Friday, February 01, 2019
Equal to Nothing
Sophocles, Oedipus the King 1186-1188 (tr. Hugh Lloyd-Jones):
Newer› ‹Older
Ah, generations of men,P.J. Finglass ad loc.:
how close to nothingness
I estimate your life to be!
ἰὼ γενεαὶ βροτῶν,
ὡς ὑμᾶς ἴσα καὶ τὸ μη-
δὲν ζώσας ἐναριθμῶ.
In a world that lacked a numerical concept of zero, there may be a paradox in ἐναριθμῶ denoting an act of counting that results in nothingness.
