August 9th  2011    Tim Candler

    When I was young and agile, a condition that deserted me at ten or twelve years old, I wanted Hector to win.  The Greeks I thought supercilious and Achilles himself more like a school prefect than anything noble. But for some reason I did not like the name Hector, which seemed to belong to someone with a large head and flat feet.  So I gave him my own name and I too was dragged by my heels..

      But the true nature of angst for me, followed emotional involvement in the Second Punic Wars.  I wanted Hannibal to win, and all the way to that moment when Roman Legions ploughed salt into Carthaginian  fields, I thought Carthage would win.  Ever since I have had an allergy to the word "Greatest." And now I seem to hear it almost everyday.

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