How Legends Pass

Roland is missing; his grave near Bordeaux is long destroyed. Where is the bearer of that mighty horn, where the bearer of the sword Durandal? He who was Lord of the Breton Marches, he who passed on the Ides of August in 778, is gone. They say he may yet rise, a paladin in the service of men.

Arthur is lost; Who is Arthur?, say the voices of the learned. We know that someone shut the voices of the Saxons in the 6th Century after Christ. Some say he sits, resting with his knights, until Britain needs him once more.

The Thunderer once said that even if he were to be lowered into his grave, he would rise up if anything went wrong with Atlantis. He still lives, but one can tell when a legend is passing, and when the device of foreshadowing is being employed.

But the Gnome has passed. And this one will not return. For like many elemental spirits of earth and matter, of coin and gem, of earthy humour and down-to-earth ways, he has built himself into the land and returns his body thereto. His sinews are in our institutions, his mind is in our processes, his veins are in our roads and tunnels. His historical record will be everywhere, like Arthur; his memory will survive his grave, like Roland.

And like Sir Christopher Wren, "Si monumentum requiris, circumspice!" — if you require a memorial, look around you!

Contextualising the Numinous

I found this quote in a Wikipedia entry for some sad school somewhere:

"Despite references to Prometheus and God in the Institution Anthem, the school is secular. The inclusion of Prometheus is due to the literary allusion to passing the torch, signifying the importance of education while 'God' in this context is a historical legacy of the school's British roots."

So Prometheus, that great Titan who brought fire to mankind, is now a metaphor for education; my opinion is that God fares worse — He has become a post-colonial embarrassment. What can one say about an institution in which the numinous has become, well, institutionalised? Why bother to have a school anthem then?

Did anyone consult the composer of the anthem before saying these things? Why not just remove references to mythical and/or supernatural beings? The last lines of the anthem read:

Let comradeship and fervent hope
With one voice make us pray
Auspicium Melioris Aevi
With God to guide the way.

I guess with all that Latin and stuff, they probably do think that God is British. I mean, just do the substitution: "With 'a historical legacy of the school's British roots' to guide the way." Ho ho, it sounds odd, doesn't it?

Macbeth

This was the man whom Shakespeare recreated as a villain. But what if he actually had been a hero, a wise and farsighted king who kept his fractious demesne from fracturing? Then it is not beyond belief that his southern neighbours, envious of his firm and clever rule, should have left a legacy of subtle propaganda that would forevermore taint him 'villain'.

Sometimes, it is hard ploughing through the legacies and counter-legacies, as each successor attempts to make himself look better than the one before him. It might be worse: you could be the one doing the rewrite, under pain of death. It might be better: you could end up writing the truth for all to see.

Old Soldiers

Today I had a lovely breakfast with an old friend and companion. We worked well together for almost ten years before he decided to leave our corporation and find his own dream. He told me that I should have left years ago, that the existing situation was not big enough for the breadth of my restless vision, that there were still virtually unbounded opportunities in other areas.

I have always admired this friend of mine. I was once his reporting officer, but I long-ago realised that he would always be a greater success than I in the murky world in which we live. I remember with wry humour the day I wondered if I should hive off some of my own salary to grant him a better bonus. Some people were pretty unhappy that I should suggest such a thing. But I said, "He did the work, not I; it is not right that a useful man should go unrewarded just because he reports to me."

Months later, he and all those in similar situations got a raise. But the whole episode, and many other episodes since, have convinced me about one particular thing. It came to mind over breakfast.

There are at least three kinds of old soldiers in the area of conflict in which we serve. The first kind continues to be of use, is loyal in all things, may be eventually discarded as fading powers are eclipsed by rising stars. The second type has been of use, continues to fight with the tactics and strategies of the last war, extols conservatism so that the last war may continue. The third type is a fully competent soldier who realises that his forte is to be a general, and changes theatres in order to use his gift. (In some countries there is a fourth type who knows he will be a general no matter what and is in a hurry to become one, becomes one, and then is made CEO of a different kind of endeavour altogether.)

I don't know if I clearly fit into any of these categories. Categories, in the end, are only as good as the context in which they arise – and sometimes not even then. But old soldiers never really die; their memories live on for good or ill after them.