Today’s Totally Random Lines
These are kind creatures. Gods, what lies I have heard!
Our courtiers say all’s savage but at court:
Experience, O, thou disprovest report!
Th’imperious seas breed monsters; for the dish
Poor tributary rivers as sweet fish.
Imogen
Cymbeline Act IV, Scene ii, Line 35
Imogen, the daughter of the king, has run away. She had a really bad situation at home having to do with a scheming stepmother and stepbrother. She disguises herself as a young man (there’s a shocker, eh?) and ends up in the wilderness where she is befriended by an old man, Belarius, and his two adult sons, Guiderius and Arviragus. In today’s lines she’s saying that she was lied to at court where they told her that all the commoners were savages. The key lines are the last two. She’s saying that in fact the imperious seas, the ruling class, breeds monstrous fish, whilst the towns and countryside breed sweet fish, sweet enough for the dinner plate. Ain’t that the truth.
Today’s line has implications for comparison to my world, especially today, Wednesday 11/6/24. The news of the morning is that one of the most imperious and monstrous of the big fishes is going to be put in charge soon. As distressing as that is (and it is VERY distressing) Patrice has pointed out to me that there is a way forward: spend all your time and attention on the Belariuses, the Guideriuses, and the Arviraguses, (we all have them) and give no attention at all to the imperious monsters. In other words, turn off and ignore completely the world and national news, and focus on my own corner of the world. And that is what I will do.
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