According to the moralist scheme of Roman historians and educators, the ancient inhabitants of Rome were austere farmers, who then became addicted to the pleasures and they were corrupted influenced by Greek and Asian luxury after the Punic Wars and the conquest of Greece and East.
privative alpha, ἀ-, -ἀν; a- , -an
privative a, ἀ- , privative alpha, is a Greek prefix (originated in Indoeuropean) that expresses negation or absence of the concept meaning by the term to which it is attached.From Greek it came to Latin and from it to Spanish and other romance languages.
Should the painting be imitation of nature, or creation of the intellect?
The art of painting was very important in Antiquity, although hardly we have a rest from it by the nature of the support on it is usually done.
Is the “poet” born or does he make himself? is poetry a godsend or an emery board, “limae labor”?
The weighted response to the question if whether the poet is born or he is made claim that the poet must come into this world endowed with special qualities that constant daily exercise will develop and consolidate. Probably that’s the way but the matter admits some thought.
Homo homini lupus (Man to man is an arrant wolf) / Homo homini deus (Man to man is a kind of God)
Usually the phrase “homo homini lupus” is attributed to the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679), author among other works of Leviathan, essential work on the development of political philosophy in the modern age and of liberal thought.
Demetrius the Cynic and his relationship with Emperors Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, Titus and …., Domitian? (Intellectuals against the power)
One of the many intellectuals, who suffered the wrath of power, was Demetrius of Corinth (ca.7 / 10 AD -ca.90), Greek prestigious intellectual and cynic philosopher, who lived a long life of 80 years in Roman imperial era, full of disappointments. There are many ideas from him, cited by many authors, and he had a significant influence on many Roman authors, like Seneca.
Intellectuals and power (I): Diogenes the Cynic (versus) against Alexander the Great
When the Greeks, applying reason, they began to wonder what is there ?, why they are?, to what do serve the real things, they gave beginning to Philosophy.
Intellectuals against the power (II)
The powerful possessors of force and violence, have generally distrusted of thinkers, but they are forced to live with them. The issue of conflicting meet of the king and the sage is a worldwide topic.http://www.antiquitatem.com/en/diogenes-alexander-intellectual-power Plato envisioned a republic in which the rulers were philosophers, scholars, intellectuals, constituted in a caste with special education. Plato’s attempt to make reality his theory in Sicily with Dionysus the Elder and then with his son was a complete failure. Probably the king can not become a philosopher, because he would ask for his own condition, his own status as king, or the philosopher cannot to be king, because in the exercise of power he would cease to be a philosopher. Consequently it seems they are condemned to coexist.
For a healthy and balanced diet
Approximately 800 million people worldwide have insufficient food, that is, one in nine. A few million, mainly in Europe and North America, live in abundance and the richest of them enjoy a luxury food and waste which it is nothing but a big scandal. Here some cooks enjoy enormous fame and consideration, the restaurants are qualified and distinguished not only by the quality of their food but by the novelty of the offered dishes. Specialized guides qualified and distinguished them with the famous symbols: stars, forks, etc. Something similar happened in affluent Rome (http://www.antiquitatem.com/en/annona-apicius-panem-circenses-petronius) , in which there are thousands of hungry people with a few greedy and gourmand without limit. Of them the most famous is Marcus Gavius Apicius, who lived in the first century and was the author of a famous cookbook titled “De re coquinaria”, “Cookbook”, about I will say something another time.
Ecphrasis, ekphrasis. Ut pictura poesis (Horace). Poetry is like painting
“Ekphrasis” o “ephrasis” is a Greek word ἔκφρασις (ek and phrasis, ‘out’ and ‘to talk’), (from the verb ἐκφράζο, ekphraso, from ek, out, and phraso, to explain with signs and words) that therefore means “exhibition in detail, explanation, description from outside or from the beginning or till the end,” to make intelligible, discover, uncover, …. It is a vivid description placing the object or event before the eyes.