"Vae! Puto deus fio."

("Well what do you know. I think I'm becoming a god."

translation mine)

the roman emperor vespasian, on his death bed. vespasian was putting down revolts in judea the late 60s aD when another general, vitellius, marched on rome and was defeated. the senate named vespasian emperor to avert civil war. as emperor, he patroned the arts like few others, built the colosseum, and caused much scandal when it was reported that he took off his own boots. needless to say, he was rather dubious about the deification of emperors.

to continue on a theme...

where, indeed. apparently not anywhere near the Bouffant Galaxy.

via mostly forbidden, an almost entirely wonderful site.

my grandfather's skin is tired of trying

to clutch his bones together.

they are heavy with memories,

memories packed thick and weighty,

weightier, even, than the cancer.

his blood is threadbare and worn

out. it wants to get back to the earth

where it can quietly curl up

in ever-drying circles and rest,

and now his veins can't keep it back.

his portion of dust has spent

the length of its lease, and

wastes with homesickness

for the earth from which it came.

now, the blinder-scales have fallen off.

now, thrice-born, re-clothed, re-made, re-newed,

now re-knit from flesh without the smell of death,

he walks above, across a river we cannot pass.

to disappear from our still-blindered sight.

my grandfather eats with us no more, for now,

for he must supper with the Lamb.

may, 2010.

as for this epicurean account of yours, it is utter eyewash, hardly worthy of the old women who spin yarns by candlelight.

cotta, in cicero's de natura deorum, i.94

"the longer i ponder the question, the darker i think is the prospect of a solution."

simonides, as quoted by cicero in de natura deorum, i.60

the wicked flee when no one pursues,

but the righteous are bold as a lion.

proverbs 28:1

i feel like this is a pretty accurate diagnosis and solution of all my problems with making decisions.

[The courageous man] does not run into trifling dangers, nor is he fond of danger, because he honors few things; but he will face great dangers, and when he is in danger he is unsparing of his life, knowing that there are conditions on which life is not worth having.

aristotle, nicomachean ethics

props to cs

this.

some of which is what i've been up to recently. that and talking greek. οἴμοι.