That... place does not bear thinking about. Yesterday the family of the thugs from Eastern Europe swung by. They are... precisely as I had expected (think Borat). The simpleton from the village is also growing increasingly weary. He has switched from doing a (bad) Jamaican yardy accent to a poor imitation of a Chinaman now (many of our colleagues are half-Malaysian, therefore this is in incredibly poor taste). He also pretends to be funny by yelling at the other staff to complete tasks in impossibly small amounts of time. It should be remembered that this person is the slowest at work, but expects people to do tasks in a far shorter time frame than he himself is capable of doing. Last night I caught him - again - sweeping up using only one hand. I confess, I detest this person, but say nothing except only kind words - for it is best to try and be on amicable terms with everyone.
I was reading one of my absolute favourite books yesterday. It really is superb. Heretical? Yes. Of course. But curious nontheless. It is one of the titles from the Prometheus Trust (an outstanding publisher). Thomas Taylor's translations of: Iamblichus, On the Mysteries, Life of Pythagoras and many fragments and testimonia. I have only really looked at On the Mysteries and The Life of Pythagoras before. In doing so, it becomes really quite obvious that this is only one interpretation of Iamblichus' works (when compared to the original ancient Greek). Even so, it is eminently readable. Yesterday, however, I decided to read some of the fragments and testimonia, and there is some really quite excellent advice given on how to live an upstanding and virtuous life. It is a crying shame that none of my colleagues at that... place have not read this work, or works like this, or indeed read any books whatsoever. Anyway: this is the Dark Age. Therefore one cannot expect literature to be among the habits of really quite ordinary and indeed most boring people (that is, my 'noble' and 'learned' colleagues and 'peers' at that... place - as I refer to them satirically to the customers over the telephone).
In his preliminary remarks to his translation of the testimonia, the late (great) Thomas Taylor records an excellent anecdote found in the Suda - a 10th century Byzantine text which is actually crucial to classical studies. This particular anecdote is not actually very pleasant and records a time when there was little religious toleration (and there should be in more enlightened societies).
A commentator on the Golden Verses of Pythagoras, Hierocles, offended the 'prevailers' (probably religious fanatics, fundamentalists). As he was being scourged by in front of a kangeroo 'court' for his 'transgressions' (i.e. being interested in Pythagorean philosophy - hardly a crime in this day and age), Hierocles cupped some of the blood from his whipped back in the small of his hand and flung it at the judge, sprinkling him. Hierocles then said:
Κύκλωψ, τῆ, πίε οἶνον, ἐπεὶ φάγες ἀνδρόμεα κρέα
Cyclops, since human flesh is your delight, now drink this wine. (Homer, Odyssey 9.347 trans. Taylor, 2006 [1822], p.332)
Beyond such anecdotes, there is much wisdom to be found in this book. Here are just a few examples, some of my absolute favourite little aphorisms from the Pythagorean Ethical Sentences preserved by the voluminous (but very important) author Stobaeus (quoted in [trans.] Taylor, 2006 [1822], pp.366-370).
"Be persuaded that things of a laborious nature contribute more than pleasures to virtue."
"It is difficult to walk at one and the same time in many paths of life."
"Neither will the horse be judged to be generous, that is sumptuously adorned, but the horse whose nature is illustrious; nor is the man worthy who possess great wealth, be he whose soul is generous."
"It is better to live lying on the grass, confiding in divinity and yourself, than to lie on a golden bed with perturbation."
"Pythagoras [said that] it is impossible that he can be free who is a slave to his passions."
"Pythagoras said, that it was either requisite to be silent, or to say something better than silence."
Pythagoras being asked, how a lover of wine might be cured of intoxication, answered, if he frequently surveys what his actions were when he was intoxicated."
"Pythagoras being asked, how a man ought to conduct himself towards his country, when it had acted iniquitously with respect to him, replied, as to a mother."
"Travelling teaches a man frugality, and the way in which he may be sufficient to himself. For bread made of milk and flour, and a bed of grass, are the sweetest remedies of hunger and labour."
(This last one is especially relevent to these taxing times...)
"It is the province of a wise man to bear poverty with equinamity."
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