GRGR: More Preterition

[LARSSON at VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU]

Paul notes:
" see Augustine's Confessions: nihil de praeterito revocatur:             
nothing of what has passed by can be recalled. It is too late to intervene,
too late to do anything. (The 'it' here is the empty pronoun of 'it is
raining')."

The notion of being "passed by" or "passed over" resonates throughout the
novel (and VINELAND too, hey!), but it will turn out to have a double
meaning.  One can be passed by for Salvation (or, mundanely, passed over
for promotion), but to be Passed Over also implies a kind of salvation--
just remember that Angel of Death at your next seder.

Both meanings will have implications, not only for Slothrop but also for
the Hereros ("m'ba-kayere") and Pointsman, among many others.

Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)