From jmpfund@bgnet.bgsu.edu Sat Nov 6 12:17:01 1999 Received: from mxu3.u.washington.edu (mxu3.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.7]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.09/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id MAA25700 for ; Sat, 6 Nov 1999 12:17:00 -0800 Received: from sp07.notesnet.bgsu.edu (sp07.notesnet.bgsu.edu [129.1.7.7]) by mxu3.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.09/8.9.3+UW99.08) with ESMTP id MAA22103 for ; Sat, 6 Nov 1999 12:16:59 -0800 Received: from [129.1.190.113] ([129.1.190.113]) by sp07.notesnet.bgsu.edu (Lotus Domino Release 5.0.1a) with ESMTP id 1999110615144515:2328 ; Sat, 6 Nov 1999 15:14:45 -0500 X-Sender: jmpfund@popj.bgsu.edu Message-Id: In-Reply-To: References: <3.0.1.32.19991105233455.0122b748@pop.mindspring.com> <007f01bf26a6$78686f40$6652ef9b@user> <381F6F52.7CDB3503@exeter.edu> Mime-Version: 1.0 Date: Sat, 6 Nov 1999 15:17:30 -0500 To: classics@u.washington.edu From: "James M. Pfundstein" Subject: "non serviam" redux (was: Buchanan Watch) X-MIMETrack: Itemize by SMTP Server on MAIL03/SERVER/BGSU(Release 5.0.1a|August 17, 1999) at 11/06/99 03:14:45 PM, Serialize by Router on MAIL03/SERVER/BGSU(Release 5.0.1a|August 17, 1999) at 11/06/99 03:14:50 PM, Serialize complete at 11/06/99 03:14:50 PM X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Fred Zimmerman cites Pat Buchanan's declaration: "Non serviam, Norman >[sc. Podhoretz]." At 12:55 PM -0500 11/5/1999, David Lupher wrote: > >I'm reminded that we had a little exchange on this phrase back in >Sept., 1998, when its recent use by Seamus Heaney prompted a query. >I pointed out that modern uses are an allusion to God's words to Israel >and Judah in the Vulgate of Jeremiah 2.20, and it surfaces at least >three times in Joyce ("Portrait," ch. 3, Father Arnall referring to >Satan's rebellion; ch. 5, Stephen to Cranly, re. Stephen's impending >refusal of his mother's request that he take Easter Communion; and >"Ulysses," ch. 15, Stephen to the apparition of his mother in Bella >Cohen's brothel, line 4228 of the Gabler edition). But the late and >very much lamented Don Fowler adduced a passage I had forgotten: >Seneca, Ep. Mor. 77.14: the Spartan youth, "qui captus clamabat >'non serviam' sua illa Dorica lingua, et verbis fidem imposuit." >But I would wager that Buchanan (and Heaney too, of course) were >probably getting the phrase from Joyce. Maybe-- maybe not. It seems to me that this *bon mot du mal* might have entered Heaney's and Buchanan's consciousness from the same source it entered Joyce's, i.e. Catholic theology. The notion that the Devil's sin was pride, evidenced by the refusal to obey, is woven into the woof of Aquinas' *Summa Theologica* (see esp. Pars 1, Quaest. 63, Art. 2, though Big Tom does not here quote the Devil's refusal precisely), and we know young Daedalus/Joyce was an Aquinas junkie. I could swear that I have seen this phrase (non serviam) in Nietzsche also, but I confess I've been unable to find the passage-- my collection of Nietzsche is not as extensive as it once was. He does quote a lot of Latin, and not all or especially classical Latin-- e.g. a long passage from Tertullian in *Zur Genealogie der Moral* 1.15. I did do my usual web-search, but without success, or rather too damn much. "Non serviam" is a slogan that has been taken up by Satanists, philosophical Egoists, heavy metal bands etc. It seems to me that Joyce would not use the phrase the way does unless it was already part of the culture whose values he was interested in inverting (or escaping). But, if I understand Buchanan correctly, he is implying that the Republican Party is Heaven (or at least a state of grace), Norman Podhoretz is God, the Reform Party is Hell, and Buchanan himself is Satan. At times like this I wish I were an atheist. JM("Meo Animo")P .