Footprints deep in history

Author: Xiao Liu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-08-01
Features: This book is part of the "Historical Celebrity Classics" series. The footprints left behind in the depths of history are imprints that time cannot erase, recording the paths of great figures and the course of changing eras. This book selects over forty travel writings by Chinese and foreign celebrities, featuring landscapes, natural sketches, urban silhouettes, and cultural customs, forming a unique and magnificent human landscape in literary history. Re-examining these elegant writings allows you to travel the world in spirit without leaving your home.
Westminster Wanderings
Whenever I wish to engage in serious reflection, I often go for walks alone in Westminster. The dimness there, the objects within the church, the majestic architecture, and the people laid to rest—all these scenes fill one’s heart with sorrow but also evoke pleasant reflections. Yesterday, I spent the entire afternoon wandering through the churchyard, among the monasteries and chapels. Examining the gravestones and epitaphs in a few burial grounds was also a form of recreation. Most epitaphs contain little beyond the deceased’s birth and death dates, yet in reality, this is already the essence of their lives, shared by all humanity. I can only regard these records of life—whether inscribed on bronze plaques or carved in marble—as a kind of mockery of the departed. They have left behind nothing but their birth and death. They remind me of the warriors in heroic epics, who were celebrated perhaps only because they were slain; they were remembered perhaps only because they were slain. There is no other reason.
Cas, Meton, C?sarius, and others, whose lives in the Bible are worthy of the same respect as the saints, are now where? The moment I entered the church, I greatly admired the scene of burial. With every shovelful of dirt thrown aside, I saw newly formed clay mixed with fragments of bones and skulls. These fragments were once part of human bodies. It made me think that countless men and women, friends and enemies, priests and soldiers, monks and preachers have all turned to dust beneath the church’s flagstones. Whether they were outstanding, powerful, young, old, weak, or deformed, they would all lie indistinguishably in the chaotic pile of earth.