We have an interesting fragment this week from the Pre-Socratic Anonymous Iamblichi (Diels and Kranz, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, 89.6.1), in which the writer not only appears to deny that nature and human constructs are antithetical, but goes so far that it could be called an attempt to reconcile the two ideas.
εἰ γὰρ ἔφυσαν μὲν οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἀδύνατοι καθ᾽ ἕνα ζῆν, συνῆλθον δὲ πρὸς ἀλλήλους τῆι ἀνάγκηι εἴκοντες... [εὕρηται] σὺν ἀλλήλοις δὲ εἶναι αὐτοὺς κἀν ἀνομίαι διαιτᾶσθαι οὐχ... διὰ ταύτας τοίνυν τὰς ἀνάγκας τόν τε νόμον καὶ τὸ δίκαιον ἐμβασιλεύειν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ οὐδαμῆι μεταστῆναι ἄν αὐτά. φύσει γὰρ ἰσχυρὰ ἐνδεδέσθαι ταῦτα.
If men were by nature unable to live alone, but yielding to
necessity they communed with one another... yet they
discovered that they could not live with one another without
laws, we can conclude that because of these necessities law
and justice rule as kings among men, and that in no way could they change, for these things have been firmly fixed by nature.
"Law and justice rule as kings... fixed by nature"... I like the sound of that...
[Note: Anyone familiar with classical Greek or with fonts (fontography?) and typography has probably noticed that the Greek text in these posts has a less-than-perfect appearance. I'm aware of the problem and have been trying to fix it. I have, however, been stymied in my efforts. It doesn't seem to matter what I do. It looks like shit in Blogger's html editor, then it looks quite nice in "compose" or "preview" mode, finally it looks like shit after I hit the "publish" button. I've even tried copying and pasting very nice looking Greek from other sites, but it comes out of Blogger looking like crap. I continue to work on the problem...]
You are so right about the Greek fontography. It has been driving me mad.
ReplyDeletePS - I'm only joking. I didn't last long enough in the seminary to get past Latin to Greek.
Glenn, I always hated Latin for some reason (I think I found it boring to look at, compared to Greek).
ReplyDeleteWhat made you leave the seminary? (Not trying to be a smart-ass, although the whole "celibacy" thing seems to be a major negative point.)
Why did I leave the seminary? That's a story for another day. And it had little to do with Manuel and Aristo.
ReplyDeleteGlenn, that's cool. Umm, I'm not (nor have I ever been) Catholic, but would Manuel and Aristo (if I've caught the reference correctly!) be considered un-celibate? That's just fucking harsh, man...
ReplyDeleteI was just comparing Latin and Greek...
ReplyDeleteAnd I've been feeling pretty harsh this week.
Well, Glenn, you're welcome to vent here if you like ( a "neutral" venue, so to speak). I can only guess that it's the general state of affairs in NO that has you "feeling pretty harsh", but whatever the case, my blog is your blog.
ReplyDeleteBTW, you mean Manuel ("hand") and Aristo ("wrist") were just figments of my filthy imagination? Jeez, I must be reading too much...
I never went to seminary, but was one of those free lance preacher types, studying Greek "under the covers", so to speak.
ReplyDeleteNow, to extend the metaphor unmercifully, I study Greeks.
I think the font problem has to do with some sort of server settings at Blogger Central.
Hi Daniel,
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by. Heh, I wonder how far a "metaphor" has to be "extended" before it becomes "real"?
In your anthropological studies of Greeks have you come to any conclusions?
I think you're right about the font thing...
Sorry for bumping in the middle of a conversation. I do believe that there is a natural law among men: the strong rules the weak, but the wise rules the strong. Have you tried establishing the Greek font in your computer and using it to write your text?
ReplyDeleteUsual Stuff, yeah, I've tried everything. I think it's Blogger and/or my Japanese (IME) keyboard.
ReplyDelete