi temporis obstaret angustia, densa nox coeli splendore nitesceret: angeli ab hominibus segregati cum hominibus congregatentur Deo.] desperate as we might be, to bury ourselves in our hearts, and our hearts in the earth,- [Anton Sylviolus, in: Primo Elegia de Spiritu. Marime terraru qui repleo spiritus orbem: mundaque flammanti corda calore foves huc sidereo placidus delabere celo. The spirit of God reaches through ash, dust, earth and sea, to touch the flaming heart that hath buried itself in the dregs of matter.] our ‘eternim socia cum pace lacesset aethereis’, [Benedictus Theocrenus, in: Ludovica Sidus Pacis. Paciferum in sidus credite versam, morbo absumpta licet sit modo visa mori. Non inuita, eternim socia cum pace lacesset, sedibus aethereis quicquid ubique micat. Trust in the changing stars, which are not meant to be an affront upon thy earthly peace; though death enlarges itself, and consumeth all, it no less consumeth itself, and vanishes in the dregs of its own being.] or as it were no less poetically injuncted of this ‘amor che in sapienza il cor accese’,- [Qui fuor d ira, di speme, e di paura all are delle muse e di Sofia daro culto; che le mie voglie sieno ognora intese a dritto fine, e in me nonm mai s estingua l amor che in sapienza il cor m accese. Ignatius Borzaghius, Odes.] studio facit et vita ut referat sydereo, [Roilletus, in Varia Tragoediam. Conuentus hominum cum placeant diis, quos vitae probitas, iuraque copulent tum multo magis hi qui bene legibus sanctis instituunt, dissimilem ut chorum coelesti penitus non faciant choro. Est gratus superis qui studio facit et vita ut referat sydereo in polo quae coetus celebrat deum.] lest Memory, in Astrea tra ceppi il lor fallir corregge Daemone, [Gelinus Albespinus, (Rollius) * in: Idasio Cillenio Insigne Arcade; Tiresia Demosteniano.] 3 in intercipiat vitium momenta iter quae immortalem Musis, satis in Iovis est musis petas super aethera cursus fallaces,- [‘The vitiations of the moment upon the course of the immortal Muse’. Petrus Scholerius, in: Diogenes Cynicus sive Sermonum Familiarum; p. 28. Paraph. Fors quae immortalem per strenua solidis exercita Musis, non securum virtutis, iter ni intercipiat vitium momenta. O steriles aerum, resipiscitur umquam? Mox crescet vitium specie virtutis; non succedunt animante negotia Baccho. Here we have both another variation of Mantuan’s ‘semel insaniuimus’, (the poor soil and poor seed) and the symbol of the immortal rose choked in ash and earthly dust. Of these vitiations, we have also Aegidius Periandrus Ommae, in Noctuae Speculum; Tylus Saxonici Machinationes Complectens: Nunc iterum mea musa petas super aethera cursus, vestraque fallaces dextra propinet opes. Iam satis est Iovis officium strinxisse tabellae, errantem repetant carmina nostra virum. This were a course vitiated ‘in solis cerni cursu dubias laborat et fatuos mores pectora vulgi’. (Hactenus cursu dubio laboras? Siste iam tandem trepidos tumultus. Iam datur puri radiosa solis lumina cerni. Balduinus Cabillavius Iprenses, in: Phosphorus, ad Mundum Sapphicam. Secondarily, Harius, in: Sicambri Icti Tristium Libri Curante Cannegieterus; Elegia XVIII. O fatuos mores, o delirantia vulgi pectora: discite, de superis in manat spiritus astris vatibus.)] choke the fire of the rose in the beaten ash, even with the bones of our ancestors,-- terreno pulvere flammas mundus, in rebus tumulavit corda caducis, [Petrus Vachetus Belenensis, in Poemata; Bella Sacrae. Secondarily, Justus Deculeonis Cortracensis, in: Orationes, Epistolae et Carmina; P. 324. Natura trahuntque insita naturae semina chara soli. Non eternim solus pater est mihi originis author, principium est Phoebus sideraque ipsa poli. Et patriae genius nostris insevit amorem ossibus, aetati sit comes ille mea: as the most prized of seeds shall not grow in poor soil, expect nothing from the bones of a fallen nation’s ancestors. It were a ‘beaten ash’ known in reddit morti ignes amor, in ignes mens inocta bonis. Paraphr. Josse Rycquius, in: Civis Romani Heroicorum Carminum; Encomium Theatino. Aetnao juvenes intexuit ignes amor ligavit est reddit morti; mens incocta bonis, & pulchro foetus honesto spiritus obscura sprevit palmaria terrae, mens coeli manet arce repostum quod sequeiris nostros fugiunt tua pramia sensus.] terram labuntur semper dubitando senescunt, in puro memori pectore sobrios muneribus,-- [Nessoelius Moravus, in Sacrorum I: qui se tollunt sublimius aequo, ultra quam par est, terram labuntur in imam, atque inter lites semper dubitando senescunt. Iacomotus Barrensis, in Musae Neocomenses; Viginti Quinque Precationes de Variis Rebus Compositae: Maturas segetes agricolae metunt, distendunt que suis horrea messibus: pleno gestit opes fertilior suas cornu fundere copia. Sed tu, sancte Deus, numine qui tuo agros ferre iubes tot bona providus, da puro memori pectore sobrios missis muneribus frui.] that were a ‘nobilitas gravitatis tenax arcanum dolorem’, [The secret grief of noble hearts, endured ‘in renuisti augere naturae bona ornamentis fortunae’, (See Fortunatus Maurocenus Tarvisienses, in: Oratio qua Exceptus Fuit.) or the ‘imaginem ignea sive flammas dese spargenis crucis’ (Piccartus Noricensis, writing on the ‘fateful bane of the higher type’ fit to the study of the harrowing mysteries of the 'arcana imperii’ known to Machiavelli ‘in bona omni iure divino & humano prohibitum aliena’, in: Observationum Historico-Politicarum; Caput VII. See likewise, Laevinius Panagathus Algoetus, (Eucolius et Eutrachelus) in: Pro Religione Christiana. Et quum omni iure divino & humano prohibitum sit, aliena bona eripere & occupare in civitatibus satis exploratum esse quo labore, in fidei & religionis negotiis locum non esse, illique pertinacioribus studiis conscientias. As faith cannot be replaced by mere ethics, the ‘game of kings’ cannot be replaced by mere politics, for in each case, the later possesses only a negative, not a creative, power.) secreted beneath our ‘aperto segno infonde petto Apollo, con pellegrino ingegno il indegna’, ** (See Gregorius Roverbellae, Poemata; Incomincia.) that were thoughts of empire, and Ambition beyond that accompted by our Stars,- in desire ingordo quel fero covi mortale immedicabile veleno,- (Zorastrus Pacuvius, Canzone: Ah qual rissieda desire ingordo in quel verace seno quanto me, che lui a l altrui spese il provi, sallo quel fero covi mortale immedicabile veleno la vostra Ionna, e l Reno, oltre al mio Tebro, ove de l empire brame mira anto il peregrin vestigio infame. Note here the ‘Musa vagum triumphis in astra’ of Altilius Policastris, in: ad Lucium Crassum. Vincere: si fiam notus amore, sat est. Quid feret Aeacides nobis, quid cautus Ulysses? Ista canant alii, quorum stipata triumphis Musa vagum e tumulis nomen in astra ferat.) ex virtutem amplectitur.*** See Christian Rohrenseus, in: De Ethicis, Non Ethicis.] like that known to all who presseth their mortal gamble to its utmost, aperta et piu sublime quanto maggior Amor, [Crescius Crescimbenus, ad sonneto dedicatio Bettinus Tricius: perche da la virtu procede la vera gloria, che se mostra aperta et piu sublime, quanto e maggior l erta, Amor de ley sol nostro cuor possiede.] that were the measure of the world as much as man were the measure of man, and stars borne from stars the measure of some common luminancy, velut stella differt reputant bona nisi animae, qui inaequali virtutu generis claritate illustrantur. [Arevalus, in: Tractatus Theologico-Politicus de Officiis Hominum Circa Jus Naturae Londi. Scanorum; Lib. I. Cap. VII.] ****
[size=85]1. Note the Lullian poet Fallamonicus Gentilis, for whom all the world was deception and illusion (O tristo omai dove t’appoggi, Se quanto il mondo dona è tutto inganno?) due to the fact that the poet’s ‘immortal desires’ are incommensurable with life’s mortal satisfactions,- an illusion that can only be seen through with age and by abandoning the Siren song of memory. “Nel tempo che s’inclina il fiore a l’erba per dar le care spoglie a l’aspra terra; d’un immortal e doloroso affanno e tutti i miei desiri in sé ripresi.” Time, which bends the flower to the grass, hath inclined us to give the spoils of our age to the harsh earth, and our desires are taken back into themselves, that drink up their own potencies.
2. Legerat hunc Samius qua nescio forte libellum Pythagoras veteris grande decus Sophiae. Miratusque sales, virae & documenta feverae, et lepida urbanis scommata carminibus, Plautinas, inquit, Veneres agnosco jocosque; et Latium Thuseo vatis in ore decus; scilicet haud quaquam nostra est sententia mendax, quis namque huic Plauti spiritum inesse neget?
3. From the Idasio Arcade:

" Sparger conviene di sudos le caste,
e trar dal rintralciato laberinto
cio che reca sapere a parte a parte;
a maggior lena era il mio dire accinto;
ma il intesi, che di Pindo regge
il fortunato, e placido ricinto
rispondermi, non scende la mia legge
su i voluntari figli d ignoranza
astrea tra ceppi il lor fallir correge,
ma pur fia pena di sua tracotranza
quanto Daemone scrisse, e in odio sia
del rapitor plebeo la rimembranza,
ne percio seemi lo splendor di pria
l inclito stuol, che sul Caprario alberga
diletta stanza delle Muse, e mia. "

  • Paraphr. La crapula, e il riposo non acquista quella virtu, che ne folleva in parte dal vulgo ignaro non saputa, o vista. Sparger conviene di sudor le carte, e trar dal rintralciato laberinto cio che reca sapere a parte a parte. Non scende la mia legge su i volontari figli d ignoranza, Astrea tra ceppi il lor fallir corregge, ma pur fia pena di sua tracotanza quanto Daemone scrisse, e in odio fia del rapitor plebeo la rimembranza, ne percio scemi lo splendor di pria l inclito stuol, che sul alberga diletta stanza delle muse, e mia. Here we have a combination of the two main themes in this passage, those being the ‘star-wisdom’ (Astrea tra ceppi il lor fallir corregge Daemone: the stars shall correct the mistaken furies of our Daemon. Note this is a perfect doubling of Aegidius’ ‘super aethera cursus Iovis’.) or Olympian tract, and the maturation of poetic genius as it moves from remembrance to futurity: odio plebeo la rimembranza,- remembrance is the thief of time, something for the lesser poet, while we must dedicate ourselves to a still higher Muse.
    ** In full, from Gregorius’ poems, we have: “Pregoti adunque, o pellegrino ingegno, da poiche Apollo nel tuo petto infonde la dolce lira con aperto segno, e poi che gustato hai de le sante onde che non mi facci di tal grazia indegno, che tu mi copri con tue verdi fronde.” Note the several doublings we have in these quotations: the ‘peregrin vestigio infame’ of Zora. (the vestige of infamy in a stateless pilgrim) and the ‘pellegrino ingegno grazia indegno’ of Gregorius. (the pilgrim genius, who must not sit still lest he lose the muses’ grace.) Note also, the doubling of Gregorius’ ‘aperto segno infonde Apollo’ and the 'aperta et piu sublime’ of Cresc.
    *** On the rarity of those who embrace Virtue for its own sake, and avoid the traps of the thirst for fame, the ‘immedicable’ mortal poison. Mortalium credo nullus est, qui ad virtutis atque honestatis famam non adspiret, nisi belluae instar solis deditus corporis gaudiis per luxum atque ignaviam aetatem agere decreverit. Ast quod multi praeclaram magis ambiant famam, quam ipsam virtutem, ideoque saltem honestati studeant, quod sine hujus opinione amplum consequi nomen desperant, res aperta est, omniumque prudentum oculis exposita. Nam major famae sitis est, quam virtutis. Quis enim virtutem amplectitur ipsam, praemia si tollas?
    **** Here we have another passage concerning the pursuit of ‘virtue for its own sake’. One soul differeth little from another, as star from star, and the distinction of men is guaranteed solely by a common light, namely in their practice of virtue for its own sake, and the good of the soul against all other worldly goods. Hinc in Ecclesiastico sapiens ait: gloria hominis ex honore patris. … mortales homines natalibus aequales simus, veluti filii excelsi omnes, adeo, ut unus fons omnium sit: ipsa tamen generosa nobilitas aliis praefert. … Velut stella differt: sic gloriosa ingenuitas hominem discernit ab homine, qui inaequali virtutu & generis claritate illustrantur.

α Sol ocullis mundi est, quia perspicit omnia: cor est, res quia vitali quaslibet igne fovet; very rarely does our life and our will, our intellect and our passion, our imagination and our capacity, our philosophy and our experience, reach their highest point, their conclusion and moment of articulation, at the same time, while one usually drags the other down, [Martinus Baremius, in: Epigrammata Nuptialia Ludolpho Brunoni et Fortunae Myliae Viduae.] and it is but the poverty of most men’s imaginative power ‘in rationis lepidi ludibrium ingeni’, [Antonius Stratius, Epigrammata Ad Philophrastum: Nobilis entis, ais divisio, in ens rationis, ensque rei. O lepidi ludibrium ingenii! Ente entenim sic diviso, percam male, si quid vel rationis habes, vel, Philophraste rei.] that keeps their goodness, following the Tridentine priest Bessaeus Sorbonensis, in Conceptus Theologus, P. 86: sicut parva scintilla contempta magnum saepenumero suscitat incendium; non secus etiam flamma libidivis, cum semel in anima excitari coepit, quamprimum omne robur hominis consumat. The great mind is more predisposed to the dangers of sin, whose immense imaginative faculty can as easily fan the flame of the tiniest coals of passion into soul-embracing ruin, as it can blow out the lingering quick of faith: while that poetical dictate might not hold for the common stock of men, it certainly proves true in regard to artists and philosophers, who bear no half-madnesses and partial furies,- namely, that one loves entirely, or not at all. [Sangenesius Avenionensi, in: Aegidii Menagii Poemata, Editio Octava. One loves entirely or not at all; one is never half in love. Scilicet, assidue qui me non mitis adurit; et gemere assidue, & plangere cogit Amor.]
β Beyond the veil of our ‘Olympiaca clauditur in arce bonum’ and ‘Jove de labyrintho le stelle’,- an ‘inconstant fate’ measured by the stars ‘quanta est vitae, cui Olympias acta’. [A combination of two elegies from the same pen. Scilicet antiquos vix eluctatus Amores; Amor positus iugo in tempora longa, aetatis pati inconstanti fatum. Heliae Putschii Elegia ad Sigismundum Stamlerum & Vita et Mors per Ritershusium. Love, ineluctable mystery even to the ancients, is the only force capable of overcoming Fate. Secondly, of a life measured by the stars: jactatis portum tranquillum monstrat Olympus, exactum quibus hoc est bene curriculum; ut tibi, vix quanta est vitae cui Olympias acta, subducta portus nave petitus erat, tunc abs te claudenda sibi, tibi lumina dextram ordine converso clausit uterque; parens, ore legens exceptam animam morientis ab ore. Deinde & in his remanet terris tibi fama superestes, ac floret, meritis utpote parta bonis. Vix ego credam operis tantum cepisse tot annos: pene putem hanc seclum poscere materiem, quae tibi caesa simul pulchre, affabre que dolata est, prebrevis exiguis temporis articulis.][/size]

A further note that came to my mind as I was re-reading my text, where I connect the two poets Titus Martinengus Casinates and Mercurius Nicrinus Bolleus:

The first quotation here means, in abstract, that chaste beauty inspires a chaste love, and the second, that the chaste beauty tempers body and soul, and inspires chastity in place of mere cupiditas, both of them recalling a later Romantic-era line by Schiller,- one of my favorite of the German poets,- who, in one of his letters, writes: “While the womanly god demands our veneration, the godlike woman kindles our love; but while we allow ourselves to melt in the celestial loveliness, the celestial self-sufficiency holds us back in awe.” Holds us back from sexual lust, from cupiditas.

Here we should also recall Jerome’s pointed aphorism, recounted in Piers Plowman, (Note Bleeth’s essay, “The Image of Paradise in the Merchants Tale, in The Learned and the Lewed: Studies in Chaucer and Medieval Literature”: furthermore, citing Blamires’ “Chaucer, Ethics, and Gender”, we are told that it is unlikely we can proceed from delight in this world to delight in the next.) “De deliciis ad delicias difficile est transire.”, which Langland transforms, through the more earthly, the more human and the all-to-human ‘parfit felicitee’, into a yet more pointed aphorism: one cannot enjoy the same delight twice.

The oaths of love are “locked in a dialectic” that continually transforms cupiditas into asexual reverence, and asexual reverence into cupiditas; thus the poet can neither denigrate himself to stoop below his own nature and physically touch his love-object, or fully give himself to Schopenhauer’s ‘disinterested contemplation’, the angelic love of the immaterial soul, such that the ‘deliciis ad delicias’, the movement from one delight to another, completing the circuit of life and death, earthly matrimony and some final union of souls in the life beyond the Grave, that is, the forlorn abjection following our being thrown out of the Garden of Eden in the wake of our misdeeds at the stoop before the tree of Knowledge,- the impossibility of fulfilling, in short, both mortal and immortal desire, eros and agape,- becomes the bleaker inability to obtain even one of the two ‘delights’ and so fulfill either longing. The poet is irremediably perplect,- trapped in an eternally vacillating state for which love remains encoded by the Virtual register, in the terms of Lacan’s psychoanalytic; his desire as unable to pass into the trauma of the Real, as it is unable to be sublimed and transformed, at the Symbolic register, into the Dantean empyre of poetic forms, into the poet’s guiding genii, into the Muse, into the great Symbol of his artistic labor. That symbol then remains a mere tautology, a conceptual skeleton, a mere frame, a vacuous ambiguation of both the actual woman he loves and his own passion, or, if we are more optimistic,- and agreeable to Schelling’s philosophy of the logos and mythos,- a tautegory, out of whose absolute differentiation from the absolute identity of the Beautiful in itself, in the true discourse of Plato’s Symposium, the poet creates the very agony of forces out of which his conundrum has been eventuated upon the flimsy ‘arctum’ of the Ciceronian poetics of virtue, or the ‘arcto vitae et sanitas colligata bona nexu affinitate amore’. (See Ghiessenius, in: de Jure Sepulturae. Desumentur illae ex loco, quo non alius humanas mentes magis permovere solet; amore, inquam, vitae, hilaritatis, sanitatis. Tria haec humani generis bona sunt, sed tam arcto sibi colligata nexu; tanta inter se juncta affinitate, ut haec sine illo nequaquam consistant; illud sine his vix a morte nisi sola vocodisserat. It is for this reason that Plato makes Eros the son of Penia and Poros, meaning the son of ‘Excess’ and ‘Lack’.) In that case, the task of the poet would be to fully articulate that absolute identity, which holds the summa of his creative vision, (I applaud Dante more than any other poet for undertaking the task of explicitly formulating, articulating, and clarifying his own vision of the Absolute in the cantos. Pound, too, attempted the same, utilizing, as Dante did, the canto as his poetic form of choice, while also affirming what I myself applaud in Dante: the fact that he pursued the task of articulating this ‘absolute identity’, his visio, his Inferno. His Inferno, and with ever greater difficulties, his Paradisio; the ‘Fate of the great soul, whose nobility lifts it beyond death’,- ast ferrea fata magnae animae leti nobilitate levat. Julius Zengravius, in: Simmera Palatina in Pago Hunnorum; Febrim Hippolytia Collibus Ardente. Cunctorum natus fueras, vir magne, favori: mors etiam visa est ipsa favere tibi, parcere non poterat mortali: ast ferrea fata magnae animae leti nobilitate levat. Scilicet haec generosa satis quae ducit ad astra, perque aestum ac ignes Hercule digna via est.) and solve his moral conundrum, which would be the moral conundrum of man par excellence, of sexuality, of mortal congress, communication, love, mortality, intimacy; poetry becomes, as it was for the ancients, a kind of exploration of the divine Pleroma,- a search for God in the mire of flesh, as well as a search for the last quivering pulse of mortal ecstasy’s nerve in some distant echo within the Godhead, which could not be discovered here on earth or found in the countervailing repulsions of Nature’s thousand-colored Isis, who would feign lift her ‘veil of mysteries’ to any would-be poet. For my part, I hold to the later thesis, that of the tautegory. We might further extend Langland’s delicias, that one cannot enjoy the same pleasure twice, with a Latinism of our own invention: Amore inferos deprimit arbitrio, coelum attollit non ponitur arbitra. (Amor can choose to relent at the gates of Hell, affirming her own suffering, but she cannot choose to ascend to the skies, affirming his own Joy.) Note the following source for this novelty in Didacus Celadeus, in his Commentarii. in Esther, P. 131, elaborating on one of Seneca’s sententia: Pulchre Seneca in Proverbiis, Amor arbitrio animi sumitur, non ponitur: iis voluptatum praestigiis Venus allicit, ut vel inuitos sponte trahat. Eheu, sic libido hominem versus inferos deprimit, ut ad coelum se nequeat attoller? In short, as we choose to love, but cannot choose to stop loving, so we are inclined to our ‘inferni’ of passion, the dregs of matter, and, under our own mind’s judgement, consent to our depravities and our miseries, while we cannot consent to our better nature: this, the salvific impulse, is simply accomplished in man, or it is not.

Version 3 of this passage; added a few more scattered references and digressions throughout.

Keep in mind that, in my book(s), there’s hundreds of pages of this. Not hundreds: thousands. Thousands of pages that have the exact same density of references as this passage. This entire text is merely an annotation to an essay that is itself an anotation to a whole thesis on Cusanus and Lull’s ‘diagrammatic metaphysics’ in an appendix to one of the volumes of my main work.

My own philosophy is the first half of project,- a truly original philosophy for the 21st century that touches on everything from the causes of the world wars to a new economic science to a rebirth of Plato; but the second half of this work, of my work, of my life’s work,- of the work that is and became my life,- is the work of others in this unfathomable, inhuman store of knowledge. I fight to preserve this, to preserve them, as ardently as I fight to preserve myself. Lost knowledge. The greatest assemblage of lost knowledge ever put together since the Library of Alexandria. It. Cannot. Be. Lost. What I’ve put together here is priceless. It is the result of a man literally locking himself in a single room and not leaving it for, what has it been, 17 years now,- doing nothing but this: writing, producing my original philosophy, and preserving, bringing out of the depths this lost knowledge. This cannot be lost. What if I suddenly die for some reason? What if a micrometeor flies through my roof and hits me in the head? It’s not just the narcissistic will to preserve my OWN philosophy: my work is doubly this new Alexandria, this preservative effort, this lost knowledge- preserving the work of others. I fight for knowledge itself. For philosophy itself. And the new Alexandria I have put together… It can’t be lost in the event of my untimely demise; if I die for some reason before I finally finish editing and arranging it to publish it. I lie awake through the night listening to my heartbeat talking to myself: you’re alive, you’re alive, … I can’t sleep. I am constantly paranoid. (I see death coming behind the smallest things, everything becomes a symptom of some disease that I convince myself I’m going to die of.) Devastatingly so actually, death is perpetually on my mind. Every second, every day. I think of death. It’s a black cloud interfering with everything I do and it’s become intolerable at this point.

So I am going to give it away. I wanted to have it all organized and editied and finalized, cover to cover, but that is going to take a few more years. So I am just dropping an archive of all my work to-date. I’m going to be including a link to a zip archive that contains all my work, not right now, but I mean in the near future. Two volumes are more or less organized as intended, they are 1,000 pages each, and a third volume contains several hundred pages of new additions to the other two volumes that I have not yet inserted into the mother-text. For each passage in that third volume, I include a note of where the passage is supposed to be inserted into one of the two finished volumes, though those finished volumes still have passages that haven’t been edited yet as well. All in all … it’s thousands of pages and I simply refuse to let one single other human have any influence over my final design, so I am editing it all myself. The archive contains all of my texts as well as a secondary collection of all of my music. If my music is converted to PDF, as raw sheet music, it would fill about 100 five-hundred page volumes. (In there, there’s also a text, a text which is a separate book I am writing on music theory and my original contributions to music theory, namely the metatonality system I use to compose my original music.) A small library’s worth of sheet-music just by itself. For ease, it’s all there in MIDI format for the archive. To read it as sheet music, there’s plenty of programs you can use. I use a program called Notation Composer: just open the MIDI with it and boom, it’s sheet music. This is the program I write music in as well. You have to pay for this software but I went in and cracked the program myself, so I will even include a copy of it in the archive. You don’t even need to install it. Just click the EXE and the program runs with all features and functionality enabled. I don’t want to get in trouble for pirating, for giving this software out in mass, but I don’t think throwing it up for just a few people to download on the forum will draw any attention or be an issue. On second thought I will leave the program out of the archive and you can just PM me for it if you want that, and I’ll give you the link to it.

Archive isn’t ready yet, but I am putting it together and will find a site to host it for download soon. Now, version 3 of this text:


As much as the seas were given, like the soul, the abyss,- and that to hold image of things [Patrignanius, in the Anacreonte Cristiano: Diede al mare un vasto seno di ricchezze anch ei ripieno. Diede all Uomo alma immortale, forza, e ingegno all opra uguale. Queste sparse doti Iddio tutte accolse, e in una unio: poi le infuse in creatura la piu bella.] in cupidinesque supervolantes sortum,- [Venus in concha Delphino ut videtur imposita natans, cupidinesque supervolantes sortum ei imponunt. Plunging deeper into the sea of passion, drives the beautiful pearl further away; the fate of our desires is beyond desire. α From the poetry of Anton. Tibaldaeus, recovered out of Daphneus Arcuarius Dulodorus in: Meleagrides et Aetolia ex Numismate Kyrieon apud Goltzium; Interspersis Marmoribus quibusdam, de Meleagri Interitu & Apri Calydonii Venatione in Lucem Vindicatae.] so man has his memories,- (the poet’s ‘iuvenibus retia tendentem’) [Gratian Leosthenus Salicetes, in: Elixir Iesuiticum; Apothegmata ad Ventillandum Proximis Diebus Saturnalibus. Ignorantes incantantes, laborantes supplantantes. Foeminis nugas vendentes, iuvenibus retia tendentes.] tempo inclina immortal e doloroso desiri in sé ripresi inganno tutto mondo,- 1 [Fallamonicus Gentilis, in the Canti.] though he bears them with the ‘fetters of the soul’ in animam coelum evolandum ex ditis compedibus implice; [Danielis Tossanus, de Senectute Tractatus Christianus et Consolatorius; P. 91. The fetters of the soul: Animam, quae ad feliciter ex hac vita in coelum evolandum se comparare debebat, ditis compedibus implicet.] memory were but our 'iuvenes belle simulachra cientem’, for the poetickal muses judge no less the young poet by Fate’s higher criterion, than do those of War the young warrior; [A play on the words belle and belli, beauty and war, out of Triphon Bentius Assisinatensis, in “Ad Pium Quartum”: iuvenes belli simulachra cientes, quos vere possis dicere Marte fatos. The rousing phantastikon of war conducted by our poets, though it raises the hearts of the young to deed, is no judge of the measure of their spirit and the fate of their daemon, as is the god Mars.] memory were but the poet’s infantine sustenance,- ex quantae sapientia in paucis vitae portionem,- [Rhoerus, Orationes. Quantae enim sapientiae … insignem vitae portionem paucis intelligendis deberemus inpendere? Note here the handsome versifications of Augustus Cottaeus Casteldunensis, in: Ad Nympha Vivariam. What magic of poesy can preserve thy youth, or stop memory from loosening the frame of love, that would hold true to thee? Iuvenem extitis egregias unquam minus aptus ad artes; aut ut amor longo tandem evanesceret aevo: nequicquam auxilium magicas tentasse per artes; immemori lethes immiscuit undae, ut sese memori languentem solvat amore, at nil lethaeo misceri profuit amni.] an ambrosia or ‘Platonica ales Cecropii nectaris artifex’ [Oliver. Reilophus, in: Ode Altera ad Apes Platonicas de Livini Meyeri Sapientia: nota Platonico ales Cecropii nectaris artifex, quam feris referunt carmina posteris blandum mel sapientiae instillasse; quae fortes animos celsius evehant, venturisque porens ingenium viri notum temporibus dabunt.] enjoyed in excultus primis ardenter [Unde tuum numerose sciat quis nomen Horati, omnis si prote cura fuisset iners? Si non excultus primis ardenter ab annis, arte fores, nulli notus in orbe fores. Liechtenstain, Aichberg Sollius, & Christophorus Ammanus Abenspergensis, in: Mecaenatem, ex Poemata ad Amicos. The door of the arts shall not open to you, if you have not opened the doors to the world. (Note also, Hieron Leorinis Arconatus, in the Elegiae, for to this same point, the muse ‘bestoweth no worldly favors’: nil simul doceant simulque versus delectent, labor omnis est inanis, est & vanus Apollo, vana Musa; nemo iuvat, nemo vati succurrit egenti, esuriunt Musae, pallet Apollo fame. O mihi transactae redeant si tempora vitae, nomine fors alio notus in orbe forem.) Though we must not discount entirely the words of Johannes Schosserius, in the Poetae Carminum Excudebat Crato, Liber Secundus, where we are told the Muses spurn our games of ignoble, worldly politic; macte tua virtute: piae tibi praemia dudum pierides, famae tempora longa parant; spernere quod musas nobile ducit opus.] with the Soul’s ‘first sabbath’ and wasted on the wind in pace ligare animos rapiunt conamina venti, in vatis ore decus inesse spiritum neget, 2 [Casparis Staphorsius Dordracae, Carmen Epinicium ac Protrepticum et Dei Gratiam Foelici Exitu, qui est Triumphus Pacis: Puniens Peccata, Providentia Divina; Lib. II. Omnia sint operata Deo, sua sabbatha curae; imbibat atque animus persanctum illius amorem; viri concordi pace ligare tentabant animos, rapiunt conamina venti. Secondarily, we have the poet’s truth mocked in 'Veneres agnosco jocosque Sophiae’. See Alessius Lapacinus, in: de Comoedia Jacobi Nardii, cui Titulus Amicitia.] inasmuch as the poet best cherishes and knows their potencies in colti paradiso vergini mill anni, [A ‘captive of Paradise’. Che di venere fu gia son mill anni; ma tal l odore e l colore hanno insiemo, che nel mirargli sembran pur or ora da vergini man colti in paradiso. See Antoni. Leuciscus Grazzinus, in: Egloga IV., Tirsi, Galatea e Filli.] which he must nevertheless leave off,- in musarum hortis vagans dubiis ad spinosa sophorum finibus,- [The poets may cultivate their flowers of doubt and pleasant vagrancies as they like, but the thorn of Sophos is the end of all or 'nobil pregio di verita cura vita perduto’, in the words of the Florentine poet. (Ptolomaeus Nozzolinus: A che di vita bauer degg’io piu cura, s’ho d’honesta perduto il nobil pregio? What value are any of the other virtues, if they be not brought into the service of the Truth? Note a similar thought in Antonius Tassaraeus Petinellus Nascimbonis, in “Notariorum Excessus, Errores, atque Peccata, Compendium Naturalibus Theologicis”: qui verae virtuti, quae secum lucem suam & decus vehit, humanis opus non esse praeconibus, asserebat: qui solem lucerna ostendere conatus est: ex eo quod maris undas numerare conabatur.) Canisii Iusto Haesdoncanis Symbolum Iuste & Constanter; Poemata et Aenigmata et Totidem Logogriphi, P. 147; Phoenix Redivivus Mechliniensis: e placidis musarum hortis, spinosa sophorum lustra petis. Joannes Gislenus Caimus, Epigramma: Nec minus ut tenebras sparsit sophorum dogmata, sacrosque est visus penetrare recessus. Burmannus, in Iter in Arcadiam; Orat. X: Et tunc forte vagans dubiis spinosa sophorum finibus, ad cari vindicies ora ruit.] if he is to make finally his entire stature, which Plato would account the height of Philosophy,- pravum ingenii poetis alimentum in Circea venenavit philosophiam. [Othonus Heurnius, Barbaricae Philosophiae Antiquitatum. Circea illius virgae qua prima antiquam venenavit philosophiam; in horum scriptis flumen verborum ubique videas, mentis vix guttam, cererbrum enim illis omne in linguam; horumque errores ipsorum discipuli bibunt quas maternum lac, quod pravum ingenii alimentum tanquam in membra iudiciorum transmutatum, nunquam postea deponer possunt.] Though a child of remembrance, under which he beholds the world ab oculos obiecit morti supremus artifex,- [Julianus Grandamicus Odomaranus, in: Orationes Funebres in P. Alph. Contreros; P. 10. Atqui unum illud memoria aeterna dignum nuperrime ab oculos obiecit supremus ille rerum artifex Deus, morte videlicet.] that searches out the depth of Lethean spring, d una ria passione, che a Lete il torce a passeggiare in riva, invitto dalla fanghiglia ad ubbidir ragione, e l alta Mente, ond ogni ben deriva,- [P. Gius. Trevisius, in: Rime Sacro-Morali; Sonetto VIII.] it were still in the hope of futurity alone, an image glimpsed in imago perfecte impleat naturam imaginati, [Montursius.] that the poet discovers his ‘communes solatia Musae’ [Jacobus Carolus Lectius, Elegiae II. Aegris siqua ferunt animis solatia Musae, et luctum illacrymans delinit amicus amici, communes fundere tecum quas me iussit amor lacrymas.] in virtutum incrementum sumant, for virtue is purchased with virtue, strength with strength, wisdom with wisdom, [Et sic in amicitia Dei & familiaritate ac connaturalitate sanctarum virtutum incrementum sumant, & interiorem pulchritudinem videant, & eam apprehendant. Indaginus, in de Perfectione, P. 169.] and these were things hardly pieced together ex σοπηος ηραρε τεμτων, after Hamon’s phrase, [Gr. aphorism by Hammonius, in Zinus Pierfrancesci, de Philosophiae Laudibus Oratio: Quamobrem cum sapientis nomen maximo in pretio honore que esset, effectum est, ut illud sibi quotidie plures vindicarent. Itaque brevi tempore adeo crevit sapientium numerus, ut nihil aliud q sapientes aspiceres, sapiens testamen barba, vestituque tenus ac nomine, cum re ipsa magna ex parte essent insipientissimi.] much less were they bought, with all else, in the play of drums and costumes; [Deo prore vindice facta; man’s Justice announces itself by drums and marches, while God’s prefers to creep. Rabodii Schelii Iselmundanis Salaniae agri praesidis, in: de Jure Imperii editus Theophilus Hogersii Binae Posthumus. Deo vindice digna scelera prore divina facta, homines impios & religionum contemptuores efficere potuerunt; cum omnis natura Deum ostendat, eumque colere omnis ratio jubeat. Tedarnus, Tragedia: Legge spoglia lungi dall altrui vista in loco occulto, e qui fra noi rinova il barbaro costume de Neroni; the law that fears to be seen, parades the most in costumes. Compare here, especially to the former, Titus Martinengus Casinates, in: Theotocodia sive Parthenodia; Opus Eximium, for God hath his design, to throw down all that we might hope to raise to be our 'symbolickal Adonis’ in removent a divinissimis mysteriis, (‘In hieroglyphico vanitatis ex pompam ostentantes Adonidis, ignotam sibi lucem haut anhelantes.’ Alexandrus Sperellus Eugubiensus, 3 in: Paraenesis Teleturgica in qua Thesauri & Paradoxa Moralia a Voltolinus.) to crush the pride of the warrior only with war, while the poet were more subtly admonished, and the pride of the tempter crushed with an better eluded temptation, the pride of the philosopher with wisdom, etc., (Omnibus vitae imminere, quae mala impendent suis virginem admonere clamat virginalem spiritum; exserens fortem lacertum contudit mortalium impiorum fastum, & acrem spiritum ferocium.) or similarly, out of Mercurius Nicrinus Bolleus, in: Nova Novorm; Elogia,- corpore & animo castissimam vincentem castitae.] † we must, as Proust says, endeavor to keep always a patch of open sky above our life, al celo eruditi Uraniae in poesia salir ali celesti non mortali, [Poetry, that gives wings to powerless knowledge. Carrettus de Corte Monferrato, in Comedia Tempio de Amore: gloria e laude immortali che a poesia son destinati, quei laltra e Urania: che fa con forte ali salir al celo i spiriti eruditi tal che celesti sono, e non mortali.] ever borne in vestra dolor praecordia tangit mortales,- [Mortales, si quando alto vidistis Olympo undique tot rutilas ire redire faces; vestra dolor praecordia tangit, mortales. The stars, whose light from on high stirs all mortal things and touches their sadness beyond the veil of our ‘Olympiaca clauditur in arce bonum’ and ‘Jove de labyrintho le stelle’. (Pamphilus Sassus Motinensus, in: Sonetti, Capituli, Egloge. Non satu se la mia gloria: el mio lume solo: e constuit sempre piu fiero: e fraco a volar alto con le aurate piume. Equinotio sencia le stelle: e sencia i lumi soi dogni spirto immortal & ogni celo far: O Iove io te canai de labyrintho e tutti gli altri dei celest, come omnipotente quel che uoi. Angelus Phagius Sangrinus Cassinensis, in: In Die Palmarum Paraenesis Prima de Triumphali Domini. O vana, o insulsa voluptas, o fallax mundi gloria, vilis honor; tam illustris pompa triumphi o munde immunde est, quae su per astra beet, quod olympiaca clauditur arce bonum?) β Iacobo Iardinius, in: Sacrarum Elegiarum, P. 68. To the same point, we have Caleb Trygophorus, in: Orationum Posthumarum. Nisi temporis obstaret angustia, densa nox coeli splendore nitesceret: angeli ab hominibus segregati cum hominibus congregatentur Deo.] desperate as we might be, to bury ourselves in our hearts, and our hearts in the earth,- [Anton Sylviolus, in: Primo Elegia de Spiritu. Marime terraru qui repleo spiritus orbem: mundaque flammanti corda calore foves huc sidereo placidus delabere celo. The spirit of God reaches through ash, dust, earth and sea, to touch the flaming heart that hath buried itself in the dregs of matter.] our ‘eternim socia cum pace lacesset aethereis’, [Benedictus Theocrenus, in: Ludovica Sidus Pacis. Paciferum in sidus credite versam, morbo absumpta licet sit modo visa mori. Non inuita, eternim socia cum pace lacesset, sedibus aethereis quicquid ubique micat. Trust in the changing stars, which are not meant to be an affront upon thy earthly peace; though death enlarges itself, and consumeth all, it no less consumeth itself, and vanishes in the dregs of its own being.] or as it were no less poetically injuncted of this ‘amor che in sapienza il cor accese’,- [Qui fuor d ira, di speme, e di paura all are delle muse e di Sofia daro culto; che le mie voglie sieno ognora intese a dritto fine, e in me nonm mai s estingua l amor che in sapienza il cor m accese. Ignatius Borzaghius, Odes.] studio facit et vita ut referat sydereo, [Roilletus, in Varia Tragoediam. Conuentus hominum cum placeant diis, quos vitae probitas, iuraque copulent tum multo magis hi qui bene legibus sanctis instituunt, dissimilem ut chorum coelesti penitus non faciant choro. Est gratus superis qui studio facit et vita ut referat sydereo in polo quae coetus celebrat deum.] lest Memory, in Astrea tra ceppi il lor fallir corregge Daemone, [Gelinus Albespinus, (Rollius) * in: Idasio Cillenio Insigne Arcade; Tiresia Demosteniano.] 4 in intercipiat vitium momenta iter quae immortalem Musis, satis in Iovis est musis petas super aethera cursus fallaces,- [‘The vitiations of the moment upon the course of the immortal Muse’. Petrus Scholerius, in: Diogenes Cynicus sive Sermonum Familiarum; p. 28. Paraph. Fors quae immortalem per strenua solidis exercita Musis, non securum virtutis, iter ni intercipiat vitium momenta. O steriles aerum, resipiscitur umquam? Mox crescet vitium specie virtutis; non succedunt animante negotia Baccho. Here we have both another variation of Mantuan’s ‘semel insaniuimus’, (the poor soil and poor seed) and the symbol of the immortal rose choked in ash and earthly dust. Of these vitiations, we have also Aegidius Periandrus Ommae, in Noctuae Speculum; Tylus Saxonici Machinationes Complectens: Nunc iterum mea musa petas super aethera cursus, vestraque fallaces dextra propinet opes. Iam satis est Iovis officium strinxisse tabellae, errantem repetant carmina nostra virum. This were a course vitiated ‘in solis cerni cursu dubias laborat et fatuos mores pectora vulgi’. (Hactenus cursu dubio laboras? Siste iam tandem trepidos tumultus. Iam datur puri radiosa solis lumina cerni. Balduinus Cabillavius Iprenses, in: Phosphorus, ad Mundum Sapphicam. Secondarily, Harius, in: Sicambri Icti Tristium Libri Curante Cannegieterus; Elegia XVIII. O fatuos mores, o delirantia vulgi pectora: discite, de superis in manat spiritus astris vatibus.)] choke the fire of the rose in the beaten ash, even with the bones of our ancestors,-- terreno pulvere flammas mundus, in rebus tumulavit corda caducis, [Petrus Vachetus Belenensis, in Poemata; Bella Sacrae. Secondarily, Justus Deculeonis Cortracensis, in: Orationes, Epistolae et Carmina; P. 324. Natura trahuntque insita naturae semina chara soli. Non eternim solus pater est mihi originis author, principium est Phoebus sideraque ipsa poli. Et patriae genius nostris insevit amorem ossibus, aetati sit comes ille mea: as the most prized of seeds shall not grow in poor soil, expect nothing from the bones of a fallen nation’s ancestors. It were a ‘beaten ash’ known in reddit morti ignes amor, in ignes mens inocta bonis. Paraphr. Josse Rycquius, in: Civis Romani Heroicorum Carminum; Encomium Theatino. Aetnao juvenes intexuit ignes amor ligavit est reddit morti; mens incocta bonis, & pulchro foetus honesto spiritus obscura sprevit palmaria terrae, mens coeli manet arce repostum quod sequeiris nostros fugiunt tua pramia sensus.] terram labuntur semper dubitando senescunt, in puro memori pectore sobrios muneribus,-- [Nessoelius Moravus, in Sacrorum I: qui se tollunt sublimius aequo, ultra quam par est, terram labuntur in imam, atque inter lites semper dubitando senescunt. Iacomotus Barrensis, in Musae Neocomenses; Viginti Quinque Precationes de Variis Rebus Compositae: Maturas segetes agricolae metunt, distendunt que suis horrea messibus: pleno gestit opes fertilior suas cornu fundere copia. Sed tu, sancte Deus, numine qui tuo agros ferre iubes tot bona providus, da puro memori pectore sobrios missis muneribus frui.] that were a ‘nobilitas gravitatis tenax arcanum dolorem’, {The secret grief of noble hearts, endured ‘in renuisti augere naturae bona ornamentis fortunae’, (See Fortunatus Maurocenus Tarvisienses, in: Oratio qua Exceptus Fuit.) or the ‘imaginem ignea sive flammas dese spargenis crucis’ [Piccartus Noricensis, writing on the ‘fateful bane of the higher type’ fit to the study of the harrowing mysteries of the 'arcana imperii’ known to Machiavelli ‘in bona omni iure divino & humano prohibitum aliena’, in: Observationum Historico-Politicarum; Caput VII. See likewise, Laevinius Panagathus Algoetus, (Eucolius et Eutrachelus) in: Pro Religione Christiana. Et quum omni iure divino & humano prohibitum sit, aliena bona eripere & occupare in civitatibus satis exploratum esse quo labore, in fidei & religionis negotiis locum non esse, illique pertinacioribus studiis conscientias. As faith cannot be replaced by mere ethics, the ‘game of kings’ cannot be replaced by mere politics,- that is, the study of the ‘machina terrae’ under which Babylon and Rome were crushed with all others, and the Saturnal lead of relentless time which subsumes, through our eras, all hope of human arbitration,- (Andreas Dactius, in: Silvae Octo; cui Titulos Icones Julii Medicei. Ecce autem posita mortalis imagine vultus; sit Babylon, sit Roma licet, sit maxima rerum nedum Trinacriis Acragas non primus in oris ante tuos oculos ingentis machina terrae; et studia et mores quos quovis tempore sumptos arbitrio dispone tuo.) for in each case, the later possesses only a negative, not a creative, power.] secreted beneath our ‘aperto segno infonde petto Apollo, con pellegrino ingegno il indegna’, ** (See Gregorius Roverbellae, Poemata; Incomincia.) that were thoughts of empire, and Ambition beyond that accompted by our Stars,- in desire ingordo quel fero covi mortale immedicabile veleno,- (Zorastrus Pacuvius, Canzone: Ah qual rissieda desire ingordo in quel verace seno quanto me, che lui a l altrui spese il provi, sallo quel fero covi mortale immedicabile veleno la vostra Ionna, e l Reno, oltre al mio Tebro, ove de l empire brame mira anto il peregrin vestigio infame. Note here the ‘Musa vagum triumphis in astra’ of Altilius Policastris, in: ad Lucium Crassum. Vincere: si fiam notus amore, sat est. Quid feret Aeacides nobis, quid cautus Ulysses? Ista canant alii, quorum stipata triumphis Musa vagum e tumulis nomen in astra ferat.) ex virtutem amplectitur.*** See Christian Rohrenseus, in: De Ethicis, Non Ethicis.} like that known to all who presseth their mortal gamble to its utmost, aperta et piu sublime quanto maggior Amor, [Crescius Crescimbenus, ad sonneto dedicatio Bettinus Tricius: perche da la virtu procede la vera gloria, che se mostra aperta et piu sublime, quanto e maggior l erta, Amor de ley sol nostro cuor possiede.] that were the measure of the world as much as man were the measure of man, and stars borne from stars the measure of some common luminancy, velut stella differt reputant bona nisi animae, qui inaequali virtutu generis claritate illustrantur. [Arevalus, in: Tractatus Theologico-Politicus de Officiis Hominum Circa Jus Naturae Londi. Scanorum; Lib. I. Cap. VII.] ****
[size=85]1. Note the Lullian poet Fallamonicus Gentilis, for whom all the world was deception and illusion (O tristo omai dove t’appoggi, Se quanto il mondo dona è tutto inganno?) due to the fact that the poet’s ‘immortal desires’ are incommensurable with life’s mortal satisfactions,- an illusion that can only be seen through with age and by abandoning the Siren song of memory. “Nel tempo che s’inclina il fiore a l’erba per dar le care spoglie a l’aspra terra; d’un immortal e doloroso affanno e tutti i miei desiri in sé ripresi.” Time, which bends the flower to the grass, hath inclined us to give the spoils of our age to the harsh earth, and our desires are taken back into themselves, that drink up their own potencies.
2. Legerat hunc Samius qua nescio forte libellum Pythagoras veteris grande decus Sophiae. Miratusque sales, virae & documenta feverae, et lepida urbanis scommata carminibus, Plautinas, inquit, Veneres agnosco jocosque; et Latium Thuseo vatis in ore decus; scilicet haud quaquam nostra est sententia mendax, quis namque huic Plauti spiritum inesse neget?
3. From the Patadoxa Moralia. Man does not hunger for the light, for the truth, for the soul that he does not know exists, though he possesseth the natural instinct to seek it out: cujus humana imbecillitas capax existit. Quonian autem potior Christianorum pars, ignorantiae caligine velatur, atque peccatorum tenebris; hinc vespertilionum ad instar obscuritatem amant; ignotam sibi lucem haut anhelantes. ’ However, he will venerate that which, in the darkness of ignorance and sin, he hath pronounced the truth: pompam ostentantes, Adonidi litant, hieroglyphico vanitatis; removent a divinissimis mysteriis, in sacro altari repraesentatis, conversuri ad illud nitatis, lasciviaeque idolum.
4. From the Idasio Arcade:

" Sparger conviene di sudos le caste,
e trar dal rintralciato laberinto
cio che reca sapere a parte a parte;
a maggior lena era il mio dire accinto;
ma il intesi, che di Pindo regge
il fortunato, e placido ricinto
rispondermi, non scende la mia legge
su i voluntari figli d ignoranza
astrea tra ceppi il lor fallir correge,
ma pur fia pena di sua tracotranza
quanto Daemone scrisse, e in odio sia
del rapitor plebeo la rimembranza,
ne percio seemi lo splendor di pria
l inclito stuol, che sul Caprario alberga
diletta stanza delle Muse, e mia.
"

  • Paraphr. La crapula, e il riposo non acquista quella virtu, che ne folleva in parte dal vulgo ignaro non saputa, o vista. Sparger conviene di sudor le carte, e trar dal rintralciato laberinto cio che reca sapere a parte a parte. Non scende la mia legge su i volontari figli d ignoranza, Astrea tra ceppi il lor fallir corregge, ma pur fia pena di sua tracotanza quanto Daemone scrisse, e in odio fia del rapitor plebeo la rimembranza, ne percio scemi lo splendor di pria l inclito stuol, che sul alberga diletta stanza delle muse, e mia. Here we have a combination of the two main themes in this passage, those being the ‘star-wisdom’ (Astrea tra ceppi il lor fallir corregge Daemone: the stars shall correct the mistaken furies of our Daemon. Note this is a perfect doubling of Aegidius’ ‘super aethera cursus Iovis’.) or Olympian tract, and the maturation of poetic genius as it moves from remembrance to futurity: odio plebeo la rimembranza,- remembrance is the thief of time, something for the lesser poet, while we must dedicate ourselves to a still higher Muse.
    ** In full, from Gregorius’ poems, we have: “Pregoti adunque, o pellegrino ingegno, da poiche Apollo nel tuo petto infonde la dolce lira con aperto segno, e poi che gustato hai de le sante onde che non mi facci di tal grazia indegno, che tu mi copri con tue verdi fronde.” Note the several doublings we have in these quotations: the ‘peregrin vestigio infame’ of Zora. (the vestige of infamy in a stateless pilgrim) and the ‘pellegrino ingegno grazia indegno’ of Gregorius. (the pilgrim genius, who must not sit still lest he lose the muses’ grace.) Note also, the doubling of Gregorius’ ‘aperto segno infonde Apollo’ and the ‘aperta et piu sublime’ of Cresc.
    *** On the rarity of those who embrace Virtue for its own sake, and avoid the traps of the thirst for fame, the ‘immedicable’ mortal poison. Mortalium credo nullus est, qui ad virtutis atque honestatis famam non adspiret, nisi belluae instar solis deditus corporis gaudiis per luxum atque ignaviam aetatem agere decreverit. Ast quod multi praeclaram magis ambiant famam, quam ipsam virtutem, ideoque saltem honestati studeant, quod sine hujus opinione amplum consequi nomen desperant, res aperta est, omniumque prudentum oculis exposita. Nam major famae sitis est, quam virtutis. Quis enim virtutem amplectitur ipsam, praemia si tollas?
    **** Here we have another passage concerning the pursuit of ‘virtue for its own sake’. One soul differeth little from another, as star from star, and the distinction of men is guaranteed solely by a common light, namely in their practice of virtue for its own sake, and the good of the soul against all other worldly goods. Hinc in Ecclesiastico sapiens ait: gloria hominis ex honore patris. … mortales homines natalibus aequales simus, veluti filii excelsi omnes, adeo, ut unus fons omnium sit: ipsa tamen generosa nobilitas aliis praefert. … Velut stella differt: sic gloriosa ingenuitas hominem discernit ab homine, qui inaequali virtutu & generis claritate illustrantur.

α Sol ocullis mundi est, quia perspicit omnia: cor est, res quia vitali quaslibet igne fovet; very rarely does our life and our will, our intellect and our passion, our imagination and our capacity, our philosophy and our experience, reach their highest point, their conclusion and moment of articulation, at the same time, while one usually drags the other down, [Martinus Baremius, in: Epigrammata Nuptialia Ludolpho Brunoni et Fortunae Myliae Viduae.] and it is but the poverty of most men’s imaginative power ‘in rationis lepidi ludibrium ingeni’, [Antonius Stratius, Epigrammata Ad Philophrastum: Nobilis entis, ais divisio, in ens rationis, ensque rei. O lepidi ludibrium ingenii! Ente entenim sic diviso, percam male, si quid vel rationis habes, vel, Philophraste rei.] that keeps their goodness, following the Tridentine priest Bessaeus Sorbonensis, in Conceptus Theologus, P. 86: sicut parva scintilla contempta magnum saepenumero suscitat incendium; non secus etiam flamma libidivis, cum semel in anima excitari coepit, quamprimum omne robur hominis consumat. The great mind is more predisposed to the dangers of sin, whose immense imaginative faculty can as easily fan the flame of the tiniest coals of passion into soul-embracing ruin, as it can blow out the lingering quick of faith, that were the burden of Amor’s ‘vaga flumina’: [Gervasius Sepinus Salmureus, in the Odes: ad Apollinem, Liber Tertius, P. 196. Quae possint vaga flumina, atque coeli igns fistere, tollere aut amores, aut immittere mollibus medullis, nec distans demus utriusque longe; ambarum mihi nil opis negabit ars; Amore punishes us for indecision above all, both in our contemning her advance and in our tentative accessions; the questioning flame of Amor is a burden, that neither leaves off the sting of earthliness and takes its place in Heaven’s imaginings, nor spurns the Gods and embraces the earth, to plunge the soft marrow and know its object here below. Let me then rush the Paphian cup inspirant: poculum bibesque, quo non expedioris a cathenis iratae Paphiae, Cupidinisque.] while that poetical dictate might not hold true for the common stock of men, it certainly does in regard at least to the artists and philosophers, who bear no half-madnesses and partial furies,- namely, that one loves entirely, or not at all. [Sangenesius Avenionensus, in: Aegidii Menagii Poemata, Editio Octava. One loves entirely or not at all; one is never half in love. Scilicet, assidue qui me non mitis adurit; et gemere assidue, & plangere cogit Amor.]
β Beyond the veil of our ‘Olympiaca clauditur in arce bonum’ and ‘Jove de labyrintho le stelle’,- an ‘inconstant fate’ measured by the stars ‘quanta est vitae, cui Olympias acta’. [A combination of two elegies from the same pen. Scilicet antiquos vix eluctatus Amores; Amor positus iugo in tempora longa, aetatis pati inconstanti fatum. Heliae Putschii Elegia ad Sigismundum Stamlerum & Vita et Mors per Ritershusium. Love, ineluctable mystery even to the ancients, is the only force capable of overcoming Fate. Secondly, of a life measured by the stars: jactatis portum tranquillum monstrat Olympus, exactum quibus hoc est bene curriculum; ut tibi, vix quanta est vitae cui Olympias acta, subducta portus nave petitus erat, tunc abs te claudenda sibi, tibi lumina dextram ordine converso clausit uterque; parens, ore legens exceptam animam morientis ab ore. Deinde & in his remanet terris tibi fama superestes, ac floret, meritis utpote parta bonis. Vix ego credam operis tantum cepisse tot annos: pene putem hanc seclum poscere materiem, quae tibi caesa simul pulchre, affabre que dolata est, prebrevis exiguis temporis articulis.]

† The first quotation here means, in abstract, that chaste beauty inspires a chaste love, and the second, that the chaste beauty tempers body and soul, and inspires chastity in place of mere cupiditas, both of them recalling a later Romantic-era line by Schiller,- one of my favorite of the German poets,- who, in one of his letters, writes: “While the womanly god demands our veneration, the godlike woman kindles our love; but while we allow ourselves to melt in the celestial loveliness, the celestial self-sufficiency holds us back in awe.” Holds us back, that is to say, from sexual lust, from cupiditas.

Here we should also recall Jerome’s pointed aphorism, recounted in Piers Plowman, (Note Bleeth’s essay, “The Image of Paradise in the Merchants Tale, in The Learned and the Lewed: Studies in Chaucer and Medieval Literature”: furthermore, citing Blamires’ “Chaucer, Ethics, and Gender”, we are told that it is unlikely we can proceed from delight in this world to delight in the next.) “De deliciis ad delicias difficile est transire.”, which Langland transforms, through the more earthly, the more human and the all-to-human ‘parfit felicitee’, into a yet more pointed aphorism: one cannot enjoy the same delight twice.

The oaths of love are “locked in a dialectic” that continually transforms cupiditas into asexual reverence, and asexual reverence into cupiditas; thus the poet can neither denigrate himself to stoop below his own nature and physically touch his love-object, or fully give himself to Schopenhauer’s ‘disinterested contemplation’, the angelic love of the immaterial soul, such that the ‘deliciis ad delicias’, the movement from one delight to another, completing the circuit of life and death, earthly matrimony and some final union of souls in the life beyond the Grave, that is, the forlorn abjection following our being thrown out of the Garden of Eden in the wake of our misdeeds at the stoop before the tree of Knowledge,- the impossibility of fulfilling, in short, both mortal and immortal desire, eros and agape,- becomes the bleaker inability to obtain even one of the two ‘delights’ and so fulfill either longing. The poet is irremediably perplect,- trapped in an eternally vacillating state for which love remains encoded by the Virtual register, in the terms of Lacan’s psychoanalytic; his desire as unable to pass into the trauma of the Real, as it is unable to be sublimed and transformed, at the Symbolic register, into the Dantean empyre of poetic forms, into the poet’s guiding genii, into the Muse, into the great Symbol of his artistic labor. That symbol then remains a mere tautology, a conceptual skeleton, a mere frame, a vacuous ambiguation of both the actual woman he loves and his own passion, or, if we are more optimistic,- and agreeable to Schelling’s philosophy of the logos and mythos,- a tautegory, out of whose absolute differentiation from the absolute identity of the Beautiful in itself, in the true discourse of Plato’s Symposium, the poet creates the very agony of forces out of which his conundrum has been eventuated upon the flimsy ‘arctum’ of the Ciceronian poetics of virtue, or the ‘arcto vitae et sanitas colligata bona nexu affinitate amore’. (See Ghiessenius, in: de Jure Sepulturae. Desumentur illae ex loco, quo non alius humanas mentes magis permovere solet; amore, inquam, vitae, hilaritatis, sanitatis. Tria haec humani generis bona sunt, sed tam arcto sibi colligata nexu; tanta inter se juncta affinitate, ut haec sine illo nequaquam consistant; illud sine his vix a morte nisi sola vocodisserat. It is for this reason that Plato makes Eros the son of Penia and Poros, meaning the son of ‘Excess’ and ‘Lack’.) In that case, the task of the poet would be to fully articulate that absolute identity, which holds the summa of his creative vision, (I applaud Dante more than any other poet for undertaking the task of explicitly formulating, articulating, and clarifying his own vision of the Absolute in the cantos. Pound, too, attempted the same, utilizing, as Dante did, the canto as his poetic form of choice, while also affirming what I myself applaud in Dante: the fact that he pursued the task of articulating this ‘absolute identity’, his visio, his Inferno. His Inferno, and with ever greater difficulties, his Paradisio; the ‘Fate of the great soul, whose nobility lifts it beyond death’,- ast ferrea fata magnae animae leti nobilitate levat. Julius Zengravius, in: Simmera Palatina in Pago Hunnorum; Febrim Hippolytia Collibus Ardente. Cunctorum natus fueras, vir magne, favori: mors etiam visa est ipsa favere tibi, parcere non poterat mortali: ast ferrea fata magnae animae leti nobilitate levat. Scilicet haec generosa satis quae ducit ad astra, perque aestum ac ignes Hercule digna via est.) and solve his moral conundrum, which would be the moral conundrum of man par excellence, of sexuality, of mortal congress, communication, love, mortality, intimacy; poetry becomes, as it was for the ancients, a kind of exploration of the divine Pleroma,- a search for God in the mire of flesh, as well as a search for the last quivering pulse of mortal ecstasy’s nerve in some distant echo within the Godhead, which could not be discovered here on earth or found in the countervailing repulsions of Nature’s thousand-colored Isis, who would feign lift her ‘veil of mysteries’ to any would-be poet. For my part, I hold to the later thesis, that of the tautegory. We might further extend Langland’s delicias, that one cannot enjoy the same pleasure twice, with a Latinism of our own invention: Amore inferos deprimit arbitrio, coelum attollit non ponitur arbitra. (Amor can choose to relent at the gates of Hell, affirming her own suffering, but she cannot choose to ascend to the skies, affirming his own Joy.) Note the following source for this novelty in Didacus Celadeus, in his Commentarii. in Esther, P. 131, elaborating on one of Seneca’s sententia: Pulchre Seneca in Proverbiis, Amor arbitrio animi sumitur, non ponitur: iis voluptatum praestigiis Venus allicit, ut vel inuitos sponte trahat. Eheu, sic libido hominem versus inferos deprimit, ut ad coelum se nequeat attoller? In short, as we choose to love, but cannot choose to stop loving, so we are inclined to our ‘inferni’ of passion, the dregs of matter, and, under our own mind’s judgement, consent to our depravities and our miseries, while we cannot consent to our better nature: this, the salvific impulse, is simply accomplished in man, or it is not.[/size]

I see misanthropy (and all things) as a mind-set/a way of thinking, but it seems that it may be more ingrained in others/men…?

Such metamorphoses can indeed not be rushed… the delicate balance of nature still applies to us after-all.

Has current existence been allowing for this metamorphosis of olde? it doesn’t seem so, not with the stagnating and buffering of body and mind, respectively… becoming de-optimised as a result of this non-allowance of self-evolution.

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Melancholia… the progenitor of all creativity? …perhaps.

Being well-read is to be well-rounded… in the educational-sense, that is.

I think that’s up to the writer, to pseudonym up or no… whatever gets One into character, I guess.

I cannot be One thing. So I have no choice but to use pseudonyms.

Many writers have done the same, over the eons… par for the (writer’s) course. :slight_smile:

Btw, I have a recommendation for you… Tissue Salts combination 12… if you haven’t tried them already. Worked on my fatigue and inflammation a treat :smiley: they rebalance the mineral salts in each cell, and so rebalancing the entire body and mind.

No one has ever read The Anatomy of Melancholy!!

:-k

It’s ironic, that the fear of death can become so powerful you actually contemplate suicide. I have thought about hurrying to finish my works, bind them all in leather, save it all in multiple file formats, and then release the files and entrust the leather archival copies to my family, and then just off myself so I can stop thinking about it. I have accumulated an unfathomable amount of work. Nearly 12 volumes of prose/philosophy and more than 100 volumes of music. Part of that text is a record of lost knowledge. The greatest record of lost knowledge ever assembled. Part of it is my own original philosophy. Part of it is unpublished secrets of the great mystery schools; my own historical reconstructions of the Orphic and Eleusinian systems, unpublished secrets of the Kabbalah, etc. I just have to hold on long enough to finish these books. It’s literally driving me insane, and I’m trying my best to maintain. But I’m really starting to stray off the beaten path.

Is it really the fear of the death or something else that’s prompting these thoughts?

" It is your thirst to become sacrifices and gifts yourselves: and therefore have ye the thirst to accumulate all riches in your soul.

Insatiably striveth your soul for treasures and jewels, because your virtue is insatiable in desiring to bestow. "

" Die at the right time: so teacheth Zarathustra.

To be sure, he who never liveth at the right time, how could he ever die at the right time? Would that he might never be born!—Thus do I advise the superfluous ones.

But even the superfluous ones make much ado about their death, and even the hollowest nut wanteth to be cracked.

Every one regardeth dying as a great matter: but as yet death is not a festival. Not yet have people learned to inaugurate the finest festivals.

The consummating death I show unto you, which becometh a stimulus and promise to the living.

His death, dieth the consummating one triumphantly, surrounded by hoping and promising ones.

Thus should one learn to die; and there should be no festival at which such a dying one doth not consecrate the oaths of the living!

Thus to die is best; the next best, however, is to die in battle, and sacrifice a great soul.

But to the fighter equally hateful as to the victor, is your grinning death which stealeth nigh like a thief,—and yet cometh as master.

My death, praise I unto you, the voluntary death, which cometh unto me because I want it.

And when shall I want it?—He that hath a goal and an heir, wanteth death at the right time for the goal and the heir. "

My motto is based on a parable that goes ‘You , he who’se of little faith…’

That i have experienced merely a shadow of, ( doubt) none the less those who have seen no light.

And no it is rarely autosuggestive.

Isaiah 9.2
Matthew 4.6