-Caveat Lector-
From
http://www.spectator.co.uk/article.php3?table=old§ion=current
&issue=2001-11-17&id=1317
}}}>Begin
ANCIENT AND MODERN
Peter Jones
A 15-year-old is leading a 300-strong private army against the
Taleban. But that’s youth for you, Aristotle (384-322 bc) would
argue. In his Art of Rhetoric, he devotes considerable space to
discussing the points one can make on a whole range of topics to
persuade your audience to agree with you. One such topic is the
young.
In general, he says, the young are the sort of people who will
indulge themselves in anything they have an appetite for. Of the
bodily appetites, he says, they are especially subservient to those
to do with sex, over which they have no control whatsoever. The
intensity of their desires is equalled only by the speed with which
those desires cool, since their will is keen rather than determined
and strong. They are passionate, hot-tempered and carried away
by impulse. Because they love to be highly regarded, they cannot
bear to be slighted and become angry if they think they have been
wronged.
But even more than being highly regarded, they love to win, since
the young are keen on going over the top (and victory, Aristotle
points out, is a kind of going over the top). They are not interested
in money, never having experienced shortage; they are good-
natured, never having experienced much wickedness; naive, never
having been deceived very often; and optimistic, never having
experienced much in the way of failure.
For the most part, Aristotle continues, they live in hope, ‘for hope is
concerned with the future, and remembrance with the past, and for
the young the past is short but the future long’. So because they
easily hope, they are easily deceived; but they are more
courageous, too, for their passion prevents them fearing while their
hope inspires them with confidence. They also prefer to do what is
noble rather than what is in their interest, since they live by
character rather than by calculation.
At this age more than any other, they love friends and companions
because of the pleasure of simply being together and their
inexperience in making judgments according to their interests.
They also think that they know everything, so are obstinate; but
they are prone to pity because they judge others as they do
themselves and assume all men are honest; and they love
laughter, which is ‘educated humiliating’.
In other words, the young don’t quite know what they are doing.
What a pity they have to grow up and find out.
www.friends-classics.demon.co.uk is the Friends of Classics
website.
Return to top of page
· Send comment on this article to the editor of the Spectator.co.uk
· Email this article to a friend
© 2001 The Spectator.co.uk
End<{{{
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe
simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not
believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do
not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not
believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men.
Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it
agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all.
Then accept it and live up to it."
The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller,
German Writer (1759-1805)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut."
--- Ernest Hemingway
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
