(urth) Short Story 61*: Civus Laputus Sum

[entonio at gmail.com]

The theme of the elder brother being out of favour runs throughout the whole Bible, it would be hard to consider a specific case as standing out. 

No dia 30/04/2014, às 19:56, Marc Aramini <marcaramini at gmail.com> escreveu:

> Could be the jealousy over the idea of one favored by God (athletically) which results in murderously slaying your brother (there is a whole lot of talk in the Queequeeg/Ishmael monkey rope chapter of the two as brothers, and the two whale heads are both in the same predicament on the side of the Pequod) ... so it becomes a situation where one brother who was disfavored and slighted in his mind by God killing the favored ... Couldn't be a David and Goliath situation, which was probably closer to 3000 years before. 
> 
> 
> On Tue, Apr 29, 2014 at 2:47 PM, Mo Holkar <lists at ukg.co.uk> wrote:
> At 19:33 29/04/2014, you wrote:
> There is an odd statement Jeremy makes, saying his murder will be "the first time in five thousand years one of us has taken the life of one of them."  If taken literally, this really complicates the time line. More likely he is just exaggerating the importance of their animosity. Is he talking about Biblical creation?
> 
> 
> In the Ussherian Biblical chronology, five thousand years prior to the 1990s (ie. 3000 BC) is some time prior to the Flood, among the uneventful list of patriarchs in Genesis 5. I had wondered if Jeremy was referring loosely to Cain and Abel: but that would be more like six thousand years. Also, hard to make that story match the theme of scholars vs athletes.
> 
> (Of course, it may be a reference to a non-Christian myth.)
> 
> 
> On another note, I'd be interested if any Latinist can explain why it's 'Laputus' rather than 'Laputanus' in the title. It seems an unlikely slip, for Wolfe.
> 
> best,
> 
> Mo
> 
> 
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