Towards Virtue

(Check Jupiter and Moon too)

Aries: Zeno - “No evil is honorable: but death is honorable; therefore death is not evil.“

Taurus: Apollonius - “Her heart smoldered with pain as he passed from sight her soul crept out of her, as in a dream, and fluttered in his steps.”  

Gemini: Heraclitus - “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”  

Cancer: Democritus - “It is greed to do all the talking but not to want to listen at all.“

Leo: Epicurus - “The art of living well and the art of dying well are one“

Virgo: Aristotle - “Learning is not child’s play; we cannot learn without pain.”

Libra: Plato - “Love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the Gods.”

Scorpio: Thales - “Nothing is more active than thought, for it travels over the universe, and nothing is stronger than necessity for all must submit to it.”

Sagittarius: Diogenes - “In a rich man’s house there is no place to spit but his face.“

Capricorn: Socrates - “It is not living that matters, but living rightly.”

Aquarius: Pythagoras - “Do not say a little in many words, but a great deal in few!”

Centum Cellas, the remains of a Roman villa in Portugal, built in the first century. [1600 x 1061]

Roman Dogs Names

Dog Mosaic at the Olearie Exhibit – Rome, Italy

What did the ancient Romans name their four-legged best friends? Lucius Iunius Moderatus Columella gives us a few recommended names in the section of his work on agriculture dealing with the rearing and training of dogs. Other likely sources used by the ancient Romans for dog names may have come from literature, in much the same way that people today draw on literature for naming their dogs.

Here is a list of some of the names in both Greek and Latin as mentioned by some writers. Each name is followed by gender and meaning.

Agre. f. “Hunter”. One of Actaeon’s hounds in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. …keen-scented…

Argiodus. m. “White-tooth”. One of Actaeon’s hounds in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. …from a Cretan father and a Spartan mother…

Celer. m. “Speedy”. A recommended dog name in Columella’s On Agriculture.

Ferox. m. “Savage”. A recommended dog name in Columella’s On Agriculture.

Harpyia. f. “Seizer”. One of Actaeon’s hounds in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. …with her two pups…

Hylactor. m. “Barker”. One of Actaeon’s hounds in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. …shrill-tongued…

Hylaeus. m. “Sylvan”. One of Actaeon’s hounds in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. …savage…but lately ripped up by a boar…

Hyrcanus. m. “From Hyrcania” (a region in ancient northern Persia, possibly meaning “land of the wolves”). Mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History to illustrate the faithfulness of dogs. …upon the funeral pile of King Lysimachus being lighted, threw itself into the flames…

Ichnobates. m. “Trail-follower”. One of Actaeon’s hounds in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. …keen-scented…baying loud on the trail…a Cretan dog.

Labros. m. “Fury”. One of Actaeon’s hounds in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. …from a Cretan father and a Spartan mother…

Lacon or Lakon. m. “Spartan”. One of Actaeon’s hounds in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. …renowned for strength… Also, a recommended dog name in Columella’s On Agriculture.

Laelaps. m. “Hurricane”. A famous – and relentless – hunting hound in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, originally a gift of the gods.

Lycisce. f. “Wolf”. One of Actaeon’s hounds in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. …swift…Melampus. m. “Black-foot”. One of Actaeon’s hounds in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. …a Spartan. Melanchaetes. m. “Black-hair”. One of Actaeon’s hounds in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Nebrophonos. m. “Fawn-killer”. One of Actaeon’s hounds in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. …staunch… Oresitrophos. m. “Mountaineer”. One of Actaeon’s hounds in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Pamphagos or Pamphagus. m. “Voracious”. One of Actaeon’s hounds in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. …Arcadian… Patricus. m. “Noble”. From an ancient epitaph to a dog, cited in Abbott’s work. …an Italian dog, at Salernum…“My eyes were wet with tears, our dear little dog…In thy qualities, sagacious thou wert like a human being.” Poemenis. f. “Shepherd”. One of Actaeon’s hounds in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. …the trusty shepherd… Pyrrhus. m. “Fire; Flame-colored”. A dog mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History to illustrate the faithfulness of dogs. …the dog of the tyrant Gelon…

Theridamas. m. “Beast-killer”. One of Actaeon’s hounds in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Theron. m. “Hunter”. One of Actaeon’s hounds in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. …fierce…

Tigris. m. or f. “Tiger; Tigress”. One of Actaeon’s hounds in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Also, a recommended dog name in Columella’s On Agriculture.

Key

Ludwig Vollmar (German, 1842-1884)

The Japanese Handheld Cannon —- The Ozutsu

In the mid 1500’s Portuguese traders introduced firearms to Japan.  The deadly new weapons became very popular among the Samurai and soldiers causing a whole new weapons industry which flourished in to the point that Japanese firearms use rivaled that of Europe in both number and quality.  While the matchlock musket was the most common Japanese firearm, many other stranger weapons were also produced.

One of the strangest was the ozutsu.  "Ozutsu" is a Japanese word for cannon, however Japanese cannon came in a variety of sizes, including a small handheld cannon.  Popular in the late 16th and early 17th century, ozutsu handheld cannons were basically small man portable cannon modeled after regular matchlock muskets.  Ozutsu’s however were made to fire cannon sized projectiles of around 1 - 3 inches in caliber and be fired by hand like a regular musket.

When fired by hand the ozutsu was not loaded with regular cannonballs, as the tremendous recoil would be enough to knock even the strongest Samurai on his bum.  Typically they fired incendiary or explosive arrows called “hiya" using a reduced powder charge, making them more like a grenade launcher or hand mortar.

When mounted on a tripod, wall pintle, or carriage however, they could be loaded with small cannon balls or even grapeshot, making it like a large shotgun.  For the most part the ozutsu was used in siege warfare to storm and destroy enemy fortifications and castles.

Silver, 19th century