The Volokh Conspiracy
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"NUMBER: Wisdom Above All Other"
From the John Scully and C.J. Herington translation of Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound:
What's more, for them I invented
NUMBER: wisdom
above all other.
And the painstaking, putting together of
LETTERS: to be their memory
of everything, to be their Muses'
mother, their
handmaid!
But above all, number. Thanks to Virginia Postrel for the pointer.
UPDATE: Commenter Magister adds:
But I had nothing to do with
EMOJIS: some of which revel in
being piles of poop.
Else I would deserve worse
punishments than
I have suffered.
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Odd, given that the ancient Greeks used letters for numbers.
Brought to you by the number e.
They may not have had only numerals that were only numerals but they certainly had numbers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DzfPcSysAg
THen you could say they used numbers as letters, hmmm
My challenging this conclusion swiftly comes to an end when remembering how Arabic numerals made quick conquest of becoming a universal standard, while letters linger behind.
After thinking about this for a bit I have come to the following conclusion: 42.
Many other ancient stories -- such as that of David & Goliath and of Moses & Pharoah, as two timely examples -- are both prophetic and cautionary, yet are often completely misunderstood.
The Washington Post today reports (at https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/11/17/how-hamas-breached-israel-iron-wall/) how David pulled Goliath's pants down, revealing an unexpectedly tiny, impotent mass with all humanity cut away. In A TED Talk (at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziGD7vQOwl8), Malcolm Gladwell begins an explanation of two factors: first, that the key phrase of the story is "Come to me" and, second, that "we profoundly misunderstand Goliath. Goliath is not what he seems to be."
Not understanding your mixed metaphors. What is the tiny, impotent mass, the slaughtered babies?
Gladwell's book on the matter is not well-regarded.
Goliath is not what he seems to be.”
What is he, then?
The original is “ ἀριθμόν, ἔξοχον σοφισμάτων”, which I’d gloss (unpoetically) as something like “number, the standout among inventions”.
Funny! Added as an update.