Simo

“ Kukapa ne sieltä otti!
Ne ottaa Simo. Hän kiskasee kiireesti korvilleen suvilakkinsa reunukset, juoksee, katoaa liekkeihin. Kaikki katsovat liikkumatta, huokumatta.
Mutta kohta hän palaa, vetäen perässään palavia tikapuita. Tuskin saa tulesta tulleeksi näkyville, kun monissa miehin temmataan tikapuut hänen käsistään. Seilit saadaan päälle, ulkohuoneet ovat pelastetut.
— Herranen aika! Katsokaas, kun tuo mies on tulessa!
Simon vaatteet ne olivat syttyneet palamaan ja turhaan koetti hän itseään sammuttaa. Ihmiset tulivat luokse, kopistelivat Simoa, mutta tuli kiihtyi vain kurittamisesta. ”

“ They walk at a prodigious rate, and seem afraid of being seen. When the Simo or his disciples meet a stranger in the wood, they ask him for the watchword of the order; if the answer is correct, the stranger is admitted amongst them ”

“ Mutta Simolta ei kuulunut mitään. Huulet olivat puristuneet tiukasti yhteen.
— Mitä! Eikö kannata vastata!? Kaikkia pölkkypäitä niitä tulee ihmisten ilmoihin! Maltahan... kyllä täällä semmoisista mutkat oijotaan... paremmistakin on oijottu.
Seuraavana yönä oli Simo putkassa.
Ja Simon rinta tuntui kiehuvan, tuntui tahtovan revetä täytelyyttään. Hetkiseksi välähti kuva kotimökistä, siitä, jonne kulki vain mutkainen ura kuusikon välitse, joka sekin oli talvella ummessa. Mutta kuva haihtui, kädet puristuivat nyrkkiin...
— Ennen vankeutta, kuin nöyryyttä! ”

“ On the festival day, the Simo again announces his approach by frightful howlings, which are imitated by his pupils with cows’ horns. They are all armed with whips, in token of their authority. Those who have been formerly initiated, and reside in the neighbouring villages, collect and join in the rejoicings. They dress themselves in their best apparel, and, preceded by the music of the country, march at the head of the troop. ”

“ When they carry their gift to the Simo, they are obliged to turn their backs to him, and put their hands over their eyes; he receives the offering, pronounces a long prayer, and picks up a little earth, which he throws at them in token of absolution. ”

“ It has a head, who is called the Simo; he makes laws, and they are executed under his authority. This Simo lives in the woods, and is never seen by the uninitiated; he is attended by pupils who are partly initiated in the mysteries. Sometimes he assumes the form of a pelican, sometimes he is wrapped up in the skins of wild beasts, and sometimes covered from head to foot with leaves, which conceal his real shape. ”

“ Which are not, shall be; genius shall create them.
The scene in which he meets his master Simo, who is looking for him in order to make some inquiries as to the late discreditable goings-on of his son, in which he thinks with some justice that Pseudolus has been aiding and abetting, is a good specimen of cool effrontery. Simo is accompanied by his friend Callipho, and Pseudolus sees them coming. ”

“ The feast lasts sometimes for several days; after it is over, the Simo withdraws to the woods, and takes with him the boys who have been initiated; from this time forward, they have no further communication with their relatives. They lead a pleasant idle life; provisions are bestowed upon them in abundance, and they dwell in huts made of the branches of trees, with no other clothing than a few palm leaves skilfully arranged, from the loins half way down the thighs, the head and the rest of the body being quite naked. ”

“ He means to pretend to him that the marriage with Chremes's daughter, so long meditated, is at last finally settled, and is to come off at once, this very evening, the day originally named. Young men in Athenian society must have been usually very obedient to their fathers in such matters: for Simo has no doubt of his son's compliance, unless he can show good and reasonable cause to the contrary. ”

“ Ver. 756. This is a poor pun upon the different acceptations of the word "umbra," which may signify, according to the context, "shade," or "a woman of Umbria." Simo means it in the former, while Tranio chooses to take it in the latter sense. Simo does not like this attempt at wit, and tells him not to be impertinent. ”

“ It's time now for me to accost this old fellow. 'Tis down upon him. {2} I've hit upon a plan whereby to cajole the old fellow, by means of which to drive grief {3} away from me. I'll accost him. (Accosting him.) May the Gods, Simo, send on you many blessings! (Takes him by the hand.)
SIM. Save you, Tranio! TRA. How fare you?
SIM. Not amiss. What are you about?
TRA. Holding by the hand a very worthy man.
SIM. You act in a friendly way, in speaking well of me.
TRA. It certainly is your due.
SIM. But, i' faith, in you I don't hold a good servant by the hand. ”

“ Do you push on this wedding, and I trust
The gods will bring it to a good result.
Sim. Well, get you in; and wait you for me there,
And get all things in order—do you hear!
ACT III.—Scene 3.—Simo. ”

“ The boy, nothing afraid, used to mount instantly, when the dolphin, without either rein or spur, would speed across the sea to Puteoli, and after landing the young scholar, wait about the vicinity till he was returning home, when it would again perform the same sort of civil service. The boy was not ungrateful for such extraordinary favour, and used every day to bring a good store of victuals for Simo, which the animal would take from his hand in the most tame and kindly manner imaginable. ”

“ Ha, ha, ha! Why should a baptism cost less than a chicken? But I play the deaf man, collect what I can, and never complain. We 're not avaricious, are we, Padre Salvi?"
At that moment Simoun's head appeared above the hatchway.
"Well, where've you been keeping yourself?" Don Custodio called to him, having forgotten all about their dispute. "You 're missing the prettiest part of the trip!"
"Pshaw!" retorted Simoun, as he ascended, "I've seen so many rivers and landscapes that I'm only interested in those that call up legends." ”

“ The Kádee, and the Maōhn, and Yussuf came together to visit me, and when the others left he lay down to sleep. Omar is sleeping in the passage, and Sally in her room. I alone don’t sleep—but the Simoom is terrible. Arthur runs about all day, sight-seeing and drawing, and does not suffer at all from the heat. I can’t walk now, as the sand blisters my feet.
Tuesday, May 17.—Yesterday the Simoom was awful, and last night I slept on the terrace, and was very hot. To-day the north wind sprang up at noon and revived us, though it is still 102° in my divan. ”

“ His father thought he had a wond'rous wise look when he was born, and so he named him Solomon, thinking that if indeed he turned out to be wise the name would fit him nicely, whereas, should he be mistaken, [90] and the boy grow up stupid, his name could be easily changed to Simon. ”

“ There is something providential in the persecutions of tyrants, Señor Simoun!” ”

“ To quote a dictum of Simon, what a horse does under compulsion he does blindly, and his performance is no more beautiful than would be that of a ballet-dancer taught by whip and goad. ”

“ Sympathy for Belgium and the popular aversion to Teutonic methods had left no doubt as to the duty of Siam. The motive of Siam had a curious fitness, though there was a certain quaintness in her expression of a desire to make, “the world safe for democracy.”
The native name of Siam is Muang-Thai, which means the Kingdom of the Free. Siam is about as large as France, and has a population of about eight millions. Its people, who are of many shades of yellowish-brown, have descended into this corner of Asia from the highlands north of Burma and east of Tibet. ”

“ Far as the history of Siam is recorded in the traditions of the race, it has been the custom to perform a strange ceremony, intended to impress the common people with awe for the ruler. Even now the King of Siam, he who sends the silver tree to China in token of subjection, still adheres to it, and on the day when the waters of the Meinam have reached their highest point he sends a royal barge down the swollen waters manned by a hundred bonzes, who command the turbid stream to rise no higher. ”

“ They, and the life which goes on within, have been admirably described by Shway Yoe, in his book 'The Burman,' one of the completest pictures which has ever been drawn of any people; and the monastery life of Siam is almost identical. As the monotonous but almost weird chant of the monks floated out across the stream at sunset, we used to tie up for the night beneath: often it would go far on into the night; and then long before day the great gong would begin its clanging, and once more the chant rise among the mists, and for us another day's poling would commence. ”

“ The king of Siam, who takes amongst his other titles that of Paecan Salsu, i.e.—Sacred Member of God—has this to boast of, that, next to the Mogul, he can deduce his descent from more kings than any other in the Indies. He is absolute, his privy councillors, called mandarins, being chosen and deposed barely at his pleasure. When he appears in public it is done with so much pomp and magnificence as is scarce to be imagined, which draws such a veneration to his person from the common people, that, even in the streets as he passes by, they give him godlike titles and worship. ”

“ A year ago I was in Siam, and the king told me he meant to take the railway to Kong Khai. It will be the best thing for the salvation of his country, and there is no Englishman present who does not wish to see Siam strong, independent, and wealthy, and capable of holding its own. For my own part, I shall never cease to feel the greatest and warmest interest in that singularly attractive country, and my own opinion is, that it is the duty of every British Government to see that the integrity of that country is not wiped out, and that its vitality is maintained. ”

“ Never had Siam a more popular prince. He was the embodiment of the most hopeful qualities, moral and intellectual, of his nation; especially was he the exponent and promise of its most progressive tendencies; and his people regarded him with love and reverence, as their trusty stay and support. His talents as a statesman commanded the unqualified admiration of foreigners; and it was simply the jealous and tyrannical temper of Maha Mongkut that forced him to retire from all participation in the affairs of government. ”

“ The King of Siam that died lately was about 59 years of Age; the Character that is given of him in all the printed Relations of the French is very advantageous: They say he was, without Contradiction, the greatest Prince that ever Reign'd in Siam. He was of stature somewhat under the middle size, but strait and well shap'd. He had an engaging Air, a sweet and obliging Carriage, especially to Strangers. He was active and brisk, an Enemy of Idleness and Laziness, which seems to be so natural to the Eastern Princes, and is accounted by them as the Noblest Prerogative of their Crown. ”

“ Hitherto all the views I had seen in Siam had been limited in extent, but here the beauty of the country is exhibited in all its splendor. Beneath my feet was a rich and velvety carpet of brilliant and varied colors; an immense tract of forest, amid which the fields of rice and the unwooded spots appeared like little streaks of green; [Pg 141] beyond, the ground, rising gradually, swells into hills of different elevations; farther still to the north and east, in the form of a semicircle, is the mountain-chain of Phrabat and that of the kingdom of Muang-Lôm ”

“ The red and gold doorway was opened wide, and all the people prostrated themselves, resting their foreheads upon the earth.
The King of Siam appeared.
He was borne by four porters in a pavilion of gold, in which he sat with crossed legs. His robe was covered with jewels, and scattered blinding rays. Before him walked young boys dressed in crimson, who waved great bunches of feathers attached to long sticks; others carried silver basins out of which came clouds of perfumed smoke. ”

“ His Majesty the late King of Siam, a man of remarkable character and history, was probably, while he lived, the best-informed authority on all matters relating to the history of his kingdom. Fortunately, being a man of scholarly habits and literary tastes, he has left on record a concise and readable historical sketch, from which we cannot do better than to make large quotations, supplementing it when necessary with details gathered from other sources. The narrative begins with the foundation of the royal city, Ayuthia, of which an account has already been given on a previous page. ”

“ And one of these invading tribes, the Angles, gave its name to a part of our island, which is to this day known as England—that is, Angle-land, the land of the Angles.
Now, in the same way, the people who live in Siam at the present time are the descendants of invaders who swept into the country and drove the original inhabitants into the hills. No one is quite certain where the Siamese actually came from, but it is likely that their home was upon the mountain-slopes of Tibet. Their ancestors were a wild and vigorous race who tattooed themselves. ”

“ You cannot listen to travellers like Lord Lamington and Mr. Curzon (and when Mr. Warington Smyth comes back we shall listen to him) without finding out that there is a great deal both of material and what we may call moral progress in that distant country. Let me say one word as regards his Majesty the King of Siam, on whose character and personality so much depends. For many years past the king has been known as a man of wide interests, of a very high order of intelligence, and of an unusual charm of manner. ”

“ Marco Polo, the greatest of Asiatic travellers, dismisses Siam in a few words as a "country called Locac; a country good and rich, with a king of its own. The people are idolaters and have a peculiar language, and pay tribute to nobody, for their country is so situated that no one can enter it to do them ill. Indeed, if it were possible to get at it the Great Kaan [of China] would soon bring them under subjection to him. In this country the brazil which we make use of grows in great plenty; and they also have gold in incredible quantity. They have elephants likewise, and much game. ”