NUNTII: Aging Japanese Politicians

Another bit of ClassCon in an unexpected place -- an OpEd piece from a Japanese newspaper commenting on the fact:

Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone is 85. Some years ago, he quoted his own haiku in stating he had no intention of retiring yet. The haiku went: ``Daylight has long faded/ But until it is time to die/ Cicadas keep singing.''

Nakasone intends to run in the Nov. 9 election, as does former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, 84. It is now up to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to make the final call.

And how is the opinion expressed? Via Seneca, of course:

Many centuries ago, there was a man who wrote a letter to his friend, urging him in strong language to retire from public office.

``If you are able to step down, do so immediately. If you cannot, just peel yourself off! You and I have already wasted more than enough time. Now that we are in old age, let us start making preparations so that we may be able to set out on our journey at a moment's notice.''

That was Roman philosopher, dramatist and statesman Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) writing to his friend Lucilius Junior in A.D. 65.

Having become a political heavyweight and amassed a huge fortune, Seneca decided he had had enough. He volunteered to renounce his entire fortune and begged Emperor Nero to let him retire.

Nero would not hear of it. But Seneca had his way and retired happily to a life of philosophical pursuit. The letter to Lucilius was written during that period.

Lucilius, also a learned man, was imperial procurator of Sicily.

In ``Roma no Tetsujin Seneka no Kotoba'' (Words of Roman sage Seneca), a book from Iwanami Shoten Publishers, author Koji Nakano notes: ``Because Seneca held a position of power that kept him busy for many years, his epistle to Lucilius reads to me like a poignant admission of his own remorse.''

::Friday, October 17, 2003 8:23:47 PM::
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NUNTII: Elgin/Parthenon Marbles Redux

Isidoros over on the Classics list first broke this story, which apparently is big news in Greece. Greek P.M. Costas Simitis apparently didn't realize the cameras were rolling when he mentioned to a visiting Tony Blair, "We should start thinking about the marbles...can you do something....you know I have elections next year and this could be useful." Blair apparently had no response. Here's the Reuters coverage ... It's interesting to compare the spin being put on this by the Macedonian Press Agency ...

::Friday, October 17, 2003 7:35:51 PM::
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CHATTER: Double Take Headline:

So I'm looking to see if there's anything more that has turned up at RAF Base Mildenhall, when one of the headlines reads:

Dodd’s triumph in Greece

Unfortunately, the server with the article is wonky so I couldn't check it out. There's something Irrational about it alll ...

::Friday, October 17, 2003 7:09:31 PM::
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SLOW DAY

Apologies for the paucity of items this a.m. ... seems to be a slow day (it was tough even finding a martyr for 'This Day ..." !)

::Friday, October 17, 2003 5:50:44 AM::
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THIS DAY IN ANCIENT HISTORY

ante diem xvi kalendas novembres

• ca. 107 -- Martyrdom of Ignatius of Antioch, the first writer to use the term 'Catholic Church'

::Friday, October 17, 2003 5:49:25 AM::
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NUNTII: Petra Redux

Today's New York Times has a nice piece on that Petra Exhibition at the AMNH ... ditto the Voice of America  (the latter has a nice selection of photos, which, alas, do not enlarge ...).

::Friday, October 17, 2003 5:31:49 AM::
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AWOTV: On TV Tonight

9:00 p.m. |DTC|Secrets of the Colosseum
"Visit the ruins of this massive triumph of Roman building and
engineering for clues to its ingenious design. Built in a
remarkably short span of 10 years, the structure combined
travertine stone, iron, concrete, brick and lava rocks from
nearby Vesuvius."

DTC = Discovery Times Channel (US)

::Friday, October 17, 2003 5:09:03 AM::
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