Wednesday 14 June 2017

Prophecy : No Man's Land

I bear a charmed life, which must not yield,

To one of woman born.

Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn

The power of man, for none of woman born

Shall harm Macbeth.

Despair thy charm;

And let the angel whom thou still hast served

Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb

Untimely ripp'd.

If you cross the River with your army,
You Will Destroy a Great Kingdom

Oracular Pronouncement at Delphi to King Croesus

[ and so he did - his own. ]

These were the offerings sent by Croesus to Delphi. To the shrine of Amphiaraus, with whose valour and misfortune he was acquainted, he sent a shield entirely of gold, and a spear, also of solid gold, both head and shaft. They were still existing in my day at Thebes, laid up in the temple of Ismenian Apollo. The messengers who had the charge of conveying these treasures to the shrines, received instructions to ask the oracles whether Croesus should go to war with the Persians and if so, whether he should strengthen himself by the forces of an ally. Accordingly, when they had reached their destinations and presented the gifts, they proceeded to consult the oracles in the following terms:-

"Croesus, of Lydia and other countries, believing that these are the only real oracles in all the world, has sent you such presents as your discoveries deserved, and now inquires of you whether he shall go to war with the Persians, and if so, whether he shall strengthen himself by the forces of a confederate."

Both the oracles agreed in the tenor of their reply, which was in each case a prophecy that if Croesus attacked the Persians, he would destroy a mighty empire, and a recommendation to him to look and see who were the most powerful of the Greeks, and to make alliance with them. At the receipt of these oracular replies Croesus was overjoyed, and feeling sure now that he would destroy the empire of the Persians, he sent once more to Pytho, and presented to the Delphians, the number of whom he had ascertained, two gold staters apiece. In return for this the Delphians granted to Croesus and the Lydians the privilege of precedency in consulting the oracle, exemption from all charges, the most honourable seat at the festivals, and the perpetual right of becoming at pleasure citizens of their town.

After sending these presents to the Delphians, Croesus a third time consulted the oracle, for having once proved its truthfulness, he wished to make constant use of it. The question whereto he now desired an answer was- "Whether his kingdom would be of long duration?" The following was the reply of the Pythoness:- Wait till the time shall come when a mule is monarch of Media; Then, thou delicate Lydian, away to the pebbles of Hermus; Haste, oh! haste thee away, nor blush to behave like a coward.

Of all the answers that had reached him, this pleased him far the best, for it seemed incredible that a mule should ever come to be king of the Medes, and so he concluded that the sovereignty would never depart from himself or his seed after him. Afterwards he turned his thoughts to the alliance which he had been recommended to contract, and sought to ascertain by inquiry which was the most powerful of the Grecian states.

His inquiries pointed out to him two states as pre-eminent above the rest. These were the Lacedaemonians and the Athenians, the former of Doric, the latter of Ionic blood. And indeed these two nations had held from very, early times the most distinguished place in Greece, the being a Pelasgic, the other a Hellenic people, and the one having never quitted its original seats, while the other had been excessively migratory; for during the reign of Deucalion, Phthiotis was the country in which the Hellenes dwelt, but under Dorus, the son of Hellen, they moved to the tract at the base of Ossa and Olympus, which is called Histiaeotis; forced to retire from that region by the Cadmeians, they settled, under the name of Macedni, in the chain of Pindus. Hence they once more removed and came to Dryopis; and from Dryopis having entered the Peloponnese in this way, they became known as Dorians.

"There's something out there waiting for Us - and it ain't No Man."

―Billy Sole

"I already heard you Sing - "

"You kill me? A flunky?! I'm not just... Angel... Kills me! You don't... Angel..."

Steve Trevor:

This is No Man's Land, Diana! It means No Man can cross it, alright?

This battalion has been here for nearly a year and they've barely gained an inch. All right?

Because on the other side there are a bunch of Germans pointing machine guns at every square inch of this place.

This is not something you can cross.

It's not possible.

Princess Diana:

So... what? So we do nothing?

Steve Trevor:

No, we are doing something! We are!

We just... we can't save everyone in this war.

This is not what we came here to do.

Princess Diana

Queen of Heaven

KALI-MA

Goddess of Truth and Righteous Retribution,

Champion of The Meek, The Mild and The Wretched of The Earth

Friend to Animals, Defender of The Innocent, Guardian of the Weak,

Protector of Widows, Orphans and Wronged-Women:

No. But it is what I am going to do.

EOWEN, HORSE-MAIDEN OF ROHAN :

"Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, Lord of Carrion! Leave The Dead in peace!"

WITCH-KING OF AGMAR :

"No living Man may hinder me!"

EOWEN, HORSE-MAIDEN OF ROHAN :

"Do what you will; but I will hinder it, if I may."

WITCH-KING OF AGMAR :

"No Man may kill me!"

EOWEN, HORSE-MAIDEN OF ROHAN :

"I am No Man."

As Frodo and Sam stood and gazed, the rim of light spread all along the line of the Ephel Dúath, and then... a shape, moving at a great speed out of the West,... passed high above them. As it went it sent out a long shrill cry, the voice of a Nazgûl; but... it was a cry of woe..., ill tidings for the Dark Tower....

'What did I tell you? Something's happening!' cried Sam. 'The war's going well, said Shagrat; but Gorbag he wasn't so sure. And he was right there too. Things are looking up, Mr. Frodo.

Haven't you got some hope now?'"

The Return of the King,

LoTR Book 6, Ch 2,

The Land of Shadow

YOUNG SIWARD
Thou liest, abhorred tyrant; with my sword
I'll prove the lie thou speak'st.
They fight and YOUNG SIWARD is slain

MACBETH
Thou wast born of woman
But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn,
Brandish'd by man that's of a woman born.

Exit

Alarums. Enter MACDUFF

MACDUFF
That way the noise is. Tyrant, show thy face!
If thou be'st slain and with no stroke of mine,
My wife and children's ghosts will haunt me still.
I cannot strike at wretched kerns, whose arms
Are hired to bear their staves: either thou, Macbeth,
Or else my sword with an unbatter'd edge
I sheathe again undeeded. There thou shouldst be;
By this great clatter, one of greatest note
Seems bruited. Let me find him, fortune!
And more I beg not.

Exit. Alarums

Enter MALCOLM and SIWARD

SIWARD
This way, my lord; the castle's gently render'd:
The tyrant's people on both sides do fight;
The noble thanes do bravely in the war;
The day almost itself professes yours,
And little is to do.

MALCOLM
We have met with foes
That strike beside us.

SIWARD
Enter, sir, the castle.
Exeunt. Alarums

SCENE VIII. Another part of the field.

Enter MACBETH
MACBETH
Why should I play the Roman fool, and die
On mine own sword? whiles I see lives, the gashes
Do better upon them.

Enter MACDUFF

MACDUFF
Turn, hell-hound, turn!

MACBETH
Of all men else I have avoided thee:
But get thee back; my soul is too much charged
With blood of thine already.

MACDUFF
I have no words:
My voice is in my sword: thou bloodier villain
Than terms can give thee out!

They fight

MACBETH
Thou losest labour:
As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air
With thy keen sword impress as make me bleed:
Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;
I bear a charmed life, which must not yield,
To one of woman born.

MACDUFF
Despair thy charm;
And let the angel whom thou still hast served
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb
Untimely ripp'd.

MACBETH
Accursed be that tongue that tells me so,
For it hath cow'd my better part of man!
And be these juggling fiends no more believed,
That palter with us in a double sense;
That keep the word of promise to our ear,
And break it to our hope. I'll not fight with thee.

MACDUFF
Then yield thee, coward,
And live to be the show and gaze o' the time:
We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
Painted on a pole, and underwrit,
'Here may you see the tyrant.'

MACBETH
I will not yield,
To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet,
And to be baited with the rabble's curse.
Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane,
And thou opposed, being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the last. Before my body
I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff,
And damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!'
Exeunt, fighting. Alarums

Retreat. Flourish. Enter, with drum and colours, MALCOLM, SIWARD, ROSS, the other Thanes, and Soldiers

MALCOLM
I would the friends we miss were safe arrived.
SIWARD
Some must go off: and yet, by these I see,
So great a day as this is cheaply bought.
MALCOLM
Macduff is missing, and your noble son.
ROSS
Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt:
He only lived but till he was a man;
The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd
In the unshrinking station where he fought,
But like a man he died.
SIWARD
Then he is dead?
ROSS
Ay, and brought off the field: your cause of sorrow
Must not be measured by his worth, for then
It hath no end.
SIWARD
Had he his hurts before?
ROSS
Ay, on the front.
SIWARD
Why then, God's soldier be he!
Had I as many sons as I have hairs,
I would not wish them to a fairer death:
And so, his knell is knoll'd.
MALCOLM
He's worth more sorrow,
And that I'll spend for him.
SIWARD
He's worth no more
They say he parted well, and paid his score:
And so, God be with him! Here comes newer comfort.
Re-enter MACDUFF, with MACBETH's head

MACDUFF
Hail, king! for so thou art: behold, where stands
The usurper's cursed head: the time is free:
I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl,
That speak my salutation in their minds;
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine:
Hail, King of Scotland!
ALL
Hail, King of Scotland!
Flourish

MALCOLM
We shall not spend a large expense of time
Before we reckon with your several loves,
And make us even with you. My thanes and kinsmen,
Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
In such an honour named. What's more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time,
As calling home our exiled friends abroad
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny;
Producing forth the cruel ministers
Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen,
Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands
Took off her life; this, and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in measure, time and place:
So, thanks to all at once and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone.

Flourish. Exeunt

Prophets of Our Age : To Play The King

"Remember that awfully nice man who talked about 'The Classless Society'...?

He had to go, of course.

Everything Changes.

A New King - A New Age!

Of Peace and Prosperity and Spiritual Growth, etc. etc...

And I'm Still Here - For My Sins."

Prophets of Our Age : John Byrne

COMIC URBAN LEGEND: Writer/Artist John Byrne has been involved in an inordinate amount of eerie coincidences.

STATUS: True

JB: You don't know about the Byrne Curse, do you?

Chris Claremont and I did a story about a blackout in NYC. The week it came out, there was a blackout in NYC.

We did a story about an earthquake in Japan. The week it came out. . .

Okay, so those are no big deal, as such things happen all the time. But on my own I. . . . . . blew up a Space Shuttle in the second issue of MAN OF STEEL (and hastily redrew it as a "space plane" before it came out.

. . . named an aircraft carrier after a former Canadian Prime Minister (against the tradition of only naming ships after dead folk). He was dead by the time the book came out.

. . . and killed Prince Diana (Wonder Woman) in a book (replete with fake newspaper cover) that shipped week before the Saturday that. . .

If only this power could be harnessed for good! (5/15/2003)

COMIC URBAN LEGEND: Writer/Artist John Byrne has been involved in an inordinate amount of eerie coincidences.

STATUS: True

I almost considered putting a “False” for this one, if only because, upon looking into this bit, I found stuff like:

Byrne is sometimes believed to possess the power to predict events in our world, when he does his comics, and of course these events are predominantly tragedies.

And THAT, of course, is totally bogus, as well, come on. Heck, I would go further to say that I doubt the veracity of “is sometimes believed,” as I don’t think there’s anyone who ACTUALLY believes that.

But anyhow, yes, John Byrne has been involved in an inordinate amount of eerie comic book coincidences.

Fairly early on in his career at Marvel, Byrne drew an issue of Marvel Team-Up with writer Chris Claremont that involved a blackout in New York City.

Soon after the issue was released in 1977 (and months after Byrne had drawn it), New York City had one of its largest blackouts ever.

The next year, when Byrne was on Uncanny X-Men with Claremont, the pair had Japan be struck by an earthquake (courtesy of Mose Magnum).

In 1978, Japan was struck with a number of earthquakes.

(Speaking of Claremont, towards the very end of his run with Byrne on Uncanny X-Men, the pair depicted the dystopian world of 2013 in “Days of Future Past.” One of the characters from that story made it to the present, and in a later issue of Uncanny X-Men (#189), the character included a (in retrospect) chilling “flashback” to the destruction of the World Trade Center.

Soon before Byrne’s first issue of his Superman reboot, Man of Steel, which involves Superman having to save a damaged space-plane, the Challenger space shuttle was destroyed…

Finally, and perhaps most notably, in late August 1997, Wonder Woman #126 came out, reflecting the short-lived death of Wonder Woman, Princess Diana of Themyscira.

That Saturday, the REAL Princess Diana was killed in a car accident.

Some weird stuff, no?

Byrne, himself, wrote in to Scientific American magazine after Michael Shermer [The Squirmer] had written a skeptical look at a different writer’s claims to have predicted the tragedy of September 11, 2001, and stated most of these facts, concluding:

My ability as a prognosticator…would seem assured-provided, of course, we reference only the above, and skip over the hundreds of other comic books I have produced which featured all manner of catastrophes, large and small, which did not come to pass.

Well said, Mr. Byrne.

Tuesday 13 June 2017

Black Stone

p103 XVII. The Lapis Niger and the Grave of Romulus

On the boundary-line between the Forum and the Comitium there lies, at present protected by a wooden roof, a square of black marble slabs fenced in by a wall of white marble. The surface of the black pavement has been injured in several places and patched together, for example with a piece of an inscription, but the patching has been done with great care. Its orientation agrees with that of the Curia of Julius and Diocletian, and it is situated almost exactly in front of the entrance to this Curia. Immediately upon the discovery of this pavement it was brought into connection with a group of monuments, the existence of which in the Comitium is mentioned by writers of the late republic and the early empire.

Fig. 46. Lapis Niger.

"The black stone in the Comitium", says the antiquarian Pompeius Festus (whose work is an abridgment of a larger work byp104Verrius Flaccus, the contemporary of Augustus, "marks an unlucky spot: according to some it was intended to serve as the grave of Romulus, but this intention was not carried out, and in the place of Romulus his foster-father Faustulus was buried; according to others it was the grave of Hostus Hostilius, the father of the thirdp105king Tullus Hostilius". Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who wrote in the time of Augustus, states that "many people think that the stone lion, which is in the noblest place in the Roman Forum, close by the Rostra, was a monument for Faustulus, who was buried on the spot where he fell in battle". The same author repeats in another place the other explanation, namely that "TullusHostilius was buried in the noblest place in the Forum, and received a memorial stone (stele) with an inscription which praised his virtues". Finally the old commentators on Horace remark: "most people say [in another passage Varro is mentioned by name] that Romulus was buried close to [in front of or behind] the Rostra, and that this was the reason that the two lions were placed there, just as they may be seen to‑day guarding graves".

Fig. 47. The upper layer of the Lapis Niger.

Fig. 48. The lower layer of the Lapis Niger.

On the level of the Julian-Augustan pavement we have to be sure instead of a "black stone" a black pavement of marble blocks, and we find no traces of lions as guardians or of a stele with an ancient inscription. However, by digging deeper, there was discovered •about five feet lower a group of monuments of very ancient time, which were covered over in late antiquity and in part purposely destroyed.

In the first place, covered only in part by the black pavement are to be seen two bases of tufa (fig. 48 A B) which seem especially appropriate for two reclining statues of lions. Between the two bases there lies (possibly not in its original position) a single block of stone (C). Behind, the two bases run against a foundation (D) which has not as yet been more closely investigated: the suggestion, which has recently been made, that this foundation represents the speaker's platform of the republican Rostra is impossible on account of the smallness of the dimensions •(5½ ft. × 11½ ft.). This shrine, a 'sacellum', is usually considered identical with the 'grave of Romulus' mentioned by ancient writers; some scholars think that on the single block of stone (C) stood the 'black stone', perhaps as in the case of p107Etruscan graves a conical block of black vulcanicsubstance.

Fig. 49. The 'Sacellum' and the archaic Stele.

Behind the 'sacellum', under the black pavement, stands the mutilated trunk of a round column of tufa (G); further behind in the darkness (the custodian provides a candle) is a rectangular stele (H) covered with inscriptions on all four faces. The writing goes from thep108top down and from the bottom up (vertical boustrophedon): fig. 50 and 51 show the lines of writing horizontal in order that they may be more easily legible:

	1. ← quoiho . . . 2. → sakros es- 3. ← ed sor. . . 4. → iasias 5. 2 recei l. . . 6. → . . .evam 7. ← quos r. . .
Fig. 50. Inscription on the archaic Stele.

	8. ←m kalato- 9. →rem hap. . . 10. ←. . .iod iouxmen- 11. →ta kapia dota v. . . 15. ←m ite ri 14. →quoiha- 13. ←velod nequ. . . 12. →. . .od iovestod 16. ←loiquiod. . .
Fig. 51. Inscription on the archaic Stele.

The letters show greater resemblance to the Greek alphabet than those of any other Latin inscription (it is in this inscription only that R still has the form P): among all the inscriptions preserved on stone it is certainly the oldest, and is not younger than the fifth century B.C. Unfortunately the content is up to the present almost entirely unknown, and inasmuch as the lines are preserved in scarcely half their length, and possibly only in a third, the future promises little for their deciphering. This much however is known, that mention is made of a rex — whether this be the real king of Rome or his shadow-like successor of republican times the rex sacrorum — further of iouxmenta, that is to say wagons and animals to draw them, and of a public servant, kalator. Finally the end of one sentence is still preserved: sakros esed = sacer esto (sit), according to which it is probable that we have before us a lex sacrata: and for that matter in so ancient a time scarcely anything else would have been engraved on stone. The rex (and later the rex sacrorum) had business in the Comitium especially on three days in the year, February 24th, March 24th, and May 24th (see above p6); and it is at least conceivable that the lex had to do with the holy ceremonies to be performed by him, and that the privilege was granted him of appearing with his servant in thep109Comitium in a wagon, although wagons were otherwise forbidden there, and whoever broke this law was delivered over to the deity for punishment. But a genuine restoration of the inscription is impossible.

When the 'sacellum' was excavated the plinths of the bases were found packed in a layer of gravel which had been purposely brought there: in this layer were found numerous dedicatory gifts, small idols of clay, bone, and bronze, pieces of terracotta bas-reliefs, fragments of vases, bones of animal sacrifices etc.; these are all stored at present in the magazzino of the excavations (plan I m). These objects too come mainly from very ancient times (VIII‑VIcenturies B.C.).

It is still a mooted question at what date this old sanctuary was destroyed and at what date it was entirely covered over. Some scholars consider that the first destruction took place as early as the invasion of the Gauls (B.C. 390), and that the final covering over and the laying of the black pavement occurred in the time of Caesar or Augustus; others believe that as late as the time of Varro the lower group was still completely visible, and that the black pavement was laid in the time of the late empire as a memorial for the grave of Romulus which had long since disappeared. The settlement of this and of many other disputed points may be expected from the continuance of the excavations.

Under the right-hand corner of the black pavement is a rectangular well-like structure, made of slabs of tufa, the mouth of which is on a level with the Comitium of Julius Caesar and Augustus; a similar but pentagonal well is found on the right-hand side at the entrance to the excavation. The meaning of these constructions, and of similar ones in front of the Rostra, along the Sacra Via in front of the Basilica Julia and elsewhere, is uncertain. The name 'ritual wells' (pozzi rituali) is unfounded, at p110least for the majority of them; and it seems much more likely that they served some practical purpose (drainage).

See: Festus p177; Dionys. I.87, III.1; Schol. in Horat. epod. 16, 13. 14. — Iscrizione del cippo: Dessau 4913.

Notizie degli scavi, 1899, 151‑169; Comparetti, Iscrizione arcaica del Foro Romano. (Firenze, 1900); Huelsen, R. M. 1902, 22‑31; Beiträge zur alten GeschichteII (1902), 230; Vaglieri 102‑143; Studniczka, Jahreshefte des Oesterr. Instituts VI (1903), 129‑155. VII (1904), 239 sg.; Boni, Atti del Congresso storico, 550‑554; Petersen, Comitium, Rostra, Grab des Romulus(Rom 1904).