{"id":818,"date":"2013-08-02T09:00:11","date_gmt":"2013-08-02T09:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/monochromist.com\/2013\/08\/02\/void-dance-we-should-cherish-old-age-and-enjoy\/"},"modified":"2017-07-09T20:44:01","modified_gmt":"2017-07-09T20:44:01","slug":"void-dance-we-should-cherish-old-age-and-enjoy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2013\/08\/02\/void-dance-we-should-cherish-old-age-and-enjoy\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n

void-dance<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

We should cherish old age and enjoy it. It is full of pleasure if you know how to use it. Fruit tastes most delicious just when its season is ending. The charms of youth are at their greatest at the time of its passing. It is the final glass which pleases the inveterate drinker, the one that sets the crowning touch on his intoxication and sends him off into oblivion. Every pleasure defers till its last its greatest delights. The time of life which offers the greatest delight is the age that sees the downward movement \u2013 not the steep decline \u2013 already begun; and in my opinion even the age that stands on the brink has pleasures of its own \u2013 or else the very fact of not experiencing the want of any pleasures takes their place. How nice it is to have outworn one\u2019s desires and left them behind!<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s not very pleasant, though,\u2019 you may say, \u2018to have death right before one\u2019s eyes.\u2019 To this I would say, firstly, that death ought to be right there before the eyes of a young man just as much as an old one \u2013 the order in which we each receive our summons is not determined by our precedence in the register \u2013 and, secondly, that no one is so very old that it would be quite unnatural for him to hope for one more day.<\/p>\n

Every day, therefore, should be regulated as if it were the one that brings up the rear, the one that rounds out and completes our lives. Pacuvius, the man who acquired a right to Syria by prescription,[1]<\/span><\/a>\u00a0was in the habit of conducting a memorial ceremony for himself with wine and funeral feasting of the kind we are familiar with, and then being carried on a bier from the dinner table to his bed, while a chanting to music went on of the words \u2018He has lived, he has lived\u2019 in Greek, amid the applause of the young libertines present. Never a day passed but he celebrated his own funeral. What he did from discreditable motives we should do from honorable ones, saying in all joyfulness and cheerfulness as we retire to our beds,<\/p>\n

I have lived; I have completed now the course
That fortune long ago allotted me.[2]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

If God adds the morrow we should accept it joyfully. The man who looks for the morrow without worrying over it knows a peaceful independence and a happiness beyond all others. Whoever has said \u2018I have lived\u2019 receives a windfall every day he gets up in the morning.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n
\n

Lucius Annaeus Seneca<\/a><\/p>\n

Letters from a Stoic<\/em>\u00a0(62-65\u00a0A.D.)<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n
\n

\u2191<\/a>\u00a01<\/span>\u00a0A lawyer\u2019s joke. Pacuvius served there for many years as deputy to a governor who was never permitted to go to his province by the emperor Tiberius. Roman law, like British law, had a doctrine of title by prescription, that is to say, the legally recognized ownership of land notwithstanding, sometimes, evidence that the occupier or \u2018squatter\u2019 is not the true owner, after sufficiently long occupation of it.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2191<\/a>\u00a02<\/span>\u00a0Virgil, Aeneid, IV:653.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

void-dance: We should cherish old age and enjoy it. It is full of pleasure if you know how to use it. Fruit tastes most delicious just when its season is ending. The charms of youth are at their greatest at the time of its passing. It is the final glass which pleases the inveterate drinker, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-video_graphics","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5sGHy-dc","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1712,"url":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2013\/07\/03\/to-both-bee-and-flower-the-giving-and-the\/","url_meta":{"origin":818,"position":0},"title":"To both, bee and flower,\u2026","author":"monochromist","date":"July 3, 2013","format":"quote","excerpt":"To both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy. People of Orphalese, be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees. Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet (via frenchtwist)","rel":"","context":"In "motion"","block_context":{"text":"motion","link":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/category\/video_graphics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4563,"url":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2011\/01\/20\/the-greatest-crimes-in-the-world-are-not-committed\/","url_meta":{"origin":818,"position":1},"title":"The greatest crimes in the\u2026","author":"monochromist","date":"January 20, 2011","format":"quote","excerpt":"The greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules, but by people following the rules. It\u2019s people who follow orders that drop bombs and massacre villages. Banksy (via oceanofmind)","rel":"","context":"In "motion"","block_context":{"text":"motion","link":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/category\/video_graphics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3858,"url":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2011\/03\/05\/the-path-of-non-attachment\/","url_meta":{"origin":818,"position":2},"title":"THE PATH OF NON-ATTACHMENT","author":"monochromist","date":"March 5, 2011","format":"link","excerpt":"THE PATH OF NON-ATTACHMENTsufigeek: mystifiedandsublime: by\u00a0Peter Morrell \u00a0 Trying to be a good Buddhist in the modern world is not easy; there is much that conspires against one on every side. Out of all the various concepts of the Buddhist faith, only two or three really stand out as central\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "motion"","block_context":{"text":"motion","link":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/category\/video_graphics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1173,"url":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2013\/07\/26\/sagansense-truly-surprised-that-the-video-post\/","url_meta":{"origin":818,"position":3},"title":"sagansense: Truly surprised that the\u2026","author":"monochromist","date":"July 26, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"sagansense: Truly surprised that the video post, \u201cWhy The Future Is Better Than You Think\" hasn\u2019t been boosted for #science yet or even accumulated notes. I have never once posted something like this, promoting one my own posts, but I suggest everyone go through the Peter Diamandis posts and absorb\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "motion"","block_context":{"text":"motion","link":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/category\/video_graphics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/tumblr_mqisyoc19B1r01w8mo1_1280.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1104,"url":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2013\/07\/26\/the-life-and-adventures-of-fanny-hill-memoirs-of\/","url_meta":{"origin":818,"position":4},"title":"The Life and Adventures of Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Women of Pleasure)","author":"monochromist","date":"July 26, 2013","format":"link","excerpt":"The Life and Adventures of Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Women of Pleasure)anonymoushowl: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure\u00a0(popularly known as\u00a0Fanny Hill) is an\u00a0erotic\u00a0novel\u00a0by\u00a0John Cleland\u00a0first published in England in\u00a01748. Written while the author was in\u00a0debtors\u2019 prison\u00a0in\u00a0London,[1][2]\u00a0it is considered \u201cthe first original English\u00a0prose\u00a0pornography, and the first pornography to use the form\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "motion"","block_context":{"text":"motion","link":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/category\/video_graphics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3665,"url":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2011\/03\/15\/mohamed-mussad-hcrm-promoting-human-rights-this\/","url_meta":{"origin":818,"position":5},"title":"Mohamed Mussad HCRM promoting human\u2026","author":"monochromist","date":"March 15, 2011","format":"quote","excerpt":"Mohamed Mussad HCRM promoting human rights? this is a fucking joke right? the greatest professors can come n talk..and talk n talk\u2026that\u2019s all there\u2019s to it\u2026a society bound and gagged by sordid values of over a thousand years ago being preached about human rights? nothing going to change..the money can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "motion"","block_context":{"text":"motion","link":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/category\/video_graphics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":820,"href":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818\/revisions\/820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}