OH NUTZ, I got myself all ready to read the second Nobel laureate and in the first sentence of the preface I found the book I bought was a translation by a descendent, Theodor Ernst Mommsen, who died in 1958. It was a stupid, if understandable, mistake; same name, same subject. I went at once to ABE Books where I found a copy of the fifth volume of his history of Rome, The provinces of the Roman Empire from Caesar to Diocletian. In the fifteen days I need to wait I will dip into the book I have.
The books arrived and I have been immersed in the Roman Empire. The provinces of the Roman Empire (1996, Barnes & Noble Books, New York) is an academic study in two volumes which looks in depth at the vast area influenced by Roman rule. The second book I found is a part of a series called the Nobel Prize Library (1971, Helvetica Press Inc., New York). It seems I am not the first to realize I know too little of these writers. The Nobel Prize Library was published under the sponsorship of the Nobel Foundation and the Swedish Academy. There are 20 volumes in the set. The prize winners are listed alphabetically so Mauriac, F. Mistral, Mommsen is volume 10. Each entry includes the presentation address, a thumbnail biography, the prize citation, and a sampling of the most influential work. I will own the set before this adventure is finished.
First, a little about the German law professor and linguist with a passion for Roman history and archeology. When Theodor Mommsen was born, November 30, 1817, Schleswig, his natal village, was in Denmark. For the first seventeen years of his life the greatest proponent of German unity and democracy was a Dane. The father of Germany’s most aggressive agnostic was a Protestant curate. The oldest manuscript of this prolific writer, in his childish hand, transcribed prayers and religious meditations. He began his life’s most profound accomplishment at the age of 26. Corpus Inscripition Latinarum is a 15 volume collection of carefully documented inscriptions on stone, bronze, and coin from the length and berth of the Roman Empire. It remains the final authority. Other works still considered prime sources are History of Roman Coinage, The Dialects of Southern Italy, Roman Public Law, and his four volume History of Rome. All and much more were written while maintaining his position as professor of law at Leipzig University. Mark Twain’s response to Mommsen gives the reader an idea of the veneration in which this German scholar was held in his time. While on a European tour in 1892 Twain was honored at a formal banquet by the University of Berlin. After all of the guests had taken their places there was a flourish at the door to the hall as a late comer entered. An excited whisper flew through the hall -MOMMSEN - and people rose to shout and cheer. “Then the little man with his long hair and Emersonian face edged his way past us and took his seat. I could have touched him with my hand –Mommsen! - Think of it… I would have walked a great many miles to get a sight of him, and here he was, without trouble or tramp or cost of any kind. Here he was in a titanic deceptive modesty which made him look like other men.” The name of Mark Twain I knew but I never heard of the man he admired. Humor will always trump scholarship.
There is a bit of history behind this particular award. If you may remember the Sully Prudhomme award cause a bit of a flap. Since it was the first the committee was feeling its way. This award was given over the lion of Russian literature Leo Tolstoy. The Swedish Academy claimed Tolstoy was overlooked in1901 because he was not nominated as per the rules of the committee. Tolstoy was promptly nominated for the 1902 prize by a Swedish professor of literature. Unfortunately for the committee Tolstoy had published some criticism of the Bible which challenged his idealism judged by the mores of the time. The British nominated Herbert Spencer and the French put up Emile Zola among others. The Swedish Academy heaved a sigh of relief when the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin proposed Mommsen. Both the man and his work fit the parameters of the committee and he was chosen. The Swedish Academy ducked a potentially embarrassing situation, but two whom time would hold as great, Tolstoy and Zola, were never to receive the prize. Many consider this a degradation of the Nobel Prize. Two quotes from C.D. AF Wirsen , Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, in his presentation address show the Academy finding its way. First as reason for the choice, “The reader treads on safe ground, unmolested by the surf. The great work stands before our eyes as if cast in metal.” OK, so it is good solid stuff. To justify their choice over more creative writers he said, “His intuition and creative power bridge the gap between the historian and the poet.” In his conclusion he went back to justifying Mommsen’s work as literature rather than history. “And, indeed, Mommsen did write poetry in his youth. The Songbook of Three Friends of 1843 is witness that he might have become a servant of the muses if, in his own words, circumstances had not brought it about that ‘what with folios and with prose/not every bud turned out a rose’. The Nobel Committee was finding its way: it still is.
For my introduction to Theodor Mommsen I read History of Rome volume 3 chapters ten to fifteen which is the Nobel Prize Library included as its example of his work. And The Provinces of the Roman Empire chapter 5 Britain and chapter 11 Judaea and the Jews.
It soon became obvious that he admired Julius Caesar and had little time for his joint ruler Pompey. His interplay of these two reads like a novel of political intrigue. It was his commentary as much as his history which impressed me. Most of Chapter 15 is a discussion of Caesar’s attempts to reverse the economic misfortunes of the failing republic as it moves into monarchy. Considering it was written in the late 19th Century it resonates today. He opens by explaining the root of the problem which he sees as “the disappearance of the agricultural and the unnatural increase of the mercantile population”. “Out of this economic system, based both in its agrarian and mercantile aspects on masses of capital and on speculation, there arose a most fearful maldistribution of wealth” Sound familiar? Soon the society was divided between “the mass of beggars and the world of quality”. For the next seven pages he goes into detail regarding the decadence of the wealthy and the abject destitution of the poor. Farm land was converted into estates with little productive land. Houses were increasingly lavish. Obesity and dietary problems were pandemic as the tables of the wealthy competed. Dogs and horses sold for spectacular amounts of money. Fortunes were spent on increasingly luxurious means of transportation. In the mean time, among the poor usury flourished with debtor-slaves becoming increasingly common. Whole communities were held by bankers for incurred debt. In one case the city council was blockaded in the town hall until six members died of starvation. The fortunate poor enlisted in the army. With this small stipend the family was supported. More desperate sold themselves for food and lodging into the gladiatorial contests. Most died but the few who were successful became fabulously wealthy. (Does this sound like modern professional sports?) A scarier prediction is on page 356 he concludes this section with the following, “Not until the dragonseed of North America ripens will the world again have similar fruits to reap.” We have been warned.
Every American who gives a damn about the welfare of our state should read Chapter 15 of this book. On page 365 in the same chapter he waxes almost poetic in his admiration of the Jewish people of the Roman Empire. This tied in directly with the section I read in The provinces of the Roman Empire. I cannot possibly do justice to this man in the 1500 words to which I have limited myself. George Santayana reminds us those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. If you would know the past we may be condemned to repeat pick up Theodor Mommsen.
It is obvious the Swedish Academy was feeling its way around. First, we had a French poet, then a German historian. In 1903 they chose a Norwegian playwright Björnstjerne Björnson. I wonder if I can find some lutefisk. I can surely find some black bread. I will have to figure out what a Norwegian would drink with that. For the time being I will make it tea. For music it must be Edvard Grieg.
