There was a time when I wanted to live in a south village,
But not because I was guided by the auguries.
I had heard that many simple men lived here—
With them I would be glad to spend my mornings and evenings.
For many years this was my desire,
And now today I shall accomplish my task:
So wretched a cottage need not be spacious,
All I want is a bed and a mat.
Often the neighbors will come to visit me,
We shall argue vociferously about the ancient times,
Rare writings we shall enjoy reading together,
And we shall clear up all doubtful interpretations.
"A peculiar anthologic maze, an amusing literary chaos, a farrago of quotations, a mere olla podrida of quaintness, a pot pourri of pleasant delites, a florilegium of elegant extracts, a tangled fardel of old-world flowers of thought, a faggot of odd fancies, quips, facetiae, loosely tied" (Holbrook Jackson, Anatomy of Bibliomania) by a "laudator temporis acti," a "praiser of time past" (Horace, Ars Poetica 173).
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Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Philological Seminar
Tao Yuan-Ming (372?-427), Moving House (tr. Yang Yeh-tzu):