Of the Three Sorts of Government, Monarchy, Democracy, and Oligarchy , Plutarch, The Moralia, translations edited by William Watson Goodwin (1831-1912), from the edition of 1878, a text in the public domain digitized by the Internet Archive and reformatted/lightly corrected by Brady Kiesling. This text has 4 tagged references to 4 ancient places. CTS URN: urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg119; Wikidata ID: Q87197483; Trismegistos: authorwork/6540[Open Greek text in new tab]
§ 1 As I was considering with myself to bring forth and propose to the judgment of this worthy company the discourse I held yesterday in your presence, methought I heard political virtue — not in the illusion of a dream, but in a true and real vision — say thus to me: A golden ground is laid for sacred songs. We have already laid the foundation of the discourse by persuading and exhorting persons to concern themselves in managing the affairs of the commonweal, and now we proceed to build upon it the doctrine which is due after such an exhortation. For after a man has received an admonition and exhortation to deal in the affairs of the state, there ought consequently to be given him the precepts of government, following and observing which, he may, as much as it is possible for a man to do, profit the public, and in the mean time honestly prosecute his own affairs with such safety and honor as shall be meet for him. There is first then one point to be discoursed, which, as it is precedent to what we have hereafter to say, so depends on what we have said before. Now this is, what sort of policy and government is best? For as there are many sorts of lives in particular men, so also are there in people and states; and the life of a people or state is its policy and government. It is therefore necessary to declare which is the best, that a statesman may choose it from among the rest, or, if that is not possible for him to do, he may at least take that which has the nearest resemblance to the best.
§ 2 Now there is one signification of this word policy (πολιτεία) which imports as much as burgess-ship, that is, a participation in the rights and privileges belonging to a town, city, or borough; as when we say that the Megarians, by an edict of their city, presented Alexander the Great with their policy, that is, their burgess-ship, and that, Alexander laughing at the offer they made him of it, they answered him, that they had never decreed that honor to any but Heracles and now to himself. This he wondering to hear accepted their present, thinking it honorable inasmuch as it was rare. The life also of a political person, who is concerned in the government of the commonweal, is called policy, as when we praise the policy of Pericles or Bias, that is, the manner of their government, and on the contrary, blame that of Hyperbolus and Cleon. Some moreover there are, who call a great and memorable action performed in the administration of a commonweal a policy, such as is the distribution of money, the suppressing of a war, the introduction of some notable decree worthy to be kept in perpetual memory. In which signification it is a common manner of speaking to say, This man today has done a policy, if he has peradventure effected some remarkable matter in the government of the state.
§ 3 Besides all these significations there is yet another, that is, the order and state by which a commonweal is governed, and by which affairs are managed and administered. According to which we say that there are three sorts of policy or public government, — to wit, Monarchy, which is regality or kingship, Oligarchy, which is the government by peers and nobles, and Democracy, which is a popular or (as we term it) a free state. Now all these are mentioned by Herodotus in his Third Book, where he compares them one with another. And these seem to be the most general of all; for all other sorts are, as it were, the depravation and corruption of these, either by defect or excess; as it is in the first consonances of music, when the strings are either too straight or too slack. Now these three sorts of government have been distributed amongst the nations that have had the mightiest and the greatest empire. Thus the Persians enjoyed regality or kingship, because their king had full absolute power in all things, without being liable to render an account to any one. The Spartans had a council consisting of a small number, and those the best and most considerable persons in the city, who despatched all affairs. The Athenians maintained popular government free and exempt from any other mixture. In which administration when there are any faults, their transgressions and exorbitances are styled tyrannies, oppressions of the stronger, unbridled licentiousness of the multitude. That is, when the prince who has the royalty permits himself to outrage whomever he pleases, and will not suffer any remonstrance to be made him concerning it, he becomes a tyrant; when a few lords or senators in whose hands the government is arrive at that arrogance as to contemn all others, they turn oppressors; and when a popular state breaks forth into disobedience and levelling, it runs into anarchy and unmeasurable liberty: and in a word, all of them together will be rashness and folly.
§ 4 Even then as a skilful musician will make use of all sorts of instruments, and play on every one of them, accommodating himself in such manner as its quality can bear and as shall be fit to make it yield the sweetest sound, but yet, if he will follow Plato's counsel, will lay aside fiddles, many-stringed virginals, psalteries, and harps, preferring before all other the lute and bandore; in like manner, an able statesman will dexterously manage the Laconic and Lycurgian seignory or oligarchy, fitting and accommodating his companions who are of equal authority with him, and by little and little drawing and reducing them to be managed by himself. He will also carry himself discreetly in a popular state, as if he had to deal with an instrument of many and differently sounding strings, one while letting down and remitting some things, and again extending others, as he shall see his opportunity and find it most convenient for the government, to which he will vigorously apply himself, well knowing when and how he ought to resist and contradict; but yet, if he might be permitted to make his choice from amongst all sorts of government, as from so many musical instruments, he would not, if Plato's advice might be taken, choose any other but monarchy or regal authority, as being that which is indeed alone able to support that most perfect and most lofty note of virtue, without suffering him either by force or by grace and favor, to frame himself for advantage and gain. For all other sorts of governments do in a manner as much rule a statesman as he does them, no less carrying him than they are carried by him; forasmuch as he has no certain power over those from whom he has his authority, but is very often constrained to cry out in these words of the poet Aeschylus, which King Demetrius, surnamed the Town-taker, often alleged against Fortune, after he had lost his kingdom: Thou mad'st me first, and now undoest me quite.
Olympian Odes, Odes of Pindar, translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien, who retains the copyright. Used by ToposText with her gracious permission. (For more on Dr. Arnson Svarlien). This text has 196 tagged references to 74 ancient places. CTS URN: urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0033.tlg001; Wikidata ID: Q18146776; Trismegistos: authorwork/948[Open Greek text in new tab]
§ 1.1 Olympian 1: For Hieron of Syracuse Single Horse Race 476 B.C. Water is best, and gold, like a blazing fire in the night, stands out supreme of all lordly wealth. But if, my heart, you wish to sing of contests, [5] look no further for any star warmer than the sun, shining by day through the lonely sky, and let us not proclaim any contest greater than Olympia. From there glorious song enfolds the wisdom of poets, so that they loudly sing [10] the son of Cronus, when they arrive at the rich and blessed hearth of Hieron, who wields the scepter of law in Sicily of many flocks, reaping every excellence at its peak, and is glorified [15] by the choicest music, which we men often play around his hospitable table. Come, take the Dorian lyre down from its peg, if the splendor of Pisa and of Pherenicus placed your mind under the influence of sweetest thoughts, when that horse ran swiftly beside the Alpheus, not needing to be spurred on in the race, and brought victory to his master, the king of Syracuse who delights in horses. His glory shines in the settlement of fine men founded by LydianPelops,
Atomic Theory: On The Smallness of Things By Lucilius Translated by A.Z. Foreman
Thus spake Epicurus: "all things in the cosmos are made of atoms" Thinking the atom the smallest thing of all. Had he known Diophantus, he'd have said "made of Diophantus", (The subatomic smallest of the small), Or just "most things are made of atoms", and grant us That "the atom itself is made of Diophantus."
Intuition and concepts constitute... the elements of all our knowledge, so that neither concepts without an intuition in some way corresponding to them, nor intuition without concepts, can yield knowledge.
"Whorf himself, and some of his followers, have suggested that we live in a kind of intellectual prison, a prison formed by the structural rules of our language.
I am prepared to accept this metaphor, though I have to add to it that it is an odd prison as we are normally unaware of being imprisoned. We may become aware of it through culture clash. But then, this very awareness allows us to break the prison.
If we try hard enough, we can transcend our prison by studying the new language and by comparing it with our own.
" Widening the prison: "Admittedly, the result will be a new prison. But it will be a much larger and wider prison. And again, we will not suffer from it. Or rather, whenever we do suffer from it, we are free to examine it critically, and thus to break out again into a still wider prison."
Prisons as Frameworks: "The prisons are the frameworks. And those who do not like prisons will be opposed to the myth of the framework. They will welcome a discussion with a partner who comes from another world, from another framework, for it gives them an opportunity to discover their so far unfelt chains, to break these chains, and thus to transcend themselves. But this breaking of one's prison is clearly not a matter of routine: it can only be the result of a critical effort and of a creative effort."
The din dies down. I enter from the wings. Leaning inside the doorway to the stage, I try and catch an echo in the distance, A sense of what shall happen in my age. Thousands of theater glasses focus on me, Turning on me the darkness of the night. If it be in Thy power, Abba Father, Here let this cup of torment pass me by. Yes I love Thy unwavering conception, And have agreed to play this part as tasked. But now another drama is unfolding. So, just this once, release me from the cast. But the whole plot has been already written And journey's end irrevocably marked. I am alone. It all falls Pharisaic. A mortal life is no walk in the park.
The Original:
Гамлет Борис Пастернак
Гул затих. Я вышел на подмостки. Прислонясь к дверному косяку, Я ловлю в далеком отголоске, Что случится на моем веку.
На меня наставлен сумрак ночи Тысячью биноклей на оси. Если только можно, Aвва Oтче, Чашу эту мимо пронеси.
Я люблю твой замысел упрямый И играть согласен эту роль. Но сейчас идет другая драма, И на этот раз меня уволь.
Но продуман распорядок действий, И неотвратим конец пути. Я один, все тонет в фарисействе. Жизнь прожить - не поле перейти.
This post is another notebook post when using my analytical programming mindset I find writing prose virtually impossible. Poetry being more abstract in my own case at least is not impacted in the same way although to write poetry I have to be in a meditative reflective state and Programming and data crunching is not conducive to that state. This Post is mainly a link to word-hoard and a 2008 talk given by Prof. Martin Mueller which I discovered yesterday looking at word crunching and data mining, particularly; word tag, metadata, tagging generators, for WordPress blogs. Yesterday was divided between Graph Theory. And perhaps, “not waving but drowning”?
This is a wonderful starter for ten on Hermeneutics and Exegesis In the Multi-Media Age. Ted Nelsons Hypertext portends and is prescient on the HTTP/URL world of the Internet and interweb. Ted distinguishes the two, The Internet is an ocean and The Web, bound and limited to flaky old URLs Is a Boat whose bilge pumps, eject out mere electronic media making its imitation of print on paper. With Xanudocs and Transclusion, the provenance of Ideas in electronic documents provide the Timelines with both, forward; from the present date of any extant document, and also backwards into the mists of provenance. There are a plethora of terminology in the Xanadu world which Douglas Adams called hyper land in his excellent documentary of the same name Hyperland, Sideways and all manner of other exotic dimensions previously unimagined are catered for. David Bowie in an interview with Jeremy Paxman back in 1999 described the Internet Audience, Reader, Listener and watcher as a participant in the flow of ideas a meeting of the Regarding mind with the grey space of the internet emittances completing the picture Regardeur de Tableaux, And here we meet This Blog and its look at meaning and context and the motivation behind the Intended meaning of Historians. Of Course, Kubla khan decreed his pleasure dome and Coleridge offered it up as a Fragment. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43991/kubla-khan Or, a vision in a dream. A Fragment. In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man
Many historians focus primarily on authors’ “intended meanings.” Yet all textual interpreters, including historians, need a second kind of meaning. I call this idea “extended meaning,” a new name for an old idea: “P means Q” is the same as “P logically implies Q.” Extended and intended meaning involve different kinds of understanding: even if we grasp exactly what authors meant, we miss something important if we overlook their errors, for example. Crucially, extended and intended meaning are not alternatives: just as some parts of texts cannot be understood without historical analysis, so too some parts of texts cannot be understood without philosophical analysis. Indeed, some historians are adept at using extended meanings to recover intended meanings. But the failure to make this explicit has led many historians to undervalue philosophical analysis. This article thus applies the idea of extended meaning to three practical questions: whether we can deviate from authors’ intended meanings, whether we can use anachronisms, and how we can use extended meanings to recover intended meanings. The idea of extended meaning thus strengthens our theoretical foundations and offers valuable practical tools.
In 1969, Quentin Skinner wrote a seminal essay on ‘Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas’. Fifty years later, in the same journal (History andTheory), I have published an article expanding his account.
Skinner, writing as a historian, focused on ‘intended meaning’ – what authors meant by what they wrote. I focus on ‘extended meaning’ – the implications of what authors wrote, whether intended or not.
Intended meaning has dominated our methodological literature, and philosophy of language more generally; many historians of political thought seem to see it as the only kind of meaning and understanding. But extended meaning, and the kind of understanding it furnishes, is not only a worthy goal of research but even helps scholars whose main focus is intended meaning.
So, these two types of meaning and understanding are not alternatives. Just as political theorists and philosophers must address intended meaning, so…
Wales By Gwenallt Jones Translated by A.Z. Foreman
Why give us all this misery? The wrack Of pain on flesh and blood like leaden weight, Your language on our shoulders like a sack, And your traditions fetters round our feet? The canker rots your colors everywhere. Your soul is scabbed with boils. Your song a scream. In your own land you are but a nightmare And your survival but a witch's dream. Still, we can't leave you in the filth to stand A generation's laughing-stock and jest. Your former freedom is our sword in hand, Your dignity a buckler at our breast. We'll grip our spears and spur our steeds: go brave Lest we should shame our fathers in their grave.
The Original:
Cymru Gwenallt Jones
Paham y rhoddaist inni'r tristwch hwn, A'r boen fel pwysau plwm ar gnawd a gwaed? Dy iaith ar ein hysgwyddau megis pwn, A'th draddodiadau'n hual am ein traed? Mae'r cancr yn crino dy holl liw a'th lun, A'th enaid yn gornwydydd ac yn grach, Nid wyt ond hunllef yn dy wlad dy hun, A'th einioes yn y tir ond breuddwyd gwrach. Er hyn, ni allwn d'adael yn y baw Yn sbort a chrechwen i'r genedlaeth hon, Dy ryddid gynd sydd gleddyf yn ein llaw, A'th urddas sydd yn astalch ar ein bron, A chydiwn yn ein gwayw a gyrru'r meirch Rhag cywilyddio'r tadau yn eu heirch.
Ty’r Ysgol (Welsh for "School-house") refers to the schoolhouse where Parry-Williams was brought up in the village of Rhyd-ddu at the foot of Mt. Snowdon. His father was a schoolmaster. Ty'r Ysgol By T.H. Parry-Williams Translated by A.Z. Foreman
The chimneys smoke despite contrary winds, And someone comes, at times, to sweep the floor And open windows out, though no one since The great dispersal lives there anymore Save on vacation for a month of rest From city life in rural August air, To stroll around till people are perplexed To see us back in town, and start to stare; And everybody wonders why, today, We, who lost mom and dad in years gone by, Hold on to this old home a world away. That's how it is, and I do not know why, Unless for fear the buried parents might Sense somehow that the doors had been locked tight.
The Original:
Ty'r Ysgol
Mae’r cyrn yn mygu er pob awel groes, A rhywun yno weithiau’n‘sgubo’r llawr Ac agor y ffenestri, er nad oes Neb yno’n byw ar ôl y chwalfa fawr; Dim ond am fis o wyliau, mwy neu lai, Yn Awst, er mwyn cael seibiant bach o’r dre A throi o gwmpas dipyn, nes bod rhai Yn synnu’n gweld yn symud hyd y lle; A phawb yn holi beth sy’n peri o hyd I ni, sydd wedi colli tad a mam, Gadw’r hen le, a ninnau hyd y byd,- Ond felly y mae-hi, ac ni wn pam, Onid rhag ofn i’r ddau sydd yn y gro Synhwyro rywsut fod y drws ynghlo.
Ty’r Ysgol (Welsh for "School-house") refers to the schoolhouse where Parry-Williams was brought up in the village of Rhyd-ddu at the foot of Mt. Snowdon. His father was a schoolmaster. Ty'r Ysgol By T.H. Parry-Williams Translated by A.Z. Foreman
The chimneys smoke despite contrary winds, And someone comes, at times, to sweep the floor And open windows out, though no one since The great dispersal lives there anymore Save on vacation for a month of rest From city life in rural August air, To stroll around till people are perplexed To see us back in town, and start to stare; And everybody wonders why, today, We, who lost mom and dad in years gone by, Hold on to this old home a world away. That's how it is, and I do not know why, Unless for fear the buried parents might Sense somehow that the doors had been locked tight.
The Original:
Ty'r Ysgol
Mae’r cyrn yn mygu er pob awel groes, A rhywun yno weithiau’n‘sgubo’r llawr Ac agor y ffenestri, er nad oes Neb yno’n byw ar ôl y chwalfa fawr; Dim ond am fis o wyliau, mwy neu lai, Yn Awst, er mwyn cael seibiant bach o’r dre A throi o gwmpas dipyn, nes bod rhai Yn synnu’n gweld yn symud hyd y lle; A phawb yn holi beth sy’n peri o hyd I ni, sydd wedi colli tad a mam, Gadw’r hen le, a ninnau hyd y byd,- Ond felly y mae-hi, ac ni wn pam, Onid rhag ofn i’r ddau sydd yn y gro Synhwyro rywsut fod y drws ynghlo.
Someone asked if I'd do one of Sappho's poems. So here's a short one. It's not a love poem (which is what she's famous for) so much as, well, a hate-poem, displaying a side of Sappho so at odds with her amatory lyrics that some have questioned its authenticity as Sappho's work. However, it's not obviously spurious in the way a couple of other poems attributed to her are.
To an Unlettered Woman With No Appreciation for Poetry 1 By Sappho Translated by A.Z. Foreman
When you die you will lie dirt-dumb and leave no memory of you, No mourner who wanted you while you lived. You eschew the Muse, eschew Her roses, her home. Into Hell as on Earth you'll pass unnoticed, fade Away from us, dithering with the dead in nethershade.
Notes: 1- The title of the poem describes the woman as ἀμούσος, literally "museless"- but semantically closer to things like "uncultured, inelegant, rude" etc. Here, though, the implication has to do with poetry more specifically.
ON LANGUAGE, OPPRESSION AND POLITICAL CORRECTNESS. THE BAARDS OF WALES. IMRE KALANYOS , ARANY JÁNOS,SUJATA BHATT
Facebook does have its uses, it’s a curious Memory Hole glitch that reminds one of what so easily slips into the memory hole. Ordinarily, it is that very memory hole that is the genius of Facebook, for the powers that be. Every so often as today it scores a wonderful own goal.
In this Post, I revisit a poem which was inspired by a Hungarian Epic Poem from one of that countries´ most celebrated literary sons. Another is surely Imre Kalynos. Who with his memory of growing up in Stalin’s Russia he delivers this is a wonderful piece of writing. It overbrims with wisdom and lessons for the art of living.
Our links with the past are more powerful than we know particularly our connection with the land and Nature. Our connection is still deep within all of us I believe and this short story about what the Baards of Wales meant to one Hungarian gypsy that emigrated to America Squares an eternal circle of which we all yearn for.
And the Baards of wales would not give praises to the conquering Edward, instead, they spoke words of truth in poem and song made insolence by violence of the Crown and they were burnt at the stake for the truth they Spake.
What principality this that burns its priests for speaking truth against the tyrant. The Baards of Cymru Eire Cornwall Bretagne, Syntagma & St Pauls reach out to us across the energy of reincarnated spirit and language Past Heroes deeds and words emulated to assuage
As once the tyrant Tribute sought These new Caesars take all yet offer nought once more we offer Insolence in Poetry Song rhyme and reason to tell the truth, that’s painted Treason.
Original Poem By Roger Lewis. After. Arany János’ masterpiece.
Arany János was Hungary’s greatest epic poet and wrote this poem shortly after the visit of Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph to Hungary following defeat in the 1848-49 revolution war. Originally intended to be a poem to praise the Emperor, Arany, Janos used the story that King Edward I of England had 500 baards executed after his conquest of Wales in 1277. The poem is set in Montgomery mid-Wales.
”Tierra y Libertad”
The extract below is but an horsd’oeuvre, To a sumptuous banquet that is the whole piece at the link.
´´ I did not understand how the people of Sívó could be Gypsies. Due to the discrimination they were subjected to however, I knew that within the Hungarian society, my community, like the Gypsies, was placed in a social stratum defined by the color of their skin. It was then that it became clear to me that the Hungarians called my villagers Gypsies for the same reason the ancient Greeks called the rest of the world Barbarians.´´ “Poems connected me to a world beyond my own. It was from poems that I learned a history that was not taught in my school. Poems made me aware of human feelings that were always part of human history but rarely revealed in the history books. One such poem was “The Bards of Wales” written by Arany János (John Gold). In the poem, the poet gave me a view on the Welsh people’s acceptance of their country’s annexation by King Edward. The poem, as I understood it, was a reflection of the feelings of the bards. In the thirteenth century, after conquering Wales, Edward I traveled on horseback throughout the country to assess what his gains were. During his travel, he ordered the bards to praise him in their poems. Some five hundred bards, one by one, were burned at the stake because they cursed him instead of praising him. It was that poem that made me understand how Hungarians felt about the Russian occupation of their country. From the poem, I learned that human feelings are part of ongoing history and that they cannot be dictated. It was from “The Bards of Wales” that I learned a universal truth: the truth that neither kings nor dictators or tyrants can dictate human feelings. I loved poems. They instilled in me a belief—a dream without which life had no meaning. From my literal understanding of Ady Endre’s poem titled “From the Rill to the Ocean,” I learned that to want is the door to possibilities; to want is human, and that one’s will make dreams come true . I was in the fourth grade when I memorized Ady’s poem. I memorized it because it depicted the environment in which I was living and the conditions I hoped to climb out of.” …… “Throughout my life in Hungary, it was Ady’s poem that kept my hopes alive. It was the compelling factor in my determination to leave the rill in the hopes of reaching the saint, the big Ocean. ”
Sujata Bhatt is an Indian poet and native speaker of Gujarati (the language native to the west Indian region of Gujarat) born on the 6th of May 1956 in Ahmedabad and brought up in Pune until her family immigrated to the United States in 1968. Now residing in Bremen, Germany with her daughter and husband, she now works as a freelance writer and translates works of Gujarat poetry into English. Recognised as a distinctive voice in contemporary poetry, Bhatt has won many prestigious awards for her work.
Bhatt describes her childhood in India as “the deepest layer of my identity”. Even though she has said that she feels an immense amount of pride and love towards her mother tongue and her culture, Bhatt mainly speaks and writes in English.
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