Gratillonius names his and Verania's son Marcus after his own Mithraist father but lets Verania's parents think that the boy is named after the Evangelist. But that means that "Marcus" is a good synthesizing name for the coming together of a former Mithraist with a Christian family.
Gratillonius goes for an evening walk and we expect this to be the occasion for an interesting event or encounter but it turns out to be just an opportunity for reflection and resolution by Gratillonius. His resolutions include the death of Niall.
XVII, 1.
Imperial authorities discount Rufinus' military intelligence of an imminent attack by Niall. Rufinus plans something that will not bode well for Niall. While Gratillonius and Rufinus discuss the problem:
"Winter's rain brawled on the roof and sluiced down window glass." (p. 332)
- but Rufinus asks for:
"'...a ship and a crew in early spring.'" (ibid.)
More indications of seasons and the passage of time. Niall has said that it is now twenty-one years since his major attack on Armorica.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
That mention of window glass interests me. I think, after the Empire fell, glass rapidly fell of use and became rare and precious. Glass might not have started becoming widely used again till the thirteenth century. Something to look up!
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
I checked and glass was more widely used after the Empire fell than I had expected would be the case.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: it's not a complex technology and it doesn't require large-scale organization. Those were the things that survived the fall of the empire. Glass did, though it became (relatively) more expensive.
If the Romans had had wheelbarrows, they wouldn't have gone out of use after the fall.
OTOH, large elements of ceramic technology -did- go out of use.
The Roman Empire used mass production to make high-quality, ordinary pottery -- giant kilns where 30-50,000 molded items were fired at a time. Those showed up even in, eg., impoverished thatched huts just south of Hadrian's Wall.
That technology depended on the Roman Peace and the united market the Empire constituted and the widespread trade in bulk, low-value commodities, and it -did- rapidly fall out of use.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Re glass: what you said fits what I read about it, somewhat to my surprise. Yes, after the Empire fell, glass became relatively more costly, enough so that only the wealthy could afford glass objects.
In modern times some ceramic makers revived Roman style pottery, because many people came to like the Roman designs.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: aesthetically, pottery was more important in Classical civilization than it became later. Glass and various 'vitrified' forms of ceramics became more important in Western Civ. later.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And you reminded me of how the aesthetics of pottery was very important in China. So much so that aficionados talk about and collect the ceramic wares of the Sung, Ming, and Ch'ing dynasties.
Ad astra! Sean
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