St Ignatius College - Ignatian Yearbook (San Francisco, CA)

Page 13 text:

THE GLAMOUR OF WAR 13 If from the war-laden atmosphere of ancient Greece we turn our thoughts to the fair land of Italy, we look, not without reason, for milder themes. Surely in that land of sunshine and of flowers men must have caught the spirit of love, of peace, and of the gentler sentiments. This is true. They find inspiration in the brooks, in the flowers of the field, and in the grandeur of home life. Even Virgil, Rome's greatest poet, glorifies the beauties of nature. How often we find such expressions in his poems: Now wears the juniper its leafy pride And the rough chestnut throws its branches wide. He exalts the labor of men who cultivate the land: Ah! happy swain! ah! race beloved of heaven, For thee just earth from her prolific beds Far from wild war, spontaneous plenty sheds. Nay, Virgil seems even to have caught the idea of uni- versal peace. In his wonderful fourth Eclogue he strikes a note that seems prophetic of the Prince of Peace. And yet when we turn to his masterpiece, we are greeted with the familiar words: Arma virumque cano! Of arms and a hero I sing! The very first word of his mighty poem, which for grandeur is not surpassed in human literature, the very keynote of the organ-like Aeneid is Arrna--Arms I Nor does he sing of arms in a half-hearted way. Virgil is no pacifist. His hero Aeneas is bold in arms. Brave souls! he cries to his men of Troy, We feeble few conspire To save a sinking town involved in fire. If we must fall, we'll fall amid our foes. Death has no horrors for Aeneas. Haste, gird on my sword, though I be spent and overcomeg 'Tis the last summons to receive our doom. Restore me to the yet unfinished fight, My death is wanting to conclude the night.

Page 12 text:

12 THE IGNATIAN women of his home. Hector, wishing to urge him in'f0 U16 fray, found him in the glittering rooms, admiring his 11561655 weapons and chatting with the women. The hero thus addressed him : Thy hate to Troy, is this the time to show O wretch, ill-fated, and thy country's foe! For thee great Ilium's guardian heroes fall, Till heaps of dead alone defend her Wally For thee the soldier bleeds, the matron mourns, And wasteful war in all its fury burns. Ungrateful man! deserves not this thy care, Our troops to hearten, and our toils to share? Rise, or behold the conquering flames ascend, And all the Phrygian glories at an end. Even a philosopher can draw inspiration from a poet. Alexander the Great with 30,000 soldiers swept through Asia Minor, and down through Persia, completely shattering the Persian Empire that was defended by millions. Across into Egypt he Hung his men, subjugating that ancient empire. Later he defeated the warlike Scythians. Then he descended upon India, placing that land of mystery under his sway. Where did he get his spirit? Among the mountainous strongholds of Macedonia where he spent his youth. There in his father's palace he received all his education from the mightiest, the most subtle intellect that ever shed luster on this world-Aristotle, the peerless, trained the young Alex- ander, and his textbook was Homer. The whole of Greek literature throbs with the spirit of war. Demosthenes in his speeches aroused the Athenians to action by showing them the danger of their Country and the glory of a patriot's death. Pericles by his orations kept the tire aglow. The dramatist Sophocles so loved war as to command that his epitaph should mention his share in the victory of Marathon, but should contain no allusion to his dramatic triumphs. , . -,- f Q:--L Aa, 1-,mfr '7.'..,- v n .4f ' E E

Page 14 text:

14 THE IGNATIAN When in the sixth book Virgil describes the noble achieve- ments of famous Romans, he selects almost exclusively, the achievements of battle, the Gracchi are set before us, and the Scipios, those thunderbolts of war. In fact, the gentle Virgil seems to prefer battle to the fine arts. He is willing that Rome should yield in every- thing except in prowess. Let others better mold the running mass Of metal, and inform the breathing brass, And soften into flesh a marble faceg Plead better at the barg describe the skies, Tell when the stars descend and when they rise. But, Rome, be it thine alone with awful sway To rule mankind and make the world obey! Enough of Virgil. Other Latin masterpieces have the same theme. The greatest speech of Cicero, Pro Lege Manilia, is a war speech. The annals of Tacitus are annals of war. Pliny is a war correspondent. Caesar's commen- taries are war notes of a skilled general. A Coming down the centuries we find the same ,glorification of war in the world's literature. Dante, it is true, is not a war poet in the strict sense of the word, but he had in view a war that is far more prevalent and far more im- portant than the conflict of nations. He describes with elo- quence the war of the soul against the triple alliance, the world, the flesh and the devil. In his Inferno he describes the condition of the prisoners of warg in his Purgatorio he tells of those who were wounded in the battle, but not unto deathg and in his Paradiso he depicts the glories of those who triumph over the enemies. Tasso was not satisfied with this mystic warfareg his genius led him to seek a theme that had to do with the grim reality and he found it in the Crusades. Jerusalem Deliv- ered is a glorification of a war that is worthy of the heroes, who led the soldiers of the Cross to victory. A ,-,,,,,.,,,,..f M