336 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
336 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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IS THIS AN UNTAMPERED FILE?
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This ASCII-file version of Imprimis, On Line was
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packaged by Applied Foresight, Inc. (AFI hereafter).
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distributed in an "-AV protected" ZIP file format.
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"AV" is the authenticity verification feature provided
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to registered PKZIP users, which Applied Foresight,
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Inc., is. If you are using the MS-DOS PKUNZIP.EXE
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message "Authentic files Verified! # JAA646 ZIP
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Source: Applied Foresight Inc. (CIS 71510,1042)" when
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you unzip this file then do not trust it's integrity.
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If your version of PKUNZIP is not the PKWARE-authored
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program (for instance, you are running a non-MS-DOS
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version), then this message may not be displayed.
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(Note: only version 1.1 of PKUNZIP will display this
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authentication message -- version 2.04g does not
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Trust only genuine AFI-packaged archives ... anything
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else may be just that: ANYTHING ELSE.
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Imprimis, On Line -- March, 1993
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Imprimis, meaning "in the first place," is a free
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monthly publication of Hillsdale College (circulation
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435,000 worldwide). Hillsdale College is a liberal arts
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institution known for its defense of free market
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principles and Western culture and its nearly 150-year
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refusal to accept federal funds. Imprimis publishes
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lectures by such well-known figures as Ronald Reagan,
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Jeane Kirkpatrick, Tom Wolfe, Charlton Heston, and many
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more. Permission to reprint is hereby granted, provided
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credit is given to Hillsdale College. Copyright 1992.
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For more information on free print subscriptions or
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back issues, call 1-800-437-2268, or 1-517-439-1524,
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ext. 2319.
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---------------------------------------------
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"Modern Values and the Challenge of Myth"
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by Stephen Bertman Classicist,
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University of Windsor
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---------------------------------------------
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Volume 22, Number 3
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Hillsdale College, Hillsdale,
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Michigan 49242
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March 1993
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---------------------------------------------
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Preview: Myth, whether it is the myth of the ancient
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Greeks and Romans or the myth of the Jews and
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Christians, is about truth and universals. It is about
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good and evil, virtue and vice. It is about the shared
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experiences of the human condition -- from pain, fear,
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cruelty, and defeat to joy, heroism, love, and triumph.
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As Stephen Bertman argues, many of the myths we
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have inherited from the past still have the power to
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profoundly affect our ideals and shape our lives. His
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remarks were delivered during Hillsdale College's
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Center for Constructive Alternatives September 1992
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seminar on ancient myth.
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---------------------------------------------
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Aeneas and Ulysses:
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Ancient Heroes for a Modern World
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Eastward across the sea from Greece lay the ancient
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citadel of Troy. Legend tells how a thousand ships once
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sailed there carrying an invading army. Besieged by
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Greek warriors, the fortified city finally fell after a
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decade of war.
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The last battle took place inside the city walls.
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Having penetrated its defenses by guile, Greek
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commandos put the city to the torch. In the final
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struggle many Trojans heroically laid down their lives.
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The casualties would surely have included a Trojan
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prince named Aeneas. But the gods, we are told, kept
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him from throwing his life away in a cause they knew
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was lost. Instead, they urged him to flee, gathering up
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as many of his fellow citizens as he could find and
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commandeering ships for their escape. The city in
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flames, its sanctuaries violated, Aeneas moved through
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the ruins, leading the survivors to the shore.
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The gods promised Aeneas that they would lead him
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to a new homeland, but ten years of searching,
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struggle, and sacrifice lay ahead until it was found.
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Surviving many perils and temptations, Aeneas at last
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led his people to Italy, where they were destined to
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found the nation of Rome.
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At the very time that Aeneas was searching for a
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homeland, another veteran of the Trojan War was also
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sailing the seas. Ulysses, an enemy of Aeneas, was
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trying to get back home to Greece with the Greek
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soldiers he had commanded at Troy. Like the Trojans,
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Ulysses and his men would face countless trials and
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tragedies on their homeward way.
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The goddess Calypso offered to make Ulysses divine
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if only he would stay with her. Likewise, Aeneas was
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tempted to remain forever with Dido, the sensuous queen
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of Carthage. But both heroes felt compelled to continue
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their journeys. Aeneas was fulfilling a vow to found a
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new nation, and Ulysses was returning home to help the
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wife and son he had left behind 20 years ago before,
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loved ones who now desperately needed him. Both heroes
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chose hardship over ease, danger over security and, in
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Ulysses' case, death over immortality.
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From Legend to Literature
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Today we know the ancient stories of Aeneas and Ulysses
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from Vergil's Aeneid. and Homer's Odyssey. Along with
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the Iliad, Homer's epic poem came to serve as the bible
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of classical Greece, and similarly, Vergil's became the
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national epic of Rome. But literary classics are like
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mountains. Because their venerable outlines are so
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familiar, we look upon their presence as benign,
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ignoring the immense seismic pressures primordially
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responsible for their form.
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The Odyssey and the Aeneid, which were legends
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long before they became literature, arose out of
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extended periods of social turmoil. The Odyssey was
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created between the 12th and 9th centuries B.C., during
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the Dark Ages of Greece when political and economic
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chaos followed the Heroic Age. Though this Greek epic
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portrays a world of palaces and feudal splendor, it
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actually depicts a culture that had ceased to exist. To
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a nostalgic audience that ached for order, the Odyssey
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held out the hope of a life restored. You can go home
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again, it argued, if -- like Ulysses -- you exert every
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fiber of muscle and every sinew of mind. Even those who
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know the poem well often fail to realize that more than
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half of the story deals not with maritime adventure but
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with the moral reconstruction of domestic society.
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In like fashion, in the first century B.C., the
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Roman poet Vergil took pre-existing tales and used them
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to compose a sermon to inspire his people. The Romans
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had endured a century of class struggle, revolution,
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and civil war, terminating in the fall of the Republic.
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Through Aeneas' example, Vergil showed his fellow
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citizens that they had a special destiny, one that they
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could fulfill by imitating their heroic ancestor's
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virtues of dedication and self-sacrifice.
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The Power of the Past
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In sailing through the turbulent waters of their time,
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the ancient Greeks and Romans could draw strength not
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only from legend and literature, but from the temporal
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perspectives of their respective cultures. In facing
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the perils of an uncharted future, they were sustained
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by a firm hold on the past.
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The value the Greeks and Romans assigned to the
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past is symbolized by two figures from classical
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mythology. Achievements in the arts, the Greeks
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believed, were inspired by divine powers they called
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Muses (hence the word "music"). Mnemosyne, whose name
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means "memory," was the mother goddess of the Muses and
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the arts. Underlying this relation was the conviction
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that creativity in the arts requires an understanding
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of tradition. In a larger sense, the tree of
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civilization cannot flourish unless its roots draw
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nourishment from the past.
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To the Romans, Janus, for whom the month of
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January is named, was the god of beginnings. Janus was
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one of the most peculiar gods of mythology, for he had
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two faces, one which looked ahead and one which looked
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back, reminding that every new undertaking depends for
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its success on the guidance people can borrow from
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experience.
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To speak of something as a "myth" today implies
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that it never really happened. Yet what we disparage as
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mythology the Greeks and Romans would have called their
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most ancient history, no less valid for the distance
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that separated them from the events their stories
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described. Myths embodied truths that transcended time.
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As such, they deserved special reverence.
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The Burden of Memory
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The practice of referring to the past was easier for
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the ancients than it is for us. First of all, there was
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less past to remember. Events were more comprehensible
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because their numbers had been winnowed by tradition,
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the precious residue preserved in memory and passed on
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orally from generation to generation. The old and the
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wise and the storytellers were the keepers of the
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legacy, and the telling and retelling of treasured
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stories ingrained them in the hearts of the listeners.
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As time has gone on, however, more and more
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factual information has accumulated in the storehouse
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of history. Its sheer bulk makes it difficult to
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distinguish what is worth knowing. The printed page,
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the flypaper of human thought, attracts and adheres to
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itself all the buzzing and expiring minutiae of
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experience. The mass production and collection of books
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after the invention of the printing press radically
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expanded the burden of what can be learned and has made
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the task of learning intimidating. Like the player in a
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perverse version of the child's game, "I Pack My
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Trunk," he whose turn is historically last must
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memorize the most.
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This explains a fundamental truth that few who
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enter the multicultural debate acknowledge: as
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creatures of time, we are all multicultural. And like
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the DNA that is encoded with our biological past, our
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cultural matrix is inscribed with the preferences and
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prejudices of earlier times. We may ignore our ancestry
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if we wish and elect to be ideological orphans, or we
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may search out our parentage. But the latter course is
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not easy. Pushing through the crowded terminal of
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civilization, we will have to hang on not only to our
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own luggage, but to the bulging, clumsy trunks of
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previous ages. No wonder so many students, faced with
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such a daunting task, resort to hiring Cliff, the
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friendly porter, to help carry their load.
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But while Cliff's Notes may help a student pass an
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exam, they can't help a whole civilization pass the
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more challenging test of time. To do that, a people
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must have a deeper, historical insight into their own
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condition.
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Cultural Amnesia
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The 18th century historian Gibbon, the author of The
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Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, lived 13
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centuries after Aeneas' heirs had been vanquished. We
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are only two centuries removed from Gibbon's time, yet
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we have forgotten most of what Gibbon knew. Eight
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centuries separated the classical Greeks from the
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Trojan War, yet they remembered it in profound detail,
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just as the Romans remembered it centuries after.
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Americans, by contrast, know little of what
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happened in their own country only decades ago.
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According to a Gallup Poll of college seniors sponsored
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by the National Endowment for the Humanities in the
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late 1980s, 58 percent didn't know who was president
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when the Korean War began, 42 percent couldn't place
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the Civil War in the right half century, and 24 percent
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thought Columbus landed in America in the 1500s. If
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even recent history blurs in the memory, there must be
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other factors apart from the passage of time that
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explain our gross and progressive cultural amnesia.
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One such factor was the industrial revolution,
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which, by rapidly gratifying material desires, led to
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an increasing preoccupation with the present. A second
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factor has been the electronic revolution, which has
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placed an even greater emphasis upon immediacy.
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Television is the best example of this phenomenon. It
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exists from moment to moment. Its instant images appear
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and disappear with the speed of light, melting the
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distinction between appearance and reality, and
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creating the illusion that all things are sensually
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accessible.
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By contracting time itself until everything seems
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short-term, television desensitizes the mind to the
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notion of long-term consequences. What was past is no
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longer prologue. It is curbside trash.
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Almost 50 years ago, Sir Winston Churchill warned
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that an "iron curtain" had descended across the
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continent of Europe. Today, across America and across
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the world, another iron curtain is descending -- an
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electronic curtain -- less apparent and more pervasive
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than the curtain of Churchill's day. It is a curtain
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not geographical but temporal, one that isolates us
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from all other times but now.
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The Challenge of Myth
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As an embodiment of ancient truth, myth challenges this
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kind of worship at the altar of the present. And
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because myth is enduring, it blatantly defies the law
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of disposability that often dictates human
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relationships and modern values. Myth proclaims the
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continuity of existence and declares that a life lived
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only in the present is a life betrayed. It also offers
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a definition of what it means to be human -- a
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definition that still has the power to move men, even
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after thousands of years.
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Myth is also, finally, about understanding the
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nature of time itself. Through ancient myth, each of us
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is a time traveler, journeying from past to future,
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oblivious as one melts into the other -- like reveling
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passengers on a cruise ship, unconscious in the moonlit
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night of the speed at which we cross the ocean swell.
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We surrender to time, yielding fluidly to its flow like
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marine creatures carried on by an underwater current.
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For time is our sea.
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---------------------------------------------
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Stephen Bertman is a professor of classical and modern
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languages, literatures, and civilizations at the
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University of Windsor in Ontario. He is the author of
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Doorways Through Time: The Romance of Archaeology
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(Tarcher/Putnam, 1987, 1991), Art and the Romans
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(Coronado Press, 1975), and editor of The Conflict of
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Generations in Ancient Greece and Rome (B.R. Gr<47>ner:
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Amsterdam, 1976). His September 1988 Imprimis essay,
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"Classical Perspectives on the 21st Century," was
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reprinted in Vital Speeches.
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###
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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End of this issue of Imprimis, On Line; Information
|
|||
|
|
about the electronic publisher, Applied Foresight,
|
|||
|
|
Inc., is in the file, IMPR_BY.TXT
|
|||
|
|
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
|