Tuesday 20 October 2020

Constantinople

There Will Be Time, IX, p. 95.

We remember Ys.

From the flat roof of a house on a hill in the middle of Constantinople in 1195, Jack Havig sees:

vast towered walls enclosing the city;
a maze of thoroughfares;
countless dwellings;
soaring church domes;
the grand avenue called the Mese;
flowering countryside beyond the Gate of Charisius;
statues on columns;
monasteries;
museums;
libraries with lost works by Aeschylus and Sappho;
pulsing forums;
the Hippodrome;
the Imperial Palace;
the glittering blue Sea of Marmora;
masts crowding the Golden Horn;
smargadine heights beyond rich suburbs; 
a river of traffic.

He hears a blend of:

wheels;
hoofs;
feet;
talk;
song;
laughter;
sobbing;
cursing;
praying.
 
The breeze carries odors of:
 
sea;
woodsmoke;
food;
animals;
humanity.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

A very Andersonian list, describing the life of a busy and active city.

And I also remember the line about "however raddled her domain was, New Rome was still the queen city of the Mediterranean" (quoting from memory).

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

"However raddled her dominion, New Rome remained the queen of Europe." (p.94)

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Aw, darn and drat! I got the idea and "raddled" right, but the details wrong.

Ad astra! Sean