Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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1567

Keep away from the Games!

The wise old philosopher had learnt that popular entertainments rot the soul.

Seneca knew something about cruelty: he was tutor and counsellor to the Emperor Nero. Here, he writes to Lucilius, Procurator of Sicily, about the moral effect of mass entertainments such as the brutal gladiator contests of Rome.

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Picture: © Hoshidoshi, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain image.. Source.

1568

The Keeper of the Gate

A widow cast her precious icon into the sea rather than see it dishonoured by government agents, but that wasn’t the end of the story.

In the days of the Byzantine Emperor Theophilus (829-842), it was illegal to possess religious art depicting people. Houses were searched, and offenders saw their precious icons destroyed with dishonour.

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1569

The Kitchen Cat

Ruth Lorimer’s strangely comfortless life changes when she finds a scruffy little cat on the stairs, but not everyone is pleased.

Little Ruth Lorimer has nice toys and a nice house, but she is dreadfully lonely. Then one day a scruffy little cat brings some warmth into her life.

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Picture: © John Lord, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.

1570

The Ladder with Twenty-Four Rungs

The Duke of Argyll was pleasantly surprised to find one of his gardeners reading a learned book of mathematics - in Latin.

Edward Stone (1702-1768), mathematician, Fellow of the Royal Society, and the man who gave us aspirin, was self-taught. His story reminds us that the purpose of education is not to tell us what to think, but to give us the tools we need to think for ourselves.

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Picture: © Michael Garlick, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 4.0.. Source.

1571

The Lambton Worm

John Lambton goes fishing on a Sunday, and lets loose all kinds of trouble.

This tale from County Durham is one of the best-known local legends. A ‘worm’ is an Old English word for a dragon, in this case something strangling and slimy rather than fire-breathing. The hero (if that is the right word) is John Lambton, a much-travelled Knight of Rhodes whose father died in 1431 and left him the Lambton estates.

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Picture: © Antony Dixon, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.

1572

The Last Gladiator

The people of Rome suddenly turned their back on centuries of ‘sport’ - all because of one harmless old man.

After Alaric the Goth’s assault on Rome was successfully turned back, victory games were held in the Roman Colosseum on January 1st, 404. As usual, they quickly descended into savagery.

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Picture: © Gobbler, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.. Source.