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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=dstockhoff@verizon.net
href="mailto:dstockhoff@verizon.net">David Stockhoff</A> </DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV><BR>> The pipe still has to have a purpose. Surely Wolfe did not include
it <BR>> simply because he was worried his readers would complain if he
didn't <BR>> explain the lake, nor to demonstrate the builders' skill in
hydrology.</DIV>
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<DIV>I don’t think it would be out of character for him to mention a
technological feature like this.<BR><BR>> And here's the clincher:<BR>>
[Lake Avernus] It was linked by a canal to a nearby lake (Lucrinus <BR>>
Lacus) and from there to the sea. </DIV>
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<DIV>Well, I suppose he might well have included such a link as a nod to the
original Lake Avernus. </DIV>
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<DIV>> The lake shore was also connected to <BR>> the Greek colony of
Cumae by an underground passage known as Cocceio's <BR>> Cave (Grotta di
Cocceio) which was 1 km (0.62 mi) long and wide enough <BR>> to be used by
chariots. This was the world's first major road tunnel; it <BR>> remained
usable until as recently as the 1940s.<BR>> <BR>> Damned if I knew about
that! Anyway, the link is obscure, but you can <BR>> almost see the Wolfean
mind at work.</DIV>
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<DIV>I don’t really see the implications of the above, other than the link with
the Cumaean which was elsewhere mentioned. I agree that the original
Cumaean prophesy may indeed have a counterpart in the cacogenic Cumaean’s
relationship to Severian.</DIV>
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<DIV>- Gerry Quinn</DIV>
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