Posts by Don
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The whole article (which it appears was written by Guido Santini) might be interesting in translation or anyone who can read Italian:
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For those looking for the original Latin text of Raimondi 's letter:
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The Biblical Definitions Of The Pursuit Of HappinessHow should we construe the right to pursue happiness? The problem is that the words "happy" and "happiness" are used today in variety of interrelated but…www.huffpost.com
Not exactly scholarly but...
QuoteIn the modern period, "happiness" is the customary translation for eudaimonia in classical Greek ethics (beatitudo in Latin): the perfection or realization of a person's function as a human being, which is presumed to be the ultimate human good, the goal of goals.
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Boethius uses two terms usually translated today as "happiness": beatitudo and felicitas. When Geoffrey Chaucer translated this work into English in the 14th century, he did not translate either term as "happiness." I doubt whether the idea would have crossed his mind. Instead, he rendered felicitas as "felicitee" (which was already available), and he coined a felicitous new word for beatitudo: "wellfulness."
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Beatus
Perfect passive participle of beō (“make happy”).
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Felicitas
"From fēlīx (“happy; blessed, fortunate, lucky; fertile, fruitful; prosperous; auspicious, favourable”) + -tās (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to nurse, suckle”))." - Wiktionary
Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, fēlīcĭtas
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Beatus , if I remember, is the word most often used by Cicero that gets translated "happy."
To my understanding, beatus is best understood as the Latin for μακάριος (makarios) "blessed"... Although, I suppose, a case can be made that it translates ευδαιμονία (eudaimonia). I suppose the same case can be made for felicitas.
It would be helpful if we could find a direct ancient Latin translation of a Greek text.
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Epicurean Sage - TortureHicks: Even on the rack the wise man is happy. Yonge: That even if the wise man were to be put to the torture, he would still be happy. It's important to…sites.google.com
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The last few interviews I've seen with him, I thought he was looking rough. That is sad news. I found his ideas thought-provoking and continue to wrestle with his views on free will. I found him compelling, common sensical, approachable, and down to earth. His voice will be missed, but his writings and videos will remain.
Well lived, Dr. Dennett.
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τὴν τοῦ ὅλου βίου the whole/entirety of life
μακαριότητα makariotēta "most, highest blessedness" - the superlative of the same word used in PD1 to describe the gods
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Just started listening... Thanks, Joshua , for the kind words regarding my guest appearance and the commentary. Much appreciated.
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... Seen on Instagram
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a start...
Corpus Papyrorum Hermopolitanorumbooks.google.com -
Welcome aboard!
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The anguish on Cassandra's face and her hand holding her head as if she has a migraine from Apollo's curse of foresight (that no one will believe) is heartbreaking!
PS. Natalie Haynes did an amazing job of portraying Cassandra's plight in the novel A Thousand Ships.
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The frescoes also illustrate scenes from the Trojan War, so that's another clue:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5p7Q-VryJB/
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I wonder sometimes how much these descriptions can be trusted . It would be interesting to know how they come up with these conclusions.
Typically the gods and other mythological characters have set attributes, so they're clearly identifiable. That's why a statue can be identified if they only have one hand, etc. If that hand is holding an item clearly connected to one character.. That's it. Apollo is associated with lyre, so maybe that's why he's being identified here. I'm not sure if Cassandra's attributes off hand.
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I have noticed that Perseus has been slow again lately, I wanted to recommend this site, which I just started using.
Great! Thanks... and to that resource: https://logeion.uchicago.edu/%E1%BC%80%CE%B…%BC%CE%B1%CE%B9
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More notes:
Did Epicurus hold that Pain is properly thought of as the ultimate or Chief Evil, and how do we make sense of that statement?
I'm my opinion, Cicero is trying to use Epicurus’s (correct!) contention that pleasure is the summum bonum to say evil is the summum malum.
What is the relation to pleasure and pain?
Here's the way Cicero put it:
XXXII. But to return to our theme (for we were speaking about pain when we drifted into the consideration of this letter) we may now thus sum up the whole matter: he who is subject to the greatest possible evil (summo malo) is not happy (beatus) so long as he remains subject to it, whereas the wise man always is happy (beatus), though he is at times subject to pain (dolore); pain therefore is not the greatest possible evil (summum malum dolor).
Using Google Translate: “He who is in the highest evil, while he is in it, is not happy. but the wise man is always happy and is sometimes in pain; therefore pain is not the greatest evil.” THIS is a much preferable way of looking at it.
Some may bring up Vatican Saying 42 which Saint-Andre translates as:
[42] At the very same time, the greatest good is created and the greatest evil is removed.
BUT on VS42, see Versions of Vatican Saying 42
THAT’S NOT WHAT’S in the manuscript!! There is NO τοῦ κακοῦ (“evil”) in the manuscript! That’s an addition…
BUT the other “correction” by Bailey and others reads:
Ὁ αὐτὸς χρόνος καὶ γενέσεως τοῦ μεγίστου ἀγαθοῦ καὶ ἀπολαύσεως.
"The greatest blessing is created and enjoyed at the same moment" [Bailey]
SO… there is no consensus on the *correct* reading of VS 42. I wouldn’t use that for support one way or the other because of the difficulties in the manuscript.
I think Cicero is trying to use the opposite of “summum bonum” which is just the Latin for telos or greatest good… THAT TO WHICH EVERYTHING ELSE POINTS - OUR ULTIMATE REASON FOR DOING ANYTHING… which, according to Epicurus (correctly in my opinion) is PLEASURE.
Cicero takes “summum malum” uses that to refer to PAIN. MAYBE pain COULD be called the “summum malum” but I don’t think that characterization works. Avoiding pain is that to which everything “points away from”?... BUT an Epicurean is STILL going to voluntarily take on some pain if a greater pleasure can ensue later.
In Epicurus’s philosophy, there is ultimately ONLY PAIN and PLEASURE.
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