Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

 

He seems to be a stranger; but his present is

A wither’d branch, that’s only green at top;

The motto, ‘In hac spe vivo.’

 

-Thaisa

Pericles                           Act II, Scene ii, Line 45

 

Let’s see, Pericles is traveling, he gets shipwrecked and washed up on the shores of a strange land (with his armor, of course) and immediately decides to take part in a knights tournament, where the winner will get the hand of the King’s daughter. In this scene the knights are parading in front of King Simonides and his daughter Thaisa. She describes each knight in turn as they pass the reviewing stand, and Today’s Totally Random Line is her description of the last knight, who just happens to be Pericles. The motto, ‘In hac spe vivo’ translates to ‘In this hope I live.’ At least, according to G.B. Harrison that’s what it translates to. If I’m correct, the wither’d branch and the motto are seen on Pericle’s shield (which must have washed up on shore with his armor).

So, what’s it all mean Basil? I suppose the hope is in the green leaves that exist on the wither’d, dying branch, green leaves signifying life? That seems to make sense.

Here you go- perfect example. You can see all the dead branches, but there's still live branches in there too. Well, I cleared out all the dead and it turned out that there's two separate rhododendron bushes in there: one mostly live, one all dead. I got rid of the dead one, and now the live one looks like it might do okay. 

How about that!