For "Is" and "Is-not" though with Rule and Line
And "Up" and "Down" by Logic I define,
Of all that one should care to fathom,
Was never deep in anything but — Wine.
From Fitzgerald’s The Rubaiyt of Omar Khayyam,
One of the most memorable quatrains from the Rubaiyt is perhaps more understandable if slightly misquoted:-
For ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ although with Rule and Line,
‘Is’ and ‘Is not’, by Logic I define,
All that I ever really cared to know
Was never deep in anything but Wine.
Re-writing the old masters is perhaps as reprehensible as suggesting shortening the ending of Beethoven’s otherwise magnificent eighth symphony.
A few miles north of the City of Bath at the Somerset / Gloucestershire boundary is the Bevil Grenville Monument to the Civil War battle of Lansdown. To the west, across the main road, is a remarkable site, known locally as The Humpty Dumpty fields (possibly a military construction). Once a public domain, it was fenced-off about sixty years ago by The Ministry. This seemed unfortunate at the time, but has probably saved it from destruction by over exposure to mountain bikes. A perfect site for a Sunday School treat (then known as an Outing) and ideal for mock battles and the more juvenile King of the Castle games, it left an indelible memory of the change in perspective that looking down from a summit always gives (modern:- delivers). The City of Edinburgh provides the same thing on a much grander scale. On a nice day the landscapes of Blackford Hill or the Braid Hills can only be described as ‘Gifts from God’ to believers and non-believers alike. They also introduce a new perspective, because here the local summits can be fully appreciated both from above and below and what they show, beyond doubt to this observer, is that down is more awe-inspiring than up. Estimating the height of a hillock from below and from its summit are two different skills. On Blackford Hill, a distinct rocky outcrop to the south is separated from the main summit by a grassy coomb leading from the approximately 100 steps in the west to the Observatory car park in the east. From a position half-way between these high points, neither looks very impressive, but from either summit, the floor of the coomb appears to lie at the bottom of a deep and airy space. Similarly at the western edge of the Braid hills, the view from the summit is magnificent, whilst the view of the summit from below is relatively uninspiring.
So great is our enthusiasm for hilltops, monuments and towers that the magic of looking down appears to have us in thrall and raises the possibility that looking up and looking down may not be two sides of the same coin after all.