Excerpts from Paul the Deacon

Derek was nice enough to post a chapter of his dissertation discussing the important influence Paul the Deacon had on the medieval church in the West.

I found out he was a poet and was curious what he wrote. I have mixed feelings on Carolingian poetry. I like their hymnody, e.g. a solis ortus cardine , but I found Alcuin rather bizarre. I think I like Paul the Deacon.

For those who don't read Latin, here is a very little taste: (I don't believe in dry or literal translations for poetry)

From his verses to Peter the Grammarian
"I am compared to Homer, Horace, and Vergil/ I am more a rhetorician or a hack philosopher/ But you, O man of Verona rate with Tibullus."

"I don't know even a little Greek, forget Hebrew/ Three or four on the faculty have taught me a few words/ The little I've gleaned is all I bring to the threshing floor."

Thank You For Your Prayers

I just wanted to thank you all for your prayers for my late grandmother and my family. I've been mostly on the road this past week, so I'm understandably not up to writing about much. But I thought you might enjoy this Pandagon conversation about tipping , which raises some very interesting issues, not the least how I think the strong Sabbatarian streak in American Protestants is reflected in some of our behavior at Sunday lunch.

Breaking Silence

I am the third of the dissertating trio in this little section of the blogosphere, and while Christopher and Derek seem to be over the hump, I am still very much in the thick of it. I smell very much of camel. Therefore, I really haven't been thinking much about the usual matters of this blog. I enjoy reading Haligweorc , The Topmost Apple , Thanksgiving in All Things , and Culture Choc . Thanks for sharing your thoughts and the wonders of the world beyond my computer screen.

Could I beg a favor of you? Could you pray for my grandmother and my family. My grandmother is between life and death at the moment. If you ever wonder why I read appear to read so widely, you can trace it to my grandmother, from whom I inherited (through my mother) my voracious appetite for good books of all kinds.