Pieces of genius (14)

”Nu era azi, nici mâine, nici ieri, nici todeauna,
Căci unul erau toate si totul era una.”

(Mihai Eminescu - ”Rugăciunea unui dac”)

Dacă iubești fără să speri

Mihai Eminescu

Dacă iubești fără să speri

De-ai fi iubit vreodată,

Se-ntunecă de lungi păreri

De rău viața toată.

Și-ți lasă-n suflet un amar

Și în gândiri asemeni,

Căci o iubire în zadar

Cu moartea-i sor' de gemeni.

Dar vindecarea la dureri

În piept, în partea stângă-i,

De-acolo trebuie să ceri

Cuvinte să te mângăi.

Acolo afli adăpost

Oricâte se întâmple.

Că și-un amor care-ar fi fost,

Viața ta o împle.

Căci un luceafăr răsărit

Din liniștea uitării

Dă orizon nemărginit

Singurătății mării.

Și ochiul tău întunecat

Atunci îl împle plânsul,

Iar ale vieții valuri bat

Călătorind spre dânsul.

Și dau cadențe de nespus

Durerii tale lunge

Pe când luceafărul e sus

Ca să nu-l poți ajunge.

Zâmbește trist cu raze reci

Speranțelor deșarte;

În veci iubi-o-vei, în veci,

Va rămânea departe

Și-a tale zile-or fi cum sunt

Pustii ca niște stepe;

Iar nopțile de-un farmec sfânt

Ce nu-l mai poți pricepe.

Final battle...

Both men were tiring, and confronted each other panting.
Ezio replied,'Your new regime will bring tyranny and misery to all.'
'I know what is best for the people of Italy, not a bunch of old men who wasted their energy fighting to get to the top years ago.'
'Your mistakes are worse than theirs.'
'I do not make mistakes. I am the Enlightened One!'
'Enlightenment comes through years of thought , not through blind conviction.'
(...)
'The throne was mine!' he said, like a child who has lost a toy.
'Wanting something does not give you the right to have it.' (pag. 520-521)

(Ezio Auditore&Cesare Borgia)

(Oliver Bowden - " Assasin's Creed - Renaissance")

Sonnet

How every hope of ours raised in vain,

How spoiled the plans we laid so well,

How ignorance throughout the earth doth reign,

Death, who is mistress of us all, can tell.

In song and dance and jousts some pass their days,

Some vow their talents unto gentle arts,

Some hold the world in scorn and all its ways,

Some hide the impulses that move their hearts.

Vain thoughts and wishes, cares of every kind

Greatly upon this erring earth prevail

In various presence after nature's lore;

Fortune doth fashion with inconstant mind,

All things are transient here below and frail,

Death only standeth fast for evermore. (Lorenzo - pag. 463)

(Oliver Bowden - " Assasin's Creed - Renaissance")

Dreamers... dream...

He changed the subject then started to talk about Venice, La Serenissima, aloof from the rest of Italy and often looking eastwards more than westwards, both for trade and in trepidation, from the Ottoman Turks held sway as far as halfway up the northern Adriatic coast these days. He talked of the beauty and the treachery of Venice, of the city's dedication to moneymaking, of its richesse, its weird construction - a city of canals  rising out of fenland and built on a foundation of hundreds of thousands of huge wooden stakes - its ferocious independence, and its political power: not three hundred years earlier, the Doge of Venice had diverted an entire crusade from the Holy Land to serve his own purposes, to destroy all commercial and military competition and opposition to his city-state and to bring the Byzantine Empire to its knees. He talked of the secret, ink-dark backwaters, the towering, candlelit palazzi, the curious dialect of Italian they spoke, the silence that hoovered, the gaudy splendor of their dress, their magnificent painters, of whom the prince was Giovanni Bellini, whom Leonardo was eager to meet, of their music, their masked festivals, their flashy ability to show off, their mastery of the art of poisoning. "And all this", he concluded, "I know just from books. Imagine what the real thing will be like."

It will be dirty and human, thought Ezio coldly. Like everywhere else. Buth showed his friend an agreeable smile. Leonardo was a dreamer. Dreamers should be allowed to dream. (pag. 246)

(Oliver Bowden - " Assasin's Creed - Renaissance")

Assurance

Mario placed his hands on Ezio's shoulders and looked at him gravely for a long moment.'Our fate is only partially in our own hands. There is only a certain amount of it that we can control. But never forget - never forget, nephew - that whatever happens to you or me this day, there is never a feather lost by a sparrow that is not brushed away by the finger of God.' (pag. 60)

(Mario&Ezio Auditore)

(Oliver Bowden - " Assasin's Creed - Brotherhood")

Victim?!

Girolamo lowered his voice,'They say the Devil has given him unnatural speed and strength.'
Stefano looked at him. 'The Devil? No,my friend. These are gifts he gave himself,through rigorous training over years.'He paused, his scrawny body bent at a pensive angle.'You know, Girolamo, I find it disturbing that you are so unwilling to credit people for their own circumstances. I think you'd make victims out of the entire world if you could.' (pag. 229)

(Brother Girolamo&Stefano da Bagnone)

(Oliver Bowden - " Assasin's Creed - Renaissance")