The last paragraph sours things but it's otherwise interesting.
1 posted on
08/19/2008 4:37:01 PM PDT by
decimon
To: SunkenCiv; blam
2 posted on
08/19/2008 4:37:55 PM PDT by
decimon
To: decimon
One of the tomes has been translated as:
"Sic transit obaminatium quae cum ita sunt!"
3 posted on
08/19/2008 5:26:54 PM PDT by
Young Werther
(Julius Caesar (Quae Cum Ita Sunt. Since these things are so.))
To: decimon
The last paragraph sours things but it's otherwise interesting.
I presume you are referring to this?
That sickness, in Epicurean terms, is rampant desire. If the Villa of the Papyri were to contribute nothing more to the 21st century than the taming of consumption, it might help save the planet as well as the soul.
The eruption of Mt Vesuvius had nothing to do at all with any man made activities or any conspicuous consumption in the ancient world as we do, with the great forces of volcanism and plate tectonics (and many other forces of nature beyond our control or influence) today.
Mt Vesuvius blew its top then and many scientists think it will someday again and there is really nothing we can do, or not do, to stop it.
Aside from the human tragedy and the many lives lost long ago, Vesuvius gave us living today, a great gift in that it froze still many slices of every day life from nearly 2,000 years ago. I find it interesting that on a whole and in many ways, they weren't all that different from us living today.
4 posted on
08/19/2008 6:41:13 PM PDT by
Caramelgal
(Just a lump of organized protoplasm - braying at the stars :),)
To: SunkenCiv
5 posted on
08/19/2008 9:31:09 PM PDT by
neb52
To: decimon; neb52
6 posted on
08/20/2008 11:42:59 AM PDT by
SunkenCiv
(https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______Profile hasn't been updated since Friday, May 30, 2008)
To: decimon
Should scholars find the famous lost second book of Aristotle's Poetics, the narrative spring of Umberto Eco's best-selling medieval mystery, The Name of the Rose, the discovery might shift the ground of Western aesthetics. Romantic but wrong. His belief that Aristotle is much regarded these days is charmingly naive.
I'm more interested in Aristotle's prose works, which have been lost. Only his "lecture notes" have survived.
The Villa of the Papyri is believed to have been owned by Roman statesman Lucius Calpurnius Piso, father-in-law of Julius Caesar.
Does anyone recall the title or number of the letter of Cicero concerning the fellow who wanted posession of Epicurus' house? It's somewhere in Epistolarum ad famliares but I can't remember where. I have the impression that fellow's name was Piso.
7 posted on
08/20/2008 4:20:25 PM PDT by
Dumb_Ox
(http://kevinjjones.blogspot.com)
8 posted on
08/21/2008 12:10:42 PM PDT by
SunkenCiv
(https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______Profile hasn't been updated since Friday, May 30, 2008)
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