[ilds] sad news...

[Bruce Redwine]

Fermor was an extraordinary man.  Among many other accomplishments, he knew his Horace and carried on his travels a copy of the Odes and Epodes.  There's a story somewhere, I forget where, about the capture on Crete of the German general Kriepe.  Fermor's commando unit was making it way across the island, and the group stopped before a mountain.  Kriepe looked at the snow-capped peak and began to recite from memory Ode 1.9:  "Vides ut alta stet nive candidum / Socrate" (You see how deep [Mount] Socrate stands in white snow).  The general stopped, maybe half way through, and then Fermor finished the remaining twelve lines.  In Latin, of course.


Bruce



On Jun 10, 2011, at 1:38 PM, Pamela Francis wrote:

> 
> Sadly, Patrick Leigh Fermor has died, at the ripe old age of 96. As of a couple of years ago, he was learning to type in order to hasten the completion of his last book. I hope he managed to finish it before going on to that great Greek island in the sky....
> 
> 
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/10/patrick-leigh-fermor-dies-96 _______________________________________________
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