2-1-Q for The Swerve By Greenblatt Chp. 7
2 interesting
- On page 163, Greenblatt alludes to the chapter’s name, “The Pit to Catch Foxes,” by quoting Pope John XXIII as saying, “When, in October 1414, he looked down at Constance and its lake ringed by mountains, he turned to his train – among whom, of course, was Poggio – and said, ‘This is the pit where they catch foxes.'” What I find some interesting about this is because I know who John is and what he’s like, it feels like Greenblatt is making a jab at him as a person. A fox, in reference to people at least, is considered to give the feelings of cunning, deceitfulness, and trickery. As we have learned about John so far, that’s exactly the kind of man he is. He does whatever necessary through any means necessary to get what he wants. Greenblatt constantly throughout this chapter relates John to a fox, and also keeps reminding us of the “trap” he has landed in. This meeting that he has to go to could very well destroy everything he had built for himself and could ruin his reputation for life. But, just like a fox, he persists, insistent that there is a way out of this. Distraction after distraction, display of religious might after flaunting of riches in the name of God. Yet, just as he said himself, this is a “pit where they catch foxes.” His self realization of who he truly is is also fascinating. He himself recognizes his persona he has created is nothing more than a fox in sheep’s clothing.
- On pages 174-175, Poggio is described as going to a medicinal bath at Baden, where nudism of some kind is encouraged. He makes some odd remarks, specifically about the women and even about the men – mostly how they didn’t mind watching a stranger touch their wife – and he sympathized with it. “The rituals of social life at Baden seemed dreamlike to Poggio, as if they were conjuring up the vanished world of Jove and Danae.” Even in this strange, erotic place, Poggio is able to relate it to the old “Plato Republic,” with its radical ideas and desire to live life to the fullest extent of happiness possible. It is strange, to see this bookworm like Poggio, to confessing to throwing “pennies and garlands” to the women in the chance they may loosen their grip on the cloth covering their bodies. His strange fascination with this place is almost uncomfortably perverted, but it could be more because of his previous cynical nature towards his current world and suddenly being able to see such pure, unadulterated pleasure with no bickering, no arguments of any kind and in such a strange environment, after what Poggio has gone through, that truly immersed him in this world.
1 connection
On the bottom of page 156, Greenblatt states, “His career triumph in the pontificate of John XXIII must have given him some pleasure, but it only intensified (the immersion in his world) and hence intensified both the soul-sickness and the fantasy of an escape.” Poggio is plagued with this idea of always knowing he currently lives in a rough time during which he cannot truly express his own feelings. In the modern world, there is a saying I’ve seen going around that I actually agree with; “Born too late to explore the world, born too early to explore the galaxy.” Poggio feels this same way, feeling as if he is in the middle of two amazing times in history where he unfortunately has to live through the rut of them. I can attest to feeling this way myself, with the idea that I might not live long enough to see the stars, and that there’s no point to me discovering the world because it’s already been done. While that last statement is not entirely true, I suppose it’s just a pessimistic way to look at the world, which, in its current state, I’d say is a fair assessment. Watching movies of old, reading literature from people at a time where everything felt new and exciting makes the time I live in feel dull and disgusting in comparison. I believe Poggio feels this same way here, expressing his idea of wishing to be able to just immerse himself with literature of old and ignore the current state of the world.
Question
If Hus and Jerome had been allowed an audience at the meeting in Constance, how might that have changed history as we know it? From the little that Poggio was able to hear of Jerome before he was burned at the stake, it seems to have been really compelling to make a man like Poggio, one who feared to speak against the church at that time, to confidently express his admiration for Jerome’s speech.
