Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back,

Wherein he puts alms for oblivion,

A great-sized monster of ingratitudes:

 

Ulysses

Troilus and Cressida     Act III, Scene iii, Line 145

 

Today’s lines are Ulysses answer to Achilles who is wondering why the generals walked by his tent without saying anything to him. The generals

                                       …neither gave to me

Good word nor look: what, are my deeds forgot?

 

Actually, Ulysses told the generals to do that. It’s all a ploy to try to get Achilles back into the fight. The first part of Ulysses response it this:

        Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back,

Wherein he puts alms for oblivion,

A great-sized monster of ingratitudes:

Those scraps are good deeds past; which are devour’d

As fast as they are made, forgot as soon

As done

Short version: The good deeds you do are forgotten the next minute after you do them. Ulysses goes on and on with this theme for the next twenty or thirty lines. It’s all in a way of trying to coax Achilles back into action because he has been sitting the fight out.  If you want to be recognized, he tells Achilles, you’ve got to stay current. That Ulysses is a wily character. 

 

 Speaking of wily characters...  Here's one for you. I'm talking about that guy sitting on my shoulder. Just look at that shifty look in his eye. You can bet he's up to something, and I can't wait to find out what it is.