January 28
UPRIGHTNESS
Clean deal elevates man. Foul deal debases him. His conscience is the recorder of both. An upright man sees into their relative value.
A wrong done in secret does not enjoy immunity any more than an unnoticed fire burn of the finger escapes harm. Right living under all circumstances behoves a clean person.
Uprightness begets excellence. Therefore uprightness ought to be fostered more than life.
--- Tiruvalluvar
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ROCHEFOUCAULD
RÉFLEXIONS OU SENTENCES ET MAXIMES MORALES
15
La clémence des princes n'est souvent qu'une politique pour gagner l'affection des peuples.
16
Cette clémence dont on fait une vertu se pratique tantôt par vanité, quelquefois par paresse, souvent par crainte, et presque toujours par tous les trois ensemble.
Maxims 015-016.mp3 - Google ドライブ
Maxims 015-016g.mp3 - Google ドライブ
Maxims 015-016x.mp3 - Google ドライブ
15.—The clemency of Princes is often but policy to win the affections of the people.
16.—This clemency of which they make a merit, arises oftentimes from vanity, sometimes from idleness, oftentimes from fear, and almost always from all three combined.
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Essay
Noisy neighbours
騒がしい隣人たち
One of the many things I love about my neighbourhood is how very quiet it is. So much so that when my Singapore-based brother first came to visit, he actually found it difficult to sleep. For him, it was too quiet.
Since the pandemic started, however, I have noticed different kinds of birds moving in and making a lot of noise. The first of our noisy feathered neighbours were the brown-eared bulbuls. The first few times I heard these birds, I thought the screeching sound was caused by someone braking suddenly on their bicycle. Eventually, I realised it was a bird. In order to find out what they were, I did an online search in Japanese using the keywords “noisy” and “bird.” I thought these keywords might be a bit too general, but surprisingly, the internet gave me the answer very quickly. I found videos that confirmed the distinctive high-pitched call of these birds. The sound was distracting, piercing, and ruined any recordings I made for my work. My next search online was for the calls of hawks ― something I figured bulbuls would be afraid of. I found a good video and whenever a bulbul started getting noisy, I played the video loudly, angling my speakers at the bird. They flew off quickly and within a few months, they had stopped coming into the neighbourhood.
We had about a year of peace until last year around June, when the crows were the next to cause havoc. While the bulbuls were noisy during the day, in summer the crows liked to fly by and squawk at around 4.30 a.m. Their caws are low and loud enough that earplugs don’t block them out. In cooler weather, they have started their fly-by squawking a little later, but it still means that on my days off, I often wake up to the unpleasant sound of a crow. Not only are the crows not bothered by the hawk sounds I play at them, but I think they’re here to stay. They have been by far the noisiest and for the longest.
The only lovely birds I have noticed since the pandemic began have been the Japanese white-eyes. A pair of these often quietly and cheerfully flitted between the branches of the plum tree in the garden when the flowers were in full bloom. It was a remarkable sight and looked like something from a seasonal postcard. They were cute and bright green, but fast, so it was hard to get a clear photo. Unfortunately they weren’t around for very long. They say to be careful what you wish for, but I would love for the white-eyes to replace the crows. Surely they’re not a nuisance right? Surely? (Samantha Loong)
20230127-06x.mp3 - Google ドライブ
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Dueteronomy 022
Chapter 22
Deuteronomy 022.mp3 - Google ドライブ
Deuteronomy 022x.mp3 - Google ドライブ
***** Various Laws *****
1 Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.
2 And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again.
3 In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself.
4 Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.
5 The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.
6 If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young:
(dam <-> sire)
7 But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.
8 When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence.
9 Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled.
10 Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.
11 Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woolen and linen together.
12 Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thyself.
***** Marriage Violations *****
13 If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,
14 And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid:
15 Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate:
16 And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her;
17 And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.
18 And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;
19 And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.
(amerce 罰金刑に処する）
20 But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:
21 Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.
22 If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.
23 If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;
24 Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbor's wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.
25 But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die.
26 But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbor, and slayeth him, even so is this matter:
27 For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.
28 If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;
29 Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.
30 A man shall not take his father's wife, nor discover his father's skirt.
( A man is not to marry his father’s wife; he must not dishonor his father’s bed.)
