Laudator Temporis Acti

Sir Thomas Overbury (1581-1613), His Wife. With Additions of New Characters: And many other Witty Conceits never before Printed. The Seventeenth Impression (London: Printed for John Playfere, 1664), fols. G6-G7 (?):

A Melancholly Man

Is a strayer from the drove: one that Nature made a sociable, because she made him man, and a crazed disposition hath altered. Impleasing to all, as all to him; straggling thoughts are his content, they make him dream weaking, there's his pleasure. His imagination is never idle, it keeps his mind in a continuall motion, as the poise the clock: he winds up his thoughts often, and as often unwinds them; Penelopes web thrives faster. He'le seldome be found without the shade of some grove, in whose bottome a river dwels. He carries a cloud in his face, never faire weather; his outside is framed to his inside, in that he keeps a Decorum, both unseemly. Speak to him; he hears with his eyes, eares follow his mind, and that's not at leasure. He thinkes businesse, but never does any; he is all contemplation, no action. He hewes and fashions his thoughts, as if he meant them to some purpose, but they prove unprofitable, as a peece of wrought timber to no use. His Spirits and the Sun are enemies; the Sun bright and warm, his humour black and cold: variety of foolish apparitions people his head, they suffer him not to breath according to the necessities of nature, which makes him sup up a draught of as much aire at once as would serve at thrice. He denies nature her due in sleep, and nothing pleaseth him long, but that which pleaseth his own fantasies; they are the consuming evils, and evil consumptions that consume him alive. Lastly, he is a man onely in shew, but comes short of the better part; a whole reasonable soul, which is man's cheif preeminence, and sole mark from creatures sensible.

Hat tip: Eric Thomson.

Erasmus, Complaint of Peace VI (tr. Betty Radice, with her notes):

My hopes have been dashed so often; where then shall poor Peace go now? Well, princes are powerful rather than learned, and moved more by their desires than by true rational judgment. I shall seek refuge in the company of scholars, for good learning makes men, philosophy makes superior men, theology makes holy men. Surely I shall be allowed to settle down amongst them after all my wanderings. But woe is me! Here too there is warfare, another kind and not so bloody, but just as insane. Scholar argues with scholar, and, apparently, factual truth is altered by a change of place; some dogmas don't cross the sea or climb over the Alps or swim the Rhine, and indeed, in the same seat of learning logicians war with rhetoricians and theologians argue with lawyers. Even in the same profession, Scotist battles with Thomist, Nominalist with Realist, Platonist with Peripatetic,²⁴ so fiercely that there is no agreement amongst them even on the smallest points, and often enough they fight with the utmost fury on the subject of goat's wool.²⁵ Then the heat of the debate mounts from argument to insult, from insults to fisticuffs, and if they don't settle the matter by daggers or spears they take to stabbing with poisoned pens, tear one another with barbed wit,²⁶ and attack each other's reputation with the deadly darts of their tongues.

24 Peripatetic] Ie Aristotelian

25 goat's wool] One of Erasmus' favourite expressions for trivial subjects of debate; Horace Epistles 1.18.15; Moria 84 and n22; Adagia i iii 53. For disputes between philosophers cf Moria 125-6.

26 barbed wit] Adagia in vi 87 (Dentata charta)

Quo me posthac conferam infelix, posteaquam toties fefellit spes? At Principes fortasse magni sunt potius quam eruditi, magisque ducuntur cupiditatibus, quam recto animi iudicio. Ad eruditorum greges confugiam, Bonae litterae reddunt homines, Philosophia plusquam homines, Theologia reddit divos. Apud hos certe dabitur conquiescere, tot circumactae ambagibus. Verum, proh dolor! en hic quoque bellorum aliud genus, minus quidem cruentum, sed tamen non minus insanum. Schola cum schola dissidet, et ceu rerum veritas loco commutetur, ita quaedam scita non traiiciunt mare, quaedam non superant Alpes, quaedam non tranant Rhenum, immo in eadem Academia cum Rhetore bellum est Dialectico, cum Iureconsulto dissidet Theologus. Atque adeo in eodem professionis genere, cum Thomista pugnat Scotista, cum Reali Nominalis, cum Peripatetico Platonicus, adeo ut ne in minutissimis quidem rebus inter hos conveniat, ac saepenumero de lana caprina atrocissime digladientur, donec disputationis calor ab argumentis ad convitia, a convitiis ad pugnos incrudescat, et si res pugionibus aut lanceis non agitur, stylis veneno tinctis sese confodiunt, dentata charta dilacerant invicem, alter in alterius famam letalia linguarum vibrant spicula.

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My favorite birthday songs are both by Henry Purcell (1659-1695). The first is Sound the Trumpet (performed here by Alison Balsom, Iestyn Davies, and company), and the second is Now the Night is Chased Away (performed here by Lea Desandre, with Thomas Dunford's Jupiter ensemble).

Lyrics of Sound the Trumpet:

Sound the trumpet, sound the trumpet, sound the trumpet!
Sound, sound, sound the trumpet till around
You make the list'ning shores rebound.
On the sprightly hautboy play
All the instruments of joy
That skillful numbers can employ,
To celebrate the glories of this day.

Lyrics of Now the Night is Chased Away:

Now the Night is chac'd away,
All salute the rising Sun;
'Tis that happy, happy Day,
The Birth-Day of King Oberon.

D.R. Shackleton Bailey (1917-2005), Propertiana (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1956), p. 16 (on Propertius 1.4.13 ingenuus color; footnote omitted):

Propertius only wants to say that Cynthia had the fair complexion associated with free birth (cf. 2.3.10 lilia non domina sint magis alba mea). From Cic. Pis. 1 commendatione fumosarum imaginum quorum simile habes nihil praeter colorem it appears that Piso was swarthy; and a few sentences previously his complexion is called slavish (color iste seruilis). If fuscus=seruilis where skins are concerned then ingenuus=albus.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. II, Chapter 19, § 233 (tr. Adrian Del Caro and Christopher Janaway):

Exaggeration of every kind is as essential to journalism as it is to the dramatic arts, since what matters is to make as much as possible of every event. This is why all who write for newspapers are also alarmists, by virtue of their trade; it is their way of making themselves interesting. But in doing so they resemble little dogs that immediately start to bark loudly at anything that even moves. Accordingly we have to adjust our attention to their alarm trumpet in such a way that it does not ruin our digestion, and generally keep in mind that the newspaper is a magnifying glass, and this only at best; for often it is a mere shadow play on the wall.

Uebertreibung in jeder Art ist der Zeitungsschreiberei eben so wesentlich, wie der dramatischen Kunst: denn es gilt, aus jedem Vorfall möglichst viel zu machen. Daher auch sind alle Zeitungsschreiber, von Handwerks wegen, Allarmisten: dies ist ihre Art sich interessant zu machen. Sie gleichen aber dadurch den kleinen Hunden, die bei Allem, was sich irgend regt, sogleich ein lautes Gebell erheben. Hienach hat man seine Beachtung ihrer Allarmtrompete abzumessen, damit sie Keinem die Verdauung verderbe, und soll überhaupt wissen, daß die Zeitung ein Vergrößerungsglas ist, und Dies noch im besten Fall: denn gar oft ist sie ein bloßes Schattenspiel an der Wand.

Erasmus, Letters 103 (to Fausto Andrelini, 1499; tr. R.A.B. Mynors and D.F.S. Thomson):

For, to touch on only one point among many, there are in England nymphs of divine appearance, both engaging and agreeable, whom you would certainly prefer to your Muses; and there is, besides, one custom which can never be commended too highly. When you arrive anywhere, you are received with kisses on all sides, and when you take your leave they speed you on your way with kisses. The kisses are renewed when you come back. When guests come to your house, their arrival is pledged with kisses; and when they leave, kisses are shared once again. If you should happen to meet, then kisses are given profusely. In a word, wherever you turn, the world is full of kisses. If you too, Fausto, once tasted the softness and fragrance of these same kisses, I swear you would yearn to live abroad in England; and not for ten years only, in the manner of Solon, but all your life long.

Nam vt e plurimis vnum quiddam attingam, sunt hic nymphae diuinis vultibus, blandae, faciles, et quas tu tuis camoenis facile anteponas. Est praeterea mos nunquam satis laudatus. Siue quo venias, omnium osculis excipieris; siue discedas aliquo, osculis dimitteris; redis, redduntur suauia; venitur ad te, propinantur suauia; disceditur abs te, diuiduntur basia; occurritur alicubi, basiatur affatim; denique quocunque te moueas, suauiorum plena sunt omnia. Quae si tu, Fauste, gustasses semel quam sint mollicula, quam fragrantia, profecto cuperes non decennium solum, vt Solon fecit, sed ad mortem vsque in Anglia peregrinari.

On Andrelini see Godelieve Tournoy-Thoen, in Contemporaries of Erasmus, vol. I (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985; rpt. 1995), pp. 53-56.

Propertius, Elegies I-IV. Edited, with Introduction and Commentary, by L. Richardson, Jr. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1976), p. 156 (on 1.3.41-42):

41 purpureo . . . stamine: Probably she means spinning rather than weaving, since it is late in the evening and artificial light was poor in Rome (for spinning wool already dyed, cf. e.g. 4.3.33-4). The crimson thread reminds us of the magic thread of Ariadne that guided Theseus out of the Labyrinth (cf. supra 1-2).

42 Orpheae carmine . . . lyrae: The epithet Orpheae is not purely ornamental; Orpheus was a Thracian, and so recalls the Edonian girl of 5-6.

I don't believe that Propertius intended purpureo ... stamine to remind us of Ariadne's thread in lines 1-2, or Orpheae carmine ... lyrae to remind us of the Thracian Bacchante in lines 5-6. It's complete hooey.

Babrius 112 (tr. Laura Gibbs):

A bull was bitten by a mouse. Smarting from the sting, the bull began to chase the mouse but the mouse was too quick for him and managed to hide in the depths of his mouse hole. The bull came to a halt and dug his horns into the walls until finally he sank down in exhaustion and went to sleep right there in front of the hole. The mouse peeped out from inside his hole, crept up on the bull, bit him again, and ran back inside his hole. The bull leaped to his feet but he had no idea what to do. 'It's not always the big one who has the power,' said the mouse, 'in some cases being humble and small is a strength!'

Μῦς ταῦρον ἔδακεν. ὁ δ' ἐδίωκεν ἀλγήσας
τὸν μῦν· φθάσαντος δ' εἰς μυχὸν φυγεῖν τρώγλης,
ὤρυσς' ἐνεστὼς τοῖς κέρασι τοὺς τοίχους,
ἕως κοπωθεὶς ὀκλάσας ἐκοιμήθη
παρὰ τὴν ὀπὴν ὁ ταῦρος. ἔνθεν ἐκκύψας        5
ὁ μῦς ἐφέρπει καὶ πάλιν δακὼν φεύγει.
ὁ δ' εξαναστὰς οὐκ ἔχων ὃ ποιήσει
διηπορεῖτο. τῷ δ' ὁ μῦς ἐπιτρύξας·
"οὐχ ὁ μέγας ἀεὶ δυνατός· ἔσθ' ὅπου μᾶλλον
τὸ μικρὸν εἶναι καὶ ταπεινὸν ἰσχύει."        10

Avianus 31 (tr. J.W. and A.M. Duff):

They tell how once upon a time a little mouse on its wanderings ventured with its tiny teeth to attack a mighty ox. When its nibbling mouth finished biting, it thereupon hid safely in its winding hole. Though the ox made sullen threats with his huge neck, yet for all his anger he could not see that there lived an enemy for him to attack. Then the mouse dispersed the foe's threats with its cleverness, bantering the enraged ox with these words: "Because your parents transmitted strong limbs to you, it does not follow that they added efficiency to your strength. Learn, however, the self-reliance that our tiny mouths possess, and learn how our pigmy band does whatever it wants."

Ingentem fertur mus quondam parvus oberrans
    ausus ab exiguo laedere dente bovem.
verum ubi mordaci confecit vulnera rostro,
    tutus in anfractus conditur inde suos.
ille licet vasta torvum cervice minetur,        5
    non tamen iratus quem petat esse videt.
tunc indignantem iusto sermone fatigans
    distulit hostiles calliditate minas:
"non quia magna tibi tribuerunt membra parentes
    viribus effectum constituere tuis.        10
disce tamen brevibus quae sit fiducia rostris,
    et faciat quicquid parvula turba cupit."

Galen, On Avoiding Distress 14 (tr. Sophia Xenophontos):

You should thus assume that I too have become the person I am because I am by nature similar to my ancestors, and also that because I received the same education as them, I have the same qualities of soul. I know that my father used to despise human affairs as of small importance, which holds especially for me too now in my old age.

νόμιζε δὴ οὖν κἀμὲ καὶ φύσει μὲν ὅμοιον τοῖς προγόνοις ὄντα γενέσθαι τοιοῦτον, καὶ μέντοι καὶ παιδευθέντα τὴν αὐτὴν αὐτοῖς παιδείαν, ὁμοίαν ἐκείνοις σχεῖν διάθεσιν τῆς ψυχῆς. οἶδα δέ μου τὸν πατέρα καταφρονοῦντα τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων πραγμάτων ὡς μικρῶν, ὅπερ κἀμοὶ μάλιστα νῦν γέγονεν ἐν γήρᾳ.

Hat tip: Eric Thomson.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. II, Chapter 17, § 191 (tr. Adrian Del Caro and Christopher Janaway):

No ancient German literature, Nibelungs and other such poets of the Middle Ages should be taught in gymnasia. These things are highly remarkable, to be sure, and also worth reading, but they do not contribute to the cultivation of taste and they rob time that belongs to ancient, really classical literature. If you noble Teutons and German patriots impose ancient German doggerel in place of Greek and Roman classics, then you will be educating nothing but unwashed loafers. Now to even compare these Nibelungs with the Iliad is an outright blasphemy, from which, above all, youthful ears should be spared.

Auf den Gymnasien sollte keine altdeutsche Litteratur, Nibelungen und sonstige Poeten des Mittelalters gelehrt werden: diese Dinge sind zwar höchst merkwürdig, auch lesenswert, tragen aber nicht zur Bildung des Geschmacks bei und rauben die Zeit, welche der alten, wirklich klassischen Litteratur angehört. Wenn ihr, edle Germanen und deutsche Patrioten, an die Stelle der griechischen und römischen Klassiker altdeutsche Reimereien setzt; so werdet ihr nichts anderes, als Bärenhäuter erziehn. Nun aber gar diese Nibelungen mit der Ilias zu vergleichen ist eine rechte Blasphemie, mit welcher die Ohren der Jugend, vor allem, verschont bleiben sollten.