In January, I read eight books, among them Olympiodorus' Commentary on Plato's Phaedo. It comes from notes taken during his lectures, so as with any lecture notes, mileage may vary based on the likely-Christian student's (or students') accuracy and attentiveness. Here are a few notes. (As a reminder, I have a commonplace book tag with … Continue reading Some Quotations from Olympiodorus’ Commentary on Plato’s PHAEDO
Month: January 2021
Prayer to All of the Gods I
This is the first of three prayers that I plan to compose this year to all of the Gods. The first is the simplest, focusing on the core twelve Olympians (at least, those put forward by Plato and emphasized by the Platonic commentators and in Sallust's "On the Gods and the World") with some additional … Continue reading Prayer to All of the Gods I
Some Passages from Damascius’ Commentary on the PHAEDO
I just finished reading Damascius' discussion of the Phaedo, and I have a few quotations that I would like to share with you all. It's sometimes an unwieldy challenge to pull quotations that are striking from a commentary because the passages are very contextual. Here, the discussion of the Phaedo focuses on the various arguments … Continue reading Some Passages from Damascius’ Commentary on the PHAEDO
Two Books
If you have been wondering what A CASTING OF LIGHT and THE SONG OF PROCLUS, compiled by Guy Wyndham-Jones and published by the Prometheus Trust, contains, this post provides some helpful information about the format, arrangement of quotations, and other elements, with a few photos for clarity.
Flame Vessel
Hestia alight,candle's wick an arteryanchoring these prayersbeyond the raging ocean,its form embering hollowlike slow-cooked stew meatwhose veins once pumped a cow's blood.Feeding life through fleeting life:each, devoured, transforms.
Well-Written Literature
Any well-written piece of literature can be compared to a living being; if, then, the dialogue is comparable to a living being, and a living being has only one purpose, the Good (for the sake of which it has been created), the dialogue must also have one purpose, that is, one theme.Anonymous Prolegomena to Platonic … Continue reading Well-Written Literature
Ending 2020 — Pangrammatike
I just posted a 2020 Year in Review to my writing blog, and you're welcome to check it out if you want to read about creative things that extend beyond the scope of this blog. Link below. 2020 was a year. I went into it with several creative goals, and this blog post will serve … Continue reading Ending 2020 — Pangrammatike
A Thousand Years Hence
what if I told youthat the stones you smashedwere your own gleaming bones that the rocky marrowwas the quickening of lifethe antidote to fever that the muscles of ritesstill lay quivering, recoverablebut would rot nearly traceless that the flesh of mythyou decided to skin, to dry,to schism into the ground did not look that waywhen … Continue reading A Thousand Years Hence
The Future Is More Than Us
Sometimes, I fantasize about people who are utterly unlike myself being able to draw from their religious practices in ways that are unremarkable, not avant-garde. I think about the kids of polytheists today two decades from now waking up for a day of work and praying at a wall shelf shrine held up with command … Continue reading The Future Is More Than Us
KALLISTI 