chapter 10 the monism of darkness and the dualism of limit and ...

MONISM OF DARKNESS - DUALISM OF LIMIT AND INDETERMINACY 95
day of Julius Ceasar’s death, of universal significance and import for
the destiny of all mankind, the Sun is hidden by a dark mist, and the
impious epoch is afraid lest it be covered and submerged by eternal
Night. Virgil, Georgicon I, 446-8:
Ille etiam (sc. Sol) extincto miseratus Caesare Romam,
cum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine texit,
impiaque aeternam timuerunt saecula noctem.
Lucanus elaborates and expatiates on the idea in his oratoricoepical
manner: he figuratively paints the terrifyingly imminent reversion to
primordial Chaos. Titatic Winds raise the water of Ocean and Sea up
to Heaven, thus flooding the whole Earth. The universal Typhonic
arousal of confusion starts appropriately with the Ocean and spreads
to the Sea and all the partial segments thereof (Bellum Civile V, 597-
620). Having confounded the earth, the cosmic storm of wind and
water would have dissolved even the Sky in its fury had it not been
prevented through a dam of dense clouds by Zeus (620-626):
623 cum mare convolvit gentes, cum litora Tethys
noluit ulla pati caelo contenta teneri
tum quoque tanta maris moles crevisset in astra
ni superum rector pressisset nubibus undas.
Light is extinguished and the very consistency, composition and
articulation of the Universe tremble: Nature is horrified before the
coming of Chaos since it now seems that the bond of elements is
being loosened and primordial Night is coming back intermingling
Hades’ Shadows with Olympian deities into the aboriginal confusion
of everything:
630 lux etiam metuenda perit, nec fulgura currunt
clara, sed obscurum nimbosus dissilit aer.
tum superum convexa tremunt atque arduus axis
intonuit motaque poli compage laborant.
extimuit natura chaos; rupisse videntur
concordes elementa moras rursusque redire
nox manes mixture deis.