'It is by no means inappropriate that our instructors, particularly Sulpita and Istrius, thought of man by the name of lesser world, for within himself he contains everything the visible world is made of: earth in his body, fire in his soul, water in his fluidity, and air in the swiftness of his thoughts; the sun in the radiance of his wisdom, the moon in the uncertain and unstable conditions of wealth and youth, a blossoming meadow in the nobility of his virtues and the equanimity of his mild temper, mountains in the heights of generosity, hills in the succession of the family line, valleys in the humbling experiences of tribulation, fruit trees in the fruits of largess; barren trees, rugged places and mucky bogs, thorns and thistles in his evil ways and insatiable greed, snakes and cattle in simplicity and prudence, and the teeming, surging sea in the storm-tossed depths of the heart of man and in reason itself.'

--Virgilius Maro Grammaticus, transl. in: Wisdom, Authority and Grammar in the Seventh Century by Vivi*n Law (1995)


V*rgil (D*vil May Cry). (via M*tafilt*r)


"They will rebuild as they have after storms of the past; and they will stay in New Orleans because it is where they have always lived, where their mothers and their fathers lived, where their churches were built by their ancestors, where their family graves carry names that go back 200 years. They will stay in New Orleans where they can enjoy a sweetness of family life that other communities lost long ago.

But to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us.".