This document provides context and summaries for passages from James Joyce's novel Ulysses. It includes summaries of characters, places, historical events and symbols mentioned across several sections from the "Nestor" episode. Key details summarized include references to locations in Dublin, characters like Parnell and Katharine O'Shea, symbols related to heraldry and religion, and background on political groups like the Orange Lodges.

1. Nestor
EPISODE 2

2. CLIFTON SCHOOL, DALKEY
Scene of Nestor, private school for boys in
Dalkey, a village on the southeast headland of
Dublin Bay

3. "FABLED BY THE DAUGHTERS OF MEMORY.
AND YET IT WAS IN SOME WAY IF NOT AS
MEMORY FABLED IT." (U2.7)

4. "A PHRASE, THEN, OF IMPATIENCE, THUD
OF BLAKE'S WINGS OF EXCESS. (U2.8)
A compound of two of the Proverbs of Hell from
Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: “The road of
excess leads to the palace of wisdom” and “No bird soars
too high, if he soars with his own wings.”

5. —PYRRHUS, SIR? PYRRHUS, A PIER.
ALL LAUGHED. MIRTHLESS HIGH (U2.24)
Vico Road, in Dalkey

6. "- TELL ME NOW, STEPHEN SAID, POKING
THE BOY'S SHOULDER WITH THE BOOK, WHAT IS A
PIER.
- A PIER, SIR, ARMSTRONG SAID. A THING OUT IN
THE WATER. A KIND OF BRIDGE." (U2.30)
East Pier in Howth, with Ireland's Eye in the background.

7. "KINGSTOWN PIER, SIR.
SOME LAUGHED AGAIN: MIRTHLESS
BUT WITH MEANING. TWO IN THE
BACK BENCH WHISPERED." (U2.33)
The two L-shaped seawalls that form the artificial harbor at Kingstown are called East Pier
and West Pier. East pier, almost a mile long, was a fashionable promenade, complete with
band concerts on summer evenings and opportunities for flirtation among groups of
unattached young men and women.

8. "YES. THEY KNEW: HAD NEVER LEARNED NOR EVER
BEEN INNOCENT. ALL. WITH ENVY HE WATCHED THEIR
FACES. EDITH, ETHEL, GERTY, LILY. THEIR LIKES: THEIR
BREATHS, TOO, SWEETENED WITH TEA AND JAM, THEIR
BRACELETS TITTERING IN THE STRUGGLE." (U2.35)
An Edwardian classroom

9. "-KINGSTOWN PIER, STEPHEN SAID. YES, A
DISAPPOINTED BRIDGE." (U2.39)

10. "THE WORDS TROUBLED THEIR GAZE.
- HOW, SIR? COMYN ASKED. A BRIDGE IS ACROSS A
RIVER." (U2.40)
An Edwardian classroom, boys in Eaton suits, that could have been
Deasy's.

11. "WHAT THEN? A JESTER AT THE COURT OF HIS MASTER,
INDULGED AND DISESTEEMED, WINNING A CLEMENT
MASTER'S PRAISE. WHY HAD THEY CHOSEN ALL THAT PART?
NOT WHOLLY FOR THE SMOOTH CARESS. FOR THEM TOO
HISTORY WAS A TALE LIKE ANY OTHER TOO OFTEN HEARD,
THEIR LAND A PAWNSHOP." (U2.43)

12. "AND FLOATED OUT INTO THE STUDIOUS SILENCE
OF THE LIBRARY OF SAINT GENEVIEVE WHERE HE
HAD READ," (U2.68)
The library of Sainte-Geneviève is located near the Pantheon on the Mont
Sainte-Geneviève in Paris (5e). It is one of the oldest libraries in the world,
founded in the 5c. The current building was erected 1844-1851. Geneviève is
one of the patron saints of Paris.

13. "AND IN MY MIND'S DARKNESS A SLOTH OF THE UNDERWORLD,
RELUCTANT, SHY OF BRIGHTNESS, SHIFTING HER DRAGON SCALY FOLDS. THOUGHT IS
THE THOUGHT OF THOUGHT. TRANQUIL BRIGHTNESS. THE SOUL IS IN A MANNER ALL
THAT IS: THE SOUL IS THE FORM OF FORMS. TRANQUILITY SUDDEN, VAST,
CANDESCENT: FORM OF FORMS." (U2.72)

14. "IT LIES UPON THEIR EAGER FACES WHO OFFERED HIM A COIN OF THE TRIBUTE. TO
CAESAR WHAT IS CAESAR'S, TO GOD WHAT IS GOD'S. A LONG LOOK FROM DARK EYES, A
RIDDLING SENTENCE TO BE WOVEN ON THE CHURCH'S LOOMS. AY.
RIDDLE ME, RIDDLE ME, RANDY RO.
MY FATHER GAVE ME SEEDS TO SOW." (U2.85)
The Pharisees attempt to “entangle Jesus in his talk” by showing him a Roman
penny marked with Caesar’s image and inscription and asking, “Is it lawful to give
tribute to Caesar, or not?

15. "THEIR EYES GREW BIGGER AS THE LINES WERE REPEATED. AFTER A
SILENCE COCHRANE SAID:
- WHAT IS IT, SIR? WE GIVE IT UP.
STEPHEN, HIS THROAT ITCHING, ANSWERED:
- THE FOX BURYING HIS GRANDMOTHER UNDER A HOLLYBUSH." (U2.111)

16. "ACROSS THE PAGE THE SYMBOLS MOVED IN GRAVE MORRICE, IN THE MUMMERY OF
THEIR LETTERS, WEARING QUAINT CAPS OF SQUARES AND CUBES. GIVE HANDS,
TRAVERSE, BOW TO PARTNER: SO: IMPS OF FANCY OF THE MOORS." (U2.155)

17. "AMOR MATRIS: SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE GENITIVE. WITH HER WEAK BLOOD AND WHEYSOUR MILK
SHE HAD FED HIM AND HID FROM SIGHT OF OTHERS HIS SWADDLING BANDS.
LIKE HIM WAS I, THESE SLOPING SHOULDERS, THIS GRACELESSNESS. MY CHILDHOOD BENDS BESIDE ME.
TOO FAR FOR ME TO LAY A HAND THERE ONCE OR LIGHTLY. MINE IS FAR AND HIS SECRET AS OUR EYES.
SECRETS, SILENT, STONY, SIT IN THE DARK PALACES OF BOTH OUR HEARTS: SECRETS WEARY OF THEIR
TYRANNY: TYRANTS WILLING TO BE DETHRONED." (U2.165)
Latin: “mother love.” Ambiguous to Stephen because the phrase could mean the
mother’s love for her child (subjective) or the child’s love for its mother (objective).

18. "AND SNUG IN THEIR SPOONCASE OF PURPLE PLUSH,
FADED, THE TWELVE APOSTLES HAVING PREACHED TO ALL THE
GENTILES: WORLD WITHOUT END." (U2.202)
Mr. Deasy has a spooncase containing the twelve spoons whose handles represent
the figures of the twelve apostles. The spoons were the traditional present of
sponsors at christenings.

19. "- THANK YOU, SIR, STEPHEN SAID, GATHERING THE MONEY TOGETHER
WITH SHY HASTE AND PUTTING IT ALL IN A POCKET OF HIS TROUSERS.
- NO THANKS AT ALL, MR DEASY SAID. YOU HAVE EARNED IT." (U2.223)
Details of Edwardian currency

20. SYMBOLS TOO OF BEAUTY AND OF POWER. A LUMP IN MY POCKET: SYMBOLS SOILED BY
GREED AND MISERY.
- DON'T CARRY IT LIKE THAT, MR DEASY SAID. YOU'LL PULL IT OUT SOMEWHERE AND
LOSE IT. YOU JUST BUY OF OF THESE MACHINES. YOU'LL FIND THEM VERY HANDY.
ANSWER SOMETHING." (U2.226)
In heraldry, shells are symbolic of the beauty, goodness, and wisdom of God;
and the murex shell, which provided the Greeks with royal purple dye, is
symbolic of sovereignty and the power of the gods.

21. "IF YOUTH BUT KNEW." (U2.238)
From a traditional French saying: 'Si jeunesse savait, si vieillesse pouvait' = 'If
youth but knew, if old age but could...'

22. "MR. DEASY STARED STERNLY FOR SOME MOMENTS OVER
THE MANTELPIECE AT THE SHAPELY BULK OF A MAN IN
TARTAN FILIBEGS: ALBERT EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES."
(U2.265)
Mr. Deasy's wall hanging is a bit out of date: in 1904, Albert Edward Prince of
Wales had become H.M. King Edward VII. He reigned from 1901, when his
mother Queen Victoria died, to his own death in 1910. He is seen in this PC
wearing royal Stuart tartan filibegs.

23. "DO YOU KNOW THAT THE ORANGE LODGES"
(U2.270)
The Orange Institution (or Orange Order) is a Protestant fraternal organisation
based in N. Ireland and Scotland. It was founded in Co. Armagh in 1795, during the
inter-communal violence of the 1790s that opposed Protestants and Catholics. The
Order's name comes from William of Orange, the Protestant Dutch prince who
became William III King of England and Ireland 1689 - 1702.

24. "AGITATED FOR REPEAL OF THE UNION TWENTY YEARS
BEFORE O'CONNELL DID" (U2.271)
The Irish Roman Catholic bishops were far more energetic in their support of
O’Connell’s successful campaign for Catholic emancipation than they were of his
subsequent campaign for repeal of the Act of the Union. While some bishops
were suspicious of O’Connell and his methods, it is hardly accurate to say that they
“denounced” him.

25. "GLORIOUS, PIOUS AND IMMORTAL MEMORY. THE LODGE OF
DIAMOND IN ARMAGH THE SPLENDID BEHUNG WITH
CORPSES OF PAPISHES. HOARSE, MASKED AND ARMED, THE
PLANTERS' COVENANT." (U2.273)
The Orangeman’s toast to the memory of William of Orange, William III (1650-1702);
king of England (1689-1702), the patron “saint” of the radically Protestant Irish because
he saved Ireland from James II and completed the English conquest of Ireland
(effectively reducing it to the penal colony it was in the eighteenth century).

26. "THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT'S CEYLON, PRIX DE
PARIS, 1866." (U2.301)
The Prix de Paris is a race for 3 year old horses run in Longchamps, France. It
involves, this card states, considerable amounts of prize money.

27. "FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE. KNOWN AS KOCH'S PREPARATION. SERUM AND VIRUS.
PERCENTAGE OF SALTED HORSES. RINDERPEST. EMPEROR'S HORSES AT MÜRZSTEG, LOWER
AUSTRIA. VETERINARY SURGEONS. MR HENRY BLACKWOOD PRICE. COURTEOUS OFFER A FAIR
TRIAL. DICTATES OF COMMON SENSE. ALLIMPORTANT QUESTION. IN EVERY SENSE OF THE
WORD TAKE THE BULL BY THE HORNS. THANKING YOU FOR THE HOSPITALITY OF YOUR
COLUMNS." (U2.332)
For the prevention of anthrax (not foot-and-mouth disease). The German physician and
bacteriologist Robert Koch (1843-1910) developed a method of preventing anthrax by
inoculation in 1882.

28. "ON THE STEPS OF THE PARIS STOCK EXCHANGE THE
GOLDSKINNED MEN QUOTING PRICES ON THEIR GEMMED
FINGERS." (U2.364)
The Paris stock exchange

29. "A WOMAN TOO BROUGHT PARNELL LOW. MANY ERRORS,
MANY FAILURES BUT NOT THE ONE SIN." (U2.394)
Charles Stewart Parnell (1846 - 1891) was an Irish political leader, M.P. and later
President of the Irish National Land League. In the early 1880s, Parnell became the
accepted leader of the Irish nationalist movement, quickly gaining political
momentum as Ireland's 'uncrowned king.'

30. KATHERINE O’SHEA
Katharine O'Shea (1845 - 1921), born Katharine Wood, was English. She was known as 'Katie' to her friends, and
'Kitty' to her detractors. She married Captain O'Shea in 1867, but the marriage did not go well, and by 1875 they were effectively
living apart. She met Parnell in 1880 and they started a steady relationship; 3 of Katharine's children (Clare, Katie, and a 3rd child
who died neonatally) were Parnell's.

31. "I AM A STRUGGLER NOW AT THE END OF MY DAYS. BUT I WILL FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT
TILL THE END.
FOR ULSTER WILL FIGHT
AND ULSTER WILL BE RIGHT." (U2.395)
When Gladstone introduced the Home Rule Bill in 1886, his Conservative opponents formed a political
alliance with the Ulster Protestants which was to last almost a century. "The Orange card was the one to
play", wrote a leading Conservative, Lord Randolph Churchill, who also coined the watchword "Ulster will
fight, and Ulster will be right." The bill was greeted by severe rioting in Belfast, the worst the city had seen.
This photo shows a proud Ulsterman.