Diving into a canal in Venice, Lucas remembers diving into the sea at Crete. Lucas is "...half-Greek..." (p. 11) because of mixed, Venetian and Cretan, parentage whereas Mithradates was described as "...only half a Greek..." (see here) because his other "half" remains primitive. Lucas swims past moored gondolas.
Although saints are not gods, it seems that they can occupy a similar place in popular consciousness. Thus:
"O all you saints, [Lucas] protested, why did you have to let this happen?" (ibid.)
(Maybe Christian angels and saints correspond approximately to Classical gods and heroes, with some differences, of course.)
Leaving the canal, Lucas reaches the Sclavonian Bank where a convoy is due to leave for Constantinople. He sees:
"...the twin spires of the Palazzo delle due Torri, near the Doge's palace, and the top of the Campanile." (pp. 12-13)
"All was dim and blue-black, under dying stars." (p. 13)
That phrase, "...dying stars...," evokes much. These stars are merely fading in the dawn. However, stars will die as empires, including the Byzantine Empire and (in Anderson's sf) stellar empires, also die.
That is not the end of the PROLOGUE but it is the end of my breakfast.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I CAN see some, such as Lucas, regarding the saints as their pagan forebears had done the Olympians and other heathen gods. Albeit, this naive view of the saints does not seem to have remained Lucas' view much longer.
Yes, "dying stars" is a very Andersonian simile! And it certainly applied to the waning star of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I am just back from walking around town on other business so there might be another post soon.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Which I will read with interest and probably comment on!
Ad astra! Sean
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