Spring Is Almost Here!

Dear Members, Alumni, and Friends of the JSMT:

Spring is (almost) here (we hope)! The peoples of the ancient world looked forward to the arrival of springtime just as much as we do in our technological age. Here are excerpts from our March 2007 newsletter on this very topic for you to enjoy as we eagerly await the arrival of the Vernal Equinox on March 20^th! :)

Snowdaze: The Great Blizzard of 2007

Photo Credit: Dr. Kim Wangen (ACES James Scholar Class of 2009 & College of Vet Med Class of 2013), JSMT President Emerita (2007)

On February 13 and 14, 2007, the Valentine’s Day Blizzard of 2007 dumped over a foot of snow on the Urbana-Champaign campus, and the University of Illinois cancelled classes for the first time since 1979. Subzero wind chills, blowing snow, and ginormous snowdrifts made the two “grownup snow days” memorable for the University of Illinois community. This photo shows the aftermath of the snowstorm on the parking lot at the Illinois Street Residence Halls in Urbana.

Celebrating Springtime with Orphic Poetry

By Rob Chappell, Cursus Honorum’s Editor

The annual cycle of the seasons and its effects on our natural surroundings are recurring themes throughout world literature. The Orphic poets – a guild of ancient Greek philosopher-bards named after their legendary founder, Orpheus – celebrated the changing of the seasons, the wonders of the natural world, and their lofty ideals in poetic chants, several dozen of which were preserved in written form after centuries of oral transmission. In the poetic forms of their prescientific age (ca. 1000-500 BCE), the Orphic poets chose to personify the forces of nature, the celestial orbs, and abstract ideals in order to explain how and why the natural world and the human social order function in the ways that they do.

Here is an example of Orphic poetry to welcome in the springtime – a poem to the seasons (here personified as the daughters of Zeus/Jupiter):

Orphic Hymn #42: “To the Seasons”

(Translated by Thomas Taylor, 1792)

Daughters of Jove and Themis, Seasons bright,

Justice, and blessed peace, and lawful right,

Vernal and grassy, vivid, holy powers,

Whose balmy breath exhales in lovely flowers;

All-colored Seasons, rich increase your care,

Circling forever, flourishing and fair:

Invested with a veil of shining dew,

A flowery veil delightful to the view:

Attending Proserpine, when back from night,

The Fates and Graces lead her up to light;

When in a band harmonious they advance,

And joyful round her form the solemn dance:

With Ceres triumphing, and Jove divine,

Propitious come, and on our incense shine;

Give Earth a blameless store of fruits to bear,

And make a novel mystic’s life your care.

The Young Orpheus by British artist Henry Ryland (1856-1924) shows the legendary Greek bard enchanting the woodland creatures with his mystical melodies. (Image Credit: Public Domain)

“Orpheus” by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Orpheus with his lute made trees

And the mountain tops that freeze

Bow themselves when he did sing:

To his music plants and flowers

Ever sprung; as Sun and showers

There had made a lasting spring.

Everything that heard him play,

Even the billows of the sea,

Hung their heads and then lay by.

In sweet music is such art,

Killing care and grief of heart

Fall asleep, or hearing, die.

Further Reading

·        The extant collection of 86 Orphic Hymns is archived @ http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hoo/index.htm.

·        The Middle English poem Sir Orfeo – a Keltified retelling of the Greek legend of Orpheus – is available (with annotations) @ http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/orfeo.htm.

·        The Derveni Papyrus (composed in Greek during the 4th century BCE and discovered in 1962) contains an Orphic poem and an esoteric commentary based on Orphic philosophy (see http://www.crystalinks.com/derveni_papyrus.html).

Until next time –

Rob :)

Leadership Reflection for February 2014

Every month, I submit a leadership reflection for publication in the Secretariat's monthly newsletter. (The Secretariat, BTW, has nothing to do with the United Nations or with the race horse of the same name. The Secretariat is the administrative professional organization at the University of Illinois, founded in September 1948.) Having served as President of the Secretariat during its Diamond Jubilee Year (7/1/2007-6/30/2008), I have remained active as its Legacy of Leadership Committee Chair.

February Leadership Reflection:

The Wisdom of the Elders

       Contemporary Western culture places a high value on youth and strength, not on age and wisdom. This emphasis is a rather recent innovation; just a few hundred years ago, reaching the silver years was considered to be the crowning achievement of human life. Elders were widely revered and consulted because of their long years of experience and valuable insight into the human condition. In non-Western cultures, the reverence due to elderhood is still practiced every day by billions of people. In honor of African-American History Month in February, let’s take a look at an ancient African sage to see what lessons we can learn from him about leadership and elderhood.

       Ptah-Hotep was an Egyptian sage who flourished around 2400 BCE. He was prime minister (grand vizier) to King Isesi, a Pharaoh of Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty. Ptah-Hotep was renowned for his great learning and wisdom, along with his remarkable longevity (he lived to be 110 years old!). His chief claim to fame, however, is his authorship of the oldest known book in world history, the Maxims of Good Discourse, in which he instructs his son with wise proverbs and common-sense advice so that he can acquire good leadership qualities and achieve success and fulfillment in life.

Ancient Egyptian portrait of Ptah-Hotep, the wise elder statesman. (Image Credit: Public Domain)

       Here are some of the lessons that Ptah-Hotep recorded in his book and that still speak to us today, across a gulf of 44 centuries. (I have slightly modernized the spelling and grammar of this translation from ninety years ago.)

·        B. Here begin the proverbs of fair speech, spoken by the Hereditary Chief, the Holy Father, Beloved of God, the Eldest Son of the King, of his body, the Governor of his City, the Vizier, Ptah-Hotep, when instructing the ignorant in the knowledge of exactness in fair speaking; the glory of him that obeys, the shame of him that transgresses them. He said unto his son:

·        5. If you are a leader, as one directing the conduct of the multitude, endeavor always to be gracious, that your own conduct may be without defect. Great is Truth, appointing a straight path; never has it been overthrown since the reign of Osiris. One that oversteps the laws shall be punished. Overstepping is by the covetous man; but degradations bear off his riches. Never has evil-doing brought its venture safe to port. For he says, “I will obtain by myself for myself,” and says not, “I will obtain because I am allowed.” But the limits of justice are steadfast; it is that which a man repeats from his father.

·        16. If you are a leader, cause that the rules that you have enjoined to be carried out; and do all things as one that remembers the days coming after, when speech avails not. Be not lavish of favors; it leads to servility, producing slackness.

·        17. If you are a leader, be gracious when you hearken unto the speech of a suppliant. Let him not hesitate to deliver himself of that which he has thought to tell you; but be desirous of removing his injury. Let him speak freely, that the thing for which he has come to you may be done. If he hesitates to open his heart, it is said, “Is it because he — the judge – does the wrong that no entreaties are made to him concerning it by those to whom it happens?” But a well taught heart hearkens readily.

·        25. If you are powerful, make yourself to be honored for knowledge and for gentleness. Speak with authority, that is, not as if following injunctions, for he that is humble – when highly placed – falls into errors. Exalt not your heart, that it not be brought low. Be not silent, but beware of interruption and of answering words with heat. Put it far from you; control yourself. The wrathful heart speaks fiery words; it darts out at the man of peace that approaches, stopping his path. One that reckons accounts all the day passes not a happy moment. One that gladdens his heart all the day provides not for his house. The bowman hits the mark, as the steersman reaches land, by diversity of aim. He that obeys his heart shall command.

·        34. Let your face be bright what time you live. That which goes into the storehouse must come out therefrom; and bread is to be shared. He that is grasping in entertainment shall himself have an empty belly; he that causes strife comes himself to sorrow. Take not such a one for your companion. It is a man’s kindly acts that are remembered of him in the years after his life.

·        D. If now you attain your position, the body shall flourish, the King shall be content in all that you do, and you shall gather years of life not fewer than I have passed upon earth. I have gathered even 110 years of life, for the King has bestowed upon me favors more than upon my forefathers; this is because I wrought truth and justice for the King unto my old age. It is finished, from its beginning to its end, even as found in writing.

You can read the complete text of Ptah-Hotep’s Maxims of Good Discourse in Brian Brown’s classic 1923 book, The Wisdom of the Egyptians, @ http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/woe/.

Respectfully Submitted,

Rob Chappell

Chair, Legacy of Leadership Committee -- The Secretariat

Valentine's Day & the Lantern Festival

Dear Members, Alumni, & Friends of the JSMT:

Today is Valentine’s Day, and it also marks the Lantern Festival in the traditional Chinese calendar (the full Moon that occurs two weeks after the Lunar New Year). In honor of these auspicious occasions, I’m presenting a short essay, a poem, and couple of links for you to explore.

The Occitan Culture of Love

By Rob Chappell, CURSUS HONORUM’s Editor

Reprinted from CURSUS HONORUM VII: 3 (October 2006)

       Let’s take a few moments to reflect on where the Western world got its basic ideas about romantic love. An overview of this topic could fill an entire book, but in brief: our Western notions of romantic love really began to take shape in 12th-century Occitania, a once-autonomous region in southern France that included the French Pyrenees and the Riviera.

       The spark that lit the flame of the Occitan “Culture of Love” was its cosmopolitan outlook. Occitania was a multicultural melting pot during the High Middle Ages, and its vibrant society was rather progressive for its time. In 12th-century Occitania, for example, religious tolerance was extended to all Christians (both Catholics and Cathars), Jews, and Muslims; and women were allowed to own property, engage in commerce, enjoy literary activity, and rule sovereign territories on their own. Within this tolerant atmosphere, the arrival of new belief systems (such as Catharism) from Eastern Europe, the importation of sophisticated love poetry from the Arab world, and the recovery of Classical Latin texts on the ancient Roman art of love profoundly impacted all levels of Occitan society: the nobility, the newly emergent middle class, and the peasantry.

       A new breeze was blowing in this open-minded corner of Europe that would forever change the Western outlook on romantic love. Instead of treating women as property that could be carried off or bartered away at will, the “Culture of Love” placed women on an equal par with men. Gentlemen had to practice “courtly manners” to woo the ladies of their choice, and “being courtly” included such things as serenading ladies from beneath their windows and exchanging gifts as tokens of love on a regular basis. To be successful suitors, gentlemen also had to become well versed in the Seven Liberal Arts, undertake heroic deeds of chivalry, and compose love poetry!

       The “Culture of Love” and its lofty romantic ideals quickly spread to royal courts and noble households across Europe. A new generation of love poets – the French troubadours and German Minnesingers – introduced their audiences to the new ideals of courtly love by composing and performing versified stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The chivalrous characters in these popular stories modeled the “art of courtly love” and held forth a new set of ideals for people to emulate.

       The “Culture of Love” has been preserved for us in countless European books and songs from the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Here are some links to online resources about the “Culture of Love” that is still influencing us today, eight centuries after its zenith in Occitania.

·        Dante’s La Vita Nuova: http://www.adkline.freeuk.com/TheNewLife.htm – Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) narrates his own experience of courtly love with Beatrice Portinari in this autobiographical masterpiece, composed in both poetry and prose.

·        Eleanor of Aquitaine: http://www.royalty.nu/Europe/England/Angevin/Eleanor.html – This Occitan duchess (1122-1204) became Queen of England, chief patron of the troubadours, and mother of King Richard the Lionhearted!

·        “The College of ACES is the College of Love!”  – Dean Simmons :)

“The Song of Wandering Aengus” (1899)

By William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

From the Emerald Isle comes this love-quest poem inspired by classical Irish mythology (see http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/oengus.html). Yeats’ poem in turn served as the basis of “Rogue Planet,” the 18^th episode of the 1^st season of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE.

I went out to the hazel wood,

Because a fire was in my head,

And cut and peeled a hazel wand,

And hooked a berry to a thread;

And when white moths were on the wing,

And moth-like stars were flickering out,

I dropped the berry in a stream

And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor

I went to blow the fire a-flame,

But something rustled on the floor,

And someone called me by my name:

It had become a glimmering girl

With apple blossom in her hair

Who called me by my name and ran

And faded through the brightening air.

  

Though I am old with wandering

Through hollow lands and hilly lands,

I will find out where she has gone,

And kiss her lips and take her hands;

And walk among long dappled grass,

And pluck till time and times are done,

The silver apples of the Moon,

The golden apples of the Sun.

Finally, to celebrate the Lantern Festival, I encourage you to follow this link to “The Nightingale” (1844), a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875). It’s the story of an extraordinary friendship between a Chinese Emperor and a talented nightingale – the traditional bird of love:

http://hca.gilead.org.il/nighting.html

Wishing everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day and Lantern Festival! J

Rob