by neufer » Sat Jul 07, 2018 12:31 pm
De58te wrote: ↑Sat Jul 07, 2018 10:12 am
A good question to ask is why did the photographer choose to stand in the water filled ditch? How many of you are impressed by the close-up of the ditch in the foreground? If he wanted to get the reflection of water on the ground wouldn't standing on the bank of a river, or the beach of a lake be even more impressive?
https://www.etymonline.com/word/last-ditch wrote:
last-ditch (adj.) "on the last line of defense," 1909, from an image attested by 1715, from a quote attributed to William of Orange (1650-1702), who is said to have uttered it defiantly during the French invasion of 1672; if so, originally in a Netherlands context.
- We have no space to enter into the detail of the heroic struggle maintained by the young stadtholder and his faithful Dutchmen; how they laid their country under water, and successfully kept the powerful invader at bay. Once the contest seemed utterly hopeless. William was advised to compromise the matter, and yield up Holland as the conquest of Louis XIV. "No," replied he; "I mean to die in the last ditch." A speech alone sufficient to render his memory immortal. [Agnes Strickland, "Lives of the Queens of England," London, 1847]
http://www.virgil.org/vitae/a-donatus.htm wrote:
1. Publius Vergilius Maro was a Mantuan of humble parents, especially with regard to his father: some have reported that he was an artisan potter, others that he was employed by a summoner named Magus, that he soon became a son-in-law on account of his industry, and that he built up a fortune of no mean substance by buying up woodlands and tending bees.
2. [Virgil] was born on the ides of October, during the first consulship of Gnaeus Pompeius the Great and Marcus Licinius Crassus [i.e., 15 October 70], in a region called Andes, not far from Mantua. 3. While she was pregnant with him, his mother dreamed that she gave birth to a laurel branch, which struck root when it touched the earth and sprang up on the spot, so that it looked like a full-grown tree, stuffed with diverse fruits and flowers. And the following day, while she was making for the neighboring fields with her husband, she turned aside from the path, threw herself into a ditch, and disburdened herself by delivering the child. 4. In this manner they say that the child was born, and did not cry, so mild was his countenance; that even then, he gave men no small reason to hope that his birth would prove to be auspicious. 5. Another presage was added to this, when the poplar sprout that is immediately planted in the same place by women who have given birth (according to the custom of the region) actually grew up so fast that it stood level with the poplars sown long before. It is called on that account the "tree of Virgil," and prayers for childbirth and safe delivery are still offered with the greatest reverence there by pregnant women and new mothers.
[quote=De58te post_id=283905 time=1530958360 user_id=141631]
A good question to ask is why did the photographer choose to stand in the water filled ditch? How many of you are impressed by the close-up of the ditch in the foreground? If he wanted to get the reflection of water on the ground wouldn't standing on the bank of a river, or the beach of a lake be even more impressive?[/quote][quote=" https://www.etymonline.com/word/last-ditch"]
last-ditch (adj.) "on the last line of defense," 1909, from an image attested by 1715, from a quote attributed to William of Orange (1650-1702), who is said to have uttered it defiantly during the French invasion of 1672; if so, originally in a Netherlands context.
[list][i] [color=#0000FF]We have no space to enter into the detail of the heroic struggle maintained by the young stadtholder and his faithful Dutchmen; how they laid their country under water, and successfully kept the powerful invader at bay. Once the contest seemed utterly hopeless. William was advised to compromise the matter, and yield up Holland as the conquest of Louis XIV. "No," replied he; "I mean to die in the last ditch." A speech alone sufficient to render his memory immortal.[/color] [/i][Agnes Strickland, "Lives of the Queens of England," London, 1847][/list] [/quote][quote=" http://www.virgil.org/vitae/a-donatus.htm"]
1. Publius Vergilius Maro was a Mantuan of humble parents, especially with regard to his father: some have reported that he was an artisan potter, others that he was employed by a summoner named Magus, that he soon became a son-in-law on account of his industry, and that he built up a fortune of no mean substance by buying up woodlands and tending bees.
2. [Virgil] was born on the ides of October, during the first consulship of Gnaeus Pompeius the Great and Marcus Licinius Crassus [i.e., 15 October 70], in a region called Andes, not far from Mantua. 3. While she was pregnant with him, his mother dreamed that she gave birth to a laurel branch, which struck root when it touched the earth and sprang up on the spot, so that it looked like a full-grown tree, stuffed with diverse fruits and flowers. And the following day, while she was making for the neighboring fields with her husband, she turned aside from the path, threw herself into a ditch, and disburdened herself by delivering the child. 4. In this manner they say that the child was born, and did not cry, so mild was his countenance; that even then, he gave men no small reason to hope that his birth would prove to be auspicious. 5. Another presage was added to this, when the poplar sprout that is immediately planted in the same place by women who have given birth (according to the custom of the region) actually grew up so fast that it stood level with the poplars sown long before. It is called on that account the "tree of Virgil," and prayers for childbirth and safe delivery are still offered with the greatest reverence there by pregnant women and new mothers. [/quote]