As one who reads a greater than average number of books, I naturally find myself enjoying some more than others. And indeed, with regularity one is found to be more worthy of note than others I may have recently read. But the moments of greatest joy are had when I find myself halfway through a book and out of sheer reading-induced ecstasy demanding of myself “How, for Gaia’s sake, could I have not long since already known of – and more to the point been reading – this author’s books?”
While many have heard, and may often make reference to the Hippocratic Oath, few have actually ever read it, and even fewer know what it means or indeed know much of anything about the larger body of writings in which it is contained. This new edition of the Loeb Classical Library’s Hippocrates Volume 1 now makes a fresh translation of the Oath, as well as other important writings in the Hippocratic collection, available to all who would avail themselves of it.
Over the past year I’ve been dedicating a substantial portion of my reading hours to the biological works of Aristotle, as well as the Timaeus of Plato in order to improve my understanding the history of the early development of natural philosophy – what would eventually become natural history. However in most every one of these works, reference is made to the ideas of those who came before. In some cases these are little more than names to us today. Even those who are well-read in ancient philosophy might be unfamiliar with what is known of the ideas of many pre-Socratic philosophers such as Anaxaminder, Anaxamines, and Leucippas.
Have you ever wondered about the biological questions that Aesop’s fables inspire? The respective speed and levels of endurance found in tortoises and hares? The ability of wolves to be deceptive? The planning and food acquisition strategies of ants and grasshoppers?