Tag Archives: Letter

E is for ⁊

⁊ is shorthand for the word et which means “and” in Latin. It shows up in place of “and” seven times in the only copy we have of the Rune Poem. The placements seem random, for example the Gift stanza contains “and” written out twice and ⁊ twice:

Gumena byþ         gleng and herenys,
wraþu ⁊ wyrþscype,         ⁊ wræcna gehwam
ar and ætwist         ðe byþ oþra leas.

The copy of the Rune Poem we have was copied from an older version which burned in a fire and which may have itself been a copy. It’s copies all the way down, so we have no idea what sorts of abbreviations were used in early versions or how frequently. We do know the universal truth that scribal hands get tired. Fingers cramp. Ink runs out and it’s a whole thing to make more. Writing takes time, so corner cutting is essential.

The ⁊ is called … More

How to Listen to a Horse

Publius Cornelius Tacitus
Ingaevones Territory
Year 98 of the New Calendar

Gnaeus Julius Agricola
Governor, Britannia, ret.

Dearest Father in Law,

How are you, I am fine. Julia sends her love. I am still in Germania, moving in the direction of Gaul, separated from this place by rivers, mountains, and mutual dread. This is a land rude in its surface, rigorous in its climate, cheerless to every beholder and cultivator.

Today I observed the practice of conjuring, which one cannot avoid as no people are more addicted to divination by omens and lots. Of their methods, some are familiar and civilized for instance auguring from the sounds and flights of birds, others prove most unnatural, such as deriving admonitions and presages from horses. These are the omens they deem most important:

When a horse neighs, the people foresee a meeting or gathering, of which they sit to many, most often fully armed. If the … More

X≠Y≠Z: Letter

Star light, star bright,

First star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight. Not something big like a pony what am I going to do with a horse, it was just to get out of there and live my life already. But I didn’t mean all the way out, and me with my heart in my throat. Plenty of help and no support.

I know the one thing that ever shall be, we all know that one doesn’t matter who. I’ll recognize need next time I see it, and by god doesn’t matter who, I’ll help how I can if I can.

Need is mine and will be mine again.

Yours,
X

The Oxen of the Sun

April 8, 240 b.c.e.

Eratosthenes of Cyrene
Chief Librarian
Great Library of Alexandria
Alexandria, Egypt

Dear Eratosthenes,

Greetings my dear friend. I congratulate you on your recent measurements of the globe, though I suspect your eyes will suffer from so much gazing at the sun to achieve it. If you are hungry for it I require your assistance in the computation of the number of Helios’ cattle. They are horned, though that may make little difference as all are worth the same money horns or no horns. They live in four herds of different colors, white, black, yellow, and dappled. Each herd has bulls in these proportions: the white bulls are equal to a half and a third of the black together with all of the yellow. The black are equal to the fourth part of the dappled, and a fifth, together with again, all of the yellow. The remaining bulls, the dappled ones, … More