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Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagn'nagl fhtagn ("In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."). --HP Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

The stars hath turned in the heavens once more: Mighty Cthulhu stirs. His dreams reacheth forth, communing with those with ears to hear. Iä! Shub-Niggurath! His thoughts trample down along the pathways of thy mind; thou knowest His footprints, each of which is a wound...

Wednesday, November 17, 2004




(Flavius Honorius, just before his date with Alaric)

The More Things Change...

When you've been around a while, you see some pretty pathetic things. Sometimes they make you shake your head slowly in disbelief. At other times, what you see makes you shake your head so fast that your skull goes whuppity-whuppity-whap! from the way your tentacles whip around and smack your ears. Well, Mine does that; I dunno about you puny air-breathers.

ANYway...reading the memoirs of Ammianus Marcellinus makes me shake my head slowly in disbelief. Soldier, scholar, spy, he knew many famous Roman generals and emperors, and was present at many momentous historical events. From the Siege of Amida to the Battle of Adrianople, Marcellinus was there, and paying his usual attention to detail. Intrigues were plotted, mobs rioted, armies retreated or rebelled, walls crumbled, cities burned, and thousands of people--great and small--died before his eyes.

However, in that truest sense of not seeing the forest for the trees, Ammianus never seemed to know that he was documenting the Fall of the Roman Empire. Perhaps it was unthinkable to the aristocratic soldier-historian that an empire that had stood for 600 years could possibly fall, no matter the rot from within, nor the arrogance and stupidity with which it treated its neighbors. Rome was a beacon, a light to the world. She was the pillar of Western Civilization. No matter her sepsis and hubris, she could never actually fall, right?

Yet, only twenty years after Ammianus passed, Alaric would lead his Visigoths in the sack of Rome. Some people, no matter their brilliance, can be a bit blind.

For instance, I take a long, hard look around me now, and see my country going through some interesting times...but it'll all be fine. Right? Right? I mean, what's the worst that could possibly happen to America?

Whuppity-whuppity-whap!

Posted by: Great Cthulhu / <$BlogItemDateTime $>
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