Fiction pales when compared with, well, plain history. According to Tony Judt,[1] a short list of the epithets officially approved by Nicolae Ceaușescu for use in accounts of his achievements in Communist Romania would include: The Architect; The Creed-shaper; The Wise Helmsman; The Tallest Mast; The Nimbus of Victory; The Visionary; The Titan; The Son of the Sun; A Danube of Thought; and The Genius of the Carpathians. And this is just a short list. A kingdom for the full list of Ceaușescu’s epithets!

Addendum (October 14, 2018)

Given my understanding of enlightenment, one of the synonyms for liberation, the epithet in the title fits the Romanian tyrant no less than perfectly. For it is thought that is at the bottom of all human suffering (“No-Bullshit Enlightenment,” January 18, 2016). A Danube of it amounts to consummate suffering, indeed. Hell incarnate, as it were. Which is why this particular piece brings me a lot of joy nearly three years after my liberation. Ah, abandoning thought at will and remaining free from it for as long as one wishes…

Footnote

1. Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945, London: Heinemann, 2005, p. 624.