>> [--What is the problem with calling the Teutonic Knights a military order >> of monks? That's what they were, weren't they?] > >good morning. Are you sure, they were monks? Templar-knights, Maltesians and >knights of the ordo domus etc. were not monks in the classical sense: they >were >married often, they were knights
I'm not a medieval historian, but have read a bit about the Knights of Malta (the Order of St John). They weren't monks in any ordinary sense of the word. They took vows of chastity and obedience, but not poverty. They were very wealthy and worldly, and though they could not marry they all had their pretty Maltese mistresses. Although originally "Hospitallers" in the Holy Land, in Malta they became a naval power, doing battle with the Turks -- but to serve as a fighting man was not usually the ambition of those who joined the Order. Rather, they hoped to live in some grand style as the prior of one of the Order's estates in continental Europe. >recent: shall the UNO "debellare superbos" in East Timor or not? See Augustine, De Civ. Dei, Praefatio, for another reading of this line, nothing to do with the Nunc Dimittis! (And I won't get started on East Timor, where in all likelihood New Zealand troops will be serving quite soon ...) But I'm not quarrelling with the idea of a Christian Virgil. I once edited an obscure early 17th cent. text all about how to read Aeneid 6 properly, attending to all the many places where Virgil comes close to enunciating Christian doctrine -- where he "roves at the truth though he hit it not perfectly" (because he only had the light of nature to guide him, not revealed religion). Simon Cauchi, Hamilton, New Zealand <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
