Friday, March 27, 2020

Ozzie.

This is coolbert:

From the Internet web site of the esteemed Israeli military historian/theoretician Martin van Creveld this item of interest in the time of the COVID-19 virus.

Percy Shelley's "Ozymandias"

Ozymandias the Greek name for the great King of ancient Egypt Rameses II. Thought have been the Pharaoh of the Exodus.

"I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

"A central theme of the 'Ozymandias' poems is the inevitable decline of rulers with their pretensions to greatness." AND hubris.

"hubris - -  n. Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance. n. Excessive pride, presumption or arrogance  n. overbearing pride or presumption"

And thank you PBS and MvC.

Devoted readers to the blog please note the image accompanying this particular Martin van Creveld blog entry. That is the face of American President Donald Trump.

"I blog, therefore I am!" Me too!!

coolbert.


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