Disgust

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

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• From Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (1995)

  “What’s the KCU?” I asked. “The Kenyan Coffee Union. They are thieves. They regulate what we can plant and when we can plant it. I can only sell my coffee to them, and they sell it overseas. They say to us that prices are dropping, but I know they still get one hundred times what they pay to me. The rest goes where?” Francis shook his head with disgust. “It’s a terrible thing when the government steals from its own people.” “You speak very freely,” Auma said. Francis shrugged. “If more people spoke up, perhaps things might change. Look at the road that we traveled this morning coming into the valley. You know, that road was supposed to have been repaired only last year. But they used only loose gravel, so it washed out in the first rains. The money that was saved probably went into building some big man’s house.” Francis looked into the fire, combing his mustache with his fingers. “I suppose it is not only the government’s fault,” he said after a while. “Even when things are done properly, we Kenyans don’t like to pay taxes. We don’t trust the idea of giving our money to someone. The poor man, he has good reason for this suspicion. But the big men who own the trucks that use the roads, they also refuse to pay their share. They would rather have their equipment break down all the time than give up some of their profits. This is how we like to think, you see. Somebody else’s problem.” I tossed a stick into the fire. “Attitudes aren’t so different in America,” I told Francis. “You are probably right,” he said. “But you see, a rich country like America can perhaps afford to be stupid.” At that moment, two Masai approached the fire. Francis welcomed them, and as they sat down on one of the benches, he explained that they would provide security during the night. They were quiet, handsome men, their high cheekbones accentuated by the fire, their lean limbs jutting out of their blood-red shukas, their spears stuck into the ground before them, casting long shadows toward the trees. One of them, who said his name was Wilson, spoke Swahili, and he told us that he lived in a boma a few miles to the east. His silent companion began to pan the darkness with the beam of his flashlight, and Auma asked if the camp had ever been attacked by animals. Wilson grinned. “Nothing serious,” he said. “But if you have to go to the bathroom at night, you should call one of us to go with you.”

• From A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (BDB) (1907)

  subj. ארמנות‎ Am 3"; הארץ‎ Is 24%; nan yar (|| PAN pia), +Pua. Pf U3 consec. Je 50%— be taken as spoil, subj. .אוצרת‎ Tia n.[m.] spoiling, robbery; spoil, booty -- ב‎ abs. Nu 14°+; so also Ez25’ Qr (Kt בג‎ meaningless); 13 Je 24+; but 123 Nu 31" v.d. 11; sf. "2 Ex 29";—1. spoiling, robbery, ra) 1.6. to be plundered, despoiled Ez 7™ (of temple || bby) 23°. 2. spoil, booty, plunder Is 10° 33° Ez 29° 388 (all acc. cogn. || bby) ; ef. Nu סו וה‎ £5 14°; in ונ‎ 12) mM Je 49% (of camels) Ez 36* cf. v°; also of human beings Nu 145% Dt 1 Je 2% (all “a5 (היה‎ 4-2 K 21" (|| (משַפָה‎ Is 42” (|| ad.) 26 2%, ef. 30° (|| MBM); also Ez 257 Qr, 26° (’ היה לב‎ ; both in personif.) ; fig. of Isr. as sheep Ez 34*% (both לצ (היה לב'‎ היה בז‎ (no (ל‎ On Is 8% 12 WN Dow Wd .מהר.צ‎ / MZ n.f. spoil, booty(late)—M3 2Chr4¥ + gt.;—spoil, prey, of things 2Ch28™ Estg!*"6, ef. 0 4" 25" Dn )ד‎ \|Dow ;(רכוש8‎ n. verb., spoiling, ‘22 Ezr 97 Dn 11%, cf. also’ לב‎ Ne 5% Tes vy. sub .בזה‎ Trani n.pr.loc. acc. to MT place near Beersheba Jos 15; but rd. prob. MID G and her daughters (villages, ef. בת‎ sub (בן‎ v. Ne 117 (We™ 25 Hollenb 4! Ubers. Jos.14 (ך‎ al.) wols scatter, Ar. GP Tse‏ בוק (Aram.‏ בוק (of sun) is prob. erroneous v. Lane™).‏ Tpra n.[m.] lightning flash? Ez 1“ Hi Co del.; verse om. in old MSS. of G; sense uncertain, possibly error for .ברק‎ rendezvous of‏ (3בזק)לנז ₪ 1 n.pr.loc.‏ בק Israel under Saul and Sam.; Ju 1*° home of‏ Adoni-bezek ; on loc. cf.Euseb. Lag®"™ 1 ?n4e41®;‏ see also Stu. Ju 1*; 17th (mile-)stone fr.‏ Neapolis toward Scythopolis; mod. Hirbet‏ fr. Nablus, Survey*.‏ .מז Ibzik, 14 Eng.‏ vb. scatter (Ar. ete Aram. 773)‏ [בזר]ז OV MB‏ ורכוש BY?‏ 3 ידצ Dn‏ זעי —Qal‏ plunder and spoil and possessions he will scatter‏ among them (subj. Antiochus Epiph.) Pi. Pf.‏ WA, id., ~68", but rd. Jmv. NA (WA) (G S B so‏ .עמִים obj.‏ ,י' most; De follows MT), subj. ref. to‏ Trina n.pr.m. a eunuch of Ahasuerus, Est x (Thes comp. Pers. beste, ligatus sc. membro, e.g. spado, cf. Vullers”?*™ sub s..3). 7. [Sma] vb. feel loathing (cf.Syr. Nua בחר (so in lexx.) nauseated (yet v. Gei Ushi 7) ; NSyr. ביר‎ envy cf. Stoddard &*"-?")—Qal 2% 3 fs. MONA Ze 11® נפְשֶם‎ D3 DDR WHI AYP ב' בי‎ felt ₪ loathing against me. TEE [Sn] vb. (Ar. je be avaricious) : only Pu. Pt. nna non an inheritance gotten by greed Pr 207! Kt; > Vrss מְבהֶלֶת‎ 3, v. .בהל‎

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  Christianity finally succeeded in closing the amphitheatre. Constantine, who in his earlier reign himself did homage to the popular custom in this matter, and exposed a great multitude of conquered barbarians to death in the amphitheatre at Treves, for which he was highly commended by a heathen orator,219 issued in 325, the year of the great council of the church at Nice, the first prohibition of the bloody spectacles, "because they cannot be pleasing in a time of public peace."220 But this edict, which is directed to the prefects of Phoenicia, had no permanent effect even in the East, except at Constantinople, which was never stained with the blood of gladiators. In Syria and especially in the West, above all in Rome, the deeply rooted institution continued into the fifth century. Honorius (395–423), who at first considered it indestructible, abolished the gladiatorial shows about 404, and did so at the instance of the heroic self-denial of an eastern monk by the name of Telemachus, who journeyed to Rome expressly to protest against this inhuman barbarity, threw himself into the arena, separated the combatants, and then was torn to pieces by the populace, a martyr to humanity.221 Yet this put a stop only to the bloody combats of men. Unbloody spectacles of every kind, even on the high festivals of the church and amidst the invasions of the barbarians, as we see by the grievous complaints of a Chrysostom, an Augustine, and a Salvian, were as largely and as passionately attended as ever; and even fights with wild animals, in which human life was generally more or less sacrificed, continued,222 and, to the scandal of the Christian name, are tolerated in Spain and South America to this day. § 22. Evils of the Union of Church and State. Secularization of the Church. We turn now to the dark side of the union of the church with the state; to the consideration of the disadvantages which grew out of their altered relation after the time of Constantine, and which continue to show themselves in the condition of the church in Europe to our own time. These evil results may be summed up under the general designation of the secularization of the church. By taking in the whole population of the Roman empire the church became, indeed, a church of the masses, a church of the people, but at the same time more or less a church of the world. Christianity became a matter of fashion. The number of hypocrites and formal professors rapidly increased;223 strict discipline, zeal, self-sacrifice, and brotherly love proportionally ebbed away; and many heathen customs and usages, under altered names, crept into the worship of God and the life of the Christian people. The Roman state had grown up under the influence of idolatry, and was not to be magically transformed at a stroke. With the secularizing process, therefore, a paganizing tendency went hand in hand.

• From A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (BDB) (1907)

  pa: [ a7] vb. pollute, defile, profane ; Hiph. also begin (lit. wntie, loosen, open, v. Arab.) (ar. = untie, undo, become free, lawful, free from obligation or tie; Iv. make lawful; x. esteem lawful or free, profane, desecrate, violate; NH הלל‎ be profane, dese- crated (also Pi. Hiph. transit.), ef. Aram. חלל‎ ; NONE Pa. is purify, Ss?” Aph. is profane)— Niph. Pf 272 Ez 25%, MDM) -תִּי)‎ Co) Ez 22%, sn) Ez ;"ל‎ Impf. יחל‎ Is 48", החל‎ Ly 21°, DN) Ez 22%; Inf. ona Riz eoweoaes et. inp Ly 21*.—1. reflex. pollute, defile oneself a. ritually, by contact with dead || טמא‎ Lv 214 (H). b. sexually || זנה‎ Lv 21° (H). 2. Pass., be polluted, defiled, of holy places Ez 7* 25°, name of God Ez 20°" 18 48" and even God himself Ez 22°, Pi. Pf. Sdn Ly 195+ 3 6; sf. חללו‎ Dt 20°; 2 ms. חִלְַתָּ‎ Gn 49°+3t.; 2 fs. npon Ez 22°; 3 pl. sf. mon Ez 7” etc.,+ 16+. Pf; Impf. Dom Dive o> eke ְחלְלְנו‎ Dt 20°; pl. sn Ly21°+ 4t., doom W809" etc., + 13t. Impf.; Inf. 55m Am 274 Aste חַללו‎ Ez 23% + 4 t.; pon Je 16"; Pt. 950 Ez 24” pl. מִחַלָלִים‎ Mal 1? Ne 13"): sf. monn com os nen Ly 21°;— 1. defile, pollute: a. sexually, Gn 49*(poem)= 1 Ch5}(the father’s bed); a woman=73t Ly 19” 21°(H); WR Ly 21" )11(. b. ceremonially, profane, the altar by a tool Ex 20” (JE); sacred places Ly 21155 )11(, Ez 7222 23% 24" 447 Zp 3‘ Mala" W747 Dn11”; the holy land 616% sacred things Ly 19° 22°" (H) Nu 18% (P) Ez22”; the sabbath Ex31™(P), Is 567° Ez20™ 1621-24 2 25 23°° Ne 138; and so the sanctity of the prince of Tyre who made himself God, and his holy places, Ez 287°, ¢. the name of God, Ly'18" סד‎ 20° 21° 227 (all 2) ה‎ Je 347% Ez 20% 36°73 Mal 1”, God himself Ez13”. 4. defiles or profanes his inheritance by giving it over to Babylon Is 47°; the princes 820 . חל

• From A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (BDB) (1907)

  R) WAN הוּלְעים‎ DI and i grew foul (rot- ten, decayed) with worms, and stank; Is 50° וְתְמַת בּצָמָא‎ OND PNY ONT WIN their fish stink for lack of water, etc. (@ Lo Di rd. YI, dry up and die, which suits ||, but not the usage of YD). MNiph. Pf. ז נְבְאש‎ ₪ 134; WS 2 10°; נְבְאַשְתָּ‎ 2S 167;—only fig. make ‘oneself odious, become odious (cf. Eng. be in bad odour), sq. אֶת‎ with=towards; JPINNS AWNII 2 ₪ 16% thow hast become odious with thy father; also sq. 2 (rather strangely) 1 ₪ 13* Jsr. ב‎ themselves odious to the 1270178708; -2 ₪ 10° Ammonites to David, Hiph. Pf. #823 Ex 16% 19 27"; eed eis DAYS ו‎ Impf. MNT Pr 13° Ee 10!; Inf. abs. ה הַבְאָש‎ estr. sf. לְהַבְאֶישָנִי‎ Gn 34°;—1. emit a stinking odour Ex 16" of manna (cf. Qal v™); y 38° NAN PDI WII my wounds have grown stinking, they y have festered (of chastisement for sin); 1817? fig. of David 18Y2 WNIT WNIT he hath become utterly abhorred among ‘his people. 2. cause to stink, רוקה‎ NOY rar WIND ְבוּבִי מָוָת‎ dead flies cause to stink (and) to ferment the oil 0 a perfumer ; usually 6. הִבְאשָתֶּם אֶתדרִיחָנוּ‎ 5°' (J), i.e. ye have made us odious, sq. '2°Y3, ae le ace. pers.) Gn 34° sq. 2; also without obj. Pr 13° a wicked man yaks odious and shameful (De Now Str; Be Ew Hi Zé acts odiously and 0 Hithp. 220 התבּאשו‎ 1 Ch 19° they had made themselves odious (=Niph. in || 2 ₪ 10%, sq. DY. באשז‎ n.m. stench—’2 estr. Am 4"; sf. WN Jo2™; OWN - ,ב' מַחְנִיבֶם--34%‎ i.e. stench of corpses Am 4”, also Is 34°; cf. Jo 2” of locusts ב'‎ mdy (|| Snany Syn), Trina n.f. (stinking things) stinking or noxious weeds, Jb 31° הֶטָה יָצָא חוח וְתַחַתד‎ NAA AWNI שָעַרָה‎ instead of wheat ma 1 Were spring forth bramble, and instead of barley stinking weeds (cf. As. bidu Zehupfund 255 %*), n.{m. |pl. stinking or worthless‏ בְּמָשִים1 (בְּאוּשָה things, wild grapes (N H n. unit.‏ (perh. adj. om. 0°39 cf. Di) Is 54 of Yahweh’s‏ vineyard, 3 labruscae (v. further De).‏ n.f. only 1} N23 26 2” the apple of‏ [בַּבַהז gate I Est‏ 822 ; כב-1| 43| his eye (Aram.‏ Thes sub 333 to which Ges gives sense 65‏ ;"5 hence: opening of | Yes but cf, Ar. 33 mr‏ 6 ere pupil of eye, perh. = 823 Dozy® babe, fabs Y;‏ bébé (imitating infant’s prattle) i.e. child of the‏ .)1 אישון eye; v. Hi St, Flin ChWB**"; cf,‏ 93 gee n.pr.m. ₪ chief of returning exiles ‘33‏ בּבִי בנ בבי ;"8 Ne 10%; ‘22 ‘22 Ezr 8"; ‘22°J2 Ezr‏ Ezr 2} 1 to Ne 76,‏

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  II. The Works of Damiani consist of Epistles, Sermons, Lives of Saints, ascetic tracts, and Poems. They are a mirror of the church of his age. 1. The Epistles are divided into eight books. They are addressed (a) to contemporary Roman Bishops (Gregory VI., Clement II., Leo IX., Victor II., Nicolas II., Alexander II., and the Anti-pope Cadalous or Honorius II.); (b) to the Cardinal Bishops, and to Cardinal Hildebrand in particular; (c) to Patriarchs and to the Archbishops of Ravenna and Cologne; (d) to various Bishops; (e) to Archpresbyters, Archdeacons, Presbyters and other clergy. They give a graphic picture of the corruptions of the church in his times, and are full of zeal for a moral reform. He subscribes himself "Petrus peccator monachus." The letters to the anti-pope Cadalous show his power of sarcasm; he tells him that his very name from cado, to fall, and laov", people, was ominous, that he deserved a triple deposition, that his new crime was adultery and simony of the worst sort, that he had sold his own church (Parma) and bought another, that the church was desecrated to the very top by such adulteries. He prophesied his death within one year, but Cadalous outlived it, and Damiani defended his prophecy as applying to moral death. 2. Sermons, seventy-four in number.1537 They are short and treat of church festivals, apostles, the Virgin Mary, martyrs, saints, relics, and enjoin a churchly and ascetic piety. 3. Lives of Saints, of the Benedictine order, namely, Odilo of Cluny, Romuald, Rodulphus, and Dominicus Loricatus (the hero of self-flagellation), whose examples are held up for imitation.1538 4. Dogmatic Discussions, De Fide Catholica; Contra Judaeos; Dialogus inter Judaeum et Christianum; De Divina Omnipotentia; De Processione Spiritus Sancti (against the Greeks), etc.1539 5. Polemic and ascetic treatises. The most important is the Liber Gomorrhianus (1051), a fearless exposure of clerical immorality which appeared to him as bad as the lewdness of Sodom and Gomorrah (hence the title).1540 It is addressed to Pope Leo IX. and calls on him to exercise his authority in removing the scandals. The Liber Gratissimus, addressed to Henry, archbishop of Ravenna, is directed against simony.1541 He wrote also tracts on the contempt of the world, on monastic perfection, on the life of hermits, on sacerdotal celibacy, against intemperance, against avarice, etc.1542 6. On Miracles and Apparitions.1543 7. On the Pictures of the chief Apostles, especially Peter and Paul.1544 8. Exposition of the Canon of the Mass, and other liturgical topics.1545 9. Exegetical Fragments on the Old and New Testaments.1546 10 Poems, satires, epigrams and Prayers.1547 His best hymn is on the glory of Paradise, based on poetic prose of St. Augustin: "Ad perennis vitae fontem mens sativit arida."1548 VOLUME V. THE MIDDLE AGES GROM GREGORY VII., 1049, to BONIFACE VIII., 1294by DAVID S. SCHAFF, D.D. ————

• From A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (BDB) (1907)

  N11) DID MT) DEN Nu 11” (JE) and it (the flesh) become to you a loathsome thing (© «is xorkepav, YB in nauseam), prob.err. for 7M (Sam.) 111. [15] vb. press down and out (Aram. זיר‎ press together, Syr. 96), 91 compress; cf. Ar. 53h twist the lip of a beast)—Qal Pf. 3 pl. MIs 1° (pass; > 771, Ar. כ‎ draw forcibly together O1'** *°! KG"); Impf. 3 ms. I Ju 6%, 3 fs. sf. TMA Ib 39; Pt. pass. 1. זורָה‎ (=n Ges!) Is 59°; — press (twist or 2 זר wring) out a fleece Ju6*; not pressed out, of sore (fig. of continued disaster) Is 1°; press under foot an egg, Jb 39” (||¥), Is 59° (pass.) n.m. circlet, border (orig. that which‏ זרז presses, binds, cf. also Aram. [7 bracelet, 81"‏ wreath, crown, NH VI id., 1" ring, wrestler’s‏ Ex 2574 30%‏ זֶר זָהָב-(זרר + ring ; others fr. a‏ Bee ny Ex 30% 3771 (all P}‏ adj. girded, girt (cf. Ba °°") —only‏ זרזיר1 DWN WN that which is‏ אוחתיש 30% estr. Pr‏ girt in the loins, etc., named with lion, he-goat,‏ and king, as stately in motion. Perh.=grey-‏ hound Ew 156 De al.,or war-horse Bo Ges Hial.;‏ Vrss. cock, Talm. raven, v. De Now (NH 1!‏ starling (war-horse only in interpr. of Pr 30%),‏ Aram. 2.33); Lexx. also $0434 starling, in Ar.‏ OR perh. loan-wd. Others der. fr. a 71,‏ y. supr.)‏ n.[m.] wound (as needing to have‏ מזור its matter pressed out)—fig. of injury to, or‏ sufferings of, Isr. and Judah: Wt Ho5* also‏ (Gf Che RVm; but accents Ew Ges Gie‏ 30% 16 AV RV for pressing, i.e. binding up); "2 Ho‏ .מזר Is 1°).— Wt) Ob? v. sub‏ זור .111 (cf.‏ "5 .זוז TM y. sub‏ vb. remove, displace (Ar. 2‏ מהחןז wij‏ מו push, thrust away; comp. also Aram.‏ move, move away (intrans.))—Niph. Impf,,‏ Ex 28% and that the‏ ולא TANT by no ny‏ breast-piece be not displaced etc., 39” (both P).‏ 1 [ MH] vb. shrink back, crawl away (Aram. om crawl (also drop, drip, of water : so NH bm), mnt worm ; Syr. 1-21 locust (as crawling) ; Ar. NES withdraw, retire to a dis- tance (vy. Lane, Wetzst in De ™°?* *), and Sab. Sr withdraw, humble oneself DHM 243% 00 —Qal only .2%6. pl. estr. זחלי‎ Dt 32% Mi 7™ ;-- crawl, of reptiles (pt.) זחלי עָפֶר‎ Dt 32% i.e. ser- pents (as poisonous), instruments of Yahweh’s judgment on Isr.; ז' אריץ‎ Mi 7” id. (as crawl- ing into the earth to hide), sim. of nations in fear of ”. i noni n.f. mng. dub.; perh. crawling thing, serpent (We iene cites Ar. Zukal =Saturn, in connex. with 1K 1°; cf. Lane & Wetzst in 126 ל‎ * ** on view that Zuhal=he who withdraws, because of planet Saturn’s remoteness)—only 0. art., in design. loc. DY nonia אָבָן‎ x א‎ x° (cf. 128 ad fin.) 67 זד

• From H Is for Hawk (2014)

  I suspect their last-minute attendance was partly diplomatic cover: travelling with them was Britain’s pro-appeasement Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax, who’d been invited to the event for secret talks with Hitler. There were no more than fifty falconers in the whole of Germany, but the symbolism of falconry was flourishing in the Reich. On the cover of the exhibition catalogue a stylised, naked Übermensch held a golden hawk upon his fist. The national falconer’s association, the Deutscher Falkenorden, had been given state patronage, and a vast half-timbered State Falconry Centre, the Reichsfalkenhof, had recently been built in the forest at Riddagshausen. In Berlin Blaine and Mavrogordato walked through halls whose walls were hung thickly with thousands of antlers and draped in red banners sewn with swastikas. They admired the German hawks, falcons and eagles sitting on perches in the halls, but they were less impressed by the open-air falconry demonstrations. They watched a saker falcon catch a tethered pigeon, and an eagle thrown at a rabbit so tame it sat nibbling grass until the eagle landed. Only two countries had falconry exhibits in the Berlin exhibition. Germany won first prize for theirs, and the British Falconers’ Club came second. That bronze falcon I’d pulled from Gordon’s cupboard was their award. It had been sent to the club after the exhibition by Hermann Göring. Göring: Hitler’s right-hand man, commander-in chief of the Luftwaffe, the Jägermeister of the Reich, the man who’d set the Reichstag on fire. Falconry delighted him. It wasn’t only that he considered it the Romantic sport of ancient Teutonic kings. Hawks themselves were a natural elite, the perfect naturalisation of Nazi ideology: living paragons of power and blood and violence that preyed guiltlessly on things weaker than themselves. Göring’s portrait of his favourite hawk, a white gyrfalcon standing on a cliff, is utterly true to the conventions of Nazi portraiture: bathed in morning sunlight, its wings half open, the falcon stares coldly into the distance. And Göring had a trained goshawk, too: I had seen it stuffed and mounted on a branch in an American archive years before. It was a big goshawk in adult plumage, still wearing jesses and bells, its dry toes locked around a dusty branch. It was beautifully mounted. Someone had taken very good care to make it look alive. I stared into its glass eyes, chilled to the bone, and wondered if it was related to Gos. There was every chance that it was a cousin of White’s hawk, for the man who’d painted Göring’s gyrfalcon, the man who headed the Deutscher Falkenorden, who had arranged falconry’s state patronage and designed the Reichsfalkenhof, was Renz Waller. And he was the man who’d sent White Gos; the man to whom White had written pleading for another hawk. And who wrote back to him a few weeks later saying he would certainly try to ‘get for you a other passager Gos’.

• From H Is for Hawk (2014)

  She picked it up, fascinated. ‘What an amazing thing,’ she said, frowning under her straight-cut fringe. ‘It goes over the hawk’s head to keep it quiet, right?’ And she looked inside, where the moulded leather was stitched with lines of hair-fine thread, and then turned it over in her hands, examining the bevelled opening for the hawk’s beak and the plaited Turk’s-head knot you hold it by, and the two long braces at the back that pull the hood open and closed. She set it back on the table reverently. ‘It’s so beautifully made,’ she said. ‘It’s like a Prada shoe.’ Indeed. This hood is among the best of its kind. It was made by an American falconer called Doug Pineo and it weighs almost nothing. A few grams. That is all. Something about its perfect lightness set against the heaviness of my heart makes me giddy. I shut my eyes and my head is full of hoods. Modern American hoods like this one. Loose-braced Bahraini hoods of soft goatskin for passage sakers and peregrines. Syrian hoods. Turkmen hoods. Afghan hoods. Tiny Indian hoods in snakeskin for shikras and sparrowhawks. Huge eagle hoods from Central Asia. Sixteenth-century French hoods cut from white kidskin embroidered with golden thread and painted with coats of arms. They’re not a European invention. Frankish knights learned how to use hoods from Arab falconers during the Crusades, and a shared love of falconry made hawks political pawns in those wars. When a white gyrfalcon owned by King Philip I of Spain broke its leash during the Siege of Acre and flew up to the city walls, the king sent an envoy into the city to request its return. Saladin refused, and Philip sent another envoy, accompanied by trumpets, ensigns and heralds, offering a thousand gold crowns for the falcon. Was it returned? I can’t recall. Did it matter? No, I think savagely. They’re all dead. Long dead. I think of Saladin taking the king’s falcon onto his own hand and covering its eyes with leather. I own this. It is mine. I think of fetish hoods. I think of distant wars. I think of Abu Ghraib. Sand in the mouth. Coercion. History and hawks and hoods and the implications of taking something’s sight away to calm it. It’s in your own best interest. Rising nausea. There’s a sensation of ground being lost, of wet sand washing from under my feet. I don’t want to think of the photographs of the tortured man with the hood on his head and the wires to his hands and the invisible enemy who holds the camera, but it is all I can see and the word hood like a hot stone in my mouth. Burqa, the word in Arabic. Hood.

• From H Is for Hawk (2014)

  While still a schoolmaster he bought two Siamese cats – a breed renowned for its independence – and tried to ‘train them to place no reliance or affection upon anybody but themselves’. It was what he had been trying to do himself for years. ‘In vain,’ he concluded, with disgust. ‘Far from wandering free and independent . . . they sleep all day in the sitting room, in the intervals of mewing at me for more food.’ The cats were a failure. The grass snakes he kept in his rooms were not. He kept them because ‘it was impossible to impose upon them, or steal their affections’. He loved them because they were misunderstood, maligned, and ‘inevitably themselves’: they were versions of the self he aspired to be, just like the characters he called to life in his books: Merlyn the perfect teacher; the Wart, the orphan who was born to be king, and Sir Lancelot the ill-made knight, whose character White made his own. Lancelot was a sadist who refrained from hurting people through his sense of honour – his Word. His Word was his promise to be gentle, and it was one of the things that made him the Best Knight in the World. ‘All through his life,’ White wrote of Lancelot, ‘even when he was a great man with the world at his feet – he was to feel this gap: something at the bottom of his heart of which he was aware, and ashamed, but which he did not understand.’ White always took great pains to be gentle precisely because he wanted to be cruel. It was why he never beat his pupils at Stowe. And though abjuring cruelty was White’s Word, animals played a curious role in keeping it. Riding out with the Old Surrey and Burstow Hunt, White recorded the first time he saw a kill with distanced fascination. The fox was dug out of a drain where it had taken refuge and thrown to the hounds. They tore it to pieces while a circle of human onlookers ‘screeched them on’. The humans, White thought, were disgusting, their cries ‘tense, self-conscious, and hysterically animal’. But the hounds were not. ‘The savagery of the hounds,’ he wrote, ‘was deep-rooted and terrible, but rang true, so that it was not horrible like that of the human.’

• From A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (BDB) (1907)

  WEI 1272), elsewh, ANON:‏ ||( 104% ץ '112 (הודה || (both‏ יזז: "106 at beginning y‏ )1( "146 ,(8 ||) 1351 ,(ה' DENY‏ ” ₪ הללו |) !113 (פי MBL in cl. with‏ .)ד ג (הללי נִפְשי MNS‏ )|( (שיחי לי'|) 49% ,(הללוהו ‏ הלל ||( !148 at end 104"‏ )2( (הַללוּהו , הללוּדאֶל ||( 150 ”116 ,)7133 יה ||) לש זז 113° *106 105° (supr.),‏ Tore 1 772) 146" Oe Gad 148" 149°‏ ?114 bban nwa 53): add to these (not‏ ||( 150° פל liturgical) *Y-P5D) yro2™, mY DPA mw?‏ also sq.‏ .6 .5 זז לא הַמַתִים ְהַלְלוּיָהּ ,150° min, in Chr, of technical Levitical function‏ to‏ הלל (cf. Lag°™"*°*, who limits this technical‏ priests, using NWN, for a signal to the peo-‏ ple; v. e.g. 0 12% cf. v”), ‘1 Ch16* (with‏ & בְּבָלי ְבָלִים instrumental music, 61. N33‏ and Ne 127( 23" 25° (all‏ ףצ all‏ בּמַצְלְחַים nisin); exercised (apparently) by both priests‏ || ef. v"; by Levites‏ (הדות||) "3 and Levites Ezr‏ Ch 20” (dt13 5p3), 29% (7 1273) in which‏ 2 the people also joined 1 Ch 16%; also 2Ch 5”‏ niny¥n2 61. also v®;‏ וּבְמצְלְחיֶם vds‏ הַשִיר) v8 (appar. of Levites & priests),‏ | (הדות || Ch 23° (Levites) cf. 2Ch 30”‏ 1 מהַלְלִים my‏ בַּבָּלִים לשם sq. ANAM‏ ;)19533 לי' (Levites & priests‏ David speaks in name of‏ ; מורים||) 29% Ch‏ ז people); sq. wap 2 Ch 20% (before the‏ prob. of Levites, cf. v").‏ ; משרְרים army; Nae‏ f. sq. 400. "' Ezr 3" (priests & Levites: var by‏ TI), Ne 5" (people). | ₪. other forms, with‏ band‏ להודות like technical sense, but abs.:‏ Ne 12™ (Levites) cf. 1 Ch 23° 2 Ch‏ בְּמְצָוֶת דּוִיד Ch 31° (appar. priests &‏ 2 (עַדלְשְמְחָה) ”29 3 mwd); y.‏ ולהדות || Levites; “7 nism “yea;‏ (משוּררים 223" Ch 23%(|[ Wein‏ 2 מודיעים ?90 also‏ DPB NYO 2Ch7°(\| MTNA), 3. appar.‏ boast, make one’s boast cf. Qal 2 (sq. 3 zn, of),‏ so, ace. to‏ ; (שמף לְעוּלֶם נוּדָה|) ?44 ץ בָּאלְהִים "סז ץ ה' most, in bad sense, wad MINA->y yer‏ a wicked man boasteth of the desire of his soul,‏ but Che prazseth (/*) for (i.e. in a mercenary‏ Impf.‏ ;הדש הוּללוּ spirit), Pu. Pf. 3 pl.‏ הַהְלְלָה .+ Pr ra; Pe. S50 5 8 2044+ 6t.;‏ יהָפַל- SUE however‏ 975 ל 30 Ez 26" (cf. O1?*‏ accents as Pf., regarding 7 as=relative, v. Sta‏ Gesi™*B-°)-__be praised, 1. human subj.,‏ 91765 be praised, commended Pr 12" (opp. nad 7) ;‏ of maidens, praised, celebrated (in song) 78";‏ pt. (v. supr.) of city, renowned Ez 26". 2.‏ of *, only pt.=gerundive, to be praised, worthy‏ 7 הלל

• From A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (BDB) (1907)

  n.m.7*" and (more oft.) 2,"‏ לש tongue (NH id.; also As. lisdnu; Ar. edad‏ [LAN (all 2‏ ,לישן ,18 Eth. AQ; Aram.‏ Ex 4+;‏ ל' DHM®-*) ;- abs.‏ לשן Zinj.‏ Jos 774-5 (sf. wD‏ לשון wn Jos 15°; estr.‏ Ju 7° 1%‏ לשונו Exit! fats‏ לשנו ;237 28 abs.‏ לשנות Is 59%, etc.; pl.‏ לְשוּנְכֶם 3455 ¥ qv‏ Gn 107); _‏ לשנְתֶם W317! 18665; estr. Zc 8%; sf.‏ tongue of men, a. used in lapping Ju 7°;‏ .1 cleaving to the palate (PM), in thirst La 4% so‏ iP),‏ נָהְבָּא ||( ”29 as to produce dumbness Jb‏ (מלקוח) Ez3° (|| DDN)); cleaving to jaws‏ 137° their tongue for‏ "41 לי N82‏ נְשְתָּה 2er:‏ ץר pn 0 Ze 14” 0‏ בַּפִיהֶם ; thirst is parched‏ judgment) ; a choice morsel is held > nnn‏ Jb 20” (fig. of mischief), cf. 10’ (ready to be‏ Ct 4". b. usu. as organ‏ ,פה ||) 667 uttered),‏ of speech, both good and bad (esp. f Pr, oft. || 78,‏ myo‏ ל ’ ; nay), ’ 5 123 Ex 4"(J)heavy of tongue‏ Pr 16}, עלדלשונָי‎ indy 26 297 cf. Pr 317) 4 139! (/53), aby ל ;6% 1% היש בּלשונִי‎ TR OYM Ny Pr 18”, 61. 21% 25"; of (false) proph., הַלִקָחִים לי‎ ‘Je 23%; subj. of vb. of speaking, 27: דּבָּרֶה‎ °2N2Ib33° 12°37”; cf.(Jeg’ infr. and) לי.. תִּמַהַר‎ מָהִיר 32% 1 לְדִבָּר‎ TAD HY ץ לשוני‎ 45%, Le. as swift as a rapid scribe’s stylus; subj. of 739 Ts 59° Jb 274 ץ‎ 35% 71%; subj. of 232 Is 45%; בַּאָרֶץ‎ q>an לי‎ W 73°; of hostile speech, insolence, etc., Josro"' (JE; obj. of r. #1 q.v., ef. 3 infr.), Je 18% Is 38; “> זעם‎ Ho 7" (but text dub., cf. We Now), 730 לי חָרֶב‎ + 57% cf. 644; iD שָנּ לי‎ BIN] ;*ס4 ז‎ FAN כְּלל' תק‎ Tes 54"; ל'‎ PINT 575; further, Je "5; as instr. of seductive flattery הְחָלִיק)‎ without 2, ~ 5° Pr 28% ef. 6 meen M932 Pr 6*; of falsehood p 78% (cf. infr.); ‘of 546

• From A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (BDB) (1907)

  WAN PIA Th 18" (of wicked, || הרפה מָאר‎ Hoph. be chased away, Impf. 3 ms. דד כְּחְזְיוּן‎ Jb 208 (of wicked); 732 קוץ‎ 2 5 23° thorn thrust away (si vera l., cf. Dr.; Klo Bu HP; 7279 .(ק'‎ Hithpo'l. Zmpf. 30 שי‎ fle away (in horror, disgust, cf. Qal Na 3’ ¥ 31”). 1 [נדוּד]‎ n.[m.] tossing of sleeplessness only pl. 0°72 Jb 7* I am sated with וג‎ 8 ta n.f.. impurity (as abhorren shunned); —abs.’) Ez18°+; estr. 13 Lv 12745 81. AN > + ;—impurity (esp. P and Ezek.): 1 of ceremonial impurity, as union with brother’ wife, Lv 207; esp. of menstruation Ez 18° (rd ANIA NWS for MT 773’8 6 Co), 30 NNO 22! ef. 367, ANVAN7 Ly 12%, cf. v5 1597/7) יי גו‎ (’9) IBVID), יי‎ (77) MB), v 18% ו‎ contracted by contact with א‎ 6 113(0) 2 water of 0 (i.e. to remove it ef. Di), Nu 29°" eae 2. fig. (witl allusion to cerem. usage), impure thing, Ez 7 / (of gold), La זז‎ (of Jerus.); of idolatry, im mona etc., 2 Ch 29° Ezrg” (73 72S) שי‎ Zo 13} (M3 nswand), Tap n.f. id. (on form cf. Ges§ 33-1 KG - ב‎ of Jerusalem La (= TTI (“of foll., v. Ko"**; of. Ar. &‏ .זז high hill, hill rising high into the sky, Lane™™;‏ also earth-heap, sand-heap).‏ n.m.’*** heap of waters; of Red See‏ נדז of Jordan Jos 3%" 3:‏ ;"78 ץר Ex 15° (song),‏ Is 17" harvest-heap is perhaps‏ 72 קָצִיר = (sim.).‏ corrupt: Ges Ew Di Du der. from 13, reading‏ (probably) 73 (Di) jled is the harvest ; Che*™‏ after G Ts‏ ,עד proposes }2? therefore; Buhl***‏ he [173] vb. Pi. putaway,exclude(NH Pie (caccommumicate) Hithp. Niph.; As. nadi, throw, overthrow, destroy, etc. , De —Pi. Pt. רע‎ pip O20 Am 6° they that thrust off the evil day (i.e. refuse to think of it); lit. DI" Is 66° thrust away, exclude from association in worship (on usage y. Che). IL. PTT (of foll.; ef. Ar. Ga5 be moist, moistened, and also betide, befal; (635 rain, dew, and also bounty, liberality, a gift, Lane*™®). Ta (so Baer Ginsb; van d. 11. i172), m.m. gift (on format. cf. Ges'**° Ol" Kg= ae aa תנְדָה- -; ופא‎ nisi-92> Ez 16% (|| ְדָבִים‎ aa

• From A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (BDB) (1907)

  n.m.”"”*! detested thing;—‏ שקץ שקוּץ1 41 זז Durr 12", estr. yew‏ שקוץ abs.‏ Ez‏ שקוצ' .036 ;23% K‏ 2 שַקָצִים Chis,‏ 2 שקוּצים sf. DIPSIPU Je 16" + , etc.;—detested thing,‏ 207% epith. of Isr. Ho 9” (si vera 1.; not elsewhere‏ bef. Dt); of filth Na 3°; appar. of unclean food‏ תוּעְבָה || Zc 97 (as YPY); of idols (so usu.; oft.‏ K 23" Je 4) = 32% 737‏ 2 20° ו ו לול of idolatrous‏ :44% 20°89 דד 7 5 nO Bz‏ practices Dn 9”, but rd. prob.as 11°" )50 69 6( and‏ detested‏ "12 11° ש' (מִ)שמֶם (v. Dr);‏ כנף for‏ 493 thing causing horror is the heathen altar erected‏ in temple by Ant. Epiph., with (prob.) a statue‏ lord of heaven;‏ בעלשמם of Zeus Olympios=(Ph.)‏ (מִ)שמם and‏ ,בעל the prophet puts PY for‏ ef. Nes 24” iv (1884), 24S Che °? 103 Dr Dn‏ ; שָמִיִם for‏ 3 [שקק]‎ vb. run, run about, rush (appar. akin to VI. pw, whence piv’) 3—Qal 7707: 3 mpl. 3p V3 Jo 2°, of locusts (|| יָרְצוּן‎ ; > Gr prop. 3p! from (סלק‎ ; Pt. PRY Is 33% 6. ב‎ rei rush at, upon(like locusts); of roving,ranging bearPr28” (unless we read py, Toy); fig. of YB) longing for water Is 29° (|| עיף‎ and, ץ ,(רקה לצ‎ 1079 (7299). Hithpalp. Jmpf.3 mpl. ppypAy Na 2°, of chariots, they rush to and fro. T [pun] n.[m.] running, rushing ;—cstr. משק‎ Is 33% of locusts. of following ; deceive ; Aram. “pw‏ /( שקר deceive, also n. deceit, ;a.m Pa. deceive, and‏ deriv.; As. taSkirtu [Dl -gir-] a lie, so NH PY,‏ > =? ₪ Ar. ji. and 5&3 (loan-word 2). deception, disappointment,‏ 2 3 שקר Ex 23'+ 64 t.; "py Ex +‏ ש'--; falsehood‏ 6 שְקְרִיהֶם sf.‏ ;+ 3+ 'נסז ץ pl. OY‏ ;% 42 deception, what deceives, disappoints,‏ .1-—;23° 1055 שרביה

• From Pleasure Activism (2017)

  I had a babysitter when I was quite young who watched the Porky’s movies, which can best be described as rape culture time capsules from the eighties. My family’s military-issue apartment was small, and I easily snuck out of bed and found a spot from which I took in sexually disempowering images I didn’t understand. I also loved musicals—Grease and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers were favorites. As a result of this kind of media, my early fantasy life was often about men taking advantage of skinny women, secretly watching them, trapping them, or women having to change for the desires of men. I thought this was how sex happens, that it centers men, and that we as women should be in a constant state of seducing, playing hard to get, and getting caught by men. Hence, my twenties. But I learned! To see differently, to imagine differently. I once got to swim in a body of water where saltwater met freshwater. With goggles on, I could see the subtle horizontal line between the freshwater on top and the heavier, denser seawater below. That visual comes to mind as I think of the cultures in which we swim in the United States. The heavier seawater is our much-defended rape culture, which is fed by fantasies of incest, rape, coercion, boundary transgression, force, transaction, and scenarios where the masculine wields power over the feminine. Floating above that is the culture of repression, often rooted in religious spaces. Repression fantasies focus on purity, innocence, virginity, monogamy, and youth. These fantasies are one of the ways we get trained in the gender-normative behaviors that sustain our layered culture. We learn from parents, teachers, extended family, media, religious leaders, and basically all adults we encounter. And, of course, our early lovers, who are often fumbling in their own confusion and learning. Men learn to be dominant, initiating penetrators: they learn that it’s in their nature to ravish women. Women learn to be coy, dishonest receptacles: we’re taught to say no until the last moment—and then say nothing but yes. Or say nothing and mean yes. Those who don’t fit into this binary construction, or who shift within it in their lifetimes, are often expected to still don these roles in sexual encounters. The lessons are sometimes very direct, other times implied: cross your legs like a lady, save that for your husband, take her like a man, it hurts a little at first, it’s just nature, who’s your Daddy. Layer into this our intersecting systems of hierarchy—racism, ableism, classism, etc.—and you have a plethora of fantasies that perpetuate and sustain a janky reality. Note: I’m not saying there aren’t people in the United States whose early fantasies are generated outside of a mainstream paradigm stretched between rape culture and a culture of repression, I just have yet to meet such a person.

• From Pleasure Activism (2017)

  These vampires can smell when it’s time to bed you. They out themselves by doing extravagant things like pulling your tampon out with their teeth, or making you grind bloody poems into their thighs. They love the abundant lubrication of blood and are thrilled to meet the voracious appetite of their moon-time lovers. You may have to redirect their excitement if you aren’t in a sexy mood, which happens for some of us during PMS and the first couple of bloody days. They might even be more into the bloody mess than you’re comfortable with. Because the norm is so anti-blood, even if these team members seem extra, it can be healing and normalizing to experience a lover on Team Bloody Fetish. Team Bloody Skittish These lovers don’t run away from the river of life, but there’s not much enthusiasm for the swim. They might prefer a day-three or day-four period bone, when the whole thing is a bit more under control. With a sweet direct request and a quick shower, you might get them to kiss on your clit for a moment. It’s good to be curious with these lovers, examine the reticence, and see if they have an interest in exploring Team Bloody Awesome. Best case scenario, you can negotiate a period-sex arrangement that doesn’t require either of you to feel uncomfortable or undesirable. Team Bloody Faint14 These lovers would prefer that God had not smote the vagina with an affliction as dire and dramatic as monthly bleeding, even in the name of fertility. They feel they need to be protected from the detritus of unused miracles, sometimes to the point of not touching their bleeding lovers or even going on dates during the week of uterine shedding. If you don’t take it personally, it can be really cute when they get that deer in headlights look when your period starts mid-coitus. They might have specific blood-related trauma or a phobia of blood. You can ask about that. If they don’t, though, this team member should be invited into a learning journey around what periods are and how they work. Many of them have desires programmed by the “period = unclean” narrative that only seems to serve a male-supremacist worldview. Now, it’s important to keep in mind that this whole scale shifts relative to your own comfort with your cycle, blood, cramps, and moods. You might be Team Bloody Awesome in theory but Team Massive Cramps (if you’re regularly in so much pain that period sex seems unthinkable, you might be an unknowing member of Team Fibroids, so talk to your OB-GYN) or Team PMS Hulkmonster in real life.

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  The alleged enormities perpetrated upon Hugh of Lincoln, as given by Matthew Paris, are too shocking to be enumerated at length. The same chronicler interjects the statement that the deed was "said often to have occurred." In the excitement over little Hugh, eighteen Jews were gibbeted.933 The marvel is that the atrocious charge was believed, and that no protest against the belief has come down to us from those days. Some English Jews, under pressure of fear, submitted to baptism, and some also of their free will. The first case of the latter kind, so far as I know, is given by Anselm.934 The convert became a monk. An isolated case occurred here and there of a Christian turning Jew. A deacon was hanged for this offence.935 The last act in the history of the Jews in mediaeval England was their banishment by Edward I. in 1290. From that time until the Caroline age, England was free from Jewish inhabitants. Cromwell added to his fame by giving them protection in London. The treatment the Jews received in Spain is justly regarded as the most merciless the race received in the Middle Ages. Edward I. protected against plunder the sixteen thousand Jews whom he banished from England. But Ferdinand of Spain, when he issued the fell decree for his Jewish subjects to leave Spain, apparently looked on without a sign of pity. Spain, through its Church councils, had been the leader in restrictive legislation. The introduction of the Inquisition made the life of this people more and more severe, although primarily its pitiless regulations had no application to them. Persecutions filled the land with ungenuine proselytes, the conversos, and these became subject to the inquisitorial court. The final blow given by Ferdinand and Isabella fell in 1492, the year of the discovery of the New World, in a part of which was to be put into practice religious toleration as it was never before practised on the earth. The edict expelled all unbaptized Jews from Spain. Religious motives were behind it, and religious agents executed it. The immediate occasion was the panic aroused by the alleged crucifixion of the child of La Guardia—el santo niño de la Guardia—one of the most notorious cases of alleged child murder by the Jews.936 Lope de Vega and other Spanish writers have made the case famous in Spanish literature. Ferdinand, according to Llorente, moved by the appeals of a Jewish embassy and Spanish grandees, was about to modify his sentence, when Torquemada, hastening into the presence of the king and his consort, presented the crucifix, exclaiming, "Judas Iscariot sold Christ for thirty pieces of silver. Your majesties are about to sell him for three thousand ducats. Here he is, take him and sell him." The number of Jews who emigrated from Spain, in the summer of 1492, is estimated at 170,000 to 400, 000.937 They went to Italy, Morocco, and the East, and, invited by king Manuel, 100,000 passed into Portugal.

• From Bestiary (2020)

  At the dinner table, Ma asked Ba if he’d remembered to put on his underwear. Ba’s hands shook too much, so Jie and I sat on either side of him and took turns feeding him. Ma asked again if he’d remembered to wear underwear. Ba looked up, eyes unfixed, teeth typing on his lower lip. Jie blew on the spoon. She lifted it to Ba’s lips. Make a mouth, she said. But his tongue was smoke and didn’t know shape. Did you remember to put on your underwear, Ma said again. Ba looked. He’d put his hands down but couldn’t remember where. He stood up from the table and unbuttoned his pants, penis lolling out. It looked like a plucked neck, a bird stunned for slaughter. Ma set down her bowl. She reached across the table and clamped Ba’s penis between her chopsticks, squeezed. Don’t check when you’re at the table, she said. I will cut you off and boil the bone out. Ba trembled, his pants thin from years of scrubbing the stains from his lap, the fabric almost see-through at his crotch. We watched Ma choke his penis with her chopsticks until its tip purpled. Ba’s eyes like the fish’s, lidless. That’s when Jie went into the kitchen for the knife. The wooden handle was sweat-softened, fingerprinted. Ma used it to sliver guavas in the summer, telling us not to swallow the seeds when we’re fertile. How do we know when we’re fertile? I said. When you want most to be touched, Ma said. We never saw her touch Ba unless she was knocking on his head with a spoon or dressing him in the morning, calling him a ______ who couldn’t even thread his neck through a hole. I was standing on Ma’s side of the table, opposite of Ba, twisting the skin of her wrist so she’d let go of the chopsticks. Then there was a knife in the soft hinge of my elbow. Coins of blood on the table, the same color as the tablecloth, so at least I wasn’t staining anything. Ma dropped Ba’s penis, let it bounce off the lip of the table. Jie stared at my elbow, then at her own palms, not knowing which to apologize for. I felt no ache, just a presence beneath the skin like a splinter. I reached down to withdraw the knife, but Ma said: Don’t. Ma tied her quilting squares into a tourniquet, yanked it out an hour later. By then, I’d gotten used to its permanence inside me, a new bone. When she drew it out, I felt the absence more than anything, a hole where something once homed.

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  It is no recommendation to these ascetic eccentricities that while they are without Scripture authority, they are fully equalled and even surpassed by the strange modes of self-torture practised by ancient and modern Hindoo devotees, for the supposed benefit of their souls and the gratification of their vanity in the presence of admiring spectators. Some bury themselves—we are told by ancient and modern travellers—in pits with only small breathing holes at the top, while others disdaining to touch the vile earth, live in iron cages suspended from trees. Some wear heavy iron collars or fetters, or drag a heavy chain fastened by one end round their privy parts, to give ostentatious proof of their chastity. Others keep their fists hard shut, until their finger nails grow through the palms of their hands. Some stand perpetually on one leg; others keep their faces turned over one shoulder, until they cannot turn them back again. Some lie on wooden beds, bristling all over with iron spikes; others are fastened for life to the trunk of a tree by a chain. Some suspend themselves for half an hour at a time, feet uppermost, or with a hook thrust through their naked back, over a hot fire. Alexander von Humboldt, at Astracan, where some Hindoos had settled, found a Yogi in the vestibule of the temple naked, shrivelled up, and overgrown with hair like a wild beast, who in this position had withstood for twenty years the severe winters of that climate. A Jesuit missionary describes one of the class called Tapasonias, that he had his body enclosed in an iron cage, with his head and feet outside, so that he could walk, but neither sit nor lie down; at night his pious attendants attached a hundred lighted lamps to the outside of the cage, so that their master could exhibit himself walking as the mock light of the world.296 In general, the hermit life confounds the fleeing from the outward world with the mortification of the inward world of the corrupt heart. It mistakes the duty of love; not rarely, under its mask of humility and the utmost self-denial, cherishes spiritual pride and jealousy; and exposes itself to all the dangers of solitude, even to savage barbarism, beastly grossness, or despair and suicide. Anthony, the father of anchorets, well understood this, and warned his followers against overvaluing solitude, reminding them of the proverb of the Preacher, iv. 10: "Woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up."

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  These bloody shows, in which human beings, mostly criminals, prisoners of war, and barbarians, by hundreds and thousands killed one another or were killed in fight with wild beasts for the amusement of the spectators, were still in full favor at the beginning of the period before us. The pagan civilization here proves itself impotent. In its eyes the life of a barbarian is of no other use than to serve the cruel amusement of the Roman people, who wish quietly to behold with their own eyes and enjoy at home the martial bloodshedding of their frontiers. Even the humane Symmachus gave an exhibition of this kind during his consulate (391), and was enraged that twenty-nine Saxon prisoners of war escaped this public shame by suicide.216 While the Vestal virgins existed, it was their special prerogative to cheer on the combatants in the amphitheatre to the bloody work, and to give the signal for the deadly stroke.217 The contagion of the thirst for blood, which these spectacles generated, is presented to us in a striking example by Augustine in his Confessions.218 His friend Alypius, afterward bishop of Tagaste, was induced by some friends in 385 to visit the amphitheatre at Rome, and went resolved to lock himself up against all impressions. "When they reached the spot," says Augustine, "and took their places on the hired seats, everything already foamed with bloodthirsty delight. But Alypius, with closed eyes, forbade his soul to yield to this sin. O had he but stopped also his ears! For when, on the fall of a gladiator in the contest, the wild shout of the whole multitude fell upon him, overcome by curiosity he opened his eyes, though prepared to despise and resist the sight. But he was smitten with a more grievous wound in the soul than the combatant in the body, and fell more lamentably .... For when he saw the blood, he imbibed at once the love of it, turned not away, fastened his eyes upon it, caught the spirit of rage and vengeance before he knew it, and, fascinated with the murderous game, became drunk with bloodthirsty joy .... He looked, shouted applause, burned, and carried with him thence the frenzy, by which he was drawn to go back, not only with those who had taken him there, but before them, and taking others with him."