Severian as Marcus Aurelius

Matthew Malthouse · 05 Nov 1999, 10:46 · from urth-v0028.mbox · original

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From: Matthew Malthouse <matthew.malthouse at guardian.co.uk>
Subject: Re: (urth) Re: Severian as Marcus Aurelius
Date: Fri, 05 Nov 1999 10:46:26 +0000
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Ron Hale-Evans wrote:

> >Claudius might not have "lead" armies into battle but he did, iirc,
> >command them.... [snip]
> >By the time Severian ascends to the Autarchy I doubt that he's any
> >more "lead" armies into battle than Claudius did.
>=20
> Why the scare quotes? Do you not believe that what they do is worthy of
> being called leading? (Or is it a micro-spelling-flame -- did you think I
> was using the verb in the past tense?)

Oh, nothing so subtle at all.  Just trying to distinguish between
daring-do, gung-ho leading from at the front, once more unto the
breach stuff a la Harry V and the way sensible generals do it.  :)=20
Think Peirson's Puppeteer!

> Assuming the former: My copies of TBoTNS have been in storage across the
> country for about three years, but I broke down and bought _Shadow and
> Claw_ recently, and I'll buy the next two volumes as I get to them. My
> memory of _Citadel_ is therefore somewhat vague, but didn't Sev at one
> point lead a charge on the battlefield? If he didn't lead an army as such,
> at least he led a squadron or a battalion or something. My only point was
> that this was a most un-Claudius-like thing to do, based on my limited
> knowledge of the Claudius books, which came through television rather than
> reading Graves. It fits with what we know of Marcus Aurelius, however.

"I yield to your..." etc etc.=20

> Speaking of Wolfe and Graves, here's a slightly off-topic question: did
> anyone else get the impression that Wolfe was cribbing heavily from _The
> White Goddess_ in _There Are Doors_?

Damn!  I hate it when people say things like this. It invariably
means that within the week I shall be reading one, or both.

Matthew

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