Ysans must respect the prerogatives of different gods. A Mithraist fell resisting the Scots. Gratillonius proposes to bury him on the Point looking toward Britannia from where he came. The opening paragraph of this section describes the scene:
"Sunset cast scarlet and gold over the half of heaven that reached above Ocean. Water glimmered and glowed beneath the cliffs." (p. 296)
The sense of sight. The description continues:
"Sounds of surf came muted." (ibid.)
Hearing.
"A breeze ruffled the grass on Point Vanis. It came from the north, cooling the day's warmth..." (ibid.)
Bodily sensation.
"...bearing a smell of salt and maybe, maybe, of fields of Britannia." (ibid.)
Smell. (Now if only the Mithraists ate or drank at the funeral.)
Six Christian comrades carry and lower the coffin but then march away. Three Mithraists and one companion remain. Gratillonius, holding the grade of Persian, speaks sacred words which would have come better from a Father. Eppilus' soul embarks on a long interplanetary journey to Light and Oneness. Cynan asks to join the rites from now on. He has sensed "'...an old, animal horror...'" (p. 298) that lives inside him and everyone else and wants a God that can keep that from them. This is the protean enemy of Poul Anderson's Psychotechnic History.
9 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
It was not that simple! Gratillonius had to overcome vehement Ysan objections to where and how he wanted to bury Eppilius.
Ad astra! Sean
I know. I focused on some aspects and passed over others.
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, but Eppilius' burial was an early example of the problems Gratillonius would have when what he wanted to do ran into Ysan religious objections.
Ad astra! Sean
Religious sentiments are particularly thorny when they involve questions of "pollution", as the burial did to the Ysans.
People get really, really upset about that sort of thing.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I remember that, from THE KING OF YS! You reminded me of how many Hindus and kosher observant Jews have what seems to me similar beliefs.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: so do a lot of Christians -- things about sexual morality, for example, or profanation of holy places.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I was thinking more of how reasonably orthodox Christians don't believe any foods are "unclean."
And, no matter how un-PC it is to say so, some forms of sexual activity are just plain WRONG.
Catholics take the profaning of their churches very seriously--defiling the Blessed Sacrament or committing a murder pollutes them and necessitates them being reconsecrated before they can be used as churches again.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: actually, in 734 Gregory III condemned consumption of horse-meat by Catholics. His successor Pope Zechariah repeated the condemnation even more emphatically.
The ultimate source seems to have been the way Germanic pagans sacrificed horses to Thor and Odin and then feasted on the meat, but the taboo lasted a long time.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I can understand that prohibition. Horse meat had become too strongly associated with pagan sacrifices.
I'm reminded of how St. Paul, while exhorting early Christians to avoid any part in pagan sacrifices, also told them not to be too scrupulous about meat offered for sale in public markets, even tho some came from those sacrifices. It was permissible to buy what was found in the markets.
Ad astra! Sean
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