Today’s Totally Random Lines
This
is the brief (summary, or short account)of money, plate, and jewels,
I
am possest of: ‘tis exactly valued;
Not
petty things omitted. – Where’s Seleucus?
Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra Act
V, Scene ii, Line 140
Cleopatra is speaking to Octavius, and it’s near the end of the play. Antony has already killed himself. Cleopatra is offering Ocatavius, the conquering Roman, a list of all the treasures that he is entitled to.
Seleucus,
by the way is the accountant. It’s nice to see accountants figure in to
Shakespeare’s works once in a while, isn’t it. Yes, officially he’s listed as Treasurer, but that’s just an accountant who’s gotten a few promotions.
Anyway,
she’s looking for Seleucus because she wants him to validate the summary of the
treasures that she just gave to Octavius. Seleucus, being a good and honest
accountant, shows up and contradicts Cleopatra, saying that she held some stuff back from the summary. How about that? It takes the
accountant to have enough balls to contradict the boss. Cleopatra asks
Seleucus what she’s held back, and he answers,
Enough to purchase what you have made known.
So I guess that means she’s held back as much as she’s reported on the summary. But Octavius isn’t upset. He knows that Cleopatra is just being smart. It’s all a pretty moot point anyway because she’s going to kill herself before the scene is over, and hey, you can’t take it with you.
So what’s the moral of the story today? I think
the moral is trust the accountant. But make sure it’s a real accountant, not just some
hedge fund manager. They’re not accountants; I’m not sure what they are. Take
the current Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent. He’s got a polo-sci
degree, he made his millions managing hedge funds, and he contributed millions to
Orange Guy’s campaign. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure that Bessent is no
Seleucus. No, not at all. What a shame.
Okay, got it: accountants - good,
hedge fund managers - bad.
Now will you throw my
leopard for me? can we play catch? Huh, can we? Can we?
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