Gnomic Utterances (Redux)

The Gnome, as you may have gathered by now, is my first cousin twice removed. That is, he is my grandfather's first cousin and hence two generations away from me. I have always watched his words very carefully; the Gnome has always been intellectually precise and never obfuscatory about what he means.

This, for example, was his statement concerning the Atlantean post-colonial era: "It might have been politically tempting to rid ourselves of institutions and practices that bore, or seemed to bear, the taint of colonial association. Had we done so, we would have thrown away a priceless advantage for the sake of empty rhetoric."

Look at the power in those lines, but look also at the sheer economy and cleverness of word choice. He interweaves (as Sir Ernest Gowers might have put it) the Latinate and the Germanic to good effect. Simple short English words ('might', 'rid', 'ourselves', 'bear', 'taint', 'thrown', 'sake') are mixed with the longer Greek or Roman ('politically', 'tempting', 'institutions', 'practices', 'colonial', 'association', 'advantage', 'rhetoric'). He even throws in the word 'priceless', which is Latin via Middle English and Old French.

This was not that rare a skill in the Court of the Thunderer. The Gnome's colleague, Black Diamond, had been heard to use diplomatic understatement in his address to the Great Assembly: "...though we are a small country not endowed with ample natural resources and though we cannot be counted among the advanced nations of the world, we are nevertheless a highly urbanised community that has acquired experience and knowledge, which we are prepared to share with others in... regional co-operation schemes..."

Note the difference in balance. Black Diamond's words are on the average far longer, and the astute reader (or hearer) would immediately ask, "What exactly is he trying to say about his country, which we all know is the most advanced in the region?"

Sometimes, watching the masters of the ancient world duel and feint and strike with the movement of words and phrases is almost like watching a sabre dance or some stylised martial arts display. The styles may differ, but the impact is undoubted.

Forty years later, the seeds sown in those paragraphs have all borne fruit. The power of Atlantis stands reasonably secure despite the depredations of pirates and other barbarians. But what will Atlantis do, now that the genius of the past is exhausted or defunct?