Previous William Thomas Sherman Info Page postings, quotes, observations, etc.
[Ch. 8] "We who carry about our very soul, our very body, exposed in this world to injury from all, and exhibit patience under that injury; shall we be hurt at the loss of less important things? Far from a servant of Christ be such a defilement as that the patience which has been prepared for greater temptations should forsake him in frivolous ones. If one attempt to provoke you by manual violence, the monition of the Lord is at hand: 'To him,' He says, 'who smites you on the face, turn the other cheek likewise.' [Matthew 5:39] Let outrageousness be wearied out by your patience. Whatever that blow may be, conjoined with pain and contumely, it shall receive a heavier one from the Lord. You wound that outrageous one more by enduring: for he will be beaten by Him for whose sake you endure. If the tongue's bitterness break out in malediction or reproach, look back at the saying, 'When they curse you, rejoice.' The Lord Himself was 'cursed' in the eye of the law; and yet is He the only Blessed One. Let us servants, therefore, follow our Lord closely; and be cursed patiently, that we may be able to be blessed. If I hear with too little equanimity some wanton or wicked word uttered against me, I must of necessity either myself retaliate the bitterness, or else I shall be racked with mute impatience. When, then, on being cursed, I smite (with my tongue,) how shall I be found to have followed the doctrine of the Lord, in which it has been delivered that 'a man is defiled, not by the defilements of vessels, but of the things which are sent forth out of his mouth.' Again, it is said that 'impeachment awaits us for every vain and needless word.' It follows that, from whatever the Lord keeps us, the same He admonishes us to bear patiently from another. I will add (somewhat) touching the pleasure of patience. For every injury, whether inflicted by tongue or hand, when it has lighted upon patience, will be dismissed with the same fate as, some weapon launched against and blunted on a rock of most steadfast hardness. For it will wholly fall then and there with bootless and fruitless labour; and sometimes will recoil and spend its rage on him who sent it out, with retorted impetus. No doubt the reason why any one hurts you is that you may be pained; because the hurter's enjoyment consists in the pain of the hurt. When, then, you have upset his enjoyment by not being pained, he must needs he pained by the loss of his enjoyment. Then you not only go unhurt away, which even alone is enough for you; but gratified, into the bargain, by your adversary's disappointment, and revenged by his pain. This is the utility and the pleasure of patience..."
[Ch. 11] "After these principal material causes of impatience, registered to the best of our ability, why should we wander out of our way among the rest—what are found at home, what abroad? Wide and diffusive is the Evil One's operation, hurling manifold irritations of our spirit, and sometimes trifling ones, sometimes very great. But the trifling ones you may contemn from their very littleness; to the very great ones you may yield in regard of their overpoweringness. Where the injury is less, there is no necessity for impatience; but where the injury is greater, there more necessary is the remedy for the injury—patience. Let us strive, therefore, to endure the inflictions of the Evil One, that the counter-zeal of our equanimity may mock the zeal of the foe. If, however, we ourselves, either by imprudence or else voluntarily, draw upon ourselves anything, let us meet with equal patience what we have to blame ourselves for. Moreover, if we believe that some inflictions are sent on us by the Lord, to whom should we more exhibit patience than to the Lord? Nay, He teaches us to give thanks and rejoice, over and above, at being thought worthy of divine chastisement. 'Whom I love,' says He, 'I chasten.' O blessed servant, on whose amendment the Lord is intent! With whom He deigns to be angry! Whom He does not deceive by dissembling His reproofs! On every side, therefore, we are bound to the duty of exercising patience, from whatever quarter, either by our own errors or else by the snares of the Evil One, we incur the Lord's reproofs. Of that duty great is the reward—namely, happiness. For whom but the patient has the Lord called happy, in saying, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens?' [Matthew 5:3] No one, assuredly, is 'poor in spirit,' except he be humble. Well, who is humble, except he be patient? For no one can abase himself without patience, in the first instance, to bear the act of abasement. 'Blessed,' says He, 'are the weepers and mourners.' [Matthew 5:4] Who, without patience, is tolerant of such unhappinesses? And so to such, 'consolation' and 'laughter' are promised. 'Blessed are the gentle:' [Matthew 5:5] under this term, surely, the impatient cannot possibly be classed. Again, when He marks 'the peacemakers' [Matthew 5:9] with the same title of felicity, and names them 'sons of God,' pray have the impatient any affinity with 'peace?' Even a fool may perceive that. When, however, He says, 'Rejoice and exult, as often as they shall curse and persecute you; for very great is your reward in heaven,' of course it is not to the impatience of exultation that He makes that promise; because no one will 'exult' in adversities unless he have first learned to contemn them; no one will contemn them unless he have learned to practise patience..."
~ Tertullian (c.160-c.220), "On Patience".
"Yes, Giorgio!"
["Luciano Pavarotti Che Faro Senza Euridice 1985"]
["Tartini: Didona abbandonata (1&2/3)" -- violin: Liviu Prunaru, piano: Dana Protopopescu, Recorded in Belgium (De Rode Pomp, october 2005)]
"Glancing back at the long period between the battles of Chalons [451] and Hastings [1066], the observer is most struck by the military helplessness of Europe. Throughout these six centuries it would seem that the West was seldom in sufficient strength to withstand the conqueror. The raids of the Vikings and Magyars which terrorized a continent were sometimes conducted by bands of only a few hundred men. Even the battle of Poitiers [732], the one field that might be considered a test, represents scarcely more than a repulse of a large scale plundering expedition.
"Yet despite the vulnerability, no resolute challenger appeared during those six centuries. The boon was by no means due to chance, for never were foemen more to be dreaded than the Asiatic hordes of the Dark Ages...
"Constantinople, with its strategic location, served as a bulwark between East and West, the link between ancient and modern worlds. Alone and unaided, Constantinople beat off the onslaughts of Slav, Avar, Bulgarian, Persian, Saracen, Russian and Turk, thus permitting Europe to develop its civilization along Western lines.
"As a great warpower, staking its survival on cool skill and intellect, the East-Roman or Byzantine realm has left a record unsurpassed in military history. From the accession of Justinian in 527 until the Turkish invasion of 1071, its generals never suffered a fatal defeat or enjoyed a long respite from strife. And even after disaster finally overtook its forces, the Empire managed to endure many vicissitudes until 1453, when the Turks battered down the walls of Constantinople with cannon.
"...[No] power in military history ever stood off such overwhelming numbers over a period of so many centuries. The soldiers of Byzantium, moreover, must be credited with humanitarian impulses going far beyond any mercies granted by Greece or Rome. But these mitigations were forgotten and the trickery remembered by a school of historians whose verdict has been summed up by Gibbon: 'The vices of Byzantine armies were inherent, their victories accidental.'
"Fortunately the research of later years has brought to light newer authorities studied with less prejudice. Gibbon and Hallam have sometimes been discredited as a result, and the opinion of most presen day miltary historians is expressed in Sir Charles Oman's comment:
"'So far is this sweeping assertion from the truth that ait would be more correct to call their defeats accidental, their successes well-deserved...'"
~ Lynn Montross, Warfare Through the Ages, pp. 104-106.
A Biber encore.
["Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber - Passacaglia" -- in G minor, Maria Grokhotova, Capella Maltese - St.Petersburg]
Note. For those who don't already know, in Euripides' play Pentheus is literally ripped to shreds by "Dionysus'" maenads for taking a stand on behalf of religious liberty.
["The Bacchae (2007)" -- "Alan Cumming and Tony Curran discuss John Tiffany's production of The Bacchae for the Edinburgh International Festival."
He abandoned and betrayed these defenseless and innocent animals in order to accommodate these evil beings perhaps most distinquished of all for their pathological furtiveness and dishonesty.
["Jacobsen-Chopin Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2" -- with Colin Jacobsen on violin]
"HE'S not supposed to have it too good!" (Whaaaaaa!)
Now, championsip, wait a minute here. Just go mind your own business -- and stop torturing and
bothering people!
Do you know what he told me not long ago? He said (or as much inimated or relayed as certain spirit persons do) that they will not stand for too much peace or happiness. This attitude of itself came as no news or surprise. What is amusing, however, is that such as he and his idle associates take for granted that it is necessary to punctually (when not constantly) surveillance others (i.e., both regular and spirit people); as if they, our self-appointed overseers, had nothing else to do with their grand and most upright selves than to live their lives as insufferable and petty busy-bodies! True, there is something to be said for keeping up appearances (i.e., for the sake of true believers already in their mental thralldom); even so it is well to remind him that he has no right acting as if everyone were as stupid and credulous as such.