Enduring Beauty

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  “Beauty is the quality which makes to endure. In a house that I know, I have noticed a block of spermaceti lying about closets and mantel-pieces, for twenty years together, simply because the tallow-man gave it the form of a rabbit; and, I suppose, it may continue to be lugged about unchanged for a century. Let an artist scrawl a few lines or figures on the back of a letter, and that scrap of paper is rescued from danger, is put in portfolio, is framed and glazed, and, in proportion to the beauty of the lines drawn, will be kept for centuries. Burns writes a copy of verses, and sends them to a newspaper, and the human race take charge of them that they shall not perish.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson. (1803–1882).   Essays and English Traits.

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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