In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Paul Neumann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes >To Virgil: Aeneid Fans: >Could the horse also signify an imposing culture that at first seems >innocent and all other attributes thought to be held within a horse ie. >loyal, strong, (the cavalry was always the strongest in battles).
Not conclusively until the invention of the stirrup; classical Greek and Roman armies were based on the infantry. (It is symptomatic of the difference that _miles_ in classical Latin implies an infantryman, but in medieval Latin means a knight.) However, the cavalry was the upper- class arm. > But with >the acceptance of the horse [culture] which evolutionizes the traditional >culture thought to be progress. Homer, and the early Greek writers in general, do not believe in progress, very much the reverse: the human race is getting weaker (Homer), as well as more brutal and faithless (Hesiod); poetic exaggeration apart, the epic poets believed, and rightly believed, that Mycenaean society really was grander and more affluent than the society in which they lived. Whether Vergil believed in progress, other than the expansion of Roman rule, is a question that might be worth discussing. Leofranc Holford-Strevens *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_* Leofranc Holford-Strevens 67 St Bernard's Road usque adeone Oxford scire MEVM nihil est, nisi ME scire hoc sciat alter? OX2 6EJ tel. +44 (0)1865 552808(home)/267865(work) fax +44 (0)1865 512237 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (home) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (work) *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_* ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
