THE APOTHEOSIS OF A GNAT
“ In the rose-red East, Aurora flung open the purple door of her rose-filled rooms. Driven away by the Morning Star, the stars took to flight, as Phaeton’s glorious sun chariot rose on the horizon. At long last, the day of my triumph had dawned. Gargantuan Idolatry and Ignorance were cast into the darkness, followed by the serpents of Calumny, as I found myself lifted up into the light by seven angels. On either side, the four Continents appeared in all their splendour. Black Africa, seated on her crocodile, an elephant tusk in her hand ; the brightly feathered America on her jaguar ; Asia, decked with fruit and pearls, on her camel, and crowned Europe on her horse, all emptied the Horn of Plenty over me. Mighty wings carried me into an infinite heaven. To the sweet sounds of zephyrs with their shawms, harps and cymbals, I rose through gold-rimmed clouds, surrounded by red-cheeked putti bearing my scepter and golden crown on a carmine cushion. Chronos unveiled the virginal coats of arms of my illustrious forebears. Mars offered me the laurel wreath, Arachne and the seven Liberal Arts paid me homage, Fame proclaimed my glory on het trumpet.
Just as I was about to behold God in all His holy glory, you caught my eye. Oh, winged wrath, vigilant vengeance, how cunningly you found your way through the maze of dark folds in the gossamer curtain surrounding my royal couch, to awaken me from my proud dreams. Half blinded, I guide myself by your unvaried song, to give you thanks for your benefaction. You, who planted my feet on this muddy Earth, I shall raise up to Heaven. Blessed are you, parvulus umoris alumnus, who, sated with my noble blood, have sought repose on the smooth heaven of my bed. Let my silken slipper point the way to your Maker. Farewell. “
Lorenzo Morales, Morosofia (Lepe, 1692), trans. from the Spanish by Liesbeth Wiewel and Erica White.
N*A*O* always quoted Milton : "The mind is its own place, and in it self - Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven."
Is the FAECESbox the triumph of global communication ?
From the point of view of idiocy of course not : we only notice the greatest stupidity.
But from the point of view of intellect it is : the triumph of the human capacity to take courage by means of illusions !
Dante and Virgil entered hell through the gate that wears the inscription "Lasciate ogni speranza" ("Abandon all hope"), but Virgil said : "asciare ogni sospetto." ("Abandon all fear")
Without fear and with hope, hell becomes a fairground attraction !
Milton interpreted Psalm 82 : "They know not nor will understand - In darkness they walk on, - The earth's foundations all are moved - And out of order gone.”
In his "Paradise Lost" Milton writes on "The paradise of fools," where all the hollow men (T.S.Eliot) go : all the naive people, that did nothing wrong and believed in their illusions, that became the air bubbles that carried them to heaven.
But last summer N*A*O* discovered in the Palazzo Barberini in Rome that the illusion of heaven hides the fucking cealing !!
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