Vulgar words in The Cathedral (Page 1)
This book at a glance
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~ ~ ~ Sentence 947 ~ ~ ~
The balance of his personal account was struck by internal damage and mental disputations; if the soul was bruised and ice-bound, the mind was no less afflicted, no less fagged.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 3,413 ~ ~ ~
Look at that disreputable trull, a street slut tired of shouting "This way to the boats!" till she falls fainting.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 3,496 ~ ~ ~
"And is it not the same with that strange figure dwelling in companionship with a sow spinning--though it is not in fact a sow, but a hog--and an ass playing on a hurdy-gurdy on the storm-beaten wall of the old tower?"
~ ~ ~ Sentence 3,497 ~ ~ ~
These two animals, whose careless herd he seems to be, represent in their merry guise the old popular sayings: _Ne sus Minerveum_, and _Asinus ad lyram_, which may be freely rendered by "Every man to his trade," and "Never force a talent;" for we should but be as inept as a pig trying to be wise or an ass trying to strike the lyre.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 3,752 ~ ~ ~
The leoncerote, offspring of the male hyena and the lioness, having the body of an ass, the legs of a deer, the breast of a wild beast, a camel's head, and armed with terrible fangs; the tharanda, which, according to Hugh of Saint Victor, has the shape of the ox, the profile of the stag, the fur of the bear, and which changes colour like the cameleon; finally, the sea-monk, the most puzzling of all, since Vincent of Beauvais describes it as having its body covered with scales, and it is furnished, in lieu of arms, with fins all over claws, besides having a monk's shaven head ending in the snout of a carp.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 3,783 ~ ~ ~
The poor ass is no better treated by Hugh of Saint Victor, who accuses it of stupidity, by Saint Gregory the Great, who taxes it with laziness, and Peter of Capua, who speaks of its lust.
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It must, however; be observed that Saint Melito compares it with Christ for its humility, and that the exegetists explain the ass's foal ridden by Christ on Palm Sunday as an image of the Gentiles, as they interpret the she-ass that threw Him to mean the Jews.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 3,918 ~ ~ ~
Pride is embodied in the bull, the peacock, the lion, the eagle, the horse, the swan, and the wild ass--according to Vincent de Beauvais.
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Avarice by the wolf, and, says Saint Theobald, by the spider; for lust, we have the he-goat, the boar, the toad, the ass, and the fly, which, Saint Gregory the Great tells, typifies the turbulent cravings of the senses; for envy, the sparrow-hawk, the owl, and screech-owl; for greediness, the hog and the dog; for anger, the lion and wild boar, and, according to Adamantius, the leopard; for sloth, the vulture, the snail, the she-ass, and, Raban Maur says, the mule.