- [Plato has it right.] If you want to talk about people, you
need to look down on the earth from above. Herds, armies,
farms; weddings, divorces, births, deaths; noisy courtrooms,
desert places; all the foreign peoples; holidays, days of
mourning, market days... all mixed together, a harmony of
opposites. - Look at the past—empire succeeding empire—and from
that, extrapolate the future: the same thing. No escape from
the rhythm of events.
Which is why observing life for forty years is as good as a
thousand. Would you really see anything new?
- “... Earth’s offspring back to earth
But all that’s born of heavenTo heaven returns again.”Either that or the cluster of atoms pulls apart and one way or
another the insensible elements disperse.
- “... with food and drink and magic spells
Seeking some novel way to frustrate death.”