Disciplina

I had hoped to publish the present post on July 1, which is the actual date of the Ekklesía Antínoou’s celebration of the feast of Disciplina, but unfortunately, I was not able to get to a computer that day. However, I did honor her in various ways on Friday July 1, and had some reflections on her further to what I had originally intended to write/post, and thus I shall give them below. Imagine, if you will, that this post actually took place on July 1. (And in further honor of Disciplina, I’m doing this particular thing FIRST, after having just arrived home moments ago from the weekend conference I attended.)

Today, July 1, is the day in the Ekklesía Antínoou calendar we have devoted specifically to Disciplina…Though, in order for one’s practice to be effective, Disciplina’s gifts must be cultivated at all times.

This is one of Disciplina’s altars from Bewcastle, which is located a bit north of the central part of Hadrian’s Wall, which may have once been known as the Fanum Cocidi (“Shrine of Cocidius”) during the Romano-British period, given the information we have in the Ravenna Cosmography, and the fact that a large cluster of Cocidius inscriptions are also found in the vicinity of that site. There are eight total dedications to Disciplina (often as Disciplina Augusta) in Roman Britain. It was during Hadrian’s reign that Disciplina was first honored, and it is probably due to Hadrian’s assiduous dedication to precision military maneuvers and readiness that this deified abstraction first proliferated amongst the Roman military, particularly in outlying areas like Germania, Britannia, and North Africa–all of which Hadrian visited and where he is known to have inspected the troops.

The following information is from Wikipedia:

In Roman mythology, Disciplina was a minor deity and the personification of discipline. The word disciplina itself, a Latin noun, is multi-faceted in meaning; it refers to education and training, self-control and determination, knowledge in a field of study, and an orderly way of life. The goddess embodied these qualities for her worshippers. She was commonly worshipped by imperial Roman soldiers, particularly those who lived along the borders of the Roman Empire; altars to her have been found in Great Britain and North Africa. The fort of Cilurnum along Hadrian’s Wall was dedicated to the goddess Disciplina, as witnessed by an extant dedicatory inscription on a stone altar found in 1978. Her chief virtues were frugalitas, severitas and fidelis—frugality, sternness, and faithfulness. In worshiping Disciplina, a soldier became frugal in every way: with money, with energy and actions. The virtue of severitas was shown in his focused, determined, not easily dissuaded, and decisive behavior. He was faithful to his unit, his army, the officers and the Roman people.

This coin from Hadrian’s reign shows several Roman legionaries dressed in lion skins–an attribute we’re used to seeing in connection with Antinous! As far as the date of the coin is concerned, Hadrian was consul for the 3rd time in 119 CE, and then he received the title of Pater Patriae in 128, so this coin could be from anytime after that. I happen to have a replica of this particular coin, which I use frequently, and on most days I carry it with me, not only to honor Hadrian but also to honor Disciplina and to cultivate the virtues associated with Disciplina on a daily basis.

Even though Disciplina’s cultus originated in a military context, I don’t think that she should be focused solely on military matters today, or that only military personnel should be interested in cultivating her favor and enacting her virtues, I think she is here for everyone. In reflecting on Disciplina on July 1, I had some interesting thoughts arise that I thought I’d share with you, particularly in relation to the word “discipline” as it is understood and commonly defined in English in the modern world.

1) Discipline does not mean asceticism. For some people in some walks of life or on particular spiritual or career paths, asceticism can be a form of discipline, but discipline in itself and attention to it does not require asceticism. Indeed, for those of an ascetic tendency, true attention to discipline might in fact point toward someone being less ascetic and more indulgent in order to maintain a healthy balance. (Imagine that!–Observing a holiday by actually celebrating and cutting loose a bit, rather than being sober and measured in one’s activities, if sobriety and measuredness is a regular feature of one’s daily life.)

2) Discipline is not a synonym for “punishment.” Unfortunately, this is the context in which we often first learn the word “discipline.” I remember I first heard it used in the third grade, on the first few days of class, when we discussed what would happen if students misbehaved, and the stages one would go through before being sent to the office or going to detention or having one’s parents notified. It can mean that, certainly, and “disciplinary actions” are things we usually associate with censure or reprimand (e.g. members of Congress and so forth…). In the BDSM/kink subcultures, the “D” in the acronym can stand for “discipline,” and so it often has that meaning in an even more heightened manner for such people. But, it doesn’t have to. “Discipline” also gives us the roots for the terms “disciple” and “discipleship,” which is to say, devoted studentship, and “disciplinary” matters in academia are matters having to do with one’s specialized field and the norms observed in it in terms of research and prevailing theories and so forth. So, understanding this widespread range of semantic content in the English term gives one a more broad and accurate approach to the full range of its meanings in the original cultures in which the concept was developed.

3) An important element of any practice of discipline as a virtue is diligence. Diligence is a term which comes from Latin. In Latin, diligo, diligere is often the verb used (particularly by Christians) to mean “to love,” and it derives from the verb lego, legere, which means (amongst other things) “to choose.” (In an interesting development, it also eventually meant “to read,” because there were no spaces between words most often in Latin manuscripts, and thus one had to choose the words out of the letters on the page.) The ideas of both doing things with love, and actively choosing to do them, is a very important element of discipline, and when due diligence is applied to any matter, both love and choice should be foremost in one’s mind, I think. There is a phrase that I’ve heard in different contexts, sometimes positively and sometimes somewhat ambivalently, that advises one to “work out thy salvation with diligence.” This is traditionally said to have been the final words of the historical Buddha, and thus somewhat flies in the face of some ideas on salvation from a Christian viewpoint; and yet, because the Christians used the word which eventually became “diligence” for us as their preferred term for “love,” perhaps there really is something to its understanding in this matter even within a specifically Christian context.

In the short poem I wrote for Disciplina on July 1, I re-imagined her–both in light of the thoughts above, but also in relation to my own academic disciplinary understandings–as a kind of firm but benevolent school marm. So, here is the poem I wrote for her (and, being that I am a poet, amongst other things, I also wrote some other poetry on the day, as keeping up on my regular writing practice seemed a very good way to honor Disciplina and enact the virtues she teaches in a tangible fashion on the occasion), on Disciplina as Teacher.

Disciplina Doctor

She is the greatest teacher,
the one who knows to instruct
the best ways to think,
not what one’s thoughts should be;
how to ask questions
rather than knowing answers;
that method is medium
and diligence better than definition;
true learning is derived from consent,
and the best disciples are those who choose to be.

*****

So, honor Disciplina daily by doing whatever it is you do with diligence and devotion; honor Hadrian for his role in bringing Disciplina’s cultus to realization; and honor Antinous, if it is part of your own devotional discipline to do so.