Re[2]: [tied] From here to eternity [was: *y-n,W- "subordinate"?]

At 1:44:05 PM on Saturday, November 22, 2008, Arnaud Fournet
wrote:

> From: "m_iacomi" <m_iacomi@...>

>> You got it all wrong. You stated: "They lived very short
>> lifes". This is valid statement _only_ from our point of
>> view. Their own point of view was different since they
>> weren't aware that (some thousands of years after) human
>> life expectancy would have reached much higher values.
>> So, from their point of view, the average lifespan was
>> not "short" but just normal.

> What about "vita brevis" ?

Are you aware of its original context? 'Life is short,
[the] art [of medicine] long, opportunity fleeting,
experience misleading, judgment difficult.' (Hippocrates,
Aphorisms)

This is not a statement that life is short in some absolute
sense or by comparison with the lives of the immortal gods;
it's a statement that life is short in comparison with the
time needed to master the art of the physician. The modern
lament 'So many books, so little time' is similar in spirit.
(By the way, Hippocrates is supposed to have lived to a ripe
old age even by modern standards.)

Brian