Though I spend most of my time studying what is labelled “history” in some manuscripts and “malignant lies” in others and the “siren scrawls of that fell demon” by many more, I find myself more interested in those works which exist not to edify or inform but instead to entertain. That is to say, in those hours of leisure my master grants me, I read widely of that section of the library we set aside for books proven by us bibliognosts to be mere entertainments. I have heard it said you share this vice.
I do not label even those hours of leisure my own, because I belong to my great master, my master whose magnanimity provides this slave with meals superior to those eaten by all but the wealthiest free men and the use of his vast libraries (he having two as all noblemen do) as well as the rapturous company of my Phoebe, that retired courtesan whose wits and shapeliness seem greater to me now than when she was in my master's favor.
This must, of course, be love muddying my powers of observation, as she is now to him only an obligation, supplanted as she was [...]
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First published:
March 20th, 2026
Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/pKoDqpfdv4ur8HgZ2/the-distaff-texts
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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
