From sesar@noho.com Fri Feb 28 15:13:30 2003 Received: from mxu7.u.washington.edu (mxu7.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.165]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.12.1+UW01.12/8.12.1+UW03.02) with ESMTP id h1SNDTA8035110 for ; Fri, 28 Feb 2003 15:13:29 -0800 Received: from valinet.com (mbs.valinet.com [208.171.246.3]) by mxu7.u.washington.edu (8.12.1+UW01.12/8.12.1+UW03.02) with ESMTP id h1SNDPLr026381 for ; Fri, 28 Feb 2003 15:13:26 -0800 Received: from noho.com (206-15-134-34.dialup.ziplink.net [206.15.134.34]) by valinet.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA20713 for ; Fri, 28 Feb 2003 18:13:22 -0500 Message-ID: <3E5FED7A.293EC3F0@noho.com> Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 18:15:07 -0500 From: Carl Sesar Reply-To: sesar@noho.com X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.78 (Macintosh; U; PPC) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: classics@u.washington.edu Subject: Re: Stalingrad follows Marathon References: <1770780176f7ee.176f7ee1770780@homemail.nyu.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Uwash-Spam: Gauge=IIII, Probability=4%, Report="QUOTED_EMAIL_TEXT, RCVD_IN_OSIRUSOFT_COM, REFERENCES, SPAM_PHRASE_01_02, X_ACCEPT_LANG, X_OSIRU_DUL, X_OSIRU_DUL_FH, __EVITE_CTYPE, __HAS_X_MAILER" 2nd Chorus, Agamemnon. Thank you. Over and out. Diana Wright wrote: > PLEASE read the 2nd Chorus of the Agamemnon. > > DW > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Carl Sesar > Date: Friday, February 28, 2003 1:10 pm > Subject: Re: Stalingrad follows Marathon > > > " . . . but all [the partisans who hawk war] deliver is an urn of dust > > brought back by the money-changer whom they hired . . ." > > > > I don't get "money-changer." Please explain. > > > > willettstevenj@qwest.net wrote: > > > > > This is the 60th anniversary of the greatest military > > > engagement in history: Stalingrad. About one million Red > > > Army soldiers gave their lives in the decisive battle that > > > defeated Nazi Germany. The snows along the Volga buried > > > 150,000 Germans who died, eventually and thankfully, for > > > nothing. This put me in mind of Marathon and its minuscule > > > losses. Between Marathon and Stalingrad spins a > > > kaleidoscope of war flashing with many tens of millions whom > > > the earth has consumed. Now one likes to think that > > > Marathon, which looks (as the poet said) on the sea, stood > > > for something. One likes to think that Stalingrad, for a few > > > following centuries perhaps, will stand for something. But as > > > the 2,500-year interval between Marathon and today grows > > > ever larger, the sheer unabating accumulation of wars begins > > > to erase those of the past. Marathon means nothing to the > > > Greek government in its drive to produce a successful > > > Olympics, as Chris Robbins noted. Marathon means nothing > > > to the vast majority of all Americans and Europeans, most of > > > whom couldn't even place it accurately in chronology or > > > topography. The same fate will befall Stalingrad. And after > > > all, 10,000 years from now--when some sort of human polity > > > may still exist--no one will think or care about all the blood > > > that has been spilled for any cause. All causes will be > > > extinguished. The good, as a Greek poet wisely wrote, die > > > young. Time obliterates everything, but those obliterated > > > young lives will still live in their truncated possibilities. The > > > partisans who hawk war speak with the majestic voice of > > > temporary expediency, but all they deliver is an urn of dust > > > brought back by the money-changer whom they hired just for > > > a moment, for a moment, for a moment that stretches so > > > often briefly before us. > > > > > > ====================================== > > > Steven J. Willett > > > Shizuoka University of Art and Culture > > > 1794-1 Noguchi-cho, Hamamatsu City > > > Japan 430-8533 > > > Tel/Fax: (53) 457-6124 > > > willett@suac.ac.jp (Japan) > > > willettstevenj@qwest.net (US) > > > > .