Let Ithaka be always in your thoughts.
To get there is your goal and destiny.
But do not hasten to your journey’s end:
it’s better if it lasts for many years
so that you'll reach the island when you’re old,
wealthy with all you’ve gained along the way,
not hoping Ithaka will make you rich.
Your marvellous journey is Ithaka’s gift.
Without her you would not have started out.
But she has nothing more to give you now.
And if you find she's poor, you’ve not been fooled.
So wise have you become, so much you’ve learned,
that you will know what Ithakas must be.
Source: Seen in passing on X-Twitter. Holler if you want the whole thing.
Author/Translator: Armand D'Angour, Professor of Classics, Oxford. Cello lover. Larkin about. Turning life into Latin verse, one hexameter at a time. Podcast “It’s All Greek (& Latin!) to Me”.
Posted: Feb 06
Congratulations for continuing to extend your talents.
I was down at the beach the other day, and was surprised to see three wild ducks attending a human picnic. They were waddling around in among human feet, and other body parts, with complete disregard for potential danger from much larger beings. Bits of food, I suppose, but still surprising to see them shrugging off generations of caution.
Jim T
Jim – That level of habituation to human presence is a bit disconcerting, isn’t it? We saw animals and birds in the Galapagos who had no learned fear of humans, but it’s rare outside that isolation context.