(urth) ending verse of slow children at play

[marcaramini]

In my research i have noticed that many of the poetry quotes Wolfe uses (such as those in the woman who loved the centaur pholus) come from a secondary source more relevant to his main theme than from primary sources (in that one multiple quotes from different poems were included in a reference volume concerning mythology and the age of fable).  There are only a few places that de mundo at the end of "slow children at play", an anonymous first century poem, is published.  That selection appears in lambor wilson's book Angels, which would have been available in the early 80s, and in the work on gnosticism by hans jonas available by the 60s.  I think it likely Wolfe got it from one source or the other, but the theme of angels and gnosticism are slightly different.  What do we think might be a more apropriate bit of research for these two stories? Is it merely about the syncretic tales of angels and griffins tied to a historical quote from herodotus or is it invoking gnostic cosmology as well?  The somewhat sinister aspect of the angels from a mortal perspective, serving as Nemesis to David, who attains powers beyond this reality through knowledge of a special hidden book, leads me to believe gnosticism is at least tangentially involved and perhaps the jonas source is likely ... but i cant say for sure, as the description of the cherubim and their fire is vital to both stories.

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