Laudator Temporis Acti

Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837), "On the Monument to Dante Being Erected in Florence," lines 7-17 (tr. Jonathan Galassi):

O Italy, let it be in your heart
to honor the ancients; for this land
has no such men today,
and no one to honor.
Turn back, my country,
look back on that infinity of immortals,
and weep with shame;
for grieving without shame is senseless:
turn back and be ashamed and shake yourself awake
and let the memory of those ancestors
and what feebly followed stab you.

O Italia, a cor ti stia
Far ai passati onor; che d’altrettali
Oggi vedove son le tue contrade,
Nè v’è chi d’onorar ti si convegna.        10
Volgiti indietro, e guarda, o patria mia,
Quella schiera infinita d’immortali,
E piangi e di te stessa ti disdegna;
Che senza sdegno omai la doglia è stolta:
Volgiti e ti vergogna e ti riscuoti,        15
E ti punga una volta
Pensier degli avi nostri e de’ nepoti.

Yesterday, at a playground with my granddaughter, I heard some children called by name. Among the names were Ezra and Noah, good old-fasioned names, which I was glad to hear. However there are many, many Biblical names which one never hears these days — Uz, for example, and Muppim. Parents should consider these names for their children.

Genesis 22.20-22 (NIV):

Some time later Abraham was told, "Milkah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor: Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram), Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel."

Id. 46.21:

The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim and Ard.

George Eliot (1819-1880), Middlemarch, chapter XXIV:

Mrs. Garth, like more celebrated educators, had her favorite ancient paths, and in a general wreck of society would have tried to hold her "Lindley Murray" above the waves.

Hat tip: Eric Thomson.

Augustine, Letters 213.1 (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, vol. 57, p. 373; tr. Sister Wilfrid Parsons):

In this life we are all mortal men and the last day of this life is always uncertain for every man. In infancy our hopes are fixed on childhood, in childhood we look to adolescence, in adolescence we look forward to manhood, in manhood to middle age, and in middle age to old age. Whether this will be our lot we do not know, but it is what we hope for. Old age, however, has no other period to expect. How long old age itself will last is hidden from man, but it is certain that there is no other age to follow old age.

omnes in hac vita mortales sumus, et dies huius vitae ultimus, omni homini est semper incertus: verumtamen in infantia speratur pueritia; et in pueritia speratur adolescentia; et in adolescentia speratur iuventus; et in iuventute speratur gravitas; et in gravitate speratur senectus: utrum contingat incertum est; est tamen quod speretur. senectus autem aliam aetatem quam speret, non habet: incertum est etiam ipsa senectus quamdiu sit homini; illud tamen certum est, nullam remanere aetatem quae possit succedere senectuti.

Arrian, Discourses of Epictetus 1.6.30-32 (tr. W.A. Oldfather):

"Yes, but my nose is running." What have you hands for, then, slave? Is it not that you may wipe your nose? "Is it reasonable, then, that there should be running noses in the world? " — And how much better it would be for you to wipe your nose than to find fault!

"Ναί· ἀλλ ̓ αἱ μύξαι μου ῥέουσιν." τίνος οὖν ἕνεκα χεῖρας ἔχεις, ἀνδράποδον; οὐχ ἵνα καὶ ἀπομύσσῃς σεαυτόν; —Τοῦτο οὖν εὔλογον μύξας γίνεσθαι ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ; — Καὶ πόσῳ κρεῖττον ἀπομύξασθαί σε ἢ ἐγκαλεῖν;

"Curated," in any context other than a museum or an art exhibit, e.g.

• "Food. Curated" (a television show)
• "Curated Upgrades" (a furniture manuufacturer)
• "Discover Our Carefully Curated Member Favorites" (a retailer)

"Languages change, blah, blah, blah," the descriptivists drone on and on. Well, this is a change for the worse, in the opinion of this unrepentant prescriptivist.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. II, Chapter 21, § 244 (tr. Adrian Del Caro and Christopher Janaway):

When we see the many and manifold institutions of teaching and learning and the great throng of pupils and masters, one could think that the human race is quite keen about insight and truth. But here appearance is deceiving. The masters teach in order to earn money and they do not strive for truth, but for its appearance and standing; the pupils do not learn in order to attain knowledge and insight, but in order to babble and give themselves airs. Thus a new generation like this appears every thirty years, a wide-eyed child, knowing nothing and in all haste summarily devouring the results of human knowledge accumulated over thousands of years, and then claiming to be smarter than all the past. For this purpose he attends universities and reaches for books, moreover for the newest ones as his contemporaries and peers. Everything has to be brief and new, just as he is new!

Wenn man die vielen und mannigfaltigen Anstalten zum Lehren und Lernen und das so große Gedränge von Schülern und Meistern sieht, könnte man glauben, daß es dem Menschen geschlechte gar sehr um Einsicht und Wahrheit zu thun sei. Aber auch hier trügt der Schein. Jene lehren, um Geld zu verdienen und streben nicht nach Weisheit, sondern nach dem Schein und Kredit derselben: und Diese lernen nicht, um Kenntniß und Einsicht zu erlangen, sondern um schwätzen zu können und sich ein Ansehn zu geben. Alle dreißig Jahre nämlich tritt so ein neues Geschlecht auf, ein Kuck in die Welt, der von nichts weiß und nun die Resultate des durch die Jahrtausende angesammelten menschlichen Wissens, summarisch, in aller Geschwindigkeit in sich fressen und dann klüger als alle Vergangen heit seyn will. Zu diesem Zweck bezieht er Universitäten und greift nach den Büchern, und zwar nach den neuesten, als seinen Zeit- und Altersgenossen. Nur Alles kurz und neu! wie er selbst neu ist.

F.F. Bruce (1910-1990), The Books and the Parchments, 4th ed. (Basingstoke: Pickering & Inglis, 1984), p. 27 (footnote omitted):

The inscription on the sarcophagus of King Ahiram of Gebal, for example, is written in a language almost identical with Hebrew. Its translation runs: 'Ittobaal (Ethbaal), son of Ahiram, king of Gebal, made this coffin for Ahiram his father as an abode for ever. And if any king among kings or governor among governors pitches a camp against Gebal and uncovers this coffin, let the sceptre of his authority be broken and the throne of his kingdom be overthrown, but let peace rule over Gebal. Whoso effaces this writing, let his seed perish'.

The last sentence of this inscription would be a suitable curse to utter against those AI company executives who direct their employees to buy rare books, rip the bindings off, scan and then destroy the pages. See, e.g., Brittany Allen, "Now Amazon is destroying rare books to train its AI," Literary Hub.

Genesis 31.3 (KJV):

And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.

Id. 31.13:

Now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.