Dante Alighieri -In Quest of Paradise
IL Purgatorio - part one

DANTE ALIGHIERI in QUEST of PARADISE
A Series of talks in celebration of the 700-year anniversary of Dante’s death in 1321 Presented by Anne Maria Clarke

Journey to the East
'All Along Down the Ancient Highway'

“Once in their youth the light shone for them; they saw the light and followed the star, but then came reason and the mockery of the world; then came faint-heartedness and apparent failure; then came weariness and disillusionment, and so they lost their way again, they became blind again.
Some of them have spent the rest of their lives looking for us again, but could not find us. They have then told the world that our League is only a pretty legend and people should not be misled by it. ”
― Hermann Hesse The Journey to the East

We moved toward the East - he tells us - but we also travelled into the Middle Ages and the Golden Age; we roamed through Italy and Switzerland, but at times we also spent the night in the tenth century and dwelt with the patriarchs or the fairies.

I also walked alone at times, he tells us - without a tent, without a leader, without a speaker.

 During such times I often found again the places and people of my own past. Sometimes my company consisted of the beloved characters of my books; Almansor, Parsifal, Witiko or Goldmund rode by my side, or Sancho.
When I found my way back to our group in some valley or other, heard the league songs and camped by their leaders' tents, it was immediately clear to me that my excursions into my childhood and my ride with Sancho belonged essentially to this journey.

For our goal was not only the East, or rather the East was not only a country and something geographical, but it was the home and youth of the soul, it was everywhere and nowhere, it was the union of all times.
― Hermann Hesse,  Journey to the East

“Everything becomes questionable as soon as I consider it closely, he explains, everything slips away and dissolves.”
― Hermann Hesse,  Journey to the East

Once and for all, it must be made public that Hesse is a classic example of how the Jew can poison the soul of the German people. For if at that time, when he took no delight in the war…he had not fallen into the clutches of the Jew Freud and his psychoanalysis, he would have remained the German writer we all loved so well. The warping of his soul can only be ascribed to this Jewish influence.
The Jewish Press

The Tiger's Eyelash
a story about returning from war
Adapted by Anne Maria Clarke

The Transformation of Achilles' Rage

Sing oh muse the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,
murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans so many good men and sent so many vital, hearty souls down to the dreary House of Death.

Begin. Muse, when the two first broke and clashed; Agamemnon lord of men and brilliant Achilles.What god drove them to fight with such a fury? "
― Homer, The Iliad 

“ one after the other, and the shafts .....ranged everywhere throughout the wide camp of the Achaeans” (1.382-384).

“...constantly the pyres of the dead burned thick”
(1.52)

....since Phoebus Apollo robs me of Chryses’ daughter, a ship and crew of mine will return her, but I’ll pay your quarters a visit myself, and take that prize of yours, fair-faced Briseis, so that you know how my power exceeds yours.....’

 the son of Peleus was gnawed by pain, and the heart in his shaggy breast was torn; whether to draw the sharp blade at his side, scatter the crowd, and kill the son of Atreus, or curb his wrath and restrain his spirit.

....from the Greek word for spectators, theatai, the later philosophical term “theory” was derived, and the word “theoretical” until a few hundred years ago meant “contemplating,” looking upon something from the outside, from a position implying a view that is hidden from those who take part in the spectacle and actualize it.
 The Life of the Mind: Investigation on How We Think : Hannah Arendt

 "Fail us now? What grief it will be to you & through all the years to come. No remedy, / know to cure the damage once it's done"
(9.301-3)

 All our best men lie by the ships wounded by arrow or spear thrust: The healers, skilled in the use of herbs, are busy trying to cure their wounds, while you, Achilles, remain intractable. May such anger never possess me as grips you, you whose useless valour only does harm to all. How will posterity benefit, if you fail to save us from ruin?
....at least let me take the field ....leading the ranks of Myrmidons, .... And let me borrow that armour of yours, so the Trojans might take me for you and thus break off the battle. Then ....we may win a breathing space: there are few such chances in war. We who are fresh might easily drive a weary enemy back to their city from the ships and huts.
Illiad BkXVI

... a black cloud of grief shrouded (him). Grasping handfuls of dark sand and ash, he poured them over his head and handsome face, soiling his scented tunic. Then he flung himself in the dust, and lying there outstretched, a fallen giant, tore and fouled his hair.
Bk XVIII:1-77  Achilles’ sorrow

...his divine mother Thetis heard him, deep beneath the sea where she sat beside her ancient Father.....and all the daughters of the deep gathered to her.... (and)...the bright sea-cave was filled with nymphs, beating their breasts,
Bk XVIII:1-77 Thetis responds to Achilles’ sorrow

One after another, they trod the shore, where the ships were beached in lines around swift Achilles. His divine mother reached his side, while he lay groaning there, and with a piercing cry took his head in her hands, and spoke to him winged words of sympathy...

"They envy us because we're mortal, because any moment may be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again." 
Troy (film): 2004

"I have endured what no one on earth has endured before. I kissed the hands of the man who killed my son."
(Troy, 2004) Peter O'Toole, Brad Pitt, Priam, Achilles, Homer's Iliad

“Divine Achilles, remember your father who is, like me, on the grievous door step of senility. Maybe he, too, is all alone in sorrow and no one is there to defend him. But when he hears that you are alive, his heart is filled with joy. Because he still hopes that one day he will see his beloved son returning from Troy. But I, I am utterly unblest, seeing I begat sons the best in Troy, yet of them not one is left…”

“Ah unhappy man, too many are the evils you have endured in your soul. How did you find the courage to come here all alone and meet the eyes of me that have killed your sons? Your heart is truly made of iron! But come here, sit on the throne and despite our pain, let our suffers lie quiet in our hearts. For no profit comes with lament!

… and Priam was admiring of Achilles. He was so great and comely, like a god! But Achilles also was looking at Priam with admiration, for he was so noble and hearkening to his words!

Queen of Heaven

A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. Rev. 12:1

‘the most significant event of the twentieth century.’    
Carl Jung