Twist Turn Buzz

Epictetus may for a single passage in The Enchiridion sport the title of camp philosopher. As proof here I quote from the translation by Thomas W. Higginson in the Liberal Arts Press edition.

If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you, but answer: "He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone."

What looks like a trick of rhetoric that leads to some sage advice is also a theme of Ricardo Sternberg's "The Bees" collected in Some Dance. The poem ends with these lines:

Teach your vengeful bees
the trick (or is it wisdom?)

that allows them to distill
from the thorn of grievance,
the sweetest honey.

Certainly a stoic take on apiary business which may not align with the facts of pollen and nectar yet is sweet nonetheless.

Sugary camp acid.

And so for day 357
06.12.2007