Double-Dactyls

* Senex Caecilius

Double-Dactyls

This is a collection of short , curious poems called Double- Dactyls.

May 11 , 2008

De Architectura

Posted at 10:00 EST

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman architect and engineer. His book entitled De Architectura, written about 15 BC, is one of the most important sources of modern knowledge of Roman construction and design. It is the only contemporary source on classical architecture to have survived.

De Architectura

Thanks to Vitruvius,
Roman technology's
Sense of proportion is
Known to this day;
We are indebted to
Architectonical
Writing and drawing by
Author of De ...

March 13 , 2008

Beware the Ides

Posted at 11:00 EST

Although the Second Triumvirate held sway in Rome for a few years after Caesar's assassination, his death in 44 BC launched the end of the Republic and the beginning of the Principate. Maybe the warning to beware the Ides was intended for the Senate and not for Caesar at all!

Beware the Ides

Tyrrany-Treachery
Roman conspirators
Plotted the death of their
Enemy arch;
After poor Caesar, the
Julio-Claudian
Dynasty started the
Middle of March.

February 24 , 2008

Solnal and Yakwangi

Posted at 15:00 EST

Nobody sleeps the night before Solnal, the Korean Lunar New Year. The story of Yakwangi is told to send the children to bed early on New Year's Day since they must be very tired with no sleep from the night before. In the story, the character Yakwangi is thwarted from stealing shoes when he spies a rice strainer and mistakes the holes for eyes. (The jori is a tool used to sift small stones or straw particles from the rice. People used to buy one very early in the morning of New Year's day and hang it up on the wall. It is to pick up happiness in the New Year as one does with grains of rice.) Yakwangi stops to count the "eyes", loses track, and starts over. Eventually he forgets his original purpose and leaves the house at dawn.

Yakwangi Looks for Shoes

Higgledy-Piggledy
Hang up a jori and
Hide all the shoes from the
Eyes of a thief;
While you are sleeping, the
All-seeing-colander
Garners good luck as it
Guards you from grief.

September 29 , 2007

Snake Eyes

Posted at 15:00 EST

The Romans loved to play dice. They called their six-sided dice tesserae, but they also had a type called tali, with only four marked sides, that were made from the knucklebones of sheep. The dice box, or fritillus, took various forms. During the Republic, gambling became such an obsession for some Romans that the government was forced to restrict it to the week-long festivities during the Saturnalia. Under Roman law, games of chance played for money were forbidden under the penalty of a fine fixed at four times the value of the stakes. The best throw was called the Venus throw; the worst, the Vulture or the Dog.

Snake Eyes!

Higgledy-Piggledy
Shake the fritillus and
Hope that Fortūna is
Smiling today;
Rolling all aces is
Aleatorily
Known as the Dog throw and
Loses the play.

June 13 , 2007

Happy Anniversary

Posted at 18:30 EST

Today is the 9th wedding anniversary of Matt and Ginger. I tucked a double-dactyl into the card with their wedding gift years ago, and I've been sending one on their anniversary ever since. At first I tried to match the topic with the appropriate anniversary, but that proved too difficult, so I just wrote something to let them know I was thinking about them. I wrote one this year, but I don't think I'll send it. They probably won't even notice, but I was thinking about them, so here it is...

June Thirteenth (2007)

Higgledy-Piggledy
Ginger and Matthew are
Soon set to celebrate
Year nine, it's true!
Roger is hoping his
Extemporaneous
Wishes for happiness
Always come true.

February 21 , 2007

Fat Tuesday

Posted at 13:00 EST

Yesterday was Mardi Gras, the day before the beginning of Lent. I have had some great times in New Orleans over the years; I hope that one day the city will be restored to its former self.

Fat Tuesday

Higgledy-Piggledy
Down in New Orleans
Revelers party on
Mardi Gras day;
As for les bons temps, well
Celebratorily
Do like the natives and
Laissez rouler!

November 10 , 2005

Euphorbia pulcherrima

Posted at 12:00 EST

In Peru and Chile, the poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) is called the "Crown of the Andes". The Aztecs called it cuetlaxochitl. They used the sap to control fevers and the bracts to make a reddish dye. Montezuma, the last of the Aztec kings, would have poinsettias brought into the capital by caravans because the plants could not be grown in the high altitude. They were introduced into the United States in 1825 by Joel Poinsett, the first US Ambassador to Mexico. About $220 million worth of poinsettias are sold during the holiday season, and they represent 85 percent of the potted plants sold in that 6 week period.

Crown of the Andes

Higgledy-Piggledy
Pretty poinsettia,
Used by the Aztecs as
Dyestuff and more,
Brightens the holidays
--So-pulchritudinous--
Brilliant red bracts and a
Yellowish core.

November 8 , 2005

Pythagoras of Samos

Posted at 19:30 EST

The Pythagorean theorem states that the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides (a² + b² = c²). Though it was known to Babylonians 1000 years earlier, Pythagoras (582-507 BC) was the first to decisively prove it. The influence of his philosophical school and religious order was felt in science and philosophy until the days of the Roman Empire.

Pythagorean Theorem

Right angle triangle:
Square the hypotenuse;
It will then equal the
Squares of the sides.
Earlier known, but in
Post-Babylonian
Era Pythagoras
Proved it besides.

October 23 , 2005

Quintus Ennius

Posted at 09:00 EST

The Roman poet Quintus Ennius (239-169 BC) was considered by the Romans to be the father of Latin poetry. Born in Calabria, he became a Roman citizen in 184 BC. He was taken to Rome by Cato the Elder, under whom he served in Sardinia. He gave Latin its artistic base, smoothed its diction, and introduced the elegaic couplet and quantitative hexameter. His masterpiece was the epic Annales, a literary history of Rome, but he also wrote tragedies, comedies, satires, and epigrams. His innovations proved important in the development of Latin poetry. Vergil, Lucretius, and Ovid borrowed freely from him, and the Annals became a text for Roman schoolchildren.

Quintus Ennius

Higgledy-Piggledy
Quintus Ennius once
Wrote in his Annals the
Story of Rome;
Couched in his verse is a
Sociological
Tour de force epic, a
Noteworthy tome.

September 22 , 2005

Theobromine

Posted at 17:00 EST

The active ingredient in chocolate is theobromine, aptly named from the Greek meaning "food for the gods." There ought to be a 12-step recovery program!

Chocoholics Anonymous

Higgledy-Piggledy
My name is Senex, and
I am addicted to
Theobromine...
Lovers of chocolate
Psychosomatically
Suffer withdrawal; it's
Worse than caffeine.

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