Dialogue on the Threshold

Schwellendialog

28 May 2010

De poenarum tartarearum latitudine


Etenim oculi, qui nunc colorum venustatem, concinnasque membrorum symmetrias studiose demirantur, multaque quae referre non lubet, nec licet, curiose simul et exitiose observant, tunc solis, lunae, caeterorumque astrorum splendore, suavissima Christi et Sanctorum omnium visione, omni denique quod oculorum sensum quoquo modo capere aut oblectare queat privati, tenebris, fletu, fumo, terrifioque daemonum et impiorum aspectu vehementissime offendentur. Aures, quae vocanti Christo male nunc occluduntur, diaboli suggestionibus late panduntur, musicis numeris ad ciendam voluptatem comparatis distenduntur, ineptas nugatorum facetias, facetasque ineptias, adulatores rursum, alienaeque famae corrosores avide excipiunt, quaeque miserorum clamoribus et fletibus, vivificoque Dei verbo fastidito, ad inanes fabulas se se convertunt, horribili impiorum clamore, ulutata, fletu, planctu, gemitu, suspiriis, maledictis, blasphemisque vocibus mire tunc obtundentur. [...] Gustatus, qui esculentis et poculentis plusque Sibariticis hic male sese oblectarat, quotidie splendide epulando, immoderateque helluando, omni cibariorum et potionum suavitate orbatus, perpetua isthic siti et fame excarnificabitur, aut certe felle et absynthio ex[s]atiabitur. [...] Odoratus, qui exquisitissimis aromatum et unguentorum odoribus hic ad luxum et lasciviam abutebatur, teterrimo foetore isthic affligetur. [...] Ad tactum quod spectat, ut is unus omnium latissime patet, ita ei nusquam non, unde offendi queat, ocurret. Nec impiorum corpora solum enim erunt segnia, crassa, obscura, foetida, deformiaque, verum etiam maxime patibilia. At vero sensuum exteriorum poenae, ad sensum communem, phantasiam, aestimativam, memoriam, caeterasque omnes tam organicas, quam inorganicas animae vires ordine quodam penetrantes atrocissimos isthic cruciatus excitaturae sunt.

Theodor Anton Peltanus, De Inferno et miserando impiorum statu (1569)

Truly, the eyes, which now eagerly marvel at the loveliness of colours and the pleasing symmetries of the limbs, which inquisitively yet perniciously gaze upon many things neither permissible nor decent to mention, but which then shall be bereft of the radiance of sun, moon and other stars, of the most sweet sight of Christ and all the Saints, and, in short, of all that the eyesight might seize upon or delight in howsoever, will be most violently assailed by darkness, lamentation, smoke, and the fearful sight of demons and sinners. The ears, which now are evilly shut to the call of Christ, which yawn wide to the insinuations of the devil, which gape to musical measures composed in order to excite lascivious pleasure, which avidly listen to the absurd witticisms of idle speeches, inane jokes, flatterers and those who gnaw away at others’ reputation, and which turn aside in disgust from the life-giving word of God, preferring vain stories, will then be deafened by the dreadful clamour of sinners, by wailing, lamenting, weeping, groaning, sighing, cursing and blaspheming voices. [...] The taste, which here evilly delights in Sybaritic foods and beverages, every day feasting ostentatiously, gormandising immoderately, there, deprived of the sweetness of nourishment and drink, shall be perpetually emaciated with thirst and hunger, or else glutted on gall and wormwood. [...] The smell, which here abuses the exquisite scents of perfumes and unguents for purposes of luxury and lust, there shall be afflicted with a most noisome stench. [...] With regard to touch, as this is the broadest of all [the senses] in extent, there will be no place it might run whence not to suffer mortification. Not only will sinners’ bodies be sluggish, heavy, darksome, foetid, and misshapen, but also sensitive to pain in the highest degree. And indeed the punishments of the external senses, penetrating in turn to the sensus communis, phantasia, instinctive judgement ([vis] aestimativa), memory and all the other faculties of the soul, both organic and inorganic, will in that place rouse unrelenting torments.

16 May 2010

De Risu et ridiculo


from Johannes Kuhl Marpurgensus, Theses de risu, fletu, et locutione

Risus est diductio oris in transversum, facta ab homine, propter rei ridiculae sensum & considerationem, ad declarandam animi voluptatem. / Descriptio ex forma subiecto, obiecto, efficiente & fine. / Subiectum, recipiens Homo. / Obiectum res ridicula, sive sit factum sive dictum novum, insolens, inopinatum, argutum, admirabile, ludicrum, ineptum, indecorum. / Caussa efficiens externa est sensus rei ridiculae, motus musculorum, thoracis & buccarum. / Interna partim anima rationalis, partim facultas ridendi, partim imaginatio & consideratio rei ridiculae, partim affectus cordis inde resultans. / Forma diductio oris in transversum, seu extensio rictus in facie. / Finis, declaratio voluptatis ex re percepta. / RISUS Sonorus vel Insonorus. / Sonorus, qui fit cum sonitu excitao a spiritu e pulmonibus per guttur exeunte, propter illius ad partes oris internas allisionem. Hic fit Sine clamore vel Cum clamore, & dicitur Cachinnus.

Laughter is a drawing apart of the mouth crosswise, made by a man, on account of the meaning and consideration of a laughable thing, in order to make known the soul's delight. / Description according to form, subject, object, cause and end: / Subject: a receptive Man. / Object: a laughable thing, be it a deed or a thing that is novel, unusual, unexpected, witty, surprising, trifling, inappropriate, unseemly. / The external efficient cause is the meaning of the laughable thing, the movement of the muscles, chest, and mouth. / The internal [cause] is partly the rational soul, partly the faculty of laughter, partly the imagination and a consideration of the laughable thing, partly the favourable mood of the heart thence resulting. / The form is the drawing apart of the mouth crosswise, or the spreading of the opened mouth across the face. / The end is the expression of delight on account of the thing observed. / LAUGHTER is either resounding or soundless. / Resounding laughter is produced from the lungs by the breath and comes out of the throat with a sound, on account of its striking against the internal parts of the mouth. This might be without loud noise or with loud noise, and is called Cacchinus (loud or cackling laughter).


from Rodolphus Goclenius, De Physiologia Risus & Ridiculi


Goclenius divides laughter into two species: laughter properly speaking (proprie dictus) and laughter improperly speaking (improprie dictus). Laughter properly speaking can be simple/absolute or κατά τι [at something]. Simple laughter is more unrestrained (effusior) and is also called Cachinnus [loud laughter]. Laughter κατά τι is called subrisus [literally 'sub-laughter', also with the meaning 'a smile']. Laughter improperly speaking arises from tickling (e titillatione); it is the laughter of the monkey, a simulacrum of laughter. Laughter is also to be defined according to the species of the laughable thing (rei ridiculae). These species include the strange or novel (insolentia), the unshapely or uncouth (deformitas), the unsightly or shameful (turpitudo), the unbecoming or indecent (indecorum), witticisms (argutiae), and things unexpected or surprising (inopinata).

Exempla Ridiculi sunt Ludicrum Depositionis Scholasticae crepitus ventris, cum quaeritur apud Aristophanem in nubibus, orene, an podice sonum edant culices, & sexcenta id genus alia.

Examples of the laughable are the jest of the scholastic deposition on the fart, as when in Aristophanes' The Clouds there is an inquiry into whether gnats emit noise through their mouth or their anus, and innumerable others of the same kind.

10 May 2010

Stimmung


Stimmung, A.I. Blyth, 2006

04 May 2010

Hieronymi Angeriani Erotopaegnion De Pulice


Ctenocaphalides felis, A. I. Blyth, 2007


Hieronymi Angeriani Erotopaegnion De Pulice

Pulchra pulex tenerae penetrat dum membra puellae;
Clamque subit niveum dente premente femur:
Comprimitur digitis, et nigro clauditur orco:
Sed dedit hoc illi distichon alma Venus:
Mortuus hic iaceo, sed non hic mortuus; ardens
Dum premor albenti pollice, vivo pulex.

Girolamo Angeriano (1470-1535), Erotopaegnion On a Flea


A flea makes its way over the fair limbs of a tender girl,
And stealthily, with squeezing tooth, he closes in on snowy thigh.
By fingers he is gripped, and in hellish blackness confined,
But bountiful Venus to him this couplet yields:
Here lie I dead, but here not dead; blazing
As I am squeezed by whitening thumb, I live a flea.