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From: Matthew Malthouse <matthew.malthouse@guardian.co.uk> Subject: Re: (urth) Re: Severian as Marcus Aurelius Date: Fri, 05 Nov 1999 10:46:26 +0000 Ron Hale-Evans wrote: > >Claudius might not have "lead" armies into battle but he did, iirc, > >command them.... [snip] > >By the time Severian ascends to the Autarchy I doubt that he's any > >more "lead" armies into battle than Claudius did. > > Why the scare quotes? Do you not believe that what they do is worthy of > being called leading? (Or is it a micro-spelling-flame -- did you think I > was using the verb in the past tense?) Oh, nothing so subtle at all. Just trying to distinguish between daring-do, gung-ho leading from at the front, once more unto the breach stuff a la Harry V and the way sensible generals do it. :) Think Peirson's Puppeteer! > Assuming the former: My copies of TBoTNS have been in storage across the > country for about three years, but I broke down and bought _Shadow and > Claw_ recently, and I'll buy the next two volumes as I get to them. My > memory of _Citadel_ is therefore somewhat vague, but didn't Sev at one > point lead a charge on the battlefield? If he didn't lead an army as such, > at least he led a squadron or a battalion or something. My only point was > that this was a most un-Claudius-like thing to do, based on my limited > knowledge of the Claudius books, which came through television rather than > reading Graves. It fits with what we know of Marcus Aurelius, however. "I yield to your..." etc etc. > Speaking of Wolfe and Graves, here's a slightly off-topic question: did > anyone else get the impression that Wolfe was cribbing heavily from _The > White Goddess_ in _There Are Doors_? Damn! I hate it when people say things like this. It invariably means that within the week I shall be reading one, or both. Matthew *More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/