The tense of a verb makes an enormous difference to the meaning of a sentence. Thus: Ys is magical; Ys was magical. A woman in Eriu asks Maeloch:
"'Were you ever in Ys?... I hear it was magical. They say the Gods raised it and used to walked its lanes on moonlit nights.'" (p. 77)
Used to: Ys, the legend. That past tense alerts Maeloch:
"'What happen Ys?... How Ys? Yuh know?... I beg, tell. I give gold, silver, fine things.'" (ibid.)
The woman, Aebell, plays dumb but then rides through the night to alert Niall to men from Ys. Thus, Maeloch learns of the deed from the man who did it.
Maeloch concludes:
"'Aye, well may the memory of Ys glimmer away, for the Veil of Brennilis did ever ward her...'" (p. 80)
- but, of course, he curses Niall and only the laws of hospitality prevent immediate bloodshed. This is the book of the consequences.
9 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Consequences and efforts by Gratillonius to begin some kind of rebuilding!
Ad astra! Sean
Note that most of the ethical systems of the day considered revenge a moral -obligation-. It wasn't just permitted, it was -required- of a moral person.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
True, but Judaism and Christianity disagreed with that attitude. In the OT we see statements of principle declaring that vengeance belongs to God alone. And Jewish legislation strove to put limits on how harshly crimes should be punished.
Christ, of course, commanded His disciples to forgive their enemies and those who injured them. Which did not mean ignoring crime. St. Paul said the State carries the sword for punishing evil doers. Which means entrusting the State to keep the peace and punishing crime.
Ad astra! Sean
True: but that meant delegating revenge to the State, essentially. Which only works if the State delivers. Informal systems always exist.
I just watched "Women Talking" on a Zoom meetup.
It is the movie version of this novel, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_Talking_(novel)
The issue of when one should forgive is central to the story.
One important line in the movie is, "sometimes forgiveness is taken as permission".
In the discussion after the movie, one of the participants in the Zoom meetup noted that forgiveness and reconcilliation are too often conflated.
For ones own sake one often needs to put the transgression behind even if one cannot take revenge. Reconcilliation, however must NOT be done unless the wrongdoer acknowledges his wrong & works to repair the harm done to the extent possible.
In authoritarian societies like the religious one in the movie, the less powerful, the women in this case, are expected to forgive the more powerful. This is an atrocious additional crime against the less powerful.
The Christian commandment to forgive is often a tool of oppression.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Jim!
Mr. Stirling: I agree, if we don't want crime and punishment being handled via blood feuds, vendettas, or by weregilds negotiated by the families of the victims and perpetrators of crime, that means delegating vengeance to the State. And, IMO, too often the State, infected by idiotic leftist/woke ideas, is failing to do that basic, elementary job in the US!
Jim: I don't understand or agree with your comment. No matter how often the law might fail women who had been raped (I assume that is what was meant), I don't recall any Christian State requiring victims of rape to reconcile with rapists. So I disagree with your last sentence.
I don't get my history from TV shows or movies. E.g., BRAVE HEART disgusted me because it was crammed with errors and absurdities. So I rejected it with scorn!
Ad astra! Sean
Not a Christian state, but authoritarian sects (not all Christian) insisting that victims of abuse by people farther up the hierarchy shut up about the abuse, or get asked "What did you do to tempt him?"
The Catholic church is just one such organization.
I'm reminded of a historical account by a traveler from New York City in New Orleans in the 1830's.
He emphasizes the odd, exotic features, naturally enough.
One of them is a big fight on the docks -- not that that was anything unusual.
But then spectators started calling "Guards! Guards!"
And then armed men in blue uniforms arrived, broke up the fight, and arrested the perpetrators and hauled them off to the "calaboose" (a New Orleans term originally).
The writer noted this as something exotic, foreign, "European".
Kaor, Jim and Mr. Stirling!
Jim: "Authoritarian sects," not all of them Christian, is still too vague, IMO. Islam comes obviously to mind.
Too true, child sex abuse can be found anywhere, at any time, in any era of history. Churches, public and private school teachers, scouting associations, etc. In some eras, such as the early Roman Empire, Sarah Ruden, in her book PAUL AMONG THE PEOPLE (about St. Paul), wrote of how horrifyingly taken for granted that adult males could sexually abuse boys, such as slaves.
And Poul Anderson wrote a story set in a futuristic alternate world ("Eutopia") where the shocker ending was that sexual abuse of children was "legal." I was so young at the time I first read it that I did not understand that.
Mr. Stirling: And the idea of New Orleans having an organized police force in the 1830's was still so new and strange in the US that even people from New York City thought it strange and "foreign." Too bad so many US cities are close to reverting to having no police forces!
Ad astra! Sean
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