nation-
alistic passion for Morocco; Lord Gadsby V. Wright (Hassan
was his assistant at Oxford and by vigorous string-pulling would
obtain his nomination as Auctor Honoris Causa), who charms
his auditors with an account — so high-flown, so orotund, it's
almost Johnsonian - of his confidant's curriculum studiorum ; and
73
Raymond Q. Knowall, who talks of Hassan's spasmodic though
always cordial association with OuLiPo.
Finally it's Carcopino's turn, Carcopino, a luminary of I'lnsti-
tut , that mortuary of Immortals on Paris's Quai Conti, who starts:
"Six springs ago Hassan Ibn Abbou won a uninominal 3-ballot
poll by 25 out of 26, a poll that was to stir up a commotion for
a day or two - but, as I say, voting in favour of Hassan Ibn
Abbou was practically unanimous, so our organisation thought
to appoint him to a subcommission of PC-IMAM (Patrimonial
Corpus of Inscriptions in Morocco's Adas Mountains), a fairly
lowly position but which had its own distinction, won by Hassan
on account of his polymathic study of an almost unknown tumu-
lus (and nobody who did know it could work out its import)
from an oppidum civium romanorum which a scholar from Munich,
a Judaist in flight from Austria's A nschluss, had found in diggings
at Thugga (or, as it's nowadays known, Dougga). It's said that
it withstood many attacks by Jugurtha, it's said that Juba Afri-
canus 'did pass a night by it' ( Titus Livius dixit) and that Trajan
had a villa built on it for Adrianus, his son by adoption."
Carcopino, though, citing Piganiol's biography, affirms that
this is only a rumour.
Notwithstanding that Trajan has nothing much to do with
Hassan Ibn Abbou, a handful of his auditors warmly applaud.
For, although talking in a low, unsonorous, almost soporific mur-
mur, our Immortal knows how to grip his public with his oratory.
Now, totally impromptu, Carcopino starts painting a vivid
word-portrait of his companion. "Hassan Ibn Abbou was tragic-
ally cut down in his maturity, and his passing is a loss not only
to that Institut for which I am proud to talk today but also, most
profoundly, to our Nation — and it's a loss not only of a man, of
a scholar, but also of his vast scholarship and, which is just as
important, his unfailing practical know-how. For nobody could
match Hassan's capacity for conciliating romanisation and bar-
barisation, for coming to grips with an ambiguous if highly
significant association linking two outwardly opposing notions,
7 4
so constituting, so instituting, an insight out of which, poor
orphan as it is on this tragic day of days, will unfold, by that
important, nay, by that paramount, innovation of Hassan Ibn
Abbou's, will unfold, I say, a truly dazzling tomorrow. Faith -
that is what all of us now must put our trust in, faith in that
lowly grain that Hassan Ibn Abbou was first to plant, that acorn
of thought that will grow into an oak and thus grant us, and for
always, immunity from hardship," Carcopino says in conclusion,
his vocal chords almost cracking, his auditors sympathising with
him, sobbing along with him, sharing his pain, won round by
his oratorical skills and not daring to applaud.
To Amaury Conson's disgust, though, a man standing not far
off is actually smiling. But this individual, tall, of stocky build
and sporting a chic raglan coat, cut as only British tailors know
how, has a candid, jovial and, in a word, chummy look about
him, oozing "warmth and charmth" (to borrow a famous
Goldwynism), that soon disarms him. Amaury walks up to him
and asks point-blank:
"Pardon my intrusion, but may I know what's amusing you?"
"If you must know, I'm smiling at an omission in his oration
that I find most significant."
"An omission?" gasps Amaury, who cannot mask his agitation.
"About six months ago, for his CNRS Commission Ph.D.,
Hassan Ibn Abbou was author of a succinct but, in my own
opinion, slipshod monograph on jus latinum , which is to say,
Latin law,
alistic passion for Morocco; Lord Gadsby V. Wright (Hassan
was his assistant at Oxford and by vigorous string-pulling would
obtain his nomination as Auctor Honoris Causa), who charms
his auditors with an account — so high-flown, so orotund, it's
almost Johnsonian - of his confidant's curriculum studiorum ; and
73
Raymond Q. Knowall, who talks of Hassan's spasmodic though
always cordial association with OuLiPo.
Finally it's Carcopino's turn, Carcopino, a luminary of I'lnsti-
tut , that mortuary of Immortals on Paris's Quai Conti, who starts:
"Six springs ago Hassan Ibn Abbou won a uninominal 3-ballot
poll by 25 out of 26, a poll that was to stir up a commotion for
a day or two - but, as I say, voting in favour of Hassan Ibn
Abbou was practically unanimous, so our organisation thought
to appoint him to a subcommission of PC-IMAM (Patrimonial
Corpus of Inscriptions in Morocco's Adas Mountains), a fairly
lowly position but which had its own distinction, won by Hassan
on account of his polymathic study of an almost unknown tumu-
lus (and nobody who did know it could work out its import)
from an oppidum civium romanorum which a scholar from Munich,
a Judaist in flight from Austria's A nschluss, had found in diggings
at Thugga (or, as it's nowadays known, Dougga). It's said that
it withstood many attacks by Jugurtha, it's said that Juba Afri-
canus 'did pass a night by it' ( Titus Livius dixit) and that Trajan
had a villa built on it for Adrianus, his son by adoption."
Carcopino, though, citing Piganiol's biography, affirms that
this is only a rumour.
Notwithstanding that Trajan has nothing much to do with
Hassan Ibn Abbou, a handful of his auditors warmly applaud.
For, although talking in a low, unsonorous, almost soporific mur-
mur, our Immortal knows how to grip his public with his oratory.
Now, totally impromptu, Carcopino starts painting a vivid
word-portrait of his companion. "Hassan Ibn Abbou was tragic-
ally cut down in his maturity, and his passing is a loss not only
to that Institut for which I am proud to talk today but also, most
profoundly, to our Nation — and it's a loss not only of a man, of
a scholar, but also of his vast scholarship and, which is just as
important, his unfailing practical know-how. For nobody could
match Hassan's capacity for conciliating romanisation and bar-
barisation, for coming to grips with an ambiguous if highly
significant association linking two outwardly opposing notions,
7 4
so constituting, so instituting, an insight out of which, poor
orphan as it is on this tragic day of days, will unfold, by that
important, nay, by that paramount, innovation of Hassan Ibn
Abbou's, will unfold, I say, a truly dazzling tomorrow. Faith -
that is what all of us now must put our trust in, faith in that
lowly grain that Hassan Ibn Abbou was first to plant, that acorn
of thought that will grow into an oak and thus grant us, and for
always, immunity from hardship," Carcopino says in conclusion,
his vocal chords almost cracking, his auditors sympathising with
him, sobbing along with him, sharing his pain, won round by
his oratorical skills and not daring to applaud.
To Amaury Conson's disgust, though, a man standing not far
off is actually smiling. But this individual, tall, of stocky build
and sporting a chic raglan coat, cut as only British tailors know
how, has a candid, jovial and, in a word, chummy look about
him, oozing "warmth and charmth" (to borrow a famous
Goldwynism), that soon disarms him. Amaury walks up to him
and asks point-blank:
"Pardon my intrusion, but may I know what's amusing you?"
"If you must know, I'm smiling at an omission in his oration
that I find most significant."
"An omission?" gasps Amaury, who cannot mask his agitation.
"About six months ago, for his CNRS Commission Ph.D.,
Hassan Ibn Abbou was author of a succinct but, in my own
opinion, slipshod monograph on jus latinum , which is to say,
Latin law,
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