“Life is short, and Art is long,” so begins Hippocrates “Aphorisms,” which could be the greatest take away from his complete body of work.
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Great Books
Mrs. Eastman introduced me to The Odyssey in tenth grade. She handed us the classic Fitzgerald translation. The exciting twists and turns of the plot enticed me. I felt enthralled with Odysseus’s adventures with the sirens, slipping past Polyphemus, the bone crunching Cyclops who was blinded by Nobody, his swimming between Charybdis and man eating Scylla.
After a few years, Orestes returns. He kills his mom and step-dad and becomes king.
They all live happily ever after.
The Greeks, however, ask what is honorable and civilized. Who are we as a people and what actions reflect civility and honor. Is the agency in ourselves or in the hands of fate and the gods?
I swear by Apollo the god of poetry and song, Dionysus, the god of theatre and wine (we will need lots of wine), and Athena (because she is very cool), that I will read the Great Books to the best of my ability and seek out teachers and hold them in esteem. I