Unexpected happenstance

Some of the most delightful surprises have come to me when I wasn't even looking, most notably (because this was the topic that sparked this train of thought) in the literary realm. The serendipitous circumstance that comes to mind first and foremost was the discovery that happened a couple of years ago, when, in a lull and fired by a burst of curiosity, I set out to procure a quote for yet another Away message (at one time I had 87 Away messages for my IM). What I was envisioning was an excerpt from the Speech of Regulus, which I know about only from reading the Little House books, where Laura quotes a few lines, something like, 'Ye doubtless thought - for ye judge of Roman virtue by your own - that I would sooner break my plighted oath than, returning, brook your vengeance....Here in your capital I defy you! Have I not conquered your armies, plundered your coasts, and [something something something] since first my youthful arms could wield a spear?' The basic premise is that Regulus was a great general during (I think) the Punic Wars, and Carthage, having captured him, offered him his freedom if he would go back to his Roman generals and convince them that it was useless to fight and that they should make terms with Carthage. He went back, but instead he convinced them to fight on, assuring them that they could win, and then went back to Carthage to face torture and death. The quote was nagging at me most compellingly, and I spent a good deal of effort trying to track it down - I emailed all sources of useful information, such as Classics Professor David Noe and Classics Expert Darren Jones - all to no avail. I searched and searched online, and finally succeeded in stumbling across an absolutely killing little play entitled 'Rinse the Blood Off My Toga,' by Simon and Schuster. Totally hysterical! I laughed so hard I actually had to close my office door. 'Gimme a martinus.' 'Don't you mean a martini?' 'Look, buddy, if I wanted more than one I would have asked for it.' 'Gimme a wine...vino, vine, vini....hey, where's my wine? Didn't you hear me order it?' 'On the contrary, I distinctly heard you decline it.' I never did find the complete text of the speech of Regulus, but I felt well rewarded for my trouble.

Then there was the time I was flipping through an otherwise worthless magazine and discovered that the poem I had long quoted with mirth:

A wonderful bird is the pelican;
His beak can hold more than his belican.

was actually a limerick:

A wonderful bird is the pelican;
His beak can hold more than his belican.
He can hold in his beak
Enough for a week
And I'm d--d if I know how the helican.

The trouble, of course, is that you can't really recite it out loud, but it is terribly funny, all the same.

Another time I was looking for a particular poem and discovered The Wondering Minstrels, a delightful site that posts a new poem every day, with commentary, links, and an incredible archive containing all kinds of poems listed by author name, poem name, and first line. An invaluable resource. Sometimes the selections are a bit modern, but the collection is impressive, and I've found many a gem on there.

I suppose the online search engine is the modern equivalent of looking for a word in the dictionary and finding ten others of fascination and obscurity. To that system I credit the discovery of deus ex machina, ad kalendas graecas, recondite, abstruse (particularly elegant as they are so self-descriptive, a property they share with polysyllabic and self-descriptive), paucity, pellucid, pelf, and so on. Michael won't even let me look things up for him now when we're reading because it takes ten times as long. 'Oh, look, here's a really neat word-' 'Rose! All we're trying to do is to figure out how to pronounce yolk!'