"Todo o Oriente foi abençoado pela dádiva que Gautama Buda trouxe consigo seu maravilhoso ensinamento da Boa Lei , tal como o Ocidente o foi pelo Decálogo de Moisés. Os gregos atribuíram o fogo, o primeiro apoio de toda cultura humana, à façanha, que transcendeu o mundo, do seu Prometeu, e os romanos atribuíram a fundação da sua cidade, suporte do mundo, a Enéias, realizada após sua partida da decadente Tróia e de sua visita ao lúgubre mundo inferior dos mortos. Em todos os lugares, pouco importando a esfera do interesse (religioso, político ou pessoal), os atos verdadeiramente criadores são representados como atos gerados por alguma espécie de morte para o mundo; e aquilo que acontece no intervalo durante o qual o herói deixa de existir - necessário para que ele volte renascido, grandioso e pleno de poder criador - também recebe da humanidade um relato unânime. Assim sendo, temos apenas que seguir uma multidão de figuras heróicas, ao longo dos estágios clássicos da aventura universal, para ver outra vez o que sempre foi revelado. Isso nos auxiliará a compreender, não apenas o significado dessas imagens para a vida contemporânea, mas também a unidade do espírito humano em termos de aspirações, poderes, vicissitudes e sabedoria." Joseph Campbell, O Herói de Mil Faces
"Consider those who have entered the way of the Spirit. Look what has happened to Adam; see how many years he spent in mourning; Contemplate the deluge of Noah and all that patriarch suffered at the hands of the wicked. Consider Abraham, who was full of love for God; he suffered tortures and was thrown into the fire. See the unfortunate Ishmael offered up in the way of divine love. Turn towards Jacob who became blind from weeping for his son. Look at Joseph, admirable in his power as in his slavery, in the pit and in prison. Remember the unhappy Job stretched on the earth a prey to worms and wolves. Think of Jonah who, having strayed from the Way, went from the moon to the belly of the fish. Follow Moses from his birth: a box served him for a cradle, and Pharaoh exalted him. Think of David, who made himself a breast-plate and whose sighs melted the iron like wax. Look at Solomon whose empire was mastered by the Jinn. Remember Zacharias, so ardent with the love of God that he kept silent when they killed him; and John the Baptist, despised before the people, whose head was put on a plate. Stand and wonder at Christ at the foot of the cross, when he saved himself from the hands of the Jews. And finally, ponder over all that the Chief of Prophets suffered from the insults and injuries of the wicked.
After this, do you think it will be easy to arrive at a knowledge of spiritual things? It means no less than to die to everything." - Attar of Nishapur, The Conference of the Birds
After this, do you think it will be easy to arrive at a knowledge of spiritual things? It means no less than to die to everything." - Attar of Nishapur, The Conference of the Birds
"Pouco tempo depois dessa façanha, vieram de Cândia os homens do rei Minos, pedir pela terceira vez o tributo que pagavam os de Atenas em tal ocasião. Andrógeo, filho primogênito do rei Minos, foi morto à traição dentro do país da Ática, em razão do que Minos, objetivando a vingança dessa morte, fez a guerra com extrema aspereza aos Atenienses e muitos prejuízos lhes causou; mas, além disso, os deuses ainda perseguiram e afligiram de maneira extremamente dura todo o país, tanto por esterilidade e fome como po r pestilências e outros males, até fazer secar os rios. O que vendo aqueles de Atenas, recorreram ao oráculo de Apolo: o qual lhes respondeu que apaziguassem Minos e, quando estivessem reconciliados com ele, a ira dos deuses cessaria também contra eles e suas aflições teriam fim. Assim enviaram incontinente os de Atenas perante ele e lhe requereram a paz: a qual ele lhes
outorgou sob a condição de que, durante o espaço de nove anos, seriam obrigados a enviar cada ano a Cândia, em forma de tributo, sete meninos e outras tantas meninas. Ora, até aqui, todos os historiadores estão bem de acordo, mas, quanto ao resto, não; e aqueles que parecem afastar-se mais da verdade contam que, quando esses meninos chegaram a Cândia, fizeram-nos devorar pelo Minotauro dentro do Labirinto, ou melhor, encerraram-nos dentro do Labirinto e eles foram errando aqui e acolá, sem poderem encontrar saída para escapar, até que morreram de fome; e era esse Minotauro, assim como diz o poeta Eurípides:
'Um corpo misto, um monstro com figura
De homem e touro em dúplice natura.'
Mas Filócoro escreve que os de Cândia não confessam isso, antes dizem que esse Labirinto era uma cadeia na qual não havia outro mal senão o de que não podiam dali sair os que ali eram encerrados; e que Minos, em memória de seu filho Andrógeo, instituíra festas e jogos de prendas, onde ele dava aos que obtinham a vitória esses meninos Atenienses, os quais entretanto eram cuidadosamente guardados dentro da cadeia do Labirinto, sendo que, nos primeiros jogos, um dos capitães do rei, nomeado Tauro, que mais crédito tinha junto ao senhor, ganhou o prêmio. Esse Tauro foi homem revesso e desgracioso de natura, que tratou muito dura e soberbamente esses meninos de Atenas; e, quanto a ser isso verdadeiro, o próprio filósofo Aristóteles, falando da coisa pública dos Botieus, mostra não estimar que Minos tivesse jamais feito morrer as crianças Atenienses, antes diz que elas envelheceram em Cândia, ganhando a vida em servir pobremente. Pois escreve que os Candiotas, cumprindo um voto que muito tempo antes haviam feito, enviaram por vezes os principais de seus homens a Apolo, na cidade de Delfos, e entre eles se misturam também aqueles que eram descendentes dos antigos prisioneiros de Atenas, e então se foram com eles. Mas, porque não puderam viver ali, tomaram caminho primeiramente da Itália, onde demoraram algum tempo na província de Apúlia, e depois se transportaram ainda daí às marcas da Trácia, motivo por que tiveram esse nome de Botieus: em memória do que as jovens Botiéias, num solene sacrifício que fazem, costumam cantar este refrão: «Vamos a Atenas», Mas nisso pode-se ver quanto é perigoso incorrer na malevolência de uma cidade que sabe parlamentar e onde as letras e a eloquência florescem, Pois desde esse tempo Minos tem sido sempre difamado e injuriado pelos teatros de Atenas, e de nada lhe serviu o testemunho de Hesíodo, ao chamar-lhe digníssimo rei, nem a recomendação de Homero, que o nomeia familiar amigo de Júpiter,porque os poetas trágicos ganharam não obstante o extremo oposto: e do catafaldo onde se jogavam suas tragédias expandiram sempre diversas palavras injuriosas e ataques difamatórios contra ele, como contra um homem que teria sido cruel e inumano, embora comumente se considere que Minos seja o rei que estabeleceu as leis e Radamanto o juiz e conservador que as faz observar." - Plutarco, Vidas Paralelas
outorgou sob a condição de que, durante o espaço de nove anos, seriam obrigados a enviar cada ano a Cândia, em forma de tributo, sete meninos e outras tantas meninas. Ora, até aqui, todos os historiadores estão bem de acordo, mas, quanto ao resto, não; e aqueles que parecem afastar-se mais da verdade contam que, quando esses meninos chegaram a Cândia, fizeram-nos devorar pelo Minotauro dentro do Labirinto, ou melhor, encerraram-nos dentro do Labirinto e eles foram errando aqui e acolá, sem poderem encontrar saída para escapar, até que morreram de fome; e era esse Minotauro, assim como diz o poeta Eurípides:
'Um corpo misto, um monstro com figura
De homem e touro em dúplice natura.'
Mas Filócoro escreve que os de Cândia não confessam isso, antes dizem que esse Labirinto era uma cadeia na qual não havia outro mal senão o de que não podiam dali sair os que ali eram encerrados; e que Minos, em memória de seu filho Andrógeo, instituíra festas e jogos de prendas, onde ele dava aos que obtinham a vitória esses meninos Atenienses, os quais entretanto eram cuidadosamente guardados dentro da cadeia do Labirinto, sendo que, nos primeiros jogos, um dos capitães do rei, nomeado Tauro, que mais crédito tinha junto ao senhor, ganhou o prêmio. Esse Tauro foi homem revesso e desgracioso de natura, que tratou muito dura e soberbamente esses meninos de Atenas; e, quanto a ser isso verdadeiro, o próprio filósofo Aristóteles, falando da coisa pública dos Botieus, mostra não estimar que Minos tivesse jamais feito morrer as crianças Atenienses, antes diz que elas envelheceram em Cândia, ganhando a vida em servir pobremente. Pois escreve que os Candiotas, cumprindo um voto que muito tempo antes haviam feito, enviaram por vezes os principais de seus homens a Apolo, na cidade de Delfos, e entre eles se misturam também aqueles que eram descendentes dos antigos prisioneiros de Atenas, e então se foram com eles. Mas, porque não puderam viver ali, tomaram caminho primeiramente da Itália, onde demoraram algum tempo na província de Apúlia, e depois se transportaram ainda daí às marcas da Trácia, motivo por que tiveram esse nome de Botieus: em memória do que as jovens Botiéias, num solene sacrifício que fazem, costumam cantar este refrão: «Vamos a Atenas», Mas nisso pode-se ver quanto é perigoso incorrer na malevolência de uma cidade que sabe parlamentar e onde as letras e a eloquência florescem, Pois desde esse tempo Minos tem sido sempre difamado e injuriado pelos teatros de Atenas, e de nada lhe serviu o testemunho de Hesíodo, ao chamar-lhe digníssimo rei, nem a recomendação de Homero, que o nomeia familiar amigo de Júpiter,porque os poetas trágicos ganharam não obstante o extremo oposto: e do catafaldo onde se jogavam suas tragédias expandiram sempre diversas palavras injuriosas e ataques difamatórios contra ele, como contra um homem que teria sido cruel e inumano, embora comumente se considere que Minos seja o rei que estabeleceu as leis e Radamanto o juiz e conservador que as faz observar." - Plutarco, Vidas Paralelas
"THE PHOENIX
The Phoenix is an admirable and lovely bird which lives in Hindustan. It has no mate and lives alone. Its beak, which is very long and hard, is pierced like a flute with nearly a hundred holes. Each of these holes gives out a sound and in each sound is a particular secret. Sometimes he makes music through the holes, and when the birds and the fishes hear his sweet plaintive notes they are agitated, and the most ferocious beasts are in rapture; then they all become silent. A philosopher once visited this bird and learnt from him the science of music. The Phoenix lives about a thousand years and he knows exactly the day of his death. When his time comes he gathers round him a quantity of palm leaves and, distraught among the leaves, utters plaintive cries. From the openings in his beak he sends forth varied notes, and this music is drawn from the depths of his heart. His lamentations express the sorrow of death, and he trembles like a leaf. At the sound of his trumpet the birds and the beasts draw near to assist at the spectacle. Now they fall into bewilderment, and many die because their strength fails them. While the Phoenix still has breath, he beats his wings and ruffies his feathers, and by this produces fire. The fire spreads to the palm fronds, and soon both the fronds and the bird are reduced to living coals and then to ashes. But when the last spark has flickered out a new small Phoenix arises from the ashes.
Has it ever happened to anyone to be re-born after death? Even if you lived as long as the Phoenix, nevertheless you would die when the measure of your life was taken. His thousand years of life are filled with lamentations and he remains alone without companions or children, and has contact with no one. When the end comes he throws his ashes to the wind so that you may know that none can escape death whatever trick he may use. Learn then from the miracle of the Phoenix. Death is a tyrant, but we must always keep death in mind. And, although we have much to endure, it is nothing compared with dying." - Attar of Nishapur, The Conference of the Birds
The Phoenix is an admirable and lovely bird which lives in Hindustan. It has no mate and lives alone. Its beak, which is very long and hard, is pierced like a flute with nearly a hundred holes. Each of these holes gives out a sound and in each sound is a particular secret. Sometimes he makes music through the holes, and when the birds and the fishes hear his sweet plaintive notes they are agitated, and the most ferocious beasts are in rapture; then they all become silent. A philosopher once visited this bird and learnt from him the science of music. The Phoenix lives about a thousand years and he knows exactly the day of his death. When his time comes he gathers round him a quantity of palm leaves and, distraught among the leaves, utters plaintive cries. From the openings in his beak he sends forth varied notes, and this music is drawn from the depths of his heart. His lamentations express the sorrow of death, and he trembles like a leaf. At the sound of his trumpet the birds and the beasts draw near to assist at the spectacle. Now they fall into bewilderment, and many die because their strength fails them. While the Phoenix still has breath, he beats his wings and ruffies his feathers, and by this produces fire. The fire spreads to the palm fronds, and soon both the fronds and the bird are reduced to living coals and then to ashes. But when the last spark has flickered out a new small Phoenix arises from the ashes.
Has it ever happened to anyone to be re-born after death? Even if you lived as long as the Phoenix, nevertheless you would die when the measure of your life was taken. His thousand years of life are filled with lamentations and he remains alone without companions or children, and has contact with no one. When the end comes he throws his ashes to the wind so that you may know that none can escape death whatever trick he may use. Learn then from the miracle of the Phoenix. Death is a tyrant, but we must always keep death in mind. And, although we have much to endure, it is nothing compared with dying." - Attar of Nishapur, The Conference of the Birds
"THE OLD WOMAN WHO WISHED TO BUY JOSEPH
It is said that when they sold Joseph to the Egyptians the latter treated him kindly. There were many buyers so the merchants priced him at from five to ten times his weight in musk. Meanwhile, in a state of agitation, an old woman ran up, and going among the buyers said to an Egyptian: 'Let me buy the Canaanite, for I long to possess that young man. I have spun ten spools of thread to pay for him so take them and give me Joseph and say no more about it.' The merchants smiled and said: 'Your simplicity has misled you. This unique pearl is not for you; they have already offered a hundred treasures for him. How can you bid against them with your spools of thread?' The old woman, looking into their faces, said: 'I know very well that you will not sell him for so little, but it is enough for me that my friends and enemies will say, "this old woman has been among those who wished to buy Joseph".'
He who is without aspiration will never reach the boundless kingdom. Possessed of this lofty ambition a great prince regarded his worldly kingdom as ashes. When he realized the emptiness of temporal royalty, he decided that spiritual royalty was worth a thousand kingdoms of the world." - Attar of Nishapur, The Conference of the Birds
It is said that when they sold Joseph to the Egyptians the latter treated him kindly. There were many buyers so the merchants priced him at from five to ten times his weight in musk. Meanwhile, in a state of agitation, an old woman ran up, and going among the buyers said to an Egyptian: 'Let me buy the Canaanite, for I long to possess that young man. I have spun ten spools of thread to pay for him so take them and give me Joseph and say no more about it.' The merchants smiled and said: 'Your simplicity has misled you. This unique pearl is not for you; they have already offered a hundred treasures for him. How can you bid against them with your spools of thread?' The old woman, looking into their faces, said: 'I know very well that you will not sell him for so little, but it is enough for me that my friends and enemies will say, "this old woman has been among those who wished to buy Joseph".'
He who is without aspiration will never reach the boundless kingdom. Possessed of this lofty ambition a great prince regarded his worldly kingdom as ashes. When he realized the emptiness of temporal royalty, he decided that spiritual royalty was worth a thousand kingdoms of the world." - Attar of Nishapur, The Conference of the Birds
"There was an age when the gods would sit down alongside mortals, as they did at Cadmus and Harmony's wedding feast in Thebes. At this point gods and men had no difficulty recognizing each other; sometimes they were even companions in adventure, as were Zeus and Cadmus, when the man proved of vital help to the god. Relative roles in the cosmos were not disputed, since they had already been assigned; hence gods and men met simply to share some feast before returning each to his own business. Then came another phase, during which a god might not be recognized. As a result the god had to assume the role he has never abandoned since, right down to our own times, that of the Unknown Guest, the Stranger. One day the sons of Lycaon, king of Arcadia, invited to their table an unknown laborer who was in fact Zeus. "Eager to know whether they were speaking to a real god, they sacrificed a child and mixed his flesh with that of the sacred victims, thinking that if the stranger was a god he would discover what they had done." Furious, Zeus pushed over the table. That table was the ecliptic plane, which from that day on would be forever tilted. There followed the most tremendous flood.
After that banquet, Zeus made only rare appearances as the Unknown Guest. The role passed, for the most part, to other gods. Now, when Zeus chose to tread the earth, his usual manifestation was through rape. This is the sign of the overwhelming power of the divine, of the residual capacity of distant gods to invade mortal minds and bodies. Rape is at once possessing and possession. (...) Such are the stories of which mythology is woven: they tell how mortal mind and body are still subject to the divine, even when they are no longer seeking it out, even when the ritual approaches to the divine have become confused." - Roberto Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony
After that banquet, Zeus made only rare appearances as the Unknown Guest. The role passed, for the most part, to other gods. Now, when Zeus chose to tread the earth, his usual manifestation was through rape. This is the sign of the overwhelming power of the divine, of the residual capacity of distant gods to invade mortal minds and bodies. Rape is at once possessing and possession. (...) Such are the stories of which mythology is woven: they tell how mortal mind and body are still subject to the divine, even when they are no longer seeking it out, even when the ritual approaches to the divine have become confused." - Roberto Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony
"When Croesus consulted Delphi before taking the most momentous step in his long reign - the war against Cyrus of Persia - the Pythia's answer was perfect in its ambiguity: "You will destroy a great empire." Croesus thought the great empire was Cyrus's, whereas in fact the oracle was referring to his own. Old and beaten, enslaved by Cyrus, Croesus chose to send to Delphi a last gift, his chains. (...)
In his dialogue between Croesus and Solon, Herodotus sets up the first verbal duel between Asia and Europe. (...) Croesus is eager for Solon to recognize him as not only the most powerful but also the happiest of men. Solon responds by citing, as an example of a happy man, an unknown Athenian who died, old, in battle. Solon doesn't mean to contrast the common man with the king. That would be banal. He is explaining the Greek paradox as far as happiness is concerned: that one arrives at it only in death. Happiness is an element of life which, before it can come into being, demands that life disappear. If happiness is a quality that sums up the whole man, then it must wait until a man's life is complete in death." - Roberto Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony
In his dialogue between Croesus and Solon, Herodotus sets up the first verbal duel between Asia and Europe. (...) Croesus is eager for Solon to recognize him as not only the most powerful but also the happiest of men. Solon responds by citing, as an example of a happy man, an unknown Athenian who died, old, in battle. Solon doesn't mean to contrast the common man with the king. That would be banal. He is explaining the Greek paradox as far as happiness is concerned: that one arrives at it only in death. Happiness is an element of life which, before it can come into being, demands that life disappear. If happiness is a quality that sums up the whole man, then it must wait until a man's life is complete in death." - Roberto Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony
"The cosmos pulses back and forth between snake and bull. An enormously long time would pass before the snake, Time-Without-Age, was followed by the drumming of the bull, who was Zeus. Then a much shorter time before the bull Zeus coupled with Demeter to generate a woman in whom the nature of the snake pulsed once again, Persephone. And hardly any time at all, the time it takes for desire to flare, before Zeus, realizing that the baby Persephone had become a girl, transformed himself into a snake, coupled with his daughter, and generated Zagreus, the bull, the first Dionysus. The story of the world was all contained in this becoming a bull, then a snake once again, to generate another bull. Told by Zeus, it was a story that began with a bull and ended with a bull. Told by Time-Without-Age, it was a story that began with a snake and waited to coil itself up in a snake once more. Time-Without-Age has been waiting ever since for:
". . . bull
father of snake and father of snake bull,
in the mountain the hidden one, oh herdsman, the goad."
[...]
The sea is the continuum, the perfection of the undifferentiated. Its emissary on earth is the snake. Where the snake is, there gushes water. Its eye is liquid. Beneath its coils flows the water of the underworld. Forever. Being sinuous, it has no need of joints. The same pattern covers its whole skin; its scales are uniform, its motion undulating and constantly self-renewing, like waves. The snake is to the bull as the sea to the land. The earth emerges from the sea, as the bull from the snake. To carry off Europa, the bull Zeus emerged from the sea and then plunged back into it again. Fending off the waves, Europa had one foot immersed in the sea, one hand gripping the animal's back.
[...]
Two sovereign lines descend from Zeus : that of Dionysus and that of Apollo. Dionysus's line is more obscure than Apollo's; only rarely does it emerge from the shadow. Since he is both snake and bull, all history before Zeus is recalled in him and begins again with him. Apollo's line is the more visible, yet even more secret than Dionysus's when it comes to Apollo's transgression against his father. Apollo is neither snake nor bull, but he who kills snake and bull, either loosing off the arrows himself, as with Python at Delphi, or sending his emissary, Theseus, to bury his sword in the Minotaur in Crete or capture the bull in Marathon. Dionysus and Apollo: one is the weapon, the other uses the weapon. Ever since they appeared, Psyche has been running back and forth into the arms of first one, then the other." - Roberto Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony
". . . bull
father of snake and father of snake bull,
in the mountain the hidden one, oh herdsman, the goad."
[...]
The sea is the continuum, the perfection of the undifferentiated. Its emissary on earth is the snake. Where the snake is, there gushes water. Its eye is liquid. Beneath its coils flows the water of the underworld. Forever. Being sinuous, it has no need of joints. The same pattern covers its whole skin; its scales are uniform, its motion undulating and constantly self-renewing, like waves. The snake is to the bull as the sea to the land. The earth emerges from the sea, as the bull from the snake. To carry off Europa, the bull Zeus emerged from the sea and then plunged back into it again. Fending off the waves, Europa had one foot immersed in the sea, one hand gripping the animal's back.
[...]
Two sovereign lines descend from Zeus : that of Dionysus and that of Apollo. Dionysus's line is more obscure than Apollo's; only rarely does it emerge from the shadow. Since he is both snake and bull, all history before Zeus is recalled in him and begins again with him. Apollo's line is the more visible, yet even more secret than Dionysus's when it comes to Apollo's transgression against his father. Apollo is neither snake nor bull, but he who kills snake and bull, either loosing off the arrows himself, as with Python at Delphi, or sending his emissary, Theseus, to bury his sword in the Minotaur in Crete or capture the bull in Marathon. Dionysus and Apollo: one is the weapon, the other uses the weapon. Ever since they appeared, Psyche has been running back and forth into the arms of first one, then the other." - Roberto Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony
"Sparta understood, with a clarity that set it apart from every other society of the ancient world, that the real enemy was the excess that is part of life. Lycurgus's two ominous rules that forestall and frustrate any possible law merely dictate that no laws be written down and no luxury permitted. It is perhaps the most glaring demonstration of laconism the Spartans offer, always assuming we leave aside the grim moral precepts tradition has handed down to us. One can almost smell the malignant breath of the oracle in those dictates: forbidding writing and luxury was in itself enough to do away with everything that escaped the state's control.
(...)
"Just as Plato says that god rejoiced that the universe was born and had begun to move, so Lycurgus, pleased and contented with the beauty and loftiness of his now complete and already implemented legislation, wanted to make it immortal and immutable for the future, or at least so far as human foresight was capable." The divine craftsman of Plato's Timaeus composed the world and brought it into harmony; Lycurgus was the first to compose a world that excluded the world: Spartan society. He was the first person to conduct experiments on the body social, the true forefather all modern rulers, even if they don't have the impact of a Lenin or a Hitler, try to imitate.
The Athenians knew there was a surplus of beauty in relation to power in their city. They could already see the ruins of Athens, whereas, to Thucydides' eyes, "if the Spartans were to abandon their city, so that only the foundations of the buildings survived, with the passing of time posterity simply would not believe the town had ever been so powerful as it was said to be." - Roberto Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony
(...)
"Just as Plato says that god rejoiced that the universe was born and had begun to move, so Lycurgus, pleased and contented with the beauty and loftiness of his now complete and already implemented legislation, wanted to make it immortal and immutable for the future, or at least so far as human foresight was capable." The divine craftsman of Plato's Timaeus composed the world and brought it into harmony; Lycurgus was the first to compose a world that excluded the world: Spartan society. He was the first person to conduct experiments on the body social, the true forefather all modern rulers, even if they don't have the impact of a Lenin or a Hitler, try to imitate.
The Athenians knew there was a surplus of beauty in relation to power in their city. They could already see the ruins of Athens, whereas, to Thucydides' eyes, "if the Spartans were to abandon their city, so that only the foundations of the buildings survived, with the passing of time posterity simply would not believe the town had ever been so powerful as it was said to be." - Roberto Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony
"Athens never achieved the full horror of Sparta, but then it was never far behind. The city had barely discovered liberty, that experience no one in Persia or Egypt had ever dreamed of, before it was also discovering new methods of persecution, methods more subtle than those practiced by the great kings and the pharaohs. An army of informers invaded city square and market. They were no longer the secret agents of a police force but a freely formed collective of citizens intent on the public good. Thus in the very same instant that it discovered the excellence of the individual, Athens also developed a fierce resentment against that excellence. None of the great men of the fifth century B . C . was able to live in Athens without the constant fear of being expelled from the city and condemned to death.
(...)
Athens left posterity not only the Propylaea, but political chatter too. The anecdote passed on to us by Plutarch is exemplary: an illiterate man went up to Aristides, who he had never seen before, and asked him to write the name Aristides on a potsherd. So he could vote for his ostracism. Aristides asked him: "What harm has Aristides done you?" The illiterate man answered: "None. And I don't know him, but it bothers me hearing everybody call him Aristides the Just." Without more ado, Aristides wrote his own name on the potsherd." - Roberto Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony
(...)
Athens left posterity not only the Propylaea, but political chatter too. The anecdote passed on to us by Plutarch is exemplary: an illiterate man went up to Aristides, who he had never seen before, and asked him to write the name Aristides on a potsherd. So he could vote for his ostracism. Aristides asked him: "What harm has Aristides done you?" The illiterate man answered: "None. And I don't know him, but it bothers me hearing everybody call him Aristides the Just." Without more ado, Aristides wrote his own name on the potsherd." - Roberto Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony