September 17, 2008
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6UGTvRbdUs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK4s2Fjefn8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKKKyLe0CJ4
Notes on the 1st 17 min. (Hellenism) of Alexander (2004, 亞歷山大帝[DVD]):
●Aristotle: Although an inferior race, the Persians control at least four fifths of the known world. But, is it possible that the source of Egypt's mighty river Nile could rise in these distant mountains of the outer Earth? If so, an experienced navigator could find his way here, by this river, east, down into the great plains of India, out into the eastern ocean and end of the world, and by this route, up the Nile, back to Egypt, into the Middle Sea and home to Greece.
●Young Alexander: It is, it has always been, our Greek dream to go east. My father long wants it.
Aristotle: The East has a way of swallowing men and their dreams, but still to think it's these myths that lead us toward the greatest glory... Why is it wrong to act on them? I can only warn you, not teach you. Beware of what you dream - for the gods have a way of punishing such pride.
●Young Nearchus: Master? Master?
Aristotle: Yes?
Young Nearchus: Master?
Aristotle: Yes, out with it, out with it.
Young Nearchus: Why are the Persians so cruel?
Aristotle: That is not the subject for today Nearchus. But it is true, the Oriental races are known for their barbarity and slavish devotion to their senses. Excess in all things is the undoing of men. That is why we Greeks are superior, we practice control of our senses. Moderation.
Aristotle: We hope.
●Young Hephaistion: Can a man love a woman equally, Master?
Aristotle: A woman? Of course not. A woman is a slave to her passions, Hephaistion. Though, naturally, there are exceptions, and we must honor them. Such as Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war. But never forget, she was sprung not from the loins of Zeus, but from his mind.
●Aristotle: I can only hope that you continue what you began as the boy I knew at twelve. Be that man always, Alexander, and you will not slip. And perhaps you will prove this old materialist, as you always thought me, a dreamer after all.
●Alexander: The greatest honor a man can ever achieve is to live with great courage, and to die with his countrymen, in battle for his home.
1. "Fortune favors the bold."
Quote Details: Virgil: Fortune favors the bold.... - The ...
Why not be bold? Fortune Favors the Bold : Reach your full potential -
2.Glossary: Alexander the Great, Aristotle, Prometheus, Alexandria, Hellenic, Apollo
3. East: Persia←→West: Greek (City-state, such as Athens, Sparta and Corinth)
4.Glossary: Darius III of Persia (大流士), Babylon, Pella, Macedon, Olympias, Dionysus, Zeus
5. Allusion of Snake: (1) Sumerian Gilgamesh (2) serpent in Hebrew Garden of Eden (3) Greek Tiresias
6. godlike heroes: Achilles, Hercules, Heracles, Theseus, Jason←→Amazons
7. passion (no retraint)←→reason (retraint)
8.Personal life: Alexander and Hephaestion (Achilles and Patroclus)
9.中文經典100句─古文觀止 - Google 圖書結果)
10. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZjrHHF-6us&feature=share
『兩耳不聞窗外事，一心只讀聖賢書』 為了什麼?
張載:「為天地立心、為生民立命、為往聖繼絕學、為萬世開太平！」
儒家講:「修身、齊家、治國、平天下」
我們普通人起碼做到:「做人做事的道理，研究求知的方法，養活自己的本領。」
「讀聖賢書，所為何事？」答案是: 仁至義盡，以求無愧。
(典出南宋文天祥的遺書。史書是這樣寫著－天祥將出獄，即為絕筆自贊，繫之衣帶間。其詞曰：孔曰成仁，孟云取義；惟其義盡，所以仁至。讀聖賢書，所為何事？而今而後，庶幾無愧！)
