Episode 11 - The Tree

[Gard]

There are clues that suggest that Kalos was being poisoned by Musides.

1) As the contest progressed, Musides became more and more depressed. He was depressed for months. What other reason could he be depressed than that he knows he will lose to Kalos. Remember, only he and Kalos can view each others work.

"At night, as of yore, Musides sought the banquet halls of Tegea whilst Kalos wandered alone in the olive grove. But as time passed, men observed a want of gaiety in the once sparkling Musides. It was strange, they said amongst themselves, that depression should thus seize one with so great a chance to win art’s loftiest reward. Many months passed, yet in the sour face of Musides came nothing of the sharp expectancy which the situation should arouse."

2) Musides only allows himself to feed Kalos. Notice the foreshadowing of Kalos having a serene and magical look versus Misides having anxiety over the situation.

"Subsequently many went to visit Kalos, and indeed noticed the pallor of his face; but there was about him a happy serenity which made his glance more magical than the glance of Musides—who was clearly distracted with anxiety, and who pushed aside all the slaves in his eagerness to feed and wait upon his friend with his own hands."

3) That Kalos discovers near the end that he is being poisoned by Musides is evident by the fact that he desires the companionship of the creatures of the grove (who must have made him aware of the betrayal) rather than Musides.

"Musides ever granted his requests, though his eyes filled with visible tears at the thought that Kalos should care more for the fauns and the dryads than for him."

4)Remember the foreshadowing of Kalos being magical? Here is were he begins is revenge.

"Only one wish now haunted the mind of the dying man; that twigs from certain olive trees in the grove be buried by his resting-place—close to his head."

The spell requires that certain twigs be placed near his head upon death. The roots will grow into his brain and he will become one with the tree. Musides plants the seeds of his on destruction.

5) This line is a further hint of Musides motives:

"All honour was now his, since the Tyrant of Syracuse would have the work of none save him or Kalos."

6) Here is a line that hints of the situation as it stands:

"And then the men of Tegea spoke of the goodness of Musides, and of his heavy grief for his friend; and how not even the coming laurels of art could console him in the absence of Kalos, who might have worn those laurels instead."

7+) The chateristics of the tree and Musides dread provide all of the other clues that Kalos is about to take his revenge through the tree.

[Lambda]

I just listened to it again.

Guys, tyrants are not necessary evil guys. They formed an important part of the Greek history, and most of the time they were very important for the progress of civilization. We see them as evil today because they violently take power from those who had it before. Today we have mostly democratic governments, but ancient Greece was not purely democratic, it was actually closer to an aristocracy with elections. The problem of this system was that the archons would not pass laws in favor of the lower social classes because they were afraid of losing their position in the next election (as they still are today  ). The tyrants, in contrast to the normal archons, did not have to fear elections, so they were free to pass laws that would improve the position of the lower social classes (and also eventually allow them to vote and participate in the government). Many Greek tyrants were very popular and respected. Most of the time those did a better job than the elected archons, just look up Peisistratos.

[chaosound]

i read this story once quite awhile ago (2-3yrs?) so i cant put up any evidence but i thought they were more than friends and also took it that the one had killed the other in order to steal his statue or had ruined it somehow
but this is simply based on memory

[Chris Lackey]

I am terrified to go back and listen to this episode. Any of the old ones, really. So young and foolish...

[old book]

Is "oida" proper Greek? Aorist?

[Ruth - CthulhuChick]

Is "oida" proper Greek? Aorist?

Ooh, this is something I ran across with the eBook. HPLovecraft.com has it as Omicron, i-tilde, delta, alpha. I'm not sure if that's how Lovecraft wrote it or not. Dagon Bytes and others have it as the Anglicized version. I used the Anglicized version because it's more eReader friendly. If you want to look it up in an online Greek Translator, I'd suggest doing a copy/paste from their copy.

[old book]

I think it's fair to skip the accent marks in Greek if it isn't in Greek characters... but isn't tilde this: ~

Never seen it on a Greek word, just Estonian!

What I was really wondering is if "oida" is grammatically proper for first person (and aorist?) "I know."

[Ruth - CthulhuChick]

I think it's fair to skip the accent marks in Greek if it isn't in Greek characters... but isn't tilde this: ~

Never seen it on a Greek word, just Estonian!

What I was really wondering is if "oida" is grammatically proper for first person (and aorist?) "I know."

I've seen the i-tilde in other languages, though I'm not sure if it's proper Greek or not.

[osyrisdiamond]

Resurrecting this one with the corpse sill intact. Me found a tree with a human shape to it; best from Google, frankly. It does have a touch of the artist in its form.