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| 25 new of 278 responses total. |
flem
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response 227 of 278:
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May 27 05:37 UTC 1999 |
Cool!
The French version seemed very familiar to me, and I was almost certain
that I had heard it sung at some point (I have). Thinking on it, I
realized that the only Offenbach opera I've heard is "Tales of
Hoffmann", and from there it wasn't hard to find the name of the
librettist. Also, by way of confirmation, a quick internet search
revealed his name in connection with several other operas, which would
seem to confirm another clue.
I'll have something tomorrow (er, today...), as I just stepped out of
the car after a fourteen hour drive. Ugh.
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flem
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response 228 of 278:
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May 27 17:33 UTC 1999 |
Okay, here we go.
As has already been explained, our camp was between the two rivers
----- and -----, which were about thirty miles apart. Neither of
these rivers could be crossed, and so we were forced to remain in this
confined space. The states which were on friendly terms with us were
unable to send us grain; some of our own people, who had gone out for
quite a distance to bring in supplies, were cut off by the floods and
could not get back; and the large convoys of provisions coming in from
----- and ---- could not reach the camp. It was also the worst
possible time of the year. There was no grain left in the winter
stocks, and the new harvest was not quite ripe. The neighboring
tribes had been drained of supplies, since A------- had had nearly all
the grain taken to ------ before I arrived, and what little was left
had been used up by us in the last few days. Meat might have been a
possible substitute for the grain which we lacked, but we could not
even get meat because the people of the neighborhood had driven off
their cattle as soon as the war began. And those of our men who went
out to look for fodder and grain were attacked by ---------- light
infantry and ------- targeteers, who knew the country well and had no
difficulty in crossing the rivers, since they regularly carried with
them on active service bladders which could be used as floats.
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md
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response 229 of 278:
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May 27 20:12 UTC 1999 |
Grant or Sherman?
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swa
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response 230 of 278:
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May 28 01:42 UTC 1999 |
Whassisname. Greek guy.
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flem
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response 231 of 278:
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May 28 04:18 UTC 1999 |
Not Grant, not Sherman.
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rcurl
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response 232 of 278:
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May 28 04:58 UTC 1999 |
I think it might be 18th century.
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mcnally
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response 233 of 278:
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May 28 17:21 UTC 1999 |
re #230: perhaps you're thinking Thucydides?
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rcurl
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response 234 of 278:
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May 28 18:20 UTC 1999 |
Washington
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flem
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response 235 of 278:
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May 29 06:53 UTC 1999 |
Not Thucydides, not Washington.
I'd post another quote, but I don't have the book handy. I'll try to
get one tomorrow (again, technically today), but may not succeed.
The author is, as all authors guessed so far have been, deceased.
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remmers
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response 236 of 278:
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May 29 12:10 UTC 1999 |
I suspect the setting is the American Civil War, but beyond that I have
no clue.
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rcurl
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response 237 of 278:
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May 29 16:27 UTC 1999 |
Clark
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swa
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response 238 of 278:
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May 30 03:20 UTC 1999 |
Re 233: Actually, I'm not sure if I was thinking Thucydides or Herodotus...
I had a weird mingling of names running through my head.
Did someone guess Grant yet? Grant! <swa enjoys randomly throwing names into
the air... ignorance is bliss>
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flem
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response 239 of 278:
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May 30 21:29 UTC 1999 |
Not Clark, Thucydides, Herodotus, or Grant.
Here is another quote, from a different but similar writing.
I myself was a long way away from the scene of action when I
received the news of these events from C------. For the time being I
ordered warships to be built in the river L----, which flows into the
Atlantic, crews to be raised in the Province, and steersmen and
sailors to be assembled. These orders were quickly carried out, and
as soon as the season allowed, I set out myself to join the army. The
V----- and the other states allied with them heard of my arrival. At
the same time they began to realize the gravity of the crime which
they had committed. The title of envoy has always among all nations
been a uarantee of safety; yet they had detained our envoys and thrown
them into prison. So now they began to prepare for war on a scale
proportionate to the danger with which they were faced. They gave
particular attention toward fashioning every kind of provision for
their fleet, all the more hopefully because they relied very much on
the strength of their position geographically. They know that on land
the roads were intersected by tidal estuaries and that on sea our
navigation would be handicapped by our ignorance of local conditions
and by the scarcity of harbors. They felt sure too that the mere
shortage of grain would prevent our army from staying in their country
for long. And even if things turned out quite differently from what
they expected, they still had their very formidable sea power, whereas
we had no ships available and no knowledge of the shoals, harbors, and
islands in the area where fighting would have to take place. They
could see too that to carry out naval operations in the vast open
spaces of the Atlantic was a very different thing from sailing in a
landlocked sea like the Mediterannean.
This should make it clear, among other things, that the setting is not
the American Civil War. In fact, the author did not write in English at
all.
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rcurl
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response 240 of 278:
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May 31 02:30 UTC 1999 |
Napolean.
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flem
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response 241 of 278:
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May 31 06:06 UTC 1999 |
Not Napoleon
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md
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response 242 of 278:
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May 31 11:25 UTC 1999 |
A monarch who had headaches from "the V------,"
which I assume means the Vikings. That's a lot
of monarchs, unfortunately. I'll guess Charlemagne.
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lowclass
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response 243 of 278:
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May 31 12:14 UTC 1999 |
I DOn"T know who, but I'll venture a couple guesses as to when.
1. Spanish armada, during the war between Spain and England.
2. War of 1812.
#. Revolutionary war. Possibly John Laffite?
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janc
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response 244 of 278:
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May 31 17:01 UTC 1999 |
Julius Caesar
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flem
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response 245 of 278:
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May 31 17:19 UTC 1999 |
Julius Caesar is correct. The V------ tribe was the Veneti, located on
the westernmost protrusion of what is now France. The first quotation
was from the Civil Wars, the second from the Gallic Wars. It is
interesting that the language of military campaigns has changed so
little in the 2000 years since this was written; these quotations were
very easily mistaken for more or less modern military situations. With
the exception of words like "centurion" and "legion", I've found this to
be fairly consistently the case in this book.
Jan is up!
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janc
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response 246 of 278:
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May 31 21:40 UTC 1999 |
I once read an abridged version of "The Gallic Wars" in Latin.
A quotation:
...followed by Biskaine and the negroes, [Sakr-el-Bahr] made his way down
from that eyrie that had served him so well. He sprang from red oak to cork-
tree and from cork-tree to red oak; he leapt from rock to rock, or lowered
himself from ledge to ledge, gripping a handful of heath or a projecting
stone, but all with the speed and nimbleness of an ape. He dropped at last
to the beach, then sped across it at a run, and went bounding along a black
reef until he stood alongside of the galliot which had been left behind by
the other corsair vessels. She awaited him in deep water, the length of her
oars from the rock, and as he came alongside, these oars were brought up to
the horizontal, and held there firmly. He leapt down upon them, his
companions following him, and using them as a gangway, reached the bulwarks.
He threw a leg over the side, and alighted on a decked space between two oars
and the two rows of six slaves that were manning each of them.
Biskaine followed him and the negroes came last. They were still astride
the bulwarks when Sakr-el-Bahr gave the word. Up the middle gangway ran a
bo'sun and two of his mates cracking their long whips of bullock-hide. Down
went the oars, there was a heave, and they shot out in the wake of the other
two to join the fight.
Sakr-el-Bahr, scimitar in hand, stood on the prow, a little in advance of
the mob of eager babbling corsairs who surrounded him, quivering in their
impatience to be let loose upon the Christian foe. From the mast-head floated
out his standard, of crimson charged with a green crescent.
The naked Christian slaves groaned, strained and sweated under the Moslem
lash that drove them to the destruction of their Christian bretheren.
Ahead the battle was already joined. The Spaniard had fired one single
hasty shot which had gone wide, and now one of the corsair's grappling-irons
had seized her on the larboard quarter, a withering hail of arrows was pouring
down upon her decks from the Muslim crosstrees; up her sides crowded the eager
Moors, ever most eager when it was a question of tackling the Spanish dogs
who had driven them from the Andalusian Caliphate. Under her quarter sped
the other galley to take her on the starboard side, and even as she went her
archers and slingers hurled death aboard the galleon.
It was a short, sharp fight. The Spaniards in confusion from the beginning,
having been taken utterly by surprise, had never been able to order themselves
in a proper manner to receive the onslaught. Still, what could be done they
did. They made a gallant stand against this pitiless assailant. But the
corsairs charged home as gallantly, utterly reckless of life, eager to slay
in the name of Allah and His Prophet and scarcely less eager to die if it
should please All-pitiful that their destines should be here fulfilled. Up
they went, and back fell the Castilians, outnumbered by at least ten to one.
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flem
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response 247 of 278:
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Jun 2 00:12 UTC 1999 |
My, we're taking a morbid turn in this item. :)
Burroughs?
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janc
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response 248 of 278:
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Jun 2 13:58 UTC 1999 |
Not Burroughs, though it sure does sound like him, doesn't it? Unlike
Burroughs, this author was not known for science fiction.
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lilmo
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response 249 of 278:
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Jun 2 22:25 UTC 1999 |
It seems to be at least mildly sympathetic to the Moors, so it must have been
written LONG after the 15th-century events depicted.
Also, the word "Muslim" is used, so that dates it to the late 20th century;
before that, "Mohommedan" (and variations thereupon) were MUCH more common.
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janc
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response 250 of 278:
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Jun 3 21:46 UTC 1999 |
I don't know exactly when this book was written. Sometime in the 20th
century, before 1940. I had planned to do the next quote from another
book by the same author, but I can't fetch it just now without waking
Arlo. We'll instead take another scene from the career of Sakr-el-Bahr:
They sight which they beheld was one that for some moments left them
mazed and bewildered. Lord Henry tells us how at first he imagined that
here was some mummery, some surprise prepared for the bridal couple by
Sir John's tenants or the folk of Smithick and Penycumwick, and he adds
that he was encouraged in this belief by the circumstance that not a
single weapon gleamed in all that horde of outlandish intruders.
Although they came full armed against any eventualities, yet by their
leader's orders not a blade was bared. What was to be done was to be
done with their naked hands alone and without bloodshed. Such were the
orders of Sakr-el-Bahr, and Sakr-el-Bahr's orders were not to be
disregarded.
Himself he stood forward at the head of that legion of brown-skinned
men arrayed in all the colours of the rainbow, their heads swathed in
turbans of every hue. He considered the company in grim silence, and
the company in amazement considered this turbaned giant with the
masterful face that was tanned to the colour of mahogeny, the black
forked beard, and those singularly light eyes glittering like steel
under his black brows.
Thus a little while in silence, then with a sudden gasp Lionel
Tressilian sank back in his tall chair as if bereft of strength.
The agate eyes flashed upon him smiling, cruelly.
"I see that you, at least, recognize me," said Sakr-el-Bahr in his
deep voice. "I was assured that I could depend upon the eyes of
brotherly love to pierce the change that time and stress have wrought in
me."
Sir John was on his feet, his lean swarthy face flushing darkly, an
oath on his lips. Rosamund sat on as if frozen with horror, considering
Sir Oliver with dilating eyes, whilst her hands clawed the table before
her. They too recognized him now, and realized that here was no
mummery. That something sinister was intended Sir John could not for a
moment doubt. But of what that something might be he could form no
notion. It was the first time that Barbary rovers were seen in England.
That famous raid of theirs upon Baltimore in Ireland did not take place
until some thirty years after this date.
"Sir Oliver Tressilian!" Killigrew gasped, and "Sir Oliver
Tressilian!" echoed Lord Henry Goade, to add -- "By God!"
"Not Sir Oliver Tressilian," came the answer, "but Sakr-el-Bahr, the
scourge of the sea, the terror of Christendom, the desperate corsair
your lies, cupidity, and false-heartedness have fashioned out of a
sometime Cornish gentleman."
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punky
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response 251 of 278:
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Jun 3 22:25 UTC 1999 |
Is it Hermann Hresse?
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