This shall be a rather small musing. It was actually an epiphany that I got when I was talking to a friend and she asked me about the number of languages I spoke. I realised that once upon a time , I was pretty good in Latin too. I read Virgil as a child of mere 6 years of age. It was rather obtuse for me to understand. I tried to learn Latin so as to better understand him and a couple of other authors.I have forgotten quite a bit of Latin since, but I do remember quite a bit.
Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,
Quique metus omnes, et inexorable fatum ,
Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari -
I have translated it as
" Happy is the man who has imbibed the causes of all things , and put under his feet all his fears , and inexorable fate , and the cacophony of the hell of greed."
This is perhaps one of the best philosophical messages that I have ever come across. Believe me when I tell you that I have read quite a few in my life.
This actually tells us that Satisfaction is the key. A bit of wisdom is joy forever.
It is the Zeitgeist that material acquisition is the most potent driving force than ever before.
What I am trying to elucidate here is that , If the mind is properly fed , ie if we seek the goods of the mind first , then the rest shall either follow or shan't be required.
Government suffers just like Science due to its disdain of philosophy. Movement should be guided by Knowledge and Perspective rather than an aimless platitude, that is nothing but individualism and materialistic gain. To step out of this ennui , one must atleast pro tem, shun materialism. Just as the pursuit of knowledge becomes scholasticism when divorced from the actual needs of mean and life , so does the pursuit of knowledge becomes a destructive bedlam when divorced from science and philosophy.
A philosopher king would be the best ruler of them all. Even an abecedarian of history knows that the best rulers have been the wise and the learned.
I bring this post to a quick denouement and this is entirely my interpretation of Virgil's Stanza. Please feel free to disagree, or improve it any which way you can.
Au revoir.
For those who haven't been fortunate enough to have known Virgil. This is for your benefit.
ReplyDeletePublius Vergilius Maro (70-19 BC) is considered the finest of all the poets that have ever lived on this planet. Virgil was a master of the finest forms of Roman poetry, including the pastoral, didactic and epic. He wrote the Aeneid - albeit incomplete - but still considered as one of the finest works ever.He is best known for that besides the Bucolics etc..