The Sins of Livy: a romance of Rome
Spencer Wood
An easy connection to make with Livy's writing is the American south int he 20th century. And one name that keeps coming up in my mind is Thomas Dixon Jr. Dixon was a Southern Baptist preacher, and a playwright whos views of the KKK and race division have inspired many works like the Leopard's Spots and Birth of a Nation. Now, this man was incredibly racist, and I do not agree with his views but he is a good storyteller, and I appreciate that.
In Canuleius' speech, we see a few similarities in the views of Dixon and the Patricians. in the Sins of the Father, Dan Norton hires a slave and ends up having a child with her. And the whole book is about how his life falls into complete ruin and how he represents the American south. the moral, and I use that word loosely, is that the destruction of the south comes in the form of miscegenation [the mixing of racial groups]. From what Livy writes of Canuleius, the patricians felt the same way about the plebeians; the difference being the south was solely focused on racial boundaries.
Switching gears almost entirely, there is one phrase that Canuleius says that really stuck with me; he says, "Ought no innovation ever to be introduced; and because a thing has not yet been done-and in a new community there are many things which have not yet been done-ought they not to be done, even when they are advantageous?" i really believe that this is something the Church deals with now. what he is saying is 'so we aren't gonna do anything just because we haven't done anything?' The Church is-or at least was, recently-going through the same motions. Much like the saying goes 10% of the people do 90% of the work.
sydney/cade
An easy connection to make with Livy's writing is the American south int he 20th century. And one name that keeps coming up in my mind is Thomas Dixon Jr. Dixon was a Southern Baptist preacher, and a playwright whos views of the KKK and race division have inspired many works like the Leopard's Spots and Birth of a Nation. Now, this man was incredibly racist, and I do not agree with his views but he is a good storyteller, and I appreciate that.
In Canuleius' speech, we see a few similarities in the views of Dixon and the Patricians. in the Sins of the Father, Dan Norton hires a slave and ends up having a child with her. And the whole book is about how his life falls into complete ruin and how he represents the American south. the moral, and I use that word loosely, is that the destruction of the south comes in the form of miscegenation [the mixing of racial groups]. From what Livy writes of Canuleius, the patricians felt the same way about the plebeians; the difference being the south was solely focused on racial boundaries.
Switching gears almost entirely, there is one phrase that Canuleius says that really stuck with me; he says, "Ought no innovation ever to be introduced; and because a thing has not yet been done-and in a new community there are many things which have not yet been done-ought they not to be done, even when they are advantageous?" i really believe that this is something the Church deals with now. what he is saying is 'so we aren't gonna do anything just because we haven't done anything?' The Church is-or at least was, recently-going through the same motions. Much like the saying goes 10% of the people do 90% of the work.
sydney/cade
I really dig the last part of your post, but I relate that quote more to the idea of self reevaluation over time to see if things work or not and if they should change. If it will work, the fact that it has never been done before does not have to be something that scares away. Change is essential to progress.
ReplyDelete-Phillip Vo