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Gibbon, in his Autobiography, reels off the names of historians (moderns), whose works helped him in his grand design. He dwells on the particular merits of Tillemont, Dodwell, Mosheim, Beausobre, Middleton, Le Clere, Barbeyrac and Lardner. The list leaves the lay reader cold, though it must have impressed scholars in Gibbon's time. It testifies to both the fickleness of fame and the pain of authorship. But it would be rash to conclude, in the words of the bard: 'Why all delights are vain; but that most vain, /Which with pain purchased doth inherit pain.Small have continual plodders ever won, /Save base authority from other's books'. Knowledge acquired through study delights us but comes at a heavy price: the care, trouble and effort we take to gain it weaken us. The delight, according to this view, is illusory. 'Pains' (plural) conveys the sense of great care or particular effort. The Middle English word 'pain' came into the language via Old French 'peine' from the Latin 'poena' (penalty). 'To be at pains to do something' is to 'take great care or make particular effort to do something'. Example: Hari was at great pains to explain the advantages of the Voluntary Retirement Scheme for the permanent employees of the company. 'To be a fool for one's pains' is 'to do something for which one gets no reward or thanks. 'To spare no pains doing (to do) something' is to take as much trouble as is necessary to achieve something. Example: Our host spared no pains to ensure that our stay was as enjoyable as possible. The expression 'painstaking worker/investigation' is well known. A plodder, by the way, is one who works slowly and with determination, but without inspiration. One complains of a painful shoulder. A painful experience/memory is one causing us distress or embarrassment. A painful performance is a bad performance and a painful process, a tedious or difficult one. Orwell says that 'writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of painful illness'. Some pain or suffering is always a part of life: we have to accept it and come to terms with it. Some wounds heal in due course when balm is applied but others require surgery. This is true of both bodily and mental injury. The ordinary meaning of pain is 'physical suffering caused by injury or disease'. We speak of acute back/chest pain. The child was knocked down by cyclist and screamed with pain. The teacher's harsh words caused him much pain (mental suffering or distress). She shrank from the pain of separation. When we describe someone or something as 'a real pain' in informal speech, we mean that the person or thing is annoying or boring. We call the person/thing a 'pain in the neck'. The expression, 'on/under pain/penalty of something' means 'at the risk of incurring a particular punishment'. Example: The hijackers gestured to the passengers to remain silent on pain/penalty of death. Bolingbroke's reaction to his banishment (by the king) illustrates our attitude to physical and mental suffering. He says, 'Fell sorrow's tooth doth never rankle more/Than when it bites, but lanceth not the sore'. The intermittent or constant pain will not go away unless the abscess is cut open and the poison removed from the system. We're all aware of situations in which we cannot give vent to our negative emotions. We suppress them, allowing them to 'build up and stagnate within'. The poison in the system has to be eliminated. The psychiatrist's role is similar to that of the surgeon with his lancet. Rankle, the intransitive verb, means 'to give intermittent or constant pain'. An insult/ a snub/ a betrayal rankles (that is, it causes lasting bitterness/resentment). The Middle English word is derived from Old French 'rancler'(rancle, drancle, draoncle, festering sore from Medieval Latin 'dracunculus', diminutive of 'draco' serpent). Let us revert to 'suffer' now. The verb 'suffer' finds formal use in the sense of 'permit to do', 'allow to go on' and 'tolerate/stand something'. Examples: 1.How can you suffer (tolerate) such insolence? 2.Lord Acton exhorted his students not to debase the moral currency but to try others by the final maxim that governed their lives and 'to suffer no cause to escape the undying penalty which history has the power to inflict on wrong'. The related idioms are 'not/never suffer fools gladly' and 'on sufferance'. A person who does not suffer fools gladly is one who has no patience with those whom he regards as foolish. Hari continues to be our roommate on sufferance: he has fallen foul of all three of us. (He is tolerated but not wanted). Readers' response/inputs can be e-mailed to mhdevan@chennaionline.com.
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