Inevitability of Death (Haiku)

Latin:

labuntur anni
pietas moram morti
neque senectae

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English:

the years are slipping by
deity will not delay death
nor old age

Carpe Diem (Haiku)

Latin:

Spatio brevi
rogate quam minimum
carpete diem
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English:

With space being short
ask as little as possible
seize the day

Epicurean Philosophy in Stories

The first "Frog and Toed" story read to us on Monday about the list Toed made demonstrated why Epicurean philosophy is important to have. In the story, Toed made a list of all the things he had to do but when the list got lost he wasn't able to do anything with out his list and couldn't even go after his list because finding his list wasn't a thing to do on the list. If you look at this from a philosophical point of view, it shows the reader that you can't always live your life to a strict plan and sometimes things happen you can't help and you just have to go with it. Epicurean philosophy is all about going with the flow. If Toed had just continued his day there wouldn't have been a problem but he let his little list ruin his whole day. The second story, "Verdi", which was read to us on Wednesday also showed why it is good to have Epicurean philosophy. In the story, the little snake named Verdi was afraid to grow up and turn green because he didn't want to change. he spent his entire youth trying not to grow up and worrying about it and then he did grow up and he still had the same energetic personality. In epicurean philosophy, you should not waste time worrying about the future but embrace the present and live in the moment. Verdi would have had a much more peaceful life if he had not worried about growing up. In the third story entitled "It's Mine", which was read to us on Thursday, three little frogs were constantly fighting over what was theirs. They fought and argued and got upset over who had the right to do what, then one day a storm comes and while they are huttled together they realize that it is not so bad to share with each other. Epicurean philosophy preaches that you should not be greedy and selfish and put value in objects that can be lost like money. The frogs should have just shared everything from the beginning and they would have been much happier. In all of these stories, if the characters had just followed Epicurean philosophy, they would have been much better off.

Horace 1.9

Horace's poem on enjoying one's youth reflects his epicurean philosophy in several ways. Epicurean philosophy is about not worrying about the past and not worrying about the future but focusing on what you have in front of you and finding happiness. In modern days, it has gotten twisted into an idea that epicurean means not caring about anything and not being motivated. What the philosophy is supposed to mean is that people should not be ambitious and go after material items because they do not bring true happiness and pleasure. This poem by Horace is a good reflection of the true Epicurean philosophy. In the first stanza, Horace describes a bitter scene of a cold mountain where everythings in frozen. Then in the next stanza he writes: "Dissolue frigus ligna super foco large reponens" which translates into "dispell the cold by putting more logs into the fire." Horace is saying that no matter how bad a situation looks, don't just give up and let it bring you down but do something about it and overcome the bad situation; if its cold, make a fire. Another example of Horace's Epicurean philosophy comes out in the fourth stanza when Horace writes: "Quid sit futurum cras fuge quaerere, etquem fors dierum cumque dabit lucro adpone," which essentually means to live your life in the moment and count your blessings. One of the main aspects of Epicurean philosophy is to 'look at the glass half full' or to look at what you have and not what you are lacking. Therefore, Horace's poem is a very good representation of Epicurean Philosophy.

Haiku (Laocoon's Death)

Latin:

Gemini angues
ad litora tendunt
occidere Laocoon
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English:

Twin snakes
head towards the shore
to kill Laocoon

Sinon's Story

For the Greeks to win the war against Troy, they had to come up with a way to trick the Trojans into bringing the horse into their city. Therefore, Sinon's story was key to this and Odysseus was able to play on the Trojan's wants and fears to make them believe the story. Odysseus knew that the best lies incorporate some truth in them, so he added elements of truth that made his story seem legitimate. First of all, they Sinon play the part of the victim who was friends with a Greek kind that openly opposed the war and was killed. The Trojans had known this so so far it made sense to them. Then Sinon claimed that Odyseus was after him and made a preist lie to sacrifice him, also saying that the reason there needed to be a sacrifice was because Odysseus had sacked a Trojan temple (which he really had) and the gods were mad. The Trojans also knew that to gain favor originally the leader of the greeks had to sacrifice his daughter. So Sinon said he escaped with the Greeks after him. This made the Trojans think that Sinon was no longer in favor of the Greeks and so they welcomed him to their city. Making Odysseus the bad guy of the story was also not a coincidence; the Greeks knew that the Trojans feared Odysseus and hated him for some of the acts he commited during the war. Then, to get the Trojans to bring the horse into their city Sinons said that it was a gift to the gods for good favor (playing on how religious and superstitous the Trojans were) and that in they brought it into their city they would be able to lauch a sussesful counter attack into greece and expand their empire. By saying this they played right into the Trojan's fantasies of revenge and coquest after being invaded and under seige for ten long years. This made the Trojans not want to destroy the horse and bring it into their city. Therefore, the Greeks used elements of truth to make their story beleivable to the Trojans and played on the wants and fears of the Trojans as well.

Latin Haiku (254-271)

Latin:

Venus dicetur
Aeneas bellum ingens
et condet Roma

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English:

Venus is told
Aeneas will wage war
and found Rome

Quaestio (pg. 63)

The aspect of the poet's characterization of the great man in verse 151 that prompts us to compare him with Aeneas is that he brings order to chaos. In verse 151, the poet writes of a great man who is respected enough by the people that when an angry mob is out of control, he can calm them down and make them listen to him. The poet is using the metaphor to help describe how Neptune calms the sea and the winds because they are out of control like an angry mob, but they dare not oppose him. This description of a greatly respected man made me think of Aeneas because even though his people are tired and hungry and being pursued by great storms, they still are loyal to him and follow his orders. They are surrounded by chaos but despite that he is able to bring order to his people like the great man described brings order to the crowd. Also, Aeneas is really respected by his people and is their king (therefore considered a great man just because of that). So far, the Aeneid has been a constant struggle between the forces of order and chaos so it is not surprise to me that the aspect Aeneas shares with the 'great man' is that he can bring order to chaos.

Latin Haiku

Latin:

Neptunus surget
et graviter commotus
tam venti fugent

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English:

Neptune rises
and is greatly troubled
so the winds flee

Aeneid (haiku)

Storms hit the Trojans
Aeneas shouts to the gods

but the gods don't care

Modern Epic

One example of a modern day epic would be the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” which launched the Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy. Curse of the Black Pearl is a movie about pirates that takes place in the 1700s and has many characteristics of a classic epic. In the movie, one of the main characters, Elizabeth Swan is taken capture by evil pirates and it is up to her lover and one of the main heroes Will Turner to save her. He teams up with the other main character and epic hero Jack Sparrow, who has goals of his own which include taking back his ship which was stolen from him. Like classic epics, there are Heroes in this movie who have big goals and have to go up against impossible situations to complete these goals but due to there knowledge, innovation, and sometimes help from outsiders, they accomplish their goals. Jack Sparrow and Will Turner are the two epic heroes; Elizabeth Swan is the damsel in distress (as most females tend to be in epics). The two must rescue Elizabeth from Cursed Pirates who sail the fastest and most deadly ship known to man while in the mean time avoid the British Royal Navy who are Hunting them down as criminals. Also, like Virgil’s Aeneid, this epic takes place at sea so on top of the Royal navy and Cursed Pirates the two main heroes much face other challenges like storms and lack of wind.