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December 10, 2006

"To be remembered is worthless"

TigerHawk excerpts a bit of General Lucius Aemilius Paulus on the nature of seeking military advice from others.

What then is my opinion? That commanders should be counseled chiefly by persons of known talent, by those who have made the art of war their particular study, and whose knowledge is derived from experience, by those who are present at the scene of action, who see the enemy, who see the advantages that occasions offer, and who, like people embarked in the same ship, are sharers of the danger.

Commentary

I'll see his Lucius Aemilius Paulus and raise him a Marcus Aurelius. From his Meditations:

"People who are excited by posthumous fame forget that the people who remember them will soon die too. And those after them in turn. Until their memory, passed from one to another like a candle flame, gutters and goes out. But suppose that those who remembered you were immortal and your memory undying. What good would it do you? And I don't just mean when you're dead, but in your own lifetime. What use is praise except to make your lifestyle a little more comfortable?" [Book 4, #19]

"To be like the rock that the waves keep crashing over. It stands unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it." [4:49]

"Give yourself a gift: the present moment.
People out for posthumous fame forget that the Generations To Come will be the same annoying people they know now. And just as mortal. What does it matter to you if they say x about you, or think y? " [8:44]

"You want praise from people who kick themselves every fifteen minutes, the approval of people who despise themselves. (Is it a sign of self-respect to regret nearly everything you do?) [8:53]

"To see them from above: the thousands of animal herds, the rituals, the voyages on calm or stormy seas, the different ways we come into the world, share it with one another, and leave it. Consider the lives led once by others, long ago, the libes to be led by others after you, the libes led even now, in foreign lands. How many will soon have forgotten it. How many offer you praise now -- and tomorrow, perhaps contempt.
That to be remembered is worthless. Like fame. Like everything." [9:30]

"When you wake up, ask yourself:
Does it make any difference to you if other people blame you for doing what's right?
It makes no difference.
Have you forgotten what the people who are so vociferous in praise or blame of others are like as they sleep and eat? Forgotten their behavior, their fears, their desires, their thefts and depredations -- not physical ones, but those committed by what should be highest in them? What creates, when it chooses, loyalty, humility, truth, order, well-being." [10:13]

"How they act when they eat and sleep and mate and defecate and all the rest. Then when they order and exult, or rage and thunder from on high. And yet, just consider the things they submitted to a moment ago and the reasons for it -- and the things they'll submit to again before very long." [10:19]

Posted by Chester at December 10, 2006 10:01 PM

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Posted by: Papa Ray at December 12, 2006 3:02 PM

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