"..Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety: other women cloy
The appetites they feed: but she makes hungry
Where most she satisfies...'
.............Shakespeare on Cleopatra
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cloy: to make weary or cause weariness through an excess of something initially pleasurable or sweet......Freedictionary
In Shakespeare's times, 'cloy' might have meant something slightly different; but it is certainly the opposite of 'make hungry'.
So that is Cleopatra's trick: Infinite variety: Multi; not Mono like 'other women'.
Well, she also had a multitude of husbands alright! Not quite monogamous, Hmm?
But she was the last Pharao Queen of Egypt at the pinnacle of her civilization; not just another call-girl.
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In every sphere of life, in every individual, and in every human endeavor there is this tension between multi and mono...singular and plural.
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From My Mythical Mahabharat:
IIT KGP: Road to Gate # 5. Night brightly lighted by Sodium Lamps
Dron, the Archery Guru was testing the prowess of Arjun and gps.
He took us to a Tree and asked us to aim at the Left Eye of the Bird perched on its Top Branch.
First it was Arjun's turn. The Dialogue went thus:
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Dron: What do you see now?
Arjun: Tree
Dron: Now?
Arjun: Top branch
Dron: Now?
Arjun: Bird
Dron: Now?
Arjun: Face
Dron: Now?
Arjun: Eyes
Dron: Now?
Arjun: Left eye
Dron: Now?
Arjun: Left eye
Dron: Now?
Arjun: Left eye
Dron: Pass. You can go!
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Then it was gps's turn:
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Dron: What do you see now?
gps: A lovely Mango Tree of the Alfanso variety. India has about 128 varieties of mango trees. But this one is the best for fruit. But for pickles it is no good. The country varieties which have no name or fame are the best. My mom used to make 116 varieties of pickles, whose formulae were stolen by bottling companies doing a raring business in the US; I am thinking of filing a case of IPR violation..
Dron: Now?
gps: Branches. Look how sweetly they are bending down just for us!:
Loaded with fruit, boughs bend,
Laden with rain, clouds descend,
Filled with Love the wise befriend;
For kind deeds where is the end?
http://gpsastry.blogspot.com/2009/10/book-of-morals-3.htmlLaden with rain, clouds descend,
Filled with Love the wise befriend;
For kind deeds where is the end?
Dron: Now?
gps: Bird. It is an owl. There are 39 species of owls in India. They are all very shy and inordinately beautiful. My son and myself watch them every night.
http://gpsastry.blogspot.com/2010/10/parliaments-assemblies.html
Dron: Now?
gps: The owl's face: it is an Eagle Owl
Dron: Now?
gps: Its lovely round eyes
Dron: Now?
gps: Its left eye
Dron: Don't bore, shoot now!
gps: But why? Owl is the Vehicle of Laxmi, the Goddess of Wealth. Moreover she dos us no harm. On the other hand she serves to keep Nature's Balance. We should learn to keep the Variety of Life Forms: Variety is the Spice of Life. Given the Modern Man, he will kill every animal and bird other than those that give him milk or meat or pleasure as pets.
And he will apply the same principle to Men of Cultures he doesn't like.
I would rather shoot and bring down that Alfanso Mango; we will eat the fruit and throw away the seed and it will multiply a hundredfold and sixtyfold and thirtyfold...Parable of the Sower..New Testament...
Dron: Passed with Distinction..Get lost!
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Pratik: "...I prefer a 'jack of all trades' than the 'Master of one' but the world always goes for the latter. I have always admired people like Martin Gardner and Isaac Asimov...."
Supratim: "....Weisskopf put it aptly when he once said: I'd rather know nothing about everything than everything about nothing..."
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Yes, but Pratik and Supratim and gps are like the famous Walrus & Carpenter of Alice and did Specialize during their Ph Ds which, unlike MSS, they stooped to do!!!
So, Multi and Mono are not persons but modes of mind that coexist in each of us in various proportions at various times like the Methodical & Chaotic:
http://gpsastry.blogspot.com/search?q=Methodical+Minds
or Woolgathering & Meditation:
http://gpsastry.blogspot.com/2010/03/woolgathering.html
or Dream & Wakefulness; all of which are necessary for a Wholesome & Fun-Filled Existence.
End of Preaching for now!
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ReplyDeleteI think "cloy" means the same in this context as the modern sense. Consider this decomposition (Working in Physics, we're used to decompositions and resolutions of identities. Perhaps a literature major would have used "deconstruction"!), serving to illustrate the semantics while killing the metre:
ReplyDelete"... [Age cannot wither her], [nor custom stale her infinite variety]: [other women cloy the appetites they feed]: [but she makes hungry where most she satisfies]..."
This seems to give a reasonable semantic whole, the only assumption being that "stale" could in Shakespeare's day be used as a verb in a sense other than the only one I find in my handy dictionary: "Urinate, of cattle and horses".
This makes me wonder: was the colon also used for a different function those days, namely that of separating semantically-distinct parts in poetry?