Ludus Regnorum

Sorry it's been so long since I posted anything new on here. I'm not in any classes these days and am thus not inspired to draw any new comics by active readings. I fear this is fated to be yet another failed blog of mine. 

But for now, here are the sigils of the great houses of Westeros (from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series--televised by HBO as Game of Thrones) with my Latin renderings of their words.

 Martell : Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken 

Targaryen : Fire and Blood

Tully : Family, Duty, Honor

 Arryn : As High As Honor

Tyrell : Growing Strong

Lannister : Hear Me Roar

Stark : Winter Is Coming

Greyjoy : We Do Not Sow

Of course, I forgot House Baratheon : Ours Is The Fury ("Furia Nostra Est"). Martell was the toughest, I think. It was hard to recreate that "Un-, Un-, Un-" trifecta, especially since "Inflectus" would do for both "Unbent" and "Unbowed."

Anyway, that's out there now. 

Westeros, Game of Thrones, and all associated names, places, and events are (C) George R.R. Martin

You Always Seem About to Pay

pollicitis dives quilibet esse potest - Ovid, Ars Amatoria I.444

"Anyone can be rich in promises." (lit. "things promised")

In this section of the Ars Amatoria, Ovid advises the prospective lovers how to avoid spending  money on gifts for their girlfriends. He advises they promise to give gifts, that way they don't have to actually give anything. As he puts it:

at quod non dederis, semper videare daturus:

  sic dominum sterilis saepe fefellit ager.

- I.449-450

"But that which you haven't given, may you always seem about to give:

Thus has a barren field often deceived its master."

So, naturally, I thought of Credit Cards. 

Boom! Headshot.

RE: Vergil, Aeneid IX 

So, I finished reading Aeneid book IX today, and I have to say, there were an awful lot of headshots in this book. Four of them, I think, which I have summarized above with the appropriate textual references. 

1. Tagus, an Italian, is pierced through the head by a spear thrown by Nisus
2. the son of Arcens (whose name we don't learn), gets a sling bullet to the head from Mezentius
3. Lyceus has his head chopped off by Turnus
4. Pandarus has his head sliced in two by the same. 

Vergil uses a wonderfully illustrative line for that:

      "et mediam ferro gemina inter tempora frontem"

It's a golden line (or silver?) nicely divided, like Pandarus' head, in the middle by "inter." 

Now you see him...

RE: Tibullus I.2.41-42

Still, your husband will not believe this, just as 

The honest-speaking witch promised me with her magical aid.

For Augustan Literature today we read Tibullus I.1-3. In the second poem from his first book of elegies, Tibullus speaks of having secured the aid of a sorceress, who has cast a spell to make Tibullus' love Delia's husband (for want of a better term) unable to believe an affair is going on between those two. 

He will be able to believe nothing from anyone about us,

not even himself, if he himself should see us in the soft bed. 

Still, keep away from others: for he will perceive

everything else: Only me will he not perceive. (I.2.55-58)

Tea-Time with Argus

Re: Ovid, Metamorphoses I.679-684

By this new voice and art Juno's guardian was captivated.
"Whoever you are, you may sit with me on this rock,"
said Argus, "For there are not lusher grasses for flocks
in any place, and you see a shade suited for shepherds."
Atlas' grandson sat and detained the passing day with talk of many things,
with conversation and by playing on his joined
pipes he tried to overcome the vigilant eyes. 

A cartoon for Ovid's version of the tale of Io from his Metamorphoses. Io, having been raped by Jupiter, gets turned into a cow by him in hopes of hiding his infidelity from Juno. Not fooled, Juno slyly asks Jupiter for the cow--which it would be suspicious not to give--and thereupon puts her rival (paelex) under the watch of Argus, a one-hundred eyed monster. At length, Jupiter sends Mercury to free Io.

The translated quote above is from the point at which Mercury, disguised as a shepherd, comes up playing on his pipes. Argus invites him to rest with him in the shade. He seemed like a very decent chap, who would have offered Mercury cup of tea if the Greeks had had it. But he winds up beheaded by Mercury all the same. : \