“Shouldn’t I laugh, Alexander, when I see you still acting like a fool even in Hades, believing that you are Anubis or Osiris? Don’t hope too much about these things, most divine man: it is not permitted that anyone who has sailed into our harbor once and passed into our anchorage should return.”
Μὴ γελάσω οὖν, ὦ ᾿Αλέξανδρε, ὁρῶν καὶ ἐν ᾅδου ἔτι σε μωραίνοντα καὶ ἐλπίζοντα ῎Ανουβιν ἢ ῎Οσιριν γενήσεσθαι; πλὴν ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μέν, ὦ θειότατε, μὴ ἐλπίσῃς· οὐ γὰρ θέμις ἀνελθεῖν τινα τῶν ἅπαξ διαπλευσάντων τὴν λίμνην καὶ εἰς τὸ εἴσω τοῦ στομίου παρελθόντων·
(Yes, reading the Dialogues of the Dead around a birthday is not necessarily the most uplifting experience. But it is an experience. And, to paraphrase Alcman, an experience is the first step of learning…or something like that.)
Alcman, fr. 125 (Schol ad Pind. Isthm 1.56)
“Trying is the first step of learning”
πῆρά τοι μαθήσιος ἀρχά
I was always a little partial to one of the first lessons to be learned in graduate school (and life):
“Learn by Suffering”
… πάθει μάθος
I want more of this! Does it all come from Dialogues of the Dead? I just finished reading the Gospel of Thomas which is supposedly Jesus spoken word to St Thomas. It was very different than the Jesus in the bible… Not surprisingly. Very interesting though!
Yup. All from Dialogues of the Dead. There is a lot more. We’ll try to post more this week.
Thanks. I will stay tuned!