“The Devil, having nothing else to do,
Went off to tempt My Lady Poltagrue.
My Lady, tempted by a private whim,
To his extreme annoyance, tempted him.”
—Hilaire Belloc, French-born British writer (1870–1953), Sonnets and Verse On Lady Poltagrue, A Public Peril.
(I still have more to say regarding your comments, but it will have to wait until Monday unless I discover an internet connection in the wilds. Hope your weekend is great :)
No related posts.
I know your entry was intended in fun and to this end I shall endeavor to hold my comments to that vein.
A great deal of modern western view of “The Devil” was created by the early Christian Church, most notably under the Roman emperor Constantine. Previously existing “pagan” religions were gradually less and less tolerated as the precursor to the Catholic Church denounced the old Greek gods as evil. The Greek god which took the hardest hit was Pan. Pan was a fun loving sexy god with the upper body of a man and the lower body of a goat. The Greeks never considered him evil at all. He was a party animal, an earthy spirit of amorous indulgence and music. Sort of like the ancient world’s version of Sex, Drugs, and Rock n’ Roll. Poor Pan, he didn’t want to hurt anybody. He was just looking for a good time and wanted to share the happy vibes. The Romans, in an attempt to promote their new Christianity, slandered Pan as the Devil. It is at this point in history that Satan took on the physical traits of goat’s horns, cloven hooves, and the eyes of a goat. Talk about a bum rap. Sheesh!
Of course, women had previously enjoyed a much higher level of power in the ancient world until the Romans started this whole anti-Pan thing. Now women who enjoyed strutting their sexual stuff were seen as servants of Satan, and later … witches. Give me a break. Men can sow their wild oats and be lauded as cultural heroes while women who enjoy sex are evil sluts? Get a life all you ultra right wing clergy. “Let those among you who is without sin cast the first stone.”
So, now to get around to modern women who take the reigns sexually and get what *they* want. Lady Poltagrue would be seen by the ultra conservatives as a dangerous slut and seen by those with more open minds as … perhaps …….. a fun loving hypnodomme. Sure. Why not? And where is the greatest DANGER? Does it lie with giving in to the temptations of a beautiful and sexually hungry woman, or does it lie within the fearsome slanderous minds of men who seek to preserve their bullshit gender superiority power at the cost of squashing that which they need most?
They say that history is written by those who are victorious in conflict. Really? If you ask me, a great deal of modern history regarding women has been written by the losers.
Hey, what happened? This was supposed to be a fun, happy sort of post. I’m in a good mood, honest. And that picture. Those smokey eyes! That craving mouth! If I was not such a very level headed conservative sort of fellow I would at this point remark that the Lady’s face makes me want to get wicked in a hurry. “Wicked”? “Evil”? A rose of feeling by any other name would smell as sweet.
Belloc looks interesting but who is Lady Poltagrue and why was she a public peril? :)
I’d love to know the story behind that, Nigel, but alas, google has let me down :)