Monday 2 May 2016

The Pathetic Fallacy In The Sacred Wood

Three of his Queens confront Gratillonius, King of Ys. One says:

"'..Let the wombs that were shut be opened. Let the dead quicken. Taranis, come unto Belisama.'
"Lightning burst." (Roma Mater, pp. 345-346)

Lightning is followed by thunder, hail, wind and rain. And Gratillonius is possessed. The God in the man knows the Goddess in the three women. Afterwards, when Gratillonius is alone, he shouts to the Gods in Ysan that he does not understand what has happened and retreats into a Latin prayer to his own deity, Mithras.

The reader, carried along by the text, must surely recognize the dramatic effect of the lightning arriving with the women. And, in this case, perhaps it is not a pathetic fallacy because the Gods Who possess the man and the women also command the elements.

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