Spirited Defence
Mar. 21st, 2009 04:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fiat_knoxHere's a story I haven't told you yet. It's what happened yesterday, on my visit to Minerva's shrine in Chester.
I saw, as I rounded the corner into the park there, that I was not going to be alone. Three young men were gathered about the shrine, playing some sort of game with a frisbee.
One of them was sitting on top of the shrine, with his feet resting on the lintel.
I approached the shrine, wondering how I could drive these disrespectful youths away. In the end, all I did was just silently and stoically stare at them from behind my shades. They eventually got the message and buggered off.
When I turned to face the shrine, I felt a cool, gentle breeze against my face and neck, like a caress. I got the distinct impression that Minerva approved.
I said to the shrine, "Your purviews are Wisdom, Industry and War. Well, those lads didn't seem too industrious, and they certainly weren't very wise. So I presume that means they were there so they could sign up for a war. I hope they get their wish and see a war soon. We have one or two going spare, you know, so there are plenty of opportunities for them ..."
One of the lads turned out to be 19. I informed him that the shrine which he'd been desecrating with the soles of his feet had been standing there for one hundred times his callow nineteen years; that it was a rallying point whenever a Cestrian soldier, Roman citizen or quarryman died, and that that effectively made it a grave marker for thousands of people who no longer have one. And what would he do if he heard that some wag was desecrating the grave of one of his own relatives?
Perhaps we are looking at the embodiment of George Santayana's lament about those who do not learn the lessons of history here. But I feel certain that I defended Minerva's honour yesterday. If I had done nothing else yesterday, I feel that I had managed to accomplish something good and honourable.
As a side note, there was a peculiar blurring every now and then as I looked at the shrine, as if there were some sort of double exposure going on, and a presence visually overlaid over the bare stone. I perceived this effect nowhere else, and I still do not perceive it now. It only took place within the shrine, and only over the form of Minerva herself.
Make of that what you will.
I saw, as I rounded the corner into the park there, that I was not going to be alone. Three young men were gathered about the shrine, playing some sort of game with a frisbee.
One of them was sitting on top of the shrine, with his feet resting on the lintel.
I approached the shrine, wondering how I could drive these disrespectful youths away. In the end, all I did was just silently and stoically stare at them from behind my shades. They eventually got the message and buggered off.
When I turned to face the shrine, I felt a cool, gentle breeze against my face and neck, like a caress. I got the distinct impression that Minerva approved.
I said to the shrine, "Your purviews are Wisdom, Industry and War. Well, those lads didn't seem too industrious, and they certainly weren't very wise. So I presume that means they were there so they could sign up for a war. I hope they get their wish and see a war soon. We have one or two going spare, you know, so there are plenty of opportunities for them ..."
One of the lads turned out to be 19. I informed him that the shrine which he'd been desecrating with the soles of his feet had been standing there for one hundred times his callow nineteen years; that it was a rallying point whenever a Cestrian soldier, Roman citizen or quarryman died, and that that effectively made it a grave marker for thousands of people who no longer have one. And what would he do if he heard that some wag was desecrating the grave of one of his own relatives?
Perhaps we are looking at the embodiment of George Santayana's lament about those who do not learn the lessons of history here. But I feel certain that I defended Minerva's honour yesterday. If I had done nothing else yesterday, I feel that I had managed to accomplish something good and honourable.
As a side note, there was a peculiar blurring every now and then as I looked at the shrine, as if there were some sort of double exposure going on, and a presence visually overlaid over the bare stone. I perceived this effect nowhere else, and I still do not perceive it now. It only took place within the shrine, and only over the form of Minerva herself.
Make of that what you will.
