I have made it a challenge to myself this year to
read (and in some few cases) re-read the classics of western civilization. So far I’ve read The Iliad and The Odyssey
and I have just begun The Aeneid, and
already I have begun noticing connections between them and to other works of literature (which just means that my reading list continues to expand.)
Here’s something I thought of today.
Here’s something I thought of today.
In The Iliad
when Homer (or the narrator) launches into a 250 line catalog of the many
ships and heroes that set out for Troy:
“But should I seek the multitude to name,
Not if ten
tongues were mine, ten mouths to
speak,
Voice inexhaustible, and heart of brass,
Should I succeed, unless, Olympian maids,
The progeny of aegis-bearing Jove,
Ye should their names
record, who came to Troy.” The Iliad 2:
484 - 492
In The Aneid
during Aeneas’ journey through the underworld the Sibyl describes the various
kinds and types of sinners:
“No, not if I had a hundred tongues and a hundred mouths
and a voice of iron too – I could never capture
all the crimes or run through all the torments,
doom by doom.” The Aeneid 6: 724 – 727
“No, not if I had a hundred tongues and a hundred mouths
and a voice of iron too – I could never capture
all the crimes or run through all the torments,
doom by doom.” The Aeneid 6: 724 – 727
And then I thought of Charles Wesley’s hymn:
O for a thousand tongues to sing
O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace!
If only he would have included a reference to
mouths and some sort of metal (brass / iron) this would have been perfect.
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