(urth) Flora and Fauna

[Lee Berman]

Marc's continued insistence on the importance of flora and fauna has me thinking.
I don't doubt he is right. It's funny how we have the Vironese naming convention for
males and females on a whorl which does not have much in the way of natural animals
and plants.
 
In the past I've been reasonably content for it as a nod to Wolfe and his wife Rosemary.
But perhaps there are more levels to it than that. For now I'll leave alone the Neighbor-
inhumi, trees-vines, Pan-Dionysus, animal-plant connections though perhaps they hover in 
the background.

I wonder if a focus on flora and fauna is meant to force us to take a closer look at
Fauna in BotNS (and, by association, Faunus-Inire). The Roman mythology behind this has 
been discussed previously but not the goddess Flora, whose presence might be implied by
Fauna.
 
Flora was a former prostitute who ended up as a lover of Hercules and wife of wind god
Zephyrus/Favionus. She is associated with Acca Laurentia who was wet nurse/foster mother
to Romulus and Remus. She is associated with Harpocrates, God of Silence and together
they made the rose a symbol of secrecy in regard to lovers.
 
Perhaps this is the significance behind the mention of  "Laurentia of the house of the Harp" 
in BotNS. Acca Laurentia was also known as "Lupa" or "she-wolf, perhaps begatting the wolf-
suckling portion of the Romulus and Remus tale.
 
Wolves, roses, wind, Romulus and Remus, Hercules and even sexual secrecy might all have 
significance and intended connection of Flora to the story of BotNS.
 
 
 
(fwiw: Marx brother Harpo's feigned silence and name may have been partially derived from Harpocrates 
as well as his musical instrument of choice)