Post by Iolanthe on Mar 28, 2007 11:23:58 GMT -5
I am in an Ancient Rome: Philosophy and Religion class, and today we spoke about the Spartans. So I thought I'd share with you a great anecdote that the Roman philosopher Seneca mentions. I think it's really spectacular:
"Here I imagine you'll be expecting me to tell you the stories of examples set by heroic men? Well, I'll tell you about ones which children have set. History relates the story of the famous Spartan, a mere boy who, when he was taken prisoner, kept shouting in his native Doric, "I SHALL NOT BE A SLAVE!"
He was as good as his word. The first time he was ordered to perform a slave's task, some humiliating household job (his actual orders were to fetch a disgusting chamber pot), he dashed his head against a wall and cracked his skull open. Freedom is as near as that - is anyone really still a slave? Would you not rather your own son died like that than lived by reason of spinelessness to an advanced age?
Why be perturbed, then, about death when even a child can meet it bravely? Suppose you refuse to follow him : you will just be dragged after him. Assume the authority which at present lies with others. Surely you can adopt the spirited attitude of that boy and say, "No slave am I!" At present, you unhappy creature, slave you are, slave to your fellow-men, slave to circumstance, and slave to life (for life itself is slavery if the courage to die be absent)."
-Letter LXXVII
In addition, our professor told us a shorter anecdote about a Spartan boy who stole a fox. He hid the fox under his tunic and, when stopped by two older Spartans on the road - the fox started to panic, and began clawing through his stomach. The Spartan boy was so stoic that he did not cry out, did not sweat, did not give any indication that his intensines were being torn out-
He merely dropped to the ground, dead where he stood.
To which I say, way to go, Sparta XD What do you guys think?
"Here I imagine you'll be expecting me to tell you the stories of examples set by heroic men? Well, I'll tell you about ones which children have set. History relates the story of the famous Spartan, a mere boy who, when he was taken prisoner, kept shouting in his native Doric, "I SHALL NOT BE A SLAVE!"
He was as good as his word. The first time he was ordered to perform a slave's task, some humiliating household job (his actual orders were to fetch a disgusting chamber pot), he dashed his head against a wall and cracked his skull open. Freedom is as near as that - is anyone really still a slave? Would you not rather your own son died like that than lived by reason of spinelessness to an advanced age?
Why be perturbed, then, about death when even a child can meet it bravely? Suppose you refuse to follow him : you will just be dragged after him. Assume the authority which at present lies with others. Surely you can adopt the spirited attitude of that boy and say, "No slave am I!" At present, you unhappy creature, slave you are, slave to your fellow-men, slave to circumstance, and slave to life (for life itself is slavery if the courage to die be absent)."
-Letter LXXVII
In addition, our professor told us a shorter anecdote about a Spartan boy who stole a fox. He hid the fox under his tunic and, when stopped by two older Spartans on the road - the fox started to panic, and began clawing through his stomach. The Spartan boy was so stoic that he did not cry out, did not sweat, did not give any indication that his intensines were being torn out-
He merely dropped to the ground, dead where he stood.
To which I say, way to go, Sparta XD What do you guys think?
