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Showing posts with label Maximus of Tyre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maximus of Tyre. Show all posts

Thursday, September 3, 2009

On the use of Images by Maximus of Tyre

..
For the God who is the Father and Creator of all that is,
older than the sun,
older than the sky,
greater than time and eternity
and whole continual flow of nature,
is not to be named by any lawgiver,
is not to be uttered by any voice,
is not to be seen by any eye.
..
But we,
being unable to grasp his essence,
make use of sounds and names and pictures,
of beaten gold and ivory and silver,
of plants and rivers,
of mountain peaks and torrents,
yearning for the knowledge of him,
and in our weakness
naming all that is beautiful in this world after his nature.
..
The same thing happens to those who love others ;
to them the sweetest sight will be the actual figures of their children,
but sweet also will be their memory
-they will be happy at the sight of a lyre,
a little spear,or a chair,perhaps,or a running ground,
or anything whatever that wakens the memory of the beloved.
..
Why should I go any further in examining and passing judgment about images ?
..
Let all men know what is divine ;
let them know,that is all.
..
If Greeks are stirred to the remembrance of God by the art of Phidias,
or the Egyptians by paying worship to animals,
or others by a river,
or others by fire,
I will not quarrel with their differences.
..
Only let them know,
let them love,
let them remember.
..

Friday, August 7, 2009

Power,Literature of Power

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Utility of a different sort was the object of a group of earnest men,
mainly STOIC at first and then -omitting the Christians- Neoplatonic,
who sought to make themselves and their fellows at home in the world.
..
Some,like Epictetus or Plotinus,addressed their disciples ;
others,like Dion of Prusa or Maximus of Tyre,addressed large audiences ;
still others,like Plutarch and the Neoplatonists,addrssed a reading public.
..
A group of orators,including Themistius and Libanius,aimed rather at entertainment that edification.
..
Perhaps Lucian,
who deserves a place in the shortest list of ancient books worth the modern reader's attention,
shares the functions of teacher and entertainer.
His imaginative writings make a transition to the Greek romances,
which exerted a very great influence on our own function forms.
..