286
PARTISAN REVIEW
They'd all be flabbergasted. To leave the place of struggle at the decisive
moment, when the strings are being pulled and the broadsides delivered,
when everyone is trying to save their precious little skins? He'd go to the
mountains, solve some crossword puzzles - perhaps also the puzzle of
Mr. Marcu,
Ie pere defamille.
He'd go on holiday when no one expects
to take one. Such imprudence would show that receptionist Anatol
Dominic Vancea Voinov, known as Tolea, has special links; that he's not
afraid of the pathetic office workers' neuroses; that he's master of the
situation. Meanwhile, already from tomorrow, he'd start to recall all the
most unfavorable details of his life story: the bourgeoisified brother in
Argentina, the aristocratic Teutonic sister-in-law, even the cosmopolitan
exploiter of a father, or the sister who had gone back to the Bible, yes,
even her.
"I asked you a question, honeybunch. I asked you something my lit–
tle chick. I asked you what's the date. What's the date today, sweet–
heart?"
So, March. Perfect! End of March, a sign of horny Aries. Perfect!
Tolea turned the collar of his black shirt, the crease of his black trousers.
"If you can't get what you want, said Terence, want what you can
get. Have you heard of Terence, Doiia Gina?"
Colleague Gina smiled: she was used to Tolea's larking about.
Unlike others, she did not think it was arrogant, not at all; she even
rather liked it, really she did.
"And what about Baronius, have you heard of him? The erudite
Cardinal Baronius? You must have. In fact, I'm sure you were rereading
him just last week. Do you remember his monumental history of the
Church, the
Annales Ecclesiastici,
from 1602? Do you remember how he
opens his description of the tenth century? Of course you do. 'Behold, a
new century is beginning, known as iron because of its baneful severity,
as lead because of the prevalence of evil, and as dark because of the
dearth of great authors.' "
Tolea stared at Miss Gina as he waited for her to reply, happy that
he could have a friendly chat with such a well-educated listener. Her
mean-street smile was a fine stimulus for his challenging lectures.
"And the extraordinary Gerbert, Pope Sylvester, what do you think
of him, of his Roman imperial idea? Both remembrance and and a hope
of consoling the great sorrrows of the world.
Cenere graeC/ls, irnperio ro–
manus.
Greek by birth, Roman by empire! - that was the dream they all
had. He dreamed of world empire and absolute renunciation of worldly
vanity. "A regime needs poetics no less than maxims of statecraft."
Gerbert, our fantastic friend from Aurillac! Whose legendary knowledge
