it speaks in silence and hears in pictures.
its eyes are devoured and long lasting suiters
if I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I
it speaks in words and hears of blisters.
it’s eyes look at you and pray for hithers i don’ I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I
It speaks in silence and hears you– silence.
Silence.
These words were written by the tourist before he dissapeared. Scribbled on the back of an electrical box just outside the hotel. I’m sorry for the rush, I think you understand. Anyways, what was it– do you think, that made him shut off the lights in his room at night? Sorry, but I’m sure we’ve already talked about this— Maybe not here though so I guess we’ll take it again. Some people come to these parts and expect the same reality as back home, these people don’t go back home. To put it simply; reality is and isn’t. If you shut off your eyes and your ears and you turn off your mouth and neck. Then if you stop the touch of sensation and pain from the skinning you’re left with a reality that doesn’t exist; No reality. What is reality? If you weren’t here would reality still exist? Maybe, but your reality wouldn’t and your experience would be that no reality does. Then if reality doesn’t exist for you, what use is it? Sorry I- I don’t follow. Where are you going with this? We don’t have much time I have four other witnesses to interview before the end of the day. Sorry I— don’t mean to waste your time. Sorry, did you say skinning? Sorry, I meant if you shut off all sensation of your skin, I was being a bit dramatic to emphasise a point. Sorry! I misunderstood. Shut the fuck up.
In this world I stay at the hotel, it stays outside of the hotel. The cold stays outside of the hotel, the heat stays inside of the hotel, the warmth stays outside of the hotel, I don’t see the hotel i–i don’t see the hotel i–i–i do–n-t—ii-
W– What did he mean by this? Did you say something? No? Is everything quite alright? No, he’s HERE—- So what did he mean by this? I don’t quite know alright? I’m not—
The silence refers to the snow. It’s insulating properties makes it impossible for someone to hear you when you’re buried in it. If’m not mistaken he wasn’t keen on skiing? That’s right, he never checked out with our gear. Infact he never checked out at all right? Wait who’s asking you or me? You. Alright. Then at what point did he leave the hotel? Probably when he saw it outside of the treeline. You have a treeline here? I don’t, but the hotel does. Very funny. Who’s being funny? Sorr—-. Don’t start. Sorr—. What did I just say? Ahem… My bad. A,l,r,i,g,h,t. What made it leave the treeline, what you or me? No you forgot the period. Who did? You did. Why bring them into this? What? You did. What did they do? No, I mean you did. Whatever. So what made it leave the treeline? Probably seeing him turn off the lights. But why did he do that? You ever make a mistake in your life kid? Don’t call me kid. That’s what you are right? I’m half as old as you. What does that mean? You look to be half way past the finish line. I’m not that old. Then why do your eyes dangle out of their sockets? They don’t. Metaphorically speaking. Not a big fan of those. Hahahahahaha you make me want to cry. What makes me wh—at? Sorry. What did I just say? Stop derailing the conversation. I have a question for you. No more questions. What makes life worth living? You tell me, plutarch. Do you even know who that is? Yes
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaFor other uses, see Plutarch (disambiguation).Not to be confused with Plutarchy*.*Plutarch📷Modern portrait at Chaeronea, based on a bust from Delphi tentatively identified as Plutarch.Bornc. AD 46Chaeronea, BoeotiaDiedafter AD 119 (aged 73–74)Delphi, PhocisOccupation(s)Biographer, essayist, philosopher, priest, ambassador, magistrateNotable workParallel LivesMoraliaEraHellenistic philosophyRegionAncient philosophySchoolMiddle PlatonismMain interestsEpistemology, Ethics, History, MetaphysicsInfluencesInfluenced
Plutarch (/ˈpluːtɑːrk/; Greek: Πλούταρχος, Ploútarchos; Koine Greek: [ˈplutarkʰos]; c. AD 46 – after AD 119)[1] was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher,[2] historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of illustrious Greeks and Romans, and Moralia, a collection of essays and speeches.[3] Upon becoming a Roman citizen, he was possibly named Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus (Λούκιος Μέστριος Πλούταρχος).[4][a]
Plutarch was born to a prominent family in the small town of Chaeronea,[5] about 30 kilometres (19 mi) east of Delphi, in the Greek region of Boeotia. His family was long established in the town; his father was named Autobulus and his grandfather was named Lamprias.[4]
His name is a compound of the Greek words πλοῦτος, “wealthy” and ἀρχόςrxo/s) , “leader.” In the traditional aspirational Greek naming convention the whole name means something like “prosperous leader.”
His brothers, Timon and Lamprias, are frequently mentioned in his essays and dialogues, which speak of Timon in particular in the most affectionate terms. Rualdus, in his 1624 work Life of Plutarchus, recovered the name of Plutarch’s wife, Timoxena, from internal evidence afforded by his writings. A letter is still extant, addressed by Plutarch to his wife, bidding her not to grieve too much at the death of their two-year-old daughter, who was named Timoxena after her mother. He hinted at a belief in reincarnation in that letter of consolation.[6]
Plutarch studied mathematics and philosophy in Athens under Ammonius from AD 66 to 67.[1] He attended the games of Delphi where the emperor Nero competed and possibly met prominent Romans, including future emperor Vespasian.[7]
Plutarch and Timoxena had at least four sons and one daughter, though two died in childhood. The loss of his daughter and a young son, Chaeron, are mentioned in the his letter to Timoxena.[8] Two sons, named Autoboulos and Plutarch, appear in a number of Plutarch’s works; Plutarch’s treatise on Plato’s Timaeus is dedicated to them.[9] It’s likely that a third son, named Soklaros after Plutarch’s confidant Soklaros of Tithora, survived to adulthood as well although he is not mentioned in Plutarch’s later works: a Lucius Mestrius Soclarus, who shares Plutarch’s Latin family name, appears in an inscription in Boeotia from the time of Trajan.[10] Traditionally the surviving catalog of Plutarch’s works is ascribed to another son, named Lamprias after Plutarch’s grandfather.[11] However most modern scholars believe this tradition is a later interpolation.[12] Plutarch’s treatise on marriage questions, addressed to Eurydice and Pollianus.[13] seems to speak of the former as having recently lived in his house, but without any clear evidence on whether she was his daughter or not.[14]
Plutarch was either the uncle or grandfather of Sextus of Chaeronea, who was one of the teachers of Marcus Aurelius, and who may have been the same person as the philosopher Sextus Empiricus. His family remained in Greece down to at least the fourth century, producing a number of philosophers and authors.[9] Apuleius, the author of The Golden Ass, made his fictional protagonist a descendant of Plutarch.
📷Ruins of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, where Plutarch served as one of the priests responsible for interpreting the predictions of the Pythia.
Plutarch was a vegetarian, though how long and how strictly he adhered to this diet is unclear.[15][16] He wrote about the ethics of meat-eating in two discourses in Moralia.[17]
At some point, Plutarch received Roman citizenship. His sponsor was Lucius Mestrius Florus, who was an associate of the new emperor Vespasian, as evidenced by his new name, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus.[7] As a Roman citizen, Plutarch would have been of the equestrian order, he visited Rome some time c. AD 70 with Florus, who served also as a historical source for his Life of Otho.[18][7] Plutarch was on familiar terms with a number of Roman nobles, particularly the consulars Quintus Sosius Senecio, Titus Avidius Quietus, and Arulenus Rusticus, all of whom appear in his works.[19]
He lived most of his life at Chaeronea, and was initiated into the mysteries of the Greek god Apollo. He probably took part in the Eleusinian Mysteries.[20] During his visit to Rome he may have been part of a municipal embassy for Delphi: around the same time, Vespasian granted Delphi various municipal rights and privileges.[21]
In addition to his duties as a priest of the Delphic temple, Plutarch was also a magistrate at Chaeronea and he represented his home town on various missions to foreign countries during his early adult years. Plutarch held the office of archon in his native municipality, probably only an annual one which he likely served more than once.[22]
Plutarch was epimeletes (manager) of the Amphictyonic League for at least five terms, from 107 to 127, in which role he was responsible for organising the Pythian Games. He mentions this service in his work, Whether an Old Man Should Engage in Public Affairs (17 = Moralia 792f).[23]
The Suda, a medieval Greek encyclopedia, states that Trajan made Plutarch procurator of Illyria. However, most historians consider this unlikely, since Illyria was not a procuratorial province.[24][page needed][25]
According to the 8th/9th-century historian George Syncellus, late in Plutarch’s life, Emperor Hadrian appointed him nominal procurator of Achaea – which entitled him to wear the vestments and ornaments of a consul.[26][page needed]
📷Portrait of a philosopher, and a hermaic stele at the Delphi Archaeological Museum
Some time c. AD 95, Plutarch was made one of the two sanctuary priests for the temple of Apollo at Delphi; the site had declined considerably since the classical Greek period. Around the same time in the 90s, Delphi experienced a construction boom, financed by Greek patrons and possible imperial support.[27] His priestly duties connected part of his literary work with the Pythian oracle at Delphia: one of his most important works is the “Why Pythia does not give oracles in verse”.[28](“Περὶ τοῦ μὴ χρᾶν ἔμμετρα νῦν τὴν Πυθίαν”).[29] Even more important is the dialogue “On the ‘E’ at Delphi” (“Περὶ τοῦ Εἶ τοῦ ἐν Δελφοῖς”),[30] which features Ammonius, a Platonic philosopher and teacher of Plutarch, and Lambrias, Plutarch’s brother.
According to Ammonius, the letter ‘E’ written on the temple of Apollo in Delphi originated from the following fact: The Seven Sages of Greece, whose maxims were also written on the walls of the vestibule of the temple, were not seven but actually five: Chilon, Solon, Thales, Bias, and Pittakos. However, the tyrants Cleobulos and Periandros used their political power to be incorporated in the list. Thus, the ‘E’, which was used to represent the number 5, constituted an acknowledgement that the Delphic maxims actually originated from only five genuine wise men.
There was a portrait bust dedicated to Plutarch for his efforts in helping to revive the Delphic shrines.[4]
The portrait of a philosopher exhibited at the exit of the Archaeological Museum of Delphi, dates to the 2nd century; due to its inscription, in the past it had been identified with Plutarch. The man, although bearded, is depicted at a relatively young age: His hair and beard are rendered in coarse volumes and thin incisions. The gaze is deep, due to the heavy eyelids and the incised pupils.[31]
| But a fragmentary hermaic stele next to the portrait probably did once bear a portrait of Plutarch, since it is inscribed, “The Delphians, along with the Chaeroneans, dedicated this (image of) Plutarch, following the precepts of the Amphictyony” (“Δελφοὶ Χαιρωνεῦσιν ὁμοῦ Πλούταρχον ἔθηκαν | τοῖς Ἀμφικτυόνων δόγμασι πειθόμενοι”.[32] |
Plutarch’s surviving works were intended for Greek speakers throughout the Roman Empire, not just Greeks.[33]
📷Plutarch in the Nuremberg Chronicle
Plutarch’s first biographical works were the Lives of the Roman Emperors from Augustus to Vitellius. Of these, only the Lives of Galba and Otho survive. The Lives of Tiberius and Nero are extant only as fragments, provided by Damascius (Life of Tiberius, cf. his Life of Isidore)[34] and Plutarch himself (Life of Nero, cf. Galba 2.1), respectively. These early emperors’ biographies were probably published under the Flavian dynasty or during the reign of Nerva (AD 96–98).
There is reason to believe that the two Lives still extant, those of Galba and Otho, “ought to be considered as a single work.”[35] Therefore, they do not form a part of the Plutarchian canon of single biographies – as represented by the Life of Aratus of Sicyon and the Life of Artaxerxes II (the biographies of Hesiod, Pindar, Crates and Daiphantus were lost). Unlike in these biographies, in Galba-Otho the individual characters of the persons portrayed are not depicted for their own sake but instead serve as an illustration of an abstract principle; namely the adherence or non-adherence to Plutarch’s morally founded ideal of governing as a Princeps (cf. Galba 1.3; Moralia 328D–E).[36]
Arguing from the perspective of Platonic political philosophy (cf. Republic 375E, 410D-E, 411E-412A, 442B-C), in Galba-Otho Plutarch reveals the constitutional principles of the Principate in the time of the civil war after Nero’s death. While morally questioning the behavior of the autocrats, he also gives an impression of their tragic destinies, ruthlessly competing for the throne and finally destroying each other.[36] “The Caesars’ house in Rome, the Palatium, received in a shorter space of time no less than four Emperors”, Plutarch writes, “passing, as it were, across the stage, and one making room for another to enter” (Galba 1).[37]
Galba-Otho was handed down through different channels. It can be found in the appendix to Plutarch’s Parallel Lives as well as in various Moralia manuscripts, most prominently in Maximus Planudes’ edition where Galba and Otho appear as Opera XXV and XXVI. Thus it seems reasonable to maintain that Galba-Otho was from early on considered as an illustration of a moral-ethical approach, possibly even by Plutarch himself.[38]
Main article: Parallel Lives📷A page from the 1470 Ulrich Han printing of Plutarch’s Parallel Lives
Plutarch’s best-known work is the Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of illustrious Greeks and Romans, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues and vices, thus it being more of an insight into human nature than a historical account.[39] The surviving Lives contain 23 pairs, each with one Greek life and one Roman life, as well as four unpaired single lives.
As is explained in the opening paragraph of his Life of Alexander, Plutarch was not concerned with history so much as the influence of character, good or bad, on the lives and destinies of men. Whereas sometimes he barely touched on epoch-making events, he devoted much space to charming anecdote and incidental triviality, reasoning that this often said far more for his subjects than even their most famous accomplishments. He sought to provide rounded portraits, likening his craft to that of a painter; indeed, he went to tremendous lengths (often leading to tenuous comparisons) to draw parallels between physical appearance and moral character. In many ways, he must be counted amongst the earliest moral philosophers.[citation needed]
Some of the Lives, such as those of Heracles, Philip II of Macedon, Epaminondas, Scipio Africanus, Scipio Aemilianus and possibly Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus no longer exist; many of the remaining Lives are truncated, contain obvious lacunae or have been tampered with by later writers. Extant Lives include those on Solon, Themistocles, Aristides, Agesilaus II, Pericles, Alcibiades, Nicias, Demosthenes, Pelopidas, Philopoemen, Timoleon, Dion of Syracuse, Eumenes, Alexander the Great, Pyrrhus of Epirus, Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Coriolanus, Theseus, Aemilius Paullus, Tiberius Gracchus, Gaius Gracchus, Gaius Marius, Sulla, Sertorius, Lucullus, Pompey, Julius Caesar, Cicero, Cato the Elder, Mark Antony, and Marcus Junius Brutus.
Plutarch’s Life of Alexander, written as a parallel to that of Julius Caesar, is one of five extant tertiary sources on the Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great. It includes anecdotes and descriptions of events that appear in no other source, just as Plutarch’s portrait of Numa Pompilius, the putative second king of Rome, holds much that is unique on the early Roman calendar.
Plutarch devotes a great deal of space to Alexander’s drive and desire, and strives to determine how much of it was presaged in his youth. He also draws extensively on the work of Lysippos, Alexander’s favourite sculptor, to provide what is probably the fullest and most accurate description of the conqueror’s physical appearance. When it comes to his character, Plutarch emphasizes his unusual degree of self-control and scorn for luxury: “He desired not pleasure or wealth, but only excellence and glory.” As the narrative progresses, however, the subject incurs less admiration from his biographer and the deeds that it recounts become less savoury. The murder of Cleitus the Black, which Alexander instantly and deeply regretted, is commonly cited to this end.
Together with Suetonius’s The Twelve Caesars, and Caesar’s own works de Bello Gallico and de Bello Civili, the Life of Caesar is the main account of Julius Caesar’s feats by ancient historians. Plutarch starts by telling of the audacity of Caesar and his refusal to dismiss Cinna’s daughter, Cornelia. Other important parts are those containing his military deeds, accounts of battles and Caesar’s capacity of inspiring the soldiers.
His soldiers showed such good will and zeal in his service that those who in their previous campaigns had been in no way superior to others were invincible and irresistible in confronting every danger to enhance Caesar’s fame. Such a man, for instance, was Acilius, who, in the sea-fight at Massalia, boarded a hostile ship and had his right hand cut off with a sword, but clung with the other hand to his shield, and dashing it into the faces of his foes, routed them all and got possession of the vessel. Such a man, again, was Cassius Scaeva, who, in the battle at Dyrrhachium, had his eye struck out with an arrow, his shoulder transfixed with one javelin and his thigh with another, and received on his shield the blows of one hundred and thirty missiles. In this plight, he called the enemy to him as though he would surrender. Two of them, accordingly, coming up, he lopped off the shoulder of one with his sword, smote the other in the face and put him to flight, an—
Alright shit I get it!
You seem to know your stuff, I’ll let you pass on this one. Anyways man, jesus… Whatever, anyways… The answer is dopamine and seratonin and all that other stuff mixed around in our brains. It mixes and it mixes and it mixes and it mixes and it mixes and it mixes and it mixes and it mixes and it mixes and it mixes and it mixes. And we experience pleasure and that makes life worth living. I’ve heard it all before. What if we plucked out the brain of a person and stabbed a hole in it? What if we squeezed all the dopamine and the seratonin out of the brain and made it into a drink and then mixed that around and drank it? Well… I haven’t heard that one before. What would that make us? Happy? I sure hope not. Who was that—? Sorry—? Nevermind. Whatever, the point is, you know how when you eat meat that meat is broken apart and used to structure your muscles; your muscles? Sure. What if you ate— or drank, another persons dopamine? Would that make you made of dopamine? No? If you did that your body would break it down into smaller components that aren’t dopamine, then it would use those components to produce your flesh. You’d be made out of atoms that came from dopamine– assuming you could digest dopamine– but you wouldn’t be made out dopamine anymore than you’re made out of shit that a fly ate and absorbed and then that fly was eaten and absorbed by a spider and then a spider was eaten and absorbed by a chicken and then the chicken was eaten and absorbed by you. Would you say that you’re made out of shit? Yes. Oh. But you get the poin— Yeah I do. But what if there was something out there maybe standing behind you that coul— HAHAHA made you look. Very funny. Shut the fuck up.
“What if there was a creature out there that could eat someones dopamine and absorb it into their flesh?” The clerk has that same expression again as he did before. That detached yet paradoxically focused expression that kept making me uncomfortable. It still does.
“What would that do for it? What would it use the dopamine for?” I don’t get it, it seems like he’s trying to tell me something but what’s with the roundabouts?
“The same way you use it for.” The same way I use it for?
“My dopamine is used in my brain, If it were in my muscles it would be practically useless as far as I know about science.”
“Yeah? Well what if you don’t know?” Tsk. Some people, always arguing and trying to make you look stupid when having a simple discussion. Anyways he’s probably traumatized from whatever’s going on here at the hotel, I shouldn’t be judgemental of a broken mind. He’s not–
“Hello? You just gonna stare at me all day?”
“Oh uhhh– What? Sorry.”
“Whatever, the point is, !_!!!__!_!!!::___::!!!_____!!!!”
“What was that?” Do I look weird right now? Also: “Those are just exclamation marks.”
“Yeah but they carry points with them.”
“Is that a play on words~?”
“Are you flirting with me?”
“No I’m the investigating officer.” I–
“They strung up corpses by the dozens. My brother was a decapitated skinned corpse dangling by one leg from a dying tree. Behind the tree were two rows of people I knew, kneeling and carrying their own heads as if they were blocking a prayer. The rows were facing each other and at the end of the pathway they created, was a mountain of bodies shaped like a throne at the front. And at the throne was me with a bird mask like you’d see at masquerade. And I would sit on the throne and wave my hand and the kneeling ones would explode into splinters of bone and blood.”
I don’t think he got the joke. Wait…
W— what did he say?
“W– what did you–”
This was the dream I had last night.
“This was the dream I had last night.” Wh… What!? Does he mean that we both shared the same dream?
“You also dreamt this?”
“In this place this Is all you can dream. Everyone dreams this every night. If you run out of people to dream about, you dissapear and they never see you again.” Where–
“Where do you go?”
“I don’t know. But you don’t appear in anyone’s dreams anymore at least.”
“Shouldn’t other people appear in your dream if you app” Shut the fuck up. Wh—
S-s-s—So a—a—gain, one l—a-st q—q—uestion if y–you d—-don’t mi–n—d me a—a—asking. Why d— di—d he shut o—o-ff the l—l—ights at n—n—igh—t? He didn’t want to be skinned anymore. Why does his voice sound like tv static? i- I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I—-I
“What the fuck did I just read?” Clint said, he looked just as confused as Billy.
“Janice seriously, what the fuck did I just read? What is this? What is this supposed to be? What the fuck is any of this!?” The confusion was making him mad, Billy’s really not a patient person. But what if he were?
A tweak to the structure can change every brain. All it takes is a momentary 111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 and not a 0.