De finibus bonorum et malorum

The text is derived from sections 1.10.32–3 of Cicero's De finibus bonorum et malorum (On the Boundaries of Goods and Evils, or alternatively [About] The Purposes of Good and Evil).[2] The original passage began: Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit (Translation: "Neither is there anyone who loves pain itself since it is pain and thus wants to obtain it"). The original version (with the excerpted items highlighted) appears in Book 1, sections 32–3 (pagination varies by publisher): [32] Sed ut perspiciatis, unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam eaque ipsa, quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt, explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem, quia voluptas sit, aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos, qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt, neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum, quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci[ng] velit, sed quia non numquam [do] eius modi tempora inci[di]dunt, ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit, qui in ea voluptate velit esse, quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum, qui dolorem eum fugiat, quo voluptas nulla pariatur? [33] At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus, qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti, quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint, obcaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa, qui officia deserunt mollitia animi, id est laborum et dolorum fuga. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio, cumque nihil impedit, quo minus id, quod maxime placeat, facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus. Temporibus autem quibusdam et aut officiis debitis aut rerum necessitatibus saepe eveniet, ut et voluptates repudiandae sint et molestiae non recusandae. Itaque earum rerum hic tenetur a sapiente delectus, ut aut reiciendis voluptatibus maiores alias consequatur aut perferendis doloribus asperiores repellat... English translation [edit] H. Rackham's 1914 translation - in the aforementioned Loeb Classical Library edition - with the major source of lorem ipsum highlighted: [32] But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing of a pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure? [33] On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain. These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammeled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided. But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.

«En me retraçant ces détails, j’en suis à me demander s’ils sont réels, ou bien si je les ai rêvés » Umberto Eco

Quotes from Shadowlands

We can't hold on to things, we have to let them go...

We read to know we are not alone.

I suppose some people would say we love to know we are not alone.

Why love if losing hurts so much. I have no answers anymore only the live I've lived. Twice in that live I've been given the choice. As a boy and as a man. The boy chose safety, the man choses suffering. The pain now is part of the happiness then. That's the deal.

-Movie: Shadowlands, Anthony Hopkins, on the life of C. S. Lewis.

Caballos famosos

Para la trivia:

Napoleón - Marengo
El Quijote - Rocinante
El Cid - Babieca
Alejandro Magno - Bucéfalo
Pancho Villa - Siete Leguas
Aquiles - Janto
Aníbal - Strategos
Caligula - Incitatus
Julio César - Genitor
Mahoma - Lazlos (El caballo del desierto)
Duque de Wellington - Copenhagen
Emiliano Zapata - As de Oros
Hernán Cortés - Molinero

Forma Urbis Romae

Un rompecabezas histórico.

Hace alrededor de 1800 años en una pared de Roma, hubo colgado un mapa de la ciudad de Roma. De 18 mts de largo y 15 de alto estaba grabado en placas de mármol.

Cuál haya sido su uso, todavía hoy se debate, pues estaba demasiado alto como para que sirviera de orientación. Por su ubicación en el Templo de la Paz (oficina del prefecto de la ciudad) se presume un uso administrativo.

Pasó el tiempo, y el mapa fue destruído progresivamente durante el medioevo. Su mármol usado como material de construcción. Es hasta el Renacimiento que se redescubren fragmentos. Hoy en día se han encontrado 1 186 fragmentos que representan apenas entre 8-10%.

El arqueólogo Roberto Lanciani realizó con los fragmentos del Forma Urbis Romae un mapa de la antigua ciudad de Roma. En 46 mapas muy detallados, publicados entre 1893‑1901, la obra de Lanciani permanece hoy insuperada. Su mapa muestra en negro los edificios antiguos y en rojo los modernos sobrepuestos.

La Forma Urbis Romae es hoy un invaluable recurso historiográfico perdido. Si hubiera una forma de viajar de regreso en el tiempo, este sería uno de los monumentos que tendría que ver.

Recuerdos del Císter - Parte 1 - Poblet

Poblet
Allá hacia el año 2001 planeaba mi primer recorrido alrededor de España. Habíamos resuelto llevar a mis papás a recorrer España. De Barcelona a Madrid visitando también Andalucía. Con mucho tiempo de anticipación empecé a preparar minuciosamente el recorrido, como a mí me gusta, con calma, sin prisas, con detalle y precisión.

En busca de qué hacer entre Barcelona y Madrid encontré por azar más que por otra cosa el Monasterio de Santa María de Poblet muy cerca los viñedos de la casa Torres en la región del Priorat. Siendo excusa lo uno para lo otro, me empeñé en visitarlo.

¡Quién iba a pensar que a partir de ahí iniciaría una de mis mayores pasiones!

Poblet es una abadía cisterciense enclavada en un valle fértil de Conca de Barberà, más precisamente junto a Vimbodí en Cataluña.

Fue fundada por el conde Ramon Berenguer IV de Barcelona, quien lo dona a los monjes de la orden de san Bernardo en 1149. El monasterio conoció su apogeo en siglo XIV y su abandono total en 1835. Hacia 1838 comenzó la restauración del lugar que terminará hasta 1940. El monasterio es panteón de los reyes de Aragón y la UNESCO lo integra a la lista de patrimonio mundial de la humanidad en 1991.

Pero más importante que todo, es la abadía de referencia entre las abadías cisterciences españolas.

Kennedy

"For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end," he said. "For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die."


"My brother need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life," his voice trembled at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. "He should be remembered simply as a good and decent man who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it."

This eulogy invoked the words of William Butler Yeats, the poet: "We dared to think, in that other Irish phrase, that this John Kennedy would live to comb gray hair. But like his father, he had every gift but the gift of years."

"I believe there surely is such a thing as truth, but who among us can claim a monopoly?" Kennedy said from the podium that night. "There are those who do, and their own words testify to their intolerance."

"As I look ahead, I am strengthened by family and friendship," he said there last summer. "So many of you have been with me in the happiest days and the hardest days. Together we have known success and seen setbacks, victory and defeat.

"But we have never lost our belief that we are all called to a better country and a newer world," he said. "And I pledge to you, I pledge to you that I will be there next January on the floor of the United States Senate when we begin the great test."

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

"For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end," he said. "For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die."

Ulysses
Alfred Lord Tennyson

If you are in the arena you are there to do something