Megan+McKeon

__Assignment 7:__ The patriotic poem "The Passage - Journey to America" reminds me of Aeneis's journey to found the Roman race described in Vergil's "Aeneid". When reading through it, I noticed that if the title was changed it could have very well been about the founding of Rome. The poem starts off describing the arduous voyage across the "stormy seas" filled with "tempest[s] of the wind" and "friends I saw perish[ing]" on their way to America. This imagery is prevalent throughout the Aeneid, as shown by descriptions such as " tempestatesque" (54). Death also occurs on almost every part of the journey, just like in this poem. Later in the poem, it mentions how "the dream did not let go of us". This implies that some sort of dream is controlling their destiny. This is similar to the fates described in the Aeneid. "Sic volvere parcas". Aeneis's journey is controlled by what the fates decree and say that he is going to do. Aeneis goes throughout his journey searching for a place to found the Roman race. It takes the crew many tries to correctly find the right one. In the poem, the lines "who can say where our home was/ during those months upon the sea?" implies that the people founding America also faced this difficulty. They did not have a clear route to their destination and were praying that they would eventually find it, wherever it was. The poem says that "the women were not strong enough in many cases to survive". This was also true in the Aeneid, especially in the case of Dido. After Aeneis left her, she was not emotionally strong enough to keep living so she killed herself. Later is goes on to say "and yet many did survive, sometimes outlasting even the men". This is similar to the part in the Aeneid when Turnus's sister Juturna kills a Trojan. In the Aeneid, the mortals often rely on help from the gods in things they do. In the poem, it says that they "turn[ed] to God/ for help in the midst of the death". Both poems feature religious people who rely on gods to ensure their safety. The poem ends describing the victory felt by the American founders when they finally reached land. The same feeling was felt by Aeneid and his followers when they finally defeated Turnus and were able to rule over Laurentum. The journeys turned out to be successful and both were able to found a new country and race. These patriotic poems about the foundings of America and Rome are very closely related and have many similar qualities.

**The Passage - Journey to America**

No one will ever know, nor can it be spoken of lightly, What it was like to cross those stormy seas to arrive at the new land. How many friends I saw perish through no fault of their own, but only that they could not sustain themselves through the difficult passage of that time. No food, little sleep, the tempest of the wind lashing the ship from day to day and night to night. The unholy smells that came from unclean food and unclean quarters, that were not fit even for animals, no less than for human beings. If it were not for the dream that held us fast, none of us would have managed. We would have all perished from lack of hope as well as from lack of food.

But the dream did not let go of us. It insisted that we find the means to a new way of life – the pathway to a more peaceful and free existence than had been possible before. Who can say where our home was during those months upon the sea? Who can know what travail beset the souls of those who wished they had never come, but found themselves, in any case, stuck with a decision that had perhaps been made in duress, or intoxication, or perhaps through some wisdom which did not seem entirely real as the winds whipped and tossed the ship about like a piece of flotsam on the tide.

The women were not strong enough in many cases to survive, and yet many did survive, sometimes outlasting even the men in their ability to remain hopeful, in their ability to turn to God for help in the midst of the death that surrounded us and the absence of any vision of landfall. Then, finally, after months of waiting, a piece of land could be seen in the distance, the spark of hope that once again ignited the heart that had given up.

Who can say how many did not die that day or night because they had seen that small promontory of land jutting out toward us as if to say "do not give up, it is only a small distance yet to go." Only God almighty can know for sure what mighty flame beat within the human breast that allowed each one to complete the passage to the new land, For it was beyond hope and beyond imagining that those who remained would actually walk uprightly on green earth and on soil that did not smell of salt, and brine, and fish, and human waste.

It was beyond hope and beyond imagining that these feet which have trod the soil of many lands, but not freely, only in service to others, would one day walk as a free man upon a piece of land he would call his own, and find the victory of heart that comes from a journey through great hardship that finally reaches its goal.

__Assignment 6:__ Baucis and Philemon in Ovid's Metamorphosis is similar to a TV series on FOX called "Secret Millionaire". In the story of Baucis and Philemon, the gods Jupiter and Mars disguise themselves as mere mortals and search for somewhere to rest. After being rudely treated and denied many times, they come across a kind old couple who, despite their poverty, welcomes the gods into their home. They prepare food for them and make sure they are comfortable. The gods then reveal their true identities and reward the couple for their generosity. They grant the couple's wish that they could die at the same time and stay together forever. They were transformed into intertwined trees which live forever. Episode 5 of "Secret Millionaire" features a couple, Gary and Diane Heaven, who own a multi-billion dollar corporation called "Curves". They live on a 1,000 acre ranch in Texas and an own additional ranch in Australia. This couple, with all their wealth and power, can be considered comparable to gods of the ancient Roman world. They decide to dress up as poor people for a week and live on $6.50 a day. Their goal is to "search for real life heroes who help others". When they first arrive at their new home in Houston, TX, they discover how unfriendly and hostile some of their neighbors. As the couple walks through the neighborhood, they are cursed and yelled at. "This is scary, actually". Later they meet a woman named Kelly who welcomes them into her home and explains to them that she spends all of her free time and money helping others in her neighborhood, even though she herself is not wealthy. At the end of the episode, they approach her and reward her with $250,000 for her generosity."We came by today to thank you for welcoming us". Although Kelly was not technically physically transformed, she was changed from being poor to being a wealthy person. This transformation was a gift from Gary and Diane to recognize her hospitality and altruism. The myth of Baucis and Philemon has inspired modern television producers to create shows to try and see if people will act the same way as Baucis and Philemon did in ancient Rome. These works of art prove that even in the modern world many poor people are generous even though they have very little to give. Occasionally they will be rewarded by people/gods such as Jupiter, Mercury, or an undercover millionaire.

[|Full episode] Trailor: media type="youtube" key="3wljYaQOIBE" height="287" width="495"

__Assignment 5:__

The story of Midas and the Golden Touch in Ovid's Metamorphosis is similar to the modern movie "13 Going on 30". In Midas and the Golden Touch, the god Bacchus gives Midas a wish. He mistakenly wishes that "whatever I touch with my body, turns to yellow gold". Although at first this seems like great thing, Midas eventually figures out that it is a terrible misfortune. Whenever he tries to eat, the food turns to gold. Realizing that his greed caused him to make this terrible decision, Midas begs for forgiveness. "Father, Bacchus, forgive me! I have sinned. But have pity on me, I beg you, and save me from this costly evil!" Bacchus forgives him and tells him that he can go in the river and the golden touch will be gone. In "13 Going on 30", Jenna Rink makes a similar mistake to Midas. Her friend Matt gives her a dollhouse with "wishing dust" on it for her birthday and she wishes that she were "30, flirty, and thriving". She happily wakes up to discover that she is good looking, popular, and has a great job at //Poise//, her favorite magazine. Although this seems like a great thing at first, Jenna, like Midas, figures out that this was a very flawed thing to wish for. Jenna learns that she is no longer friends with Matt, and when she goes to visit she finds out that he is engaged. She also realizes that a lot of the things she used to value are gone. "Do you know what kind of person I am now, I mean - do you know who I am right now? I don't have any real friends. I did something bad with a married guy. I don't talk to my mom and dad. I'm not a nice person. And the thing is - I'm not 13 anymore". On the day of Matt's wedding, Jenna begs him to call it off. Although he tells her that he loves her, he cannot agree. Jenna breaks out in tears and Matt decides to give her the dollhouse, which happens to still have some wishing dust on it. Jenna turns back into a 13 year old and is ecstatic. Both Midas and Jenna learned valuable lessons from their transformations. Their lives were great how they were and wishing for something greedy was a very bad idea. After they were turned back into their previous selves, both were better people who were able to realize that the things they thought they wanted would actually make their lives worse. They both became much happier and more satisfied with their lives.

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__Assignment 4:__ Horace 1.11 reminded me a lot of the movie "Eat Pray Love." In the beginning of the movie, the main character Liz is an overstressed, overworked, unhappily-married woman. Her main concerns are making the most amount of money that she can and maintaining a good reputation. Most of her actions are aimed not to benefit her in the immediate future but in the long run. She tries to be perfect at everything. Her friend reflects to her "you [are] completely concerned with being the perfect wife." However, being "perfect" does not make Liz happy. One day Liz realizes that she hates her current life and that she needs to start actually living. She divorces her husband and decides that she is going to go away for a few years. "I have not given myself even two weeks of a breather just to deal with myself... I want to go someplace where I can marvel at something." She decides that she is going to spend a year visiting Italy, India, and Bali. On this journey, Liz is able to adopt Horace's philosophy by learning how to live her life to the fullest. In the beginning of Horace 1.11, Horace says that people should not ask about what their future will be like. "Tu ne quaesieris" (1). Instead, they should just go with the flow and live their life one day at a time. In the movie, Liz changes from being overly concerned about her future to making spontaneous decisions and doing things that she wants to do. For example, in the beginning Liz was concerned with her weight and what she ate. When she visits Italy, she discovers that life is much more enjoyable if you just eat what you want to eat and don't care about what you look like. Later in the poem, Horace brings up how Jupiter has already decided what is going to happen to everyone, and there's nothing you can do about it. "Seu tribuit Iuppiter" (4). When Liz visits Bali she realizes that God had always known she was going to go there. "God long ago drew a circle in the sand exactly around the spot where [I am] standing right now. I was never not coming here. This was never not going to happen." Liz now knows that everything in her life happens for a reason; God wanted it to happen. Horace realized that if people acknowledge this, they will live much happier lives because they will be less concerned with the bad things in life. Horace uses the metaphor "vina liques" (6) to say that people should get rid of all the bad things in their life. Liz embraces this part of the philosophy when she divorces her husband and leaves America. She did not get along with her husband at all, and she realizes that she would be much happier starting over and getting rid of all of the bad things that were stressing her. She reflects that, "You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life." She knows that her life can be amazing if she "strains the wine," so she makes an effort to do things that make her happy and get rid of the things that don't. While on the journey Liz realizes that life is short and that you should live life to the fullest while there's still time. Horace also reflected on the same thing when he said "fugerit invidia aetas" (7-8) meaning envious ltime will have fled. In Italy someone points out that "Generally speaking... Americans have an inability to relax into sheer pleasure." Liz realizes that this is true and decides that she would be much happier if she acted more non-American and spent her life doing things that she enjoys because she knows that life is too short to spend a majority of it being stressed. "Carpe diem" (8), or seize the day, is one of Horace's most famous phrases. Liz "seizes the day" when she makes the decision to go on the year-long journey. Her friend expresses her uncertainty in the spur-of-the-moment decision, but Liz insists that there is no better time to go than now. While on the journey, Liz continually seizes the day by doing things such as meeting an elephant, being introduced to new religions, meeting many new friends, and eventually falling in love. She stops taking tomorrow for granted and lives each day to the fullest. Horace would have agreed with this, as shown in the last line of his poem, "quam minimum credula postero" (8) meaning that people should trust in the future as little as possible. In the end of the movie, Liz is a changed person. She is much happier now that she is living her life to the fullest. She reflects that to be happy, she must continually make efforts and she should not waste time being unhappy because life is too short. “Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.” This is very reflective of Horace's philosophy because he thinks that in order to be happy, one should "seize the day". Although Liz lives thousands of years later than Horace did, she adopts his philosophy which shows that his ideas are timeless.

__Horace 1.11:__ Tu ne quarsieris, scire nefas, quem mihi, quem tibi finem di dederint, Leuconoe, ned Babylonios temptaris numeros. ut melius, quidquid erit, pati, seu pluris hiemes seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam, quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare Tyrrhenum: sapias, vina liques, et spatio brevi spem longam reseces. dum loquimur, fugerit invidia aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.

__Assignment 3:__ Although this may not be obvious at first, but a few scenes from Spiderman are closely related to Catullus 77. In the beginning of Catullus 77, Catullus says that he has been best friends with Rufus to no avail. This is shown by the repetition of "frustra" and "nequiquam" in lines 1 and 2. In Spiderman 2, Henry Osborn unmasks Spiderman and sees that he is actually his "best friend" Peter Parker. After realizing that Peter had killed his father, Harry acknowledges that they are no longer friends, but enemies. Earlier, he had said that he was willing to do anything for Peter. "They're my best friends... I'd give my life for them". Harry also thinks back to when they were friends in high school and regrets that he helped and was nice to Peter. "I protected you in high school". This shows that he thinks all the efforts that he made to be friends with Peter are in vain, which is very similar to how Catullus feels. Catullus directly addresses his ex-best friend Rufus. The is shown by the use of the vocative case in "Rufe" (1). In Spiderman 2 when Harry Osborn unmasks Spiderman and finds that he is actually his "best friend" Peter Parker, he directly addresses him. "You took him from me. He loved me." Both of these people are not afraid to say what they feel to their ex-friends, and they are completely honest when doing so. Catullus expresses his frustration with the fact that Rufus snatched away all the good things. "Eripuisti omnia... bona" (4). In Spiderman, Peter Parker killed Harry's father. Harry feels an enormous sense of loss because Peter Parker took his dad away from him, and his dad was one of the most important things in his life. Both Catullus and Harry experience huge losses as a result of their ex-best friends and they blame them for it. They regret placing their trust in these people because they see how much they have been hurt by them. Both Harry and Catullus are the victims of this friendship-gone-wrong. Catullus shows this when he says "misero" in line 5 meaning "miserable me". He blames everything that went wrong on Rufus and calls him the "nostrae pestis amicitiae" (6) meaning "plague of our friendship". In Spiderman, Harry does not think of the reason why Peter Parker may have killed his father, but rather just feels like he is the victim. He blames Peter Parker and thinks that Peter killed his father to hurt him. When Peter tried to explain, Harry refuses to listen and tells him to be quiet. "He was trying to kill me! He killed himself!" "Shut up!". Both Catullus and Harry do not take any responsibility for the end of their friendship and completely blame their ex-friend for everything that happened.

Spiderman 2:

Catullus 77: Rufe mihi frustra ac nequiquam credite amice (frustra? immo magno cum pretio atque malo), sicne subrepsti mi atque intestina perurens ei misero eripuisti omnia nostra bona? eripuisti, eheu nostrae crudele venenum vitae, eheu nostrae pestis amicitiae.

__Assignment 2:__ Catullus 72 is very similar to the song "I Just Don't Understand" by the Beatles. Catullus wrote this poem reflecting about his breakup with Lesbia and his feelings towards her as a result of it. In the beginning of the poem, he says that Lesbia used to say that she would rather be with him than with Jupiter. "Nec prae me velle tenere Iovem". He uses the past tense to emphasize that she no longer says that. The fact that Lesbia broke up with Catullus shows that she did not really mean what she had said to him. In "I Just Don't Understand" by the Beatles, they describe in numerous ways how the girl's loving words were conflicting with her actions. "Well you call me your baby/ when you're holding my hand,/ But the way that you hurt me/ I just don't understand". Although the girl in both of these works said very kind things, they did not mean them and they ended up hurting the singer/writer. Both Catullus and The Beatles bring up how kind and loving they were towards the Lesbia and the girl. Catullus says that his love towards Lesbia was better than the crowd, and was more analogous to the love a father has with his children. "Dilexi tum te non tantum ut vulgus amicam". The Beatles also bring up how special their love to the girl was and how it was incomparable to anyone else's love. "Well you know that I love you/ more than anyone can". Both of the artists feel that they gave all of their love to the girls and that it is not possibly to have given any more. Both works describe the pain that the girls have caused them. Catullus compares it to being burned. "Impensius uror". The Beatles describe their confusion with how the girl is able to hurt them. "But the way that you hurt me/ I just don't understand". Both artists appear to be surprised that the girls hurt them, and feel that they do not deserve it based on the way that they have loved the girls. In the end of Catullus 72, he talks about how although he now thinks less of Lesbia, he is unable to stop loving her. "Quod amantem iniuria talis/ cogit amare magis, sed bene velle minus". The Beatles use present tense when they say they still love the girl. "Well you know that I love you". This shows that although they are being hurt by the girl, they are unable to stop loving her. Both poems display the conflicting feelings of hurt and love. They were hurt by a girl who said things she didn't mean, but they continue to love her nevertheless.

Catullus 72: Dicebas quondam solum te nosse Catullum, Lesbia, nec prae me velle tenere Iovem. dilexi tum te non tantum ut vulgus amicam, sed pater ut gnatos diligit et generos. nunc te cognovi; quare, etsi impensius uror, multo mi tamen es vilior et levior. qui potis est, inquis? quod amantem iniuria talis cogit amare magis, sed bene velle minus.

"I Just Don't Understand" - The Beatles media type="youtube" key="0EeFTLD_iN0?fs=1" height="385" width="480"

Lyrics: Well you call me your baby when you're holding my hand, But the way that you hurt me I just don't understand.

Well you say that you need me like an ocean needs sand. But the way you deceive me I just don't understand.

Well you know that I love you more than anyone can. But a one sided love I just don't understand.

Well you know that I love you more than anyone can. But a one sided love I just don't understand.

Well you call me your baby when you're holding my hand, Oh how you can hurt me I just can't understand.

__Assignment 1:__ Catullus 5 and the play //Romeo and Juliet// by William Shakespeare are very similar. Both feature a couple who is in love but should not be (according to their society). In Catullus, he tells his lover that they should not care about what other people think about them. "[R]umoresque senum severiorum / omnes unius aestimemus assis!" Similarly, In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet says that they should forget about what their families think because they are in love. "O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? / Deny thy father and refuse thy name. / Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, / And I’ll no longer be a Capulet". Both couples are looked down upon by their societies because of their love for each other, but they both decide that their love is more important than their reputation.

__**Catullus 5**__
Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus, rumoresque senum severiorum omnes unius aestimemus assis! soles occidere et redire possunt; nobis, cum semel occidit brevis lux, nox est perpetua una dormienda. da mi basia mille, deinde centum, dein mille altera, dein secunda centum, deinde usque altera mille, deinde centum; dein, cum milia multa fecerimus, conturbabimus, illa ne sciamus, aut ne quis malus invidere possit cum tantum sciat esse basiorum.



**__Act II Scene II__**
ROMEO She speaks. O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art As glorious to this night, being o'er my head, As is a wingèd messenger of heaven Unto the white, upturnèd, wondering eyes Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him When he bestrides the lazy-puffing clouds And sails upon the bosom of the air. JULIET O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.