David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :
'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)
(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.
TAR Florence : pictured, a despondent replica of Michelangelo's David threatens to self-topple. Zealots of the Florentine Truth-In-Art faction (offspring of Savonarola) mock the repro with "Jump!" and "Just do it!" A rescue party of Matrix Men (ex Angeli del Fango) rush to the aid of the facsimile with an image of Christ the Logos, Great Net and Savior.
Theatre of the Actors of Regard
The rest, as they say, is ...
Historia vero testis temporum, lux veritatis, vita memoriae, magistra vitae, nuntia vetustatis, qua voce alia nisi oratoris immortalitati commendatur?
By what other voice, too, than that of the orator, is history, the witness of time, the light of truth, the life of memory, the directress of life, the herald of antiquity, committed to immortality?
Cicero, De Oratore, II, 36
Theatre of the Actors of Regard
The rest, as they say, is ...
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something...
