Mid August Shakespeare, Gutters, and Rides

1) Last Thursday we saw Julius Caesar, the play, not the guy.  While the subject of the play includes all the ingredients of great tragedy and there are many great speeches, I think it does not not achieve the power of some of Shakespeare's other works. Two of the main characters lack tragic stature.

Brutus is  more of a bumbling fool  who gets everything wrong than a great statesman who merits the respect he is shown by all around him. He let's Marcus Antonius live. He lets Marcus Antonius give a eulogy without monitoring what he says. He chooses to fight at Phillipi instead of waiting for his enemies' rabble forces to dissipate. He is full of platitudes and faulty reasoning and is still very convincing. Thus, he may be more realistic than many truly tragic figures.

Marcus Antonius is a conniver and self seeking rabble rouser, and a perhaps sincere sycophant of Caesar. The only character of real depth and tragic stature is Cassius, who is constant in his refusal to be ruled by a tyrant and his dedication to the Roman tradition of freedom (for some). It is his misfortune to link his fate with Brutus.

While the play may lack the power of great tragedy, it is still an effective play. Both Julius Caesar and Brutus fail to take good advice. Caesar ignores the soothsayer's warning about the Ides of March and his wife's pleas for him to stay at home. He does this out of vanity and ambition for the crown.

Brutus ignores the good advice he receives from his fellow conspirators, especially Cassius, out of his conceit that he knows best. It may be considered a play about the havoc caused by a man of good will but small understanding, who is revered beyond his merit and placed by others, and by circumstances, in a position to alter history.

2) Two years ago, when we had our septic redone, I had the contractors install a system of drain lines to which I would connect the downspouts of gutters. Last week I finally installed 44 feet of gutter and downspouts. It had been so long that I had trouble finding the outlets of the drains so I could make sure the lines were clear. A lot of brush had grown up  around them. I still have to install about 20 feet at the higher roof level, and that will only take care of  the front.

3) Yesterday I went for my longest ride of the year so far, a 75 mile tour of the Hoosic River Valley. It was a fund raiser for the Hoosic River Watershed Association, who are trying to clean up and restore the environs of this river. The ride covered some of the northwest corner of Massachusetts and nearby New York and Vermont. It was a pretty ride on mostly back roads. There was one major climb and an enormous number of short climbs of rolling hills, including some ridiculously steep pitches ( over 16%) for a total of  a vertical mile of climbing. For those who cycle, my low gear was a 39/26, a bad choice for this terrain and my legs. I was among the  oldest and slowest riders. Still need to lose ten pounds, although I'll still be old and slow.