(no subject)
Mar. 2nd, 2013 11:02 pmAs I always am when March arrives, I've been suddenly struck by the realisation that my birthday is in less than a month. Come the 22nd of March 2013 I will officially no longer be considered a teenager. I don't have any particular feelings about that, positive or negative, it's just... strange how much faster time passes the older you get.
Not much is happening in life atm. Instead, let me present the kind of quotes that makes my course lit worth reading:
"[...] Finally the day came that was set for deciding about the marriage, and Cleisthenes was obliged to make his choice. Sacrificing a hundred oxen, he feasted both the suitors and all the citizens of Sicyon. After they had eaten, the suitors entered in a singing-contest and in public speaking. Hippokleides surpassed the others in these events. and as the drink flowed he asked the flute player to play him a tune, and when he did so Hippokleides danced.
Whereas perhaps in his own eyes he danced very well, Cleisthenes, looking on, now began to have doubts about the whole business. After a short pause Hippokleides asked that a table be brought in. When the table came in, he climbed up on it and, first, danced some Spartan dances, then some Attic ones, and finally, standing on his head, he kept time with his legs in the air.
Cleisthenes had a hard enough time with the Spartan and Attic dances, and because of the dancing and the shameless behaviour now hated the thought that Hippokleides might become his son-in-law. Nonetheless he restrained himself, but when he saw Hippokleides beating time with his legs, he could no longer hold himself back.
"O son of Tisander," he said, "you have danced away your marriage."
Hippokleides answered, "Hippokleides doesn't care!"
From this event comes the saying, "Hippokleides doesn't care!"
- Herodotus 6. 126-30 (transl: Aubrey de Selincourt, 1996).
The Greeks: YOLOing since roughly 560 BC.
Not much is happening in life atm. Instead, let me present the kind of quotes that makes my course lit worth reading:
"[...] Finally the day came that was set for deciding about the marriage, and Cleisthenes was obliged to make his choice. Sacrificing a hundred oxen, he feasted both the suitors and all the citizens of Sicyon. After they had eaten, the suitors entered in a singing-contest and in public speaking. Hippokleides surpassed the others in these events. and as the drink flowed he asked the flute player to play him a tune, and when he did so Hippokleides danced.
Whereas perhaps in his own eyes he danced very well, Cleisthenes, looking on, now began to have doubts about the whole business. After a short pause Hippokleides asked that a table be brought in. When the table came in, he climbed up on it and, first, danced some Spartan dances, then some Attic ones, and finally, standing on his head, he kept time with his legs in the air.
Cleisthenes had a hard enough time with the Spartan and Attic dances, and because of the dancing and the shameless behaviour now hated the thought that Hippokleides might become his son-in-law. Nonetheless he restrained himself, but when he saw Hippokleides beating time with his legs, he could no longer hold himself back.
"O son of Tisander," he said, "you have danced away your marriage."
Hippokleides answered, "Hippokleides doesn't care!"
From this event comes the saying, "Hippokleides doesn't care!"
- Herodotus 6. 126-30 (transl: Aubrey de Selincourt, 1996).
The Greeks: YOLOing since roughly 560 BC.