For to live in a political realm with neither authority nor the concomitant awareness that the source of authority transcends power and those who are in power, means to be confronted anew, without the religious trust in a sacred beginning and without the protection of traditional and therefore self-evident standards of behavior, by the elementary problems of human living-together.

There exists, however, a silent agreement in most discussions among political and social scientists that we can ignore distinctions and proceed on the assumption that everything can eventually be called anything else, and that distinctions are meaningful only to the extent that each of us has the right “to define his terms.” Yet does not this curious right, which we have come to grant as soon as we deal with matters of importance–as though it were actually the same as the right to one’s own opinion–already indicate that such terms as “tyranny,” “authority,” “totalitarianism” have simply lost their common meaning, or that we have ceased to live in a common world where the words we have in common possess an unquestionable meaningfulness, so that, short of being condemned to live verbally in an altogether meaningless world, we grant each other the right to retreat into our own worlds of meaning, and demand only that each of us remain consistent within his own private terminology? If, in these circumstances, we assure ourselves that we still understand each other, we do not mean that together we understand a world common to us all, but that we understand the consistency of arguing and reasoning, of the process of argumentation in its sheer formality.

"Vix ipse credo, tam verbosum fuisse me..." "I myself can hardly believe that I was so verbose as this book shows when I publicly expounded this letter of St. Paul to the Galatians. However, I can see that all the thoughts that I find in this treatise are mine, so I must confess that I uttered all of them, or perhaps more than all of them."

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page%3AAnte-Nicene_Christian_Library_Vol_12.djvu/154 ──────── http://khazarzar.skeptik.net/pgm/PG_Migne/Clement%20of%20Alexandria_PG%2008-09/Stromata.pdf p. 114, 4.2.4.1; ──────── these notes of ours, hypomnemata ──────── varied character, ποικίλως ──────── Quotes Heraclitus and Sophocles, Matthew and Job. ──────── Matthew 11:12, very surprising: it is to the violent that the kingdom of heaven belongs; or in another place "Nor does the kingdom of heaven belong to sleepers and sluggards, 'but the violent take it by force.'" http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/e-catena/matthew11.html

Tertullian once says that we should use flowers as nature intended and not for purposes of a worship service. (Overbeck) ──── Translator's introduction: Clement wrestles with the problem of the inadequacy of his form of expression, including his theology of the universal Logos, which was derived mainly from Greek philosophy. He is profoundly aware of the hermeneutical problem of discussing the Christian faith in forms derived from Greco-Roman culture. [...] The plan of the work [Clement's Stromata] is intentionally "formless." This not only serves Clement's pedagogical purpose [i.e. the selection of readers who are able to "crack the nut" and find the fruit] but also expresses a genuine dilemma, for there is an unbridgeable gab [sic] between Clement's presentation and highest truth: it cannot be communicated in the 'profane' forms of Clement's theology." ──── Overbeck: "In this sense [author-work-public] there could be no Christian literature in the original Christian community. Here no one had the right to teach the community as such in his own name [...] According to the original Christian [Urchristlich] view [image?], no one in the Christian community had the right to become a teacher in this community who was not in possession [genativus objectivus!] of the Spirit. [...] It is interesting to observe... how deeply Clement feels the responsibility for what he does, how great his reluctance is, when he, from his own means and in his own name, undertakes the task of presenting the Christian truth. Is this truth not endangered by such a presentation? [...] These are the questions that occupied and distressed the oldest Christian Alexandrians, the first real theologians and literary authors of the church.... Only with the canon is the possibility given in the Christian community of a free literature that stands only on the talent of the individual author and that is separated from the special source of Christian life." ──── Nietzsche's friend. Now would like to look at the Stromata. Regarding its title, Wikipedia states (first line) that "Stromata (Greek: Στρώματα) [is] a mistake for Stromateis (Στρωματεῖς, 'Patchwork')", but both are connected to bedspreads, throws, stretching, and quilts, as well as to a motley fish. The motley nature of the quilt is the accepted sense of the title as "Misc."

I found the footnotes. They're in the ebook version but not the PDF. A footnote tells me Tuchman found out the detail about the crossbow strings getting weaker from a rainstorm from the chronicles of Jean de Venette. Also that "Crécy buffs" debate whether this is possible and experiment by intentionally soaking bowstrings.

Joseph stirring the pot. dispute between rashi and ramban regarding which brothers are subject of his reports: does he align himself with the sons of the slavewomen, or does he betray them?

In Utrecht at a lecture on Riza Nur's 1700-page "self-encyclopedia" and the Istanbul Encyclopedia archive

From streets to architectural structures, from important or common people and the customs of the city to historical events and urban legends, numerous subjects were recorded through story-like narratives and illustrations. A collaborative work of esteemed historians, literary scholars, academics, and artists of the period, Istanbul Encyclopedia presents a unique blend of the tezkire [biographical anthology] tradition and Western encyclopedism, shaped around Koçu’s personal interests. It is not merely a reference source, a compilation of testimonies, or a massive effort to include everything about Istanbul; it is an extraordinary work that constructs a unique idea or image of Istanbul by processing all the material through certain hierarchies of significance and strategies of inclusion/exclusion. The encyclopedia was only printed up to the letter G during Koçu’s lifetime, which makes up the first 11 volumes.

11am: more coffee

first day of Kinders today! They were wiping snotty noses on my leg and struggling to locate the cafeteria.

Hegel, Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der Philosophie

Wer Augen hat zu sehen, muss er erkennen, dass der Rathschlag des Senats von Haus aus mehr war und mehr sein sollte als ein einfacher Rathschlag und als Fesselung der Executive empfunden und behandelt ward. Der Uebergang dieses potenzirten Rechts den Magistrat zu berathen in die Bindung desselben durch Senatsschluss ist wohl in vielhundertjährigem Kampf zwischen Magistratur und Senat entwickelt worden; aber der Keim dazu liegt in der Institution selbst.

Die ebenso eminente und effective wie unbestimmte und formell unfundirte Machtstellung des Senats wird in der späteren Republik regelmässig mit dem in entsprechender Weise verschwommenen und aller strengen Definition sich entziehenden Worte auctoritas bezeichnet.