I just looked up "Know thyself" to figure out what you were talking about there and I saw that it was one of the Delphic Maxims in the forecourt of the temple of Apollo-- is that what you meant?
Completely off topic but... my mind was a bit blown by the third maxim, which I'd never heard before. "Surety brings ruin". Normally used in the context of taking oaths and specifically acting as a guarantor for people taking a loan, but it seems to me that (as even in records from ancient times that reach us, people were arguing with each other over what its original meaning was), it may simply be saying "Certainty brings ruin". Never be too sure of anything, or it will be your downfall. This certainly was the cause of hubris half the time in the old tragedies, and it's the cause of so many problems today. People who commit to one idea with a death grip and don't adjust with the changing circumstances.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2023-01-06 04:53 pm (UTC)I just looked up "Know thyself" to figure out what you were talking about there and I saw that it was one of the Delphic Maxims in the forecourt of the temple of Apollo-- is that what you meant?
Completely off topic but... my mind was a bit blown by the third maxim, which I'd never heard before. "Surety brings ruin". Normally used in the context of taking oaths and specifically acting as a guarantor for people taking a loan, but it seems to me that (as even in records from ancient times that reach us, people were arguing with each other over what its original meaning was), it may simply be saying "Certainty brings ruin". Never be too sure of anything, or it will be your downfall. This certainly was the cause of hubris half the time in the old tragedies, and it's the cause of so many problems today. People who commit to one idea with a death grip and don't adjust with the changing circumstances.