The Wall

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“What a dear old wall that is that runs along by the river there! I never pass it without feeling better for the sight of it. Such a mellow, bright, sweet old wall; what a charming picture it would make, with the lichen creeping here, and the moss growing there, a shy young vine peeping over the top at this spot, to see what is going on upon the busy river, and the sober old ivy clustering a little farther down! There are fifty shades and tints and hues in every ten yards of that old wall. . . . It looks so peaceful and so quiet, and it is such a dear old place to ramble round in the early morning before many people are about.” Jerome K. Jerome, “Three Men In A Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)” Ch. 6 (1889)

This Was Fun!

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Research can be much like navigating fun-house maze: there's a surprise around every corner. This was a fun discovery (annotated):

Ainslie, Scott. 2001. "Emperor Marcus Aurelius and The History of Opiate Addiction." Proceedings of the 10th Annual History of Medicine Days. WA Whitelaw: 21-25. http://www.magicgatebg.com/Books/History%20of%20Medicine%20Days.pdf#page=33

The presenter of this case, inspired by the 1961 article “The Opium Addiction of Marcus Aurelius” by T.W. Africa, suggests that the personal writings of Marcus Aurelius are nothing more than the rantings of a drug addict. Ainslie writes, “In an attempt to determine the likelihood and the severity of opium dependency, it is convenient for us to compare statements within ‘Meditations’ to pieces written by more recent addicts.” (23) The writer admits to making an “attempt to gather circumstantial evidence surrounding the proposed vice” (21) with the view to uncouple “Meditations” from Stoic philosophy and suggest that the Emperor merely produced a volume of “opium-inspired concepts” (24).

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