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A new beginning - Part1
Markuz, January 22, 2014 Translated by: Stefania "My love" My love. With the first words in the life of a sage this new article on Access The Animus begins too.
My series of articles, to which the piece you're reading belongs, focuses exactly on the bases for the future developments. Among the new elements of the plot introduced by Assassin's Creed 4, the most important one is, in my opinion, getting back to the previous quote, the insertion of Sages. It's a completely new element for the saga, with all the problems that such change could have involved in the expanded universe of AC: the (almost absolute) absence of previous references, the necessity of a solid integration inside the standards of the saga and the usefulness for the series. As for me, the Sages responded well to these problems giving depth to the millenarian plot of the saga. But who are these Sages and why are they so important? The answer can't be found in only one place or temporal moment in AC4, following the AC tradition, hence the necessity of more than one article dedicated to the topic, to the Sages we know and to the consequences of their actions.
So why are Assassins and Templars so interested in this Sage and in the Sages in general? In order to have the most complete answer possible, it is necessary to take a break from the main plot of AC4 and consider that element of the plot that best describes who the Sages are, in other words the messages in bottles, the true cornerstone of this article. In brief, the bottled messages in bottles found in the Open World of AC4 are letters (this is the definition on the Abstergo database) written by a man, Thom Kavanagh, who will reveal to be a Sage just like Roberts, even if their natures are completely different. In these 20 messages in bottles Thom narrates his life from the birth in Boston to his last days in Long Bay, in Jamaica. So let's take a look at these messages, trying to get to the necessary points for the best possible comprehension of what a Sage thinks. Just a warning: as ATA is born as an Italian page, I am going to point out some differences between the Italian version and the original one to show how many elements of the plot get lost in translation (by the way if it happens in other translations feel free to let me know in the comments). A last note: many thanks to the international and Italian Wikia pages for a good part of the images used in this article. 1. ON MY NAME AND ORIGIN To any and all who may reade this Missive, know First that I am Thom Kavanagh, born in 1652, formerly of Boston, now of the Worlde, living in the year 1706;- taken to Isolation long ago in the playce of my Ancestors in pursuite of Peace and Steadiness of Spirit. My storie is a singular one, though I make no Claim to Greatness or Nobility. Yet there is such an amount of Strangeness in my Blood it bears Mention, with the Wish that a better Understanding may come from my Situation;- and with the Hope that, if there be any others in the Worlde who suffer the same Perturbations of Minde as I have since Birth, they might find in me a kindred Soul;- and a friendly Voice to guide them to the calmer Shores of Sanitie... In plaine Words, I was borne a Creature of two Souls, one being my owne, newly Mint'd and fresh upon the World's Stage;- yet, the other being an old and whyse Thing, a Soul as old as the Universe itself may be. Two Souls, therefore, in a single Body, competing for Supremacie. For as long as I have been a thinking Being, I have felt these two Tydes stirring within me. How this mysterious incorporation should have occurr'd shall be the Subject of future Lettyrs In this letter Thom introduces himself politely, giving us interesting preliminary data about himself and his condition. He writes in 1706, but he was born in 1652, in Boston, as previously mentioned. He's writing these letters because he lived a very peculiar life and, talking about it, he wants to help other people (improving their comprehension), especially other men in his same condition, so that they don’t get crazy. The condition Thom is talking about initially appears as some sort of multiple personality disorder (actually he's writing in 1706 so, while he's doing it, he's already aware of the true nature of his two souls). The first soul belongs to him, it's his awareness of newborn child, while the other one belongs to a mysterious entity, ancient as the known universe. The mention of this ancient soul already suggests that TWCB have something to do with it, but it's still too soon both for fans and for the in-game readers of the letters like Edward. Something to keep in mind, with hindsight, is the fact that the Thom's two souls are in competition for the control of his body and actions. A situation similar to the doubt we all had when Revelations hinted at the possibility of knowingly transferring the essence of Subject 16 into Desmond's body (AC4 confirmed it in a slightly different way, but this is another story..):
Clay: Desmond, think about this... What if... I went with you? Desmond: With me? Where? Clay: It could work. Just for a while. Until I found a way out. Another body maybe. Or... I don't know. I just don't... I don't want to be here anymore. Desmond: That's... that's not going to happen. I'm sorry. Clay: No... I guess I had my chance. And I wasted it. Finally, the references to the “playce of my Ancestors” and to the steadiness of spirit, that will be explained in the last letters. About this last element, while explaining the coexistence of his two souls continuously in competition, Thom wants to save other people who are in the same condition, already on the edge of madness or mental yielding to the “second soul”. Anybody said John from IT? Unfortunately in Italian this last part went partially missing. While for the rest of the letter the Italian translation contains a paraphrase of the English version maintaining the overall sense, the last sentence, translated "hoping that my voice may sooth his anxiety”, doesn't convey the fact that Thom wishes for these letters to help other people in his same conditions to remain mentally sane. We'll see in these documents and in the final observations how this difference, apparently only a variance of “tone”, expresses, in Italian, a bit less the message Thom wants to convey with these letters. 2. EARLIE OPINIONS OF MY CONDITION From Birth I was known to my Parents and Naybours as a Boy of straynge Habits and Impulses. My Eyes, being of inequal Colour and Dymension, alwayse invited odd Comment and Querie, being so easy to discern. But my Behayvior was also noticeable queer;- I was given to Gesticulations of a mysterious Sorte; Sines and Symbols that appear'd to my Parents to portend a Meaning they could not deciffer. It was also said that I never did crie or protest;- strange for a Babe, but likely a Comforte to my dear Mother. I gain'd the Gyft of Speache in my twelfth Month, my first Wordes being "My Love" and "Beloved". My Parents seized upon this as a Good sign of robust Intelligence, but could not have been much pleas'd with what such Words Implied;- and ryght they were to be anxious, for at such a Tyme that I should have call'd these kind Shepherds "Mother" and "Father", by the age of two Yeares, I had alreadie taken to reffer to them Elizabeth and Thomas;- a queer sort of Quirk for an Infant, it needn't be said. But this was my impulse, and until I pass'd through Adolescence, was a Practice I stuck to...
Here I’d like to touch on the translation of two elements of the letter. The Italian version of the sentence about signs and symbols says “I sketched signs and symbols and questioned my astonished parents about their meaning ", altering the original sense in two ways. First of all, the Italian version doesn’t express the idea that Thom’s gestures and signs, with hindsight (as we’ll see at the end of the second part of the article), had a meaning that, rightly, his parents couldn’t understand. In theory the reader would have been encouraged to keep reading the letters in order to try to understand those hidden meanings. Also, the second part of the letter describes facts related to the first year of Thom’s life and, since these letters are a sort of chronological autobiography, the fact that he questioned his parents about the signs he sketched doesn’t really make sense. The second mistake (that reminds me of the errors in the Altaïr’s Codex) concerns his parents’ interpretation of the words “My love" and "Beloved". The Italian version says “My parents interpreted the fact as a sign of my intelligence, but the choice of such words left them puzzled, because they didn’t understand their meaning". In the original version not only the bewildertment of Thom's parents isn’t mentioned anywhere, but above all it is hinted that “My love" and "Beloved" had a meaning - a reference, as we’ll see, to Juno - that his parents surely wouldn’t have appreciated. Here too, therefore, we are in front of a reference that was supposed to awaken the reader’s interest, and that will be found in several other parts of AC4, almost entirely lost in the Italian version. 3. ON THE PLAYCE OF MY BIRTHE Of the City I call'd Home for nigh two Decades, I have nothing but fond Memories. Boston was a Place of grate Beautie and Peace. My Father was a Cobbler by trade and my Mother kept a moddest House as she raysed me as best she could;- and together, we lived along the southern Shores near the Wharffs that saw the Tallships in their comings and and goings, shuttling all mannor of Goode to and from this young Colonie. I remember being always fascinated by those Ships and the Promise of Adventure they Presaged;- and it was not for wont of Distraction or Imagination that I spent many a Morning sitting upon the Docks to watch them enter the Harbour from Locations afar, or disappear from it, sinking into the Horyzon as silently as a Dream. I wonder'd then what lay beyond that thin Line of Azure, and in Wondering set the Course of my Desire: I wish'd to travell, to discover. So it was that I Knew from those early Days I would not live out my Lyfe in Boston, but would range far and wyde in search of the Source of the strange Secrets within me. Of that, more shall be writt at another Tyme. But lett it be knowne that I was content for a Tyme, and that I loved my Parents very much.
4. MY FIRST REVERIE I recall with grate Claritie the day of my first Reverie. Heretofore, I had onley the SENSE of my bicameral Mind;- but on this Day I was offerr'd a Glimpse as if through a Window into that second buried Soul;- into the second Lyfe within me. I was four Years of Age, and it was a fresh Autumn day. I was outt with my Parents upon an Excursion, strolling about the place call'd Beacon Hill. We, having onley concluded our Picnicking, now ranged about the Peake to take view of the Citie below. It was then a Coolness fell upon me. The World seem'd to darken and glowe all at once. I fell back, landing, it seem'd into a pair of coddling arms. A voice said to me, "Go Beloved. Go to your rest." As eerie as this was, a deep Love suffused me. The voice went on;- "Your sacrifyce will not have been in Vain. And though you must pass from this Lyfe, I will see you renew'd. Reborn to remain at my Side forever.." Never before, and rarely since, had I felt such a Depth of Adoration. Then the skies clear'd and the Worlde light'd and I woke supine with my Parents looming over me, calling my Name.. From this point the messages start to be really interesting. As we all already understood after years of this series, there aren’t “visions” in Assassin’s Creed. There are memories saved in the Memory Seals,
Furthermore, for Thom this was the first tangible proof (even if the term doesn’t fully express the idea) of his “bicameral” mind – or rather divided in two environments / entities. Maybe this was what pushed him to leave. The memory we see is very important both for the way it begins, and for the subjects debated. Thom says everything around him seemed to blacken and glow all at once and this might confirm the idea that his reveries are a sort of natural memories.
The decisive proof that this is a “natural” memory must be sought in the fact that Thom, at the beginning of the letter, says this reverie offered a glimpse of the second life within his soul, as if through a window. So Thom was “watching” memories of another life exactly like Desmond in AC2, but obviously without the help of the Animus. The life of who? One of his ancestors? The answer isn’t clear yet considering the messages until now (who finished the game or read the following messages obviously knows it), but the facts that happened in the memory can help understand. That’s why in my opinion the letters dedicated to the reveries are the most important among the messages written by Thom. The memory starts with Thom, or better the protagonist of the memory, in a pair of comfortable arms and a voice telling him to rest. The voice speaking is presumably feminine (we can only make suppositions until now) and this time the Italian players have been favoured, for once, because the voice says “mio amato”, “my beloved” referred to a male entity. So we know that Thom is reviving the memories of a male person, while the voice speaks of a rest, in this case an eternal one, since the protagonist of the memory is exhorted to “pass from this lyfe”. But the voice tries to comfort him, saying his sacrifice won’t be in vain, because – in some way – she will see him reborn to remain at her side forever. In this memory we can already guess the protagonists, even if it is not so clear. The key is the love involving them in the sacrifice and the mention of the first file, "a Soul as old as the Universe itself may be”, referred to Thom’s second soul. So, a soul as old as the Universe probably means a member of TWCB, a male member in love ("a deep Love suffused me") and the voice speaking calls him “beloved”. Considering what we know about TWCB, the only characters who can correspond to this description are Juno and Aita.
It was Aita who volunteered to see if it might be done. Aita, my husband, my love. In the end it changed him... Ruined him... He was made a prisoner of the machines. All the elements are there: TWCB, the "lovers", and Aita who volunteered / sacrificed himself. Also the definition "my love” used by Juno in the dialogue coincides with the first word pronounced by Thom and probably it isn’t a coincidence, as we’ll see. Also, it’s interesting to see how Aita is devoted to Juno. So the latter launches the idea of Aita’s rebirth right from this file, even if this will be also mentioned in the following files. So how come Thom can see Aita’s memories? Is he a descendant of TWCB? Or everything has something to do with Aita's rebirgh, as mentioned by Juno? This aspect will be examined later too. 5. MY DEEPENING PREDICAMENT It is with deep Sadness I shoulde now relate the Genesis of my feeling of grate Isolation from my Parents, even att so young an Age, and my powerful Sense that I was too muche different from them;- meaning, that though they had borne me and raysed me, I seem'd not of their issue, norr of their Kinde. And the Reverie described previously cast this Feeling in a firmer Mould;- I seem'd not to be of this Worlde att all. Indeed there were Days when I felt not remotely Human at all, but of an other Kinde of Creayture entire. Between the Time of my fourth Year and my fourteenth, I was given to such a Profusion of Reveries and Ideas and Dreams that I should sound mad to describe them, yet by outward Appearance I was as normal as any Ladd, and further, was never particularlie troubled by what cross'd my Minde;- Visions of grate Cities made of Glass; Portraits of beautiful Men and Women in great flowing Robes; Machines that generated Lightening as easily as Thunderclouds; Vehicles that flewe in the Skies as Birds.. As I say, Ideas and Visions too fanciful to be Entertain'd by any sane Mindes, yet all to reale in my Heade to be ignored.. The explanation of Thom’s early years before leaving Boston continues with the story of his feeling of isolation from his parents. Already between the time of his fourth year and his fourteenth Thom feels “different” from his parents and the people around him, both in terms of origin and kind. So Thom not only feels different from his parents as such, but also different in terms of species, to the point that he says there were days when he felt he didn’t belong either to the humankind or this world. This is connected with the theorized (until now) presence of Aita’s “soul”/memory in Thom. Indeed the latter tells he had several reveries between his fourth and his fourteenth year, reveries that didn’t have anything to do with his time. This means that Thom kept seeing memories set during the TWCB era already when he was very young (through the eyes of Aita). A sort of bleeding effect that, unlike what we have seen until now in the AC saga, was present in Thom since his birth (and not for an overexposure to the Animus in an adult subject with developed cognitive functions) and these memories of the “ancestor” were very frequent. So this is what the double soul of our protagonist of the bottled messages consisted of and probably the feeling of isolation and diversity that Thom has towards his parents and humankind was caused by that, even if outwardly he had a human appearance.
There’s a big small mistake in the Italian version here too. The English sentence "Machines that generated Lightening as easily as Thunderclouds", was translated in Italian with “Machines that generated Lightning as easily as Thunderclouds”, maybe confusing “lightening” with “lightning”. A small difference that can provoke different theories, as we’ll see.
6. MY APPRENTYCESHIP When I was aged fourteen Yeares, my Father, feeling I shoulde discover some better Skill or Trade sensible to my Habits of Mind, Apprentyced me to a Master Carpenter - Joiner call'd Jonathan Davenport of Boston. Master Davenport had then many Slaves and two other white Boyes in his Emploie;- one a Bricklayer by trade and the other a Carpenter, bothe not terrible Clever. But seeing in me a certain Spark of Intelligence and Wytt, Master Davenport was all too keene to place me as a Joiner;- and I was happie to oblyge, the Position earning me some 2 Pound a Year and grate Satysfaction of Spirit A Joiner's work requires a nice and steadie Hande, and a grate Taste in Ornament;- both Qualities Master Davenport told me I hadd in large Measure. And so it was with grate Pryde that, well pryor to the customarie seven Yeares, I tooke leave of my Master after only five, and set out on my owne at nineteen Years of Age to seek my Success, now a Man and a Master in my owne ryght. My Master was not sadd to see me go, but bade me goode Fortune, for he knew in his heart that I was the greatest Talent he had yet apprentyced. - "For there is something of a natural Genius in you, Ladd. - A Wisdome beyond your Yeares." And so packing a Kitt of all my worldly Possessions, I bid my Mother and Father much Love and Farewell, then took Passage on a Merchant Brig bound for Jamaica in the West Indies, where need for Carpenters of Skill were grately needed.. Thom tells us about his last period in Boston, from 14 to 19/20 years of age. Since it’s the age when a youngster becomes an adult, his father apprenticed him to a carpenter - joiner called Jonathan Davenport. Curious surname, in fact, since it’s the same of the mentor
Thom grows up learning the trade and here comes the most important element of the letter: his master acknowledges his natural talent and Thom finishes his apprenticeship two years earlier than expected. That’s not all: master Davenport says he sees in Thom a wisdom beyond his years, as if there were a sort of genius in him, a “natural genius". The second soul comes from TWCB after all... So Thom, now a carpenter, decides to leave as anticipated in the previous letter, and heads for Jamaica, after having fondly bid farewell to his parents. 7. ON LEAVING HOME It paines me now to think on my Feelings for my Departure from Boston, and from my Deare parents, who raised me so well, for in hyndsight I think perhaps I should have been melancholie, or anxious at the least. Yet leaving Home at so spry an Age ranks as one of the grate Joys of my Lyfe;- never before or since did I ever feel such an Embrase of Freedom. Yet, not all concerning my Leaving was Joyous, as it was around this Tyme that the Voices came upon me strong;- much like a Man whispering in my Eares, these Voices were neither synister in Nayture, nor did they prevent mature Dealings with my fellow Man. But, unlike my Reveries, which came to me in my Sleep or in Daydreams, these Voices came upon me at Times inconvenient to my present Purpose. Day and Night, they intruded without Provocation. And though they were not constant, they were certainlie frequent in Nature;- and strangest of all, had the Qualities of memories. There were tymes too that I seem'd to heare my owne Voice among them. Was it possible that I heard Conversations from a previous Lyfe? Memories of those I knew, Memories of Engagements long past? In the next Lettyr I shall relate what were perhaps the most confounding Snatches of Conversation... Thom starts from where he finished the last letter, when he bid farewell to his parents, specifying that he wasn’t sad, but happy because in that period he felt free like never before (this also says it all about that part of Thom’s life that we still have to read). But this joyful period for Thom isn’t all a bed of roses. He hears again the same voices / whispers of when he was a child. In this case too initially he confirms that the intrusion of these voices didn’t change his life much and he was able to have social relations with other people (a phrase completely missing in the Italian version). Nonetheless, he highlights that these voices, not constant but frequent, came upon him at inconvenient moments, unlike the reveries that came to him in his sleep. A very interesting fact is that Thom has a feeling that these whispers have the qualities of memories, to the point of hearing his own voice among them. The reference to the voices perceived as a memory, moreover, winks at the presumed condition of “continuos, natural bleeding effect since birth”. I’d like to highlight also how strange it is that Thom is holding up well without any sign of madness, considering what we know about the bleeding effect and about what a prolonged exposure to the ancestors’ memories can cause. The last observations are an additional and partial confirmation that Thom sees and hears voices and memories from the TWCB era, since he speaks of memories and relations belonging to a distant past. The direct confirmation, though, can be found only in the next file. 8. WHAT THE VOICES SAIDE Here I relate one such Memorie, repeat'd ad nauseum through the whole of my Lyfe: MYSELFE, A MAN, AND TWO WOMEN;- A Woman;- "As biological Traites are pass'd from one Generation to another, why should we not engineer the Humans to pass learn'd information to their offsprings as well? It is well within our Scope." And here an other Woman interrupts:- "Never! Alreadie we have made them sturdy and strong! Why should we gift them with new Advantages over us? We are dyeing, the War is tilting against us;- we should discover a means to our own Salvation, not theirs!" And here the Man disagreed;- "Our time is done. The Instruments of our Will shall soon be our masters, and we shall fade away. Perhaps not in ten or twenty Yeares, but certainlie this Centurie is our last. Why not therefore gift the Humans with add'd faculties for Wisdom and Growthe. Why not let them pass on the accumulations of their Learnings, from one Generation to the Next? By ever ascending Degrees, the Humans shall be as Wyse as we are.." And here I seem to speak;- "It can be done. By simple Manipulation of the Code within their Blood, we could improve their Lott" And here the second woman screams "Absolutelie not!";- And then the Memorie is end'd. The file is full of information. First of all we have the confirmation that Thom’s “natural memories” come from the TWCB era. Then we almost have the certainty that the second woman is Juno, considering her feeling of aversion for humans. So probably the first woman is Minerva and the man is Jupiter / Tinia, also keeping in mind that probably the memories belong to Aita, given the closeness to Juno and the feelings towards his lover written in the fourth letter. At this point, having established who the characters in play are, we can analyze the memory.
Also in this reverie, like in the ending of AC3, Juno strongly takes position against this plan, pointing out an important piece of information: humans were already made sturdy and strong, this suggests this moment is subsequent to their creation, but there's more. Juno knows that TWCB are going to die and states something that can be interpreted in two ways: “We are dyeing, the War is tilting against us;- we should discover a means to our own Salvation, not theirs!”. The reference to the war can have two meanings: Juno says the war is looming over TWCB (but hasn’t happened yet) or, as suggested by the Italian version, the war is oppressing TWCB and so we are already in a late stage of the conflict, where TWCB are going to be defeated (but still before the catastrophe, since they’re still talking about a war). Jupiter replies that their time is done, soon humans will prevail and rule, while TWCB will fade away / die within a century. Here I’d like to make another digression about the translation: Tinia speaks of Instruments of their (of TWCB) Will, a clear reference to the human “slaves”, the term used in the Italian version. The synthetic and not literal translation “slaves”, though, leads to the loss of a plain reference to the sticky notes in the present day, the "Manifesto of the Instruments of the First Will". This reference gives continuity between Tinia and who wrote the sticky notes, not so much in direct terms because they were written by John (as confirmed multiple times by Darby McDevitt), rather in terms of the thought and consideration that TWCB (in this case Tinia and Aita in John’s shoes) had for the humans, that originally were instruments created by TWCB’s will, the will of the First Civilization, and so the First Will. Getting back to Jupiter’s speech, the fact that TWCB would have died within a century is subject to interpretation because, whatever the period of this conversation may be, the war and the catastrophe are imminent, so it should be around 75.000 B.C., and Tinia says TWCB can live only for a century. How can we conciliate this fact with the reconstruction and the post-catastrophe work that was done to avoid the other catastrophe that Minerva and Tinia talk about in AC2 and ACR? Also, the ACR multiplayer files say that TWCB “influenced” so many aspects of the human society, to the point that probably the pantheons of deities of many civilizations (Greek, Roman, Etruscan, Indian and Mesoamerican) included strong references to TWCB. Should we interpret that all the interactions after the catastrophe happened through messages just like what happened with Desmond or simply Tinia was referring to the extinction of the race in general without considering the few survivors who resisted and kept influencing the world?
Tinia keeps siding with Minerva, saying the passage of learnt information to the descendants would have gradually made humans even more similar to TWCB. The letter ends with a talk in the first person, in which Aita says, apparently with awareness of the facts, that Minerva’s idea can be done simply by manipulating the code in the human blood, in other words the DNA, but Juno takes unconditionally position against it. The most important element of Aita’s comment is his approach / behavior in this dialogue. In fact Juno’s husband doesn’t seem to agree with his wife, and she actually takes position against his idea. In my opinion, though, Aita doesn’t seem to side entirely with Minerva either, his speech looks like a technical-scientific opinion about the feasibility of the project. This kind of interpretation hints that Aita is a scientist in the society of TWCB, or in any case he has a great knowledge among his peers. 9. A CURIOUSE INCIDENT AT SEA Upon my Rowte to the West Indies, a Curiouse incident aroused in me a Revelation. It was a wanton Act of Violence that I witness’d, one that proved fatal only to its Instigator: a pardon’d Pyrate named Savory who had come aboard to Work off his Debts as an honest Christian, yet died a Devil full of Drink after mistaking the reasonable Abjurations of his fellow Men for Insults. He was taken by a self-inflict’d Pistol Shot, sustain’d as he attempt’d to load his Piece in preparation for the first of six Duels which he had arranged as Challenges against our Groupe. All of us were sad for his Misfortune, but none were sorry about that our Crew grew quieter in his Absence. And yet, at seeing the poor chap wound himself so, and witnessing the Blood freely flowing from his Bodie, a Notion sprung upon me like an idea long dormant, alreadie within me yet awaiting a Chance to reappear. Thence came the Phrase I had heard before, springing to my Minde: “The Code in their Blood”;- suddenly it was sensible to me! The Code of Lyfe, like a Shipbuilders Draughts in miniature, yet responsible for building each and every Man and Woman on Earth. How was it that such an Idea made perfect Sense to me? How was it I understood alreadie that which had no Prescendent in the most modern Philosophies? The Code of Lyfe. In our Blood. Imagine! These Ideas swirl’d within me for many Weeks upon that Voyage, spinning in such a Maelstrom of thoughts I could not Articulate them… In this case also, just like for the other files, the report of more or less common episodes of Thom’s life is introductory, in one way or another, to the description of elements about his Sage nature. The episode of the pardoned pirate called Savory is useful to let him realize Aita’s reference in the previous letter “By simple Manipulation of the Code within their Blood” and to let us comprehend that Thom, even at the end of the seventeenth century, knows about the existence and meaning of the DNA. This file, then, hints that Thom not only had the memories of a member of TWCB (Aita in his case), but also, in theory, had part of his ability of comprehension. Indeed Thom talks both about a long dormant idea (coming from the knowledge of Aita’s memories), and about the fact that it makes perfect sense to him even if it doesn’t have any precedent in the most modern philosophies (a sentence proving that Thom knows those philosophies, unlike what asserted in the Italian version: “I didn’t have any type of knowledge of natural philosophy!"). Also, the word philosophy isn’t likely used at random instead of science or medicine. In fact Thom talks of the “code of life”, the code responsible for building each men and women on Earth. He has, therefore, a scientific approach in terms of understanding the functioning (deriving from Aita’s knowledge) and a philosophic approach in terms of research of the meaning of the world around him (deriving from his own knowledge). So Thom indirectly reveals that in a Sage not only Aita’s memories are present, but also his ideas / way of thinking, so that he’s able to understand notions otherwise unknown for him. Probably in terms of bleeding effect on Thom and the other Sages this was an aggravating circumstance... 10. FINDING STEADEY WORK Reaching Jamaica I push'd all Idle Thoughts and Fantasies from my Minde and set about finding myself Employment. A Letter of Endorsement from my Mentor, Mister Davenport, hasten'd my Success and within a Fortnight I was abel to secure an interview with an Agent working for the esteemable Mister Peter Beckford, a Man knowne wyde acrosse the West Indies as a One of Honour and good intelligence;-- as, I must say, was his Agent, for the Man hyred me on the Spot, and within a two Days' time was I set to work upon the Slaves Quarters;-- fitting them with sturdier Doors and tighter Rooves. For my owne accommodations, I am well pleased to tell they were fine. Three windows had I, two of which look'd upon the Cane Fields. When open'd, a light Breeze fill'd my Room, one scent'd with the raw Perfume of the nearby Sea, and the distant Sound of a hushing Ocean Surf. Often too the spiritual Songes of the Negros hard at worke enter'd, and gave me a deepe calm. It was pleasant there, only this Comfort could not mask the Dread I felt at the Thought of catching the Yellow Fever, or another of the innumerable Ailments that often struck those newly arrived to these Parts. For my Parte I saw well over seventeen Men and Women perish from the Disease within six Months of my Arrival. It seem'd, then, that for every success I hadd, another two or three potential Hazzerds lay in waite. And as tyme would tell, this proved most unfortunately True..
(You thought that everything went well with the Italian translation this time, right? Actually the sentence "Often too the spiritual Songes of the Negros hard at worke enter'd, and gave me a deepe calm" has been completely cut or omitted.) For the moment we stop here with the analysis of the letters, but we still have several subjects to discuss in order to understand the psychology and essence of a Sage, and obviously the most pressing arguments are in the last files. Go to "A new beginning - Part2".
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