Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Efficacy of the Death Penalty

The day before reading this and this
I had read the following about

Efficacy of the Death Penalty


Thucydides 3.45.3-7 (speech of Diodotus on the fate of the Mytilenaeans; tr. C.F. Smith): 

[3] All men are by nature prone to err, both in private and in public life, and there is no law which will prevent them; in fact, mankind has run the whole gamut of penalties, making them more and more severe, in the hope that the transgressions of evil-doers might be abated. It is probable that in ancient times the penalties prescribed for the greatest offences were relatively mild, but as transgressions still occurred, in course of time the penalty was seldom less than death. But even so there is still transgression.

[4] Either, then, some terror more dreadful than death must be discovered, or we must own that death at least is no prevention. Nay, men are lured into hazardous enterprises by the constraint of poverty, which makes them bold, by the insolence and pride of affluence, which makes them greedy, and by the various passions engendered in the other conditions of human life as these are severally mastered by some mighty and irresistible impulse.

[5] Then, too, Hope and Desire are everywhere; Desire leads, Hope attends; Desire contrives the plan, Hope suggests the facility of fortune; the two passions are most baneful, and being unseen phantoms prevail over seen dangers.

[6] Besides these, fortune contributes in no less degree to urge men on; for she sometimes presents herself unexpectedly and thus tempts men to take risks even when their resources are inadequate, and states even more than men, inasmuch as the stake is the greatest of all — their own freedom or empire over others — and the individual, when supported by the whole people, unreasonably overestimates his own strength.

[7] In a word, it is impossible, and a mark of extreme simplicity, for anyone to imagine that when human nature is wholeheartedly bent on any undertaking it can be diverted from it by rigorous laws or by any other terror.

Thucydides (ca. 490 – 429 BCE)

with thanks to Michael Gilleland at 
Laudator Temporis Acti



Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Monday, January 11, 2021

Una furtiva lacrima

 

Gaetano Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848)

Camille Thomas * May 1988

Friday, January 08, 2021

The sawing goes on

Sie sägten die Äste ab, auf denen sie saßen
Und schrieen sich zu ihre Erfahrungen,
Wie man schneller sägen könnte, und fuhren
Mit Krachen in die Tiefe, und die ihnen zusahen,
Schüttelten die Köpfe beim Sägen und
Sägten weiter.
Humble attempt to translate as literally as possible.
Suggestions for improvement are welcome.


They sawed the branches on which they sat
and called out to eachother their experiences,
how one could saw faster, and fell
with crack into the depth, and those watching them
shook their heads while sawing and
went on sawing

 

Bertold Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956)




 

Thursday, January 07, 2021

If stupidity is joined by power

"Der Ignorant missachtet die Belehrung.
Und wenn zur Dummheit sich noch Macht gesellt,
scheut er kein Mittel der Zerstörung."

The Ignorant disregards the instruction.
And if his stupidity is even joined by power
he does not shy away from any means of destruction.

Ivan Krylov (13 February 1769 – 21 November 1844)

Tuesday, January 05, 2021

Sunday, January 03, 2021

Saturday, January 02, 2021

Conifers

Reminded I feel
of japanese poetry
and kalligraphy