(urth) the Epitome

[David Duffy]

On Mon, 11 Apr 2005, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote:

> I think not enough is being done to ask what is meant by
> the Hieros in describing Severian as the "epitome." To my
> mind it means that he is the most fully human in some sense.
>
> --Dan'l
>

Well, the Dryden quote was included in the 1913 Merriam Webster
dictionary definition (but I don't know if that is true of the OED or
SOD, which I believe is Wolfe's preference -- definitely the pun on
Apheta only works using the SOD):

A man so various, that he seem'd to be
Not one, but all mankind's epitome:

continuing:

Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong;
Was every thing by starts, and nothing long;
But, in the course of one revolving moon,
Was chemist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon:
Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking,
Besides ten thousand freaks that died in thinking.

Perhaps overinterpretation, but I thought the Greek gloss of epitome
"cut into/onto/upon" and perhaps even its meaning 1. an "abridgement"
might have made it attractive too.

David Duffy,