Quoted: ‘Meditations,’ by Marcus Aurelius: “there is supposedly a quote by Democritus: “If you seek tranquility do less.”

Wiki:
“Later Greek historians consider Democritus to have established ‘aesthetics’ as a subject of investigation and study, as he wrote rhetorically on poetry and fine art long before authors such as Aristotle… His ‘atomistic void’ hypothesis was a response to the paradoxes of Parmenides (4)… who put forth difficult-to-answer arguments in favor of the idea that there can be no movement.” … “The knowledge of truth, according to Democritus, is difficult, since the perception through the senses is subjective.”
…
Quoted: ‘Parmenides,’ from ?
“Then there’s Parmenides (4), … who’s primary contributing effort to the instruction of the vital Athenian citizenry, was…*cut*
“Empedocles teaches us that there is in our souls a dual nature; … by the other we are dragged downward toward regions infernal, through friendship and discord, war and peace; … so witness those verses in which he laments that, torn by strife and discord, like a madman, in flight from the gods, he is driven into the depths of the sea… in grave, intestine warfare, … worse than the civil wars of states. Equally clear is it that, if we are to overcome this warfare, if we are to achieve that peace which must establish us finally among the exalted of God, philosophy alone can compose and allay that strife.”
“Who would not wish to be so inspired by those Socratic frenzies which Plato sings in the ‘Phaedrus’ that, swiftly fleeing this place… that is, this world fixed in evil, by the oars, so to say, both of feet and wings, he might reach the heavenly Jerusalem by the swiftest course?”

…

‘John Milton’, source Wikipedia: ‘Paradise Lost’ – “Milton’s Epic begins in Hell.”
“Satan and the other rebel angels, having been defeated, are banished there, (he also calls it ‘Tartarus’ in the poem, reference to Greek mythology). In Pandemonium, the capital city of Hell, Satan employs his rhetorical skills to organize his followers; he is aided by his generals and lieutenants, such as Mammon and Beelzebub, Belial and Moloch… At the end of the debate, Satan volunteers to corrupt the newly created Earth and God’s new and most favored creation: Mankind. He braves the dangers of the abyss, as Milton’s protagonist, alone in a manner reminiscent of Odysseus or Aeneas. After an arduous traversal of the Chaos outside Hell, he enters God’s new material world, and later the Garden of Eden.”
“Like many Renaissance artists before him, Milton attempted to integrate Christian theology with classical modes. In his early poems, the poet narrator expresses a tension between vice and virtue, the latter invariably related to Protestantism. In ‘Comus’, Milton makes use of elevating notions of purity and virtue over the conventions of court revelry and superstition. Milton called in the ‘Areopagetica’ for “the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.” Milton argued for disestablishment as the only effective way of achieving broad toleration. Rather than force a man’s conscience, government should recognize the persuasive force of the gospel [or Reason, for our purposes here].”

Quoted from, ‘Dionysus Rising’:”The ritual is, to use a term we have become familiar with, Dionysian. The Dionysiac ritual was not Nietzsche’s invention. He got his idea from Euripides, whose tragedy ‘The Bacchae’ was commenting on the practices of his day. Bacchic frenzy probably holds an universal attraction to all cultures… So we may be dealing with some sort of constant in human nature here. The desire for ecstasy bespeaks a desire to transcend the limits of human existence, the most onerous of which often seems to involve the moral law. Whenever this law is seen as something external and imposed from without, the attraction to Dionysiac orgy will grow. The modern era, beginning with Nietzsche and lasting up to the present, is just one such era.”“He became the vehicle for the transvaluation of all values, which Nietzsche had predicted, and, just as Nietzsche had predicted as well, it would be music that would provide the Dionysian breakthrough: not Wagner, though, who had betrayed the cause of sexual liberation… … and liberation from Christian morality… Relying on the very Christian social restraints he scorns, Nietzsche can see the dissolution into Dionysiac frenzy in a much more benign light than could the author of the Book of Wisdom (or than could Euripides for that matter).”“Nietzsche, as we have already indicated, did not invent the Bacchanal, but, to give him credit, he did propose it as the religious ritual of our age… Whether voodoo and what Euripides describes in ‘The Bacchae’ are two streams of water flowing from the same subterranean spring is a question worth pondering.”
“But the dreamer now was with them, in them, and he belonged to the foreign god. Yes, they were he himself as they hurled themselves biting and tearing upon the animals, got entangled in steaming rags and fell in promiscuous unions on the torn moss, in sacrifice to their god. And his soul tasted the unchastity and fury of decay.”

…

…

The House of Agathon: After a little more walking along the trail with our new companion Marsyas to entertain us, Silenus stopped us and said, “Ah, here we are." We approached an enormous home with ivory white columns on the face of it, having some beautiful green vine, or ivy, growing about the face of it. It had appeared right before us, suddenly. "We’ve arrived, then, to the House of Agathon.”

The House of Agathon: “Pleased to meet you.” We were greeted by yet another couple of short goat-legged men standing at the doorway as we approached the sizeable estate, an impressively-sized mansion, really, and we were on a well-manacured pathway leading right up to the estste’s oppulent doorway. One of the satyrs ecstatically announced: “Ah! Here come the philosophers!” and held up his drink in toast to us.
“Welcome, to our friend Agathon’s!” said the other of the two, taller and leaner fellow.
The first to speak to our group in the doorway was named Democritus. He was the one who had toasted to us, maybe in jest. ‘The Mocker’ they called him. He is also known as ‘The Laughing Philosopher,’ and ‘the elect of the people.’ Those ol’ people–they never change–they love a good joke.
Democritus had a broad smile, rosy cheeks, and seemed as jolly as jolly old Santa Claus.
“And this is the famous Parmenides!” Marsyas waved his hand, as if to proudly display the satyr standing in the doorway next to the santa claus one. Parmenides has a harder facial expression to read, and was a satyr of a little more tragic of a disposition, I guess you could say. He looked up at us, Parmenides, the satyr looked at us as if behind a pair of reading glasses, with a pained sort of expression he exercised the appearance of having some kind of little interest in us, and now Silenus, as if to save the day said: “Parmenides likes to ruminate upon the idea that “nothing can come from nothing. Everything we know has a beginning point…” Marsyas added: “Parmenides’ is known as one of the first thinkers in history to consider the basic philosophical understanding of Order in the Universe.” Parmindes responded: “Whether or not the Universe has a ‘telos,’ or direction, is a matter for another discussion, and another time…” Perhaps, Silenus, who is more of what you would call a straight-man character, in a comedy bit or routine, affiliates more instead with this Parmenides than he does with a source of a good joke, like Democritus. As a pair, they were a little more serious; Silenus and Parmenides were studious types. Marsyas and Democritus are the class clown.“First introductions only happen once, you know…” said Silenus, nodding to Parmenides. “Or so they say…” “And you can only step into the same river once,” as Heraclitus would say, responded Parmenides.”Oh, and will ‘he’ be joining us here tonight? Heraclitus?” asked Democritus”The Obscure One? I think he certainly might,” answered Silenus.“Democritus is known around here as ‘The Laughing Philosopher,’” added Marsyas, who kind of looked like he himself, in the way they were both pudgy, at least, and had little bellies, “and he’s always ‘looking’ for the comedic side in life…””I think that’s helpful.” Democritus and Marsyas were a duo, in joviality. They were all fairly jolly, but Parmenides just seemed a little bit tired, that was all. Democritus wore a little white toga, and he seemed to not see very well. He didn’t seem to know exactly where anyone who was speaking were at any given moment, or where they were standing, adjusting often his position toward new speakers by pivoting wildly about, always slightly in the wrong direction… which was becoming more and more noticeable. He couldn’t seem to see at all. “Pleased to meet your acquaintance, young beings… whatever you’re called.””They’re humans,” Silenus remarked, helpingly, “and if it weren’t for them, I’d be stuck in a bind, another one of those iron trap jobs, and wouldn’t have been able to attend Agathon’s party at all if they hadn’t come along.””Another trap, Silenus?!” joked Democritus. “Will you ever learn to look out for those?”“I hear you young people come from outer-space,” Democritus remarked, inquisitively.
We all nodded in diplomatic approval.
“I always wondered about the Milky Way…” he rambled on, a funny little fat goat-man, “I’ve heard once before that it’s some kind of collection of stars—whatever ‘that’ means.”
“Err, yes…” I began to respond but was cut off. We could hear some commotion going on inside. It seemed that inside the house there was a large party already underway, with ancient instruments playing music that none of the kids had recognized, and all the attendents of the symposia are very talkative, and high-spirited, and suddenly then the door was flung open and a well-dressed man burst through the doorway. He was a handsome, polished and older–a satyr like themselves, Agathon was opening the front door and approaching the group standing there with all of the regality of a proud and experienced host, of which he was:
I think this is Agathon.
“Welcome guests: new and old!” “Parmenides. Silenus. Marsyas. And Democritus!–and all the rest! Here! You’re finally here!” Agathon began grabbing at us, at Democritus, and then Marsyas, and then walking inside and beckoned us to join him.And so our little group waltzed towards the doorway, and I have to admit that probably none of us had any clue what to expect next. “Certainly something must have come about, since we’re all standing here!” What did he mean by that, our group wondered. “About our little talks about the universe… anyway, but how would you propose has all of ‘this’ come about?” he gestured to every thing, all of existence, and somehow he already seemed a little drunk. “And how do you, or I, and aaall the other satyrs!, feel about… people, and all of them coming HERE, and has all of this come from nothing? Something–from nothing? Or was it perhaps another something?! ha-ha, which it could maybe sort of bud off from, ha-ha-ha sort of like… parthenogenesis… hah-hah-hah-hah” a sort of crazed Parmenides stared over at him from the doorway, who, for some hardly fathomable reason then exclaimed this with a kind of pained, yet somehow stoic, expression of… of battlements of emotion upon his face. “I think you mean blastogenesis.” Silenus corrected.
…
Agathon spoke to us as we walked through the threshold of the doorway into the house, making our way into the reception room: “In case anyone doesn’t already know, as I see some new faces here, this celebration is in honor of the arts.
… two of our beloved citizens, patrons of the theatre, the famous playwrites who are among the most decorated and accomplished in our history, renowned at crafting performances for the stage,
Agathon: “And let me introduce to you, briefly before they leave us and enter back-stage to go and prepare for their performances, the father of Comedy, the legend of the Greek satyr-play Aristophanes; … and the father of Tragedy, the equally remarkable Aeschylus! Look at them go!”
…Next: Introduction by Agathon, to Heraclitus and his two proteges Cratylus and Hermogenes.
This conversation will start in the reception room, before moving onward to the GArden, and we can explore the details of the house a bit, and then fairly quickly Agathon will lead them all into the backyard, or garden.
In the reception room, Agathon lets the newly arrived guests know that the purpose of his celebration was in fact to honor two famous writers of plays, the winning playwrites of the recent festival Dionysia, the extremely popular theater-plays of the ancient city-state of Athens, Greece, where the city Dionysia festival was held. One of the playwrites represents Comedy, and the other Tragedy. Aristophanes and Aeschylus.The symposia will take place in the garden, where there are couches of the ancient Greek style, common to symposia, that party-goers would use to recline and enjoy a goblet/bowl of wine, while interacting with one another of the dinner guests. The flute girls have all been sent away, and now they will enjoy their symposia while they wait for the two playwrites, who have gone back-stage by now, behind the curtain so to speak, in order to prepare for their performances, in the essential genres of both Comedy and of Tragedy.”The whole universe?! I dont know how it came about, nor do I know about any of that–kind of stuff–I’m just trying to get a handle on the names for things!””Names?””Yes, where did they come about? Is there knowledge wrought from them? Is there a kind of logic to a name? Is that the source for the truth of things, in the naming? If a name is sort of wrong, or a bad descriptor, does reality change, or should the name be changed? Who decides, and who decided all the names in the first place, for things. Isn’t it self-referential, the names of things and the logic behind it? Why do we call a handle a handle, is it because we use it with our hands? Who named hands hands?!” Cratylus was working himself up into a frenzy.
Yes, the names for things like nouns and adjectives in language, in our language we have a word to describe this:
Yeah, the names for things, and how they came about. Why do we call things the names we do? I don’t just mean a person’s name, I mean the dressing, of words themselves. Because that’s their name. That’s what they are.Yes, but why… and HOW?!
But can anything possibly be mis-named?That’s what I’m saying!Well of course, I could call my fork a spoon, but it wouldn’t be true. My calling it a thing doesn’t make it into that thing–a fork, and my naming it doesn’t change.. the reality of it, nor the name, by me calling it that. We use a word for a spoon. Doest that make sense?WEll, not unless it caught on…How do you mean?Like a fad, or trend. If a group of your friends started calling it that, and that everybody around starting using that word, even celebrities, than that’s a new word. I suppose, it’s all determined by consensus, then. So, we agree on what’s a word.Makes sense.It’s like a kind of democracy.I’d wager. You know, there’s a whole field of study for these kinds of things.Oh?
Yeah, one is called etymology… the study of the origin and uses for words, across history, and there’s another, called philology, which is the historical attribution of texts, and lines from texts, who first said what and where it happened. Etymology and Philology.
Heraclitus, the satyr they described as ‘the Obscure One,’ then asked us: “And who are ‘you’, fine young people?”“We are real people,” said one of our group, … it came out very awkward, “well, most of us are… but anyhow…”
“We’re real…” the awkwardness continued, “and we come from a different sort of place… err, …”
“We call it Earth.””Well, we call it Earth too…” said Heraclitus.
“Well, we call it the ‘real’ world, uhh, but anyway… our Earth, ‘real’ Earth, is… we thought this was going to be some kind of a video-game, to be honest…” “Well so: I suppose–any friends of Marsyas are friends of ours, as it is assuredly most wise to do, because which Marsyas is the wisest of all of the satyrs, and so doing what he thinks is right is what I deem a worthwhile investment of time, into friendship, a bargain, then, is certainly that.””My name is Agathon!” “The name means ‘the good’, some say…” “And indeed, you are welcome here, as if you were any other satyr!”
Parmenides then asked us, “Whither are you going, and whatsoever brought you here, humans?”
“Now, now–we will have time later for all of that,” interjected Agathon, “as we have a schedule tonight, friends, though not a rigid one is a symposia, and in praising our best playwrites we… This way we will have the laughing philosopher, and then the weeping philosopher, and the father of comedy, and then the father of tragedy, and next the…“Are you all acquainted with the various theories on how all of this, I mean these star and planets, “milk-ways” all came about… originally, I mean?”
“I’ve had a few hypothesis myself,” offered Parmenides. “Was it all brought forth out of nothing–or perhaps is the whole thing perpetual, and eternal.” The group realized then they hadn’t really thought about that kind of thing before. Wasn’t there a big bang? They think they knew, but these satyrs are from the past, and perhaps they hadn’t even heard about the big bang, and the starting point of the Universe.
“It’s all very sophisticated, I guess…”
He wasn’t very sophisticated, he reflected inwardly, as he kept stalling for time before talking… as he had also considered that he had often times imagined this existence as always sort of being there… forever…
“Yes, that seems quite impossible.” suggested Agathon, helpfully.
He was a little relieved, honestly, at Agathon’s interjection, that he had been cut off, and didn’t really have to answer.
This was all getting very strange, but this is what ‘they’ wanted. This was apparently the way ‘they’ wanted this thing to go, ‘our’ first simulation, and maybe even theirs, we didn’t know anything about that yet, and so we were rolling with it.“Well, how do you outer-space types explain it?” Democritus inquired to our small group, at least I think it was Democritus–it was starting to get very confusing with all of these satyrs…
“Well…” I started to explain, but before I could begin I was being cut off again by another of the fast-talking satyrs, who seemed now to be dominating the conversation.

…

He knew all about the ‘hard sciences’ like physics, and he knew mathematics, yes, and chemistry… principles of thermodynamics, heat exchange, and the atomic weight of Cobalt, and how electronics worked, and mechanics and the simple motors and machines which fueled the functionality of his toys… and he knew all about how to build and repair all sorts of things, and had a working understanding of chemistry, particularly with materials for making good toys, like rubbers, and fake furs, and he even had a fairly sophisticated piece or two of equipment for manufacturing, and although he did have a working understanding of many things around him in his life that others used daily, but he had never even heard of “meta”-physics, not really, anyway. Other than on a few chat forums, or possibly a movie.
We all found this odd, but then Marsyas told us to go on without him, momentarily, as something had just struck him, and it needed to be worked out by him, now, and he would join us at the party in just a second. The other satyrs seemed to not find this strange, and so we took this as a sign that this was something Marsyas was always doing, always getting struck with some insight, or some fit of computation, that struck him and which subjugated his mind, almost without freedom for refusal, or so it seemed, but that anyways he was sometimes subject to it, and they knew to let him handle his thing and he will assuredly be quickly reunited with them, before anything truly important at the party would be undertaken, at which course surely he would be caught up with us and active in the symposium, as soon as the real meat of the entertaining conversation of the symposia were to begin.
We get into the 4 elements in the philosophy, fire, water, air earth, with Thales and Heraclitus, and then
Wrangling the group together, Agathon was now trying to get everyone into the backyard, “… fellow lovers of wisdom, and all of that will be dealt with, by us… in only a minute’s time, but right now I have a beautifully decorated garden, which can only be explained in the Southern-style, of America, at ‘some’ time period, but ultimately all the building styles copied us, anyways, as we developed the principles of architecture, as they know them! and they didnt have a choice, we were there first, but anyways, on that point asside, and before starting the ‘symposium,’ which is obviously going to be a great party, with heavy drinking and comedy and everything, but less than last time, less drinking, involved.
We made brief introductions as the group was seemingly now making its way to the door leading to the back area of the house, and as we all walked through the doorway we saw it was more than a backyard,
Going outside the main room into the garden there is a large area with many different seats that are more individual-sized couches than seats… they looked very comfortable, and arrayed in a circle which maximized the view from, and of all, the of the other couches, and there sitting, already awaiting us, is the company of satyrs Gorgias, Phaedrus, Solon, and Thales and Empedocles.
As we passed through the reception room on our way to the garden we noticed all of the fine art and marble all around us. We had to remind ourselves that it was all a simulation—and not even a ‘real’ place at all—so nothing to be too impressed about, but sometimes it was hard to remember. The artifacts and statuary seemed like it all had such interesting backgrounds and stories behind them. Even so, the layout itself was a marvel of design and I suppose taste would be the appropriate word.
The house barely had any furniture or antiques, the few that were present were irresistably mysterious, but there were hardly any furnishings or decor of any kind. The house’s structure was elegant, though fairly empty, with columns and beautiful mouldings and window framing, and an opulent chandelier hanging overhead in the main room, above the cascading staircase, and the white marble flooring in the reception room led to black-and-white tile flooring in the main ballroom. It wasn’t a home, however. Not really. It was more of a vehicle–a vehicle to move the story along, to house a scenario, and the furnishings weren’t a character essential to the plot. And so, the program it seems didn’t really texture them in.

…

In the ‘reception room’ before the main ballroom, i guess, or the garden, there is a quick encounter with … Heraclitus 

… is flanked by Cratylus and Hermogenes, who bring up names, and the nature of naming, and why things are named the way they are.
And this is Heraclitus: “Pleased to meet you…”
And Cratylus: “Salutations.”
And Hermogenes: “Hello.”
Dialogue will include a discussion of names, identity, the Acadmeic studies of Etymology and Philology* And then a brief encounter with a little conflict, Alcibiades..
The history of names and etymology is briefly alluded to after a discussion focusing on fire and Heraclitus.
And Alcibiades’ introduction is kind of like our stand-in for the presence of strife in the universe, the universal flame, and the pairing of Fire to Strife, and to Nemesis. 

Alcibiades is a kind of adversary, to all, and he’s competitive with anyone and everyone. Hence, a threat to anyone and everyone—and threatened BY anyone and everyone… but also someone who is actively seducing every one around him, audiences, kings, and oligarchs–and everyone is attempting to seduce him, as well, to their causes because, say what you will, he is a force of nature, and a potent one at that, and the power the sheer force of his personality wields is undeniable. Even by, or especially by, his enemies.


Cut some Alcibiades descriptionsFor the GArden***
Heraclitus seems almost private, secretive, in comparison to him [Alcibiades], it was like Heraclitus was whispering to a mouse, and cupping his hands, trying to preserve some delicate little flame of philosophy which on it’s own might stay alive, a whisper amongst all the boisterous commotion, and clamour, fighting for survival amongst the horns and jeers of drunken Alcibiades’s procession of followers and admirers, parading about seeking for all of the wealth, power and fame of the material world’s glories, the most sought after possessions and powers in this world, as so powerful persuasion to anyone and everyone, but for an outsider as maybe the exception, since they come from some ‘other’ sort of matter, and to the storyline of the simulation, ‘this’ simulation, who for an outsider these things don’t really matter at all—and so Agathon’s entire house could be generated within a second, for the outsider, out of thin air, in ‘their’ perspective, as if by the snap of the fingers, and so having pride over ownership, or of fame of a population tied to this, or pride in powers thereof, was of no consequence to these artificial things, these ‘alien’ things, were it not, where it cannot be, all that impressive.
But some things are writ into a character’s very being, and that’s someone like Alcibiades.
Meanwhile, the most philosophers with Heraclitus are formulating a new theory, on everything…
And…
Some are not interested in waisting time with philosophy at all.

…
“… and these young, human, guests.” 

”As regards ‘humanity,’ I don’t really mind them!” 

”Yes, it seems clear… that almost all of the primary guests have arrived. Except for…”
And then was arriving the most extravagent guest, travelling in a procession, that anyone had ever seen.
Or at least, anyone their age.

…

Etymology
and Philology
eristics- 1. of or characterized by argument or debate 2. (of an argument or arguer) aiming at winning rather than at reaching the truth.
…
Phaedrus praises the debate on the merits of language, of truth, and of rhetoric, and also praises Gorgias, as a powerful master of rhetoric, similar only to Marsyas, in their power to sway an audience with.

Then __ someone (Phaedrus?) (an enterprising student of such skills) began speaking about the similarities of Cratylus and Hermogenes philosophy in terms of…
… but that they seemed more interested in eristics than in discovering any actuality of …
The conversations converged when… (Parmenides? Does something…)
[Parmenides’ strife] “Names are equally unreliable for conveying what is (‘esti’) for Parmenides, because they fragment what is whole and unified.” see notes below for elaboration

…

-end-

Quoted from: ‘Heraclitus,’ by ?
“According to Heraclitus, “This world, which is the same for all, no one of gods or men had made. But it always was and will be: an ever-living fire, with measures of it kindling, and measures going out.” This quotation is the earliest use of ‘kosmos’ in any extant Greek text.”
“Harmony – In a metaphor and one of the earliest uses of a ‘force’ in the history of philosophy, Heraclitus compares the union of opposites to a strung bow or lyre held in a shape by an equilibrium of the string tension: “There is a harmony in the bending back as in the case of the bow and the lyre… He also noted “the bow’s name is life, though its work is death,” a play on both bow and life being the same as written [in Greek]…”
“He claims this shows something true yet invisible about reality; “a hidden harmony is better than an apparent one… Heraclitus seems to say, paradoxically, change is what unites things, pointing to his ideas of the unity of opposites…”
“Heraclitus’s philosophy has been summed up with the adage: “No man ever steps in the same river twice,””
“This aphorism can be contrasted with Parmenides’s statement: “Whatever is, is, and what is not cannot be.”
“According to Aristotle, Cratylus went a step beyond his master’s doctrine and said one cannot step into the same river once.”

Quoted from: ‘Alcibiades,’ by ?“… the literary sources consistently portray Alcibiades as a man given over to oriental luxury and ostentation.” “In the Greek polis, such behavior was not perceived as a harmless display of personal taste but as a political act of treason. The portrait of himself that Alcibiades commissioned to commemorate his athletic victories, for example, was seen in just this light…””Thucydides, too, says as much when he claims that the excesses of Alcibiades’ personal life aroused suspicions among the people that he was desirous of tyranny.”
“Most importantly, Alcibiades—one of the three Athenian generals… was implicated in the profanation of the mysteries… the various witnesses who came forward [give] their testimonies… the first of these witnesses, a slave who implicated Alcibiades and ten other men in the profanation of the Mysteries…”
“Chapter 6… describes Alcibiades reluctance to depart for Sicily before the charges brought against him were actually addressed in trial.”
Quoted from, ‘The Mutilation of the Herms: Unpacking a Ancient Mystery’ by Debra Hamel
…
Quoted from ‘Features of Greek Satyr Play as a Guide to Interpretation for Plato’s Republic,’ by Noel B. Reynolds:
“Adapted by Plato in the part of the ‘Symposium’ where Alcibiades describes his unsuccessful romantic overtures toward Socrates. Having prevailed upon Socrates to come to dinner and spend the night, Alcibiades approaches the satyr-sage in bed and asks if he is sleeping.””By Plato’s inversion, however, it turns out that Socrates, unlike the Silenus of the myth, is fully awake—indeed, preternaturally sober and vigilant…”
“Socrates does, however, like Silenus, engage his would-be captor in conversation—he imputes a motive to Alcibiades for his attempted “capture.”
…
“Socrates and Silenus, the other famous satyr to whom Alcibiades compared him… Silenus and the satyrs are known for rapid and even comical swings from courage to cowardice.”
“Because certain satyr plays bear their names, Moirae (fate) and Momus (blame) are prominent among these… Additional examples in the ‘Republic’ are numerous. In one passage alone, Socrates introduces four—impudence (‘hybris’), anarchy, prodigality, and shamelessness.”
“ ‘Hybris,’ … is the name of another satyr play by Sophocles. Of course, Hybris is the mother of Pan…”

Cratylus, finally, asks them their names.
They were caught off guard, and wondered how they hadn’t yet given anyone their names. Maybe no one cared, until then. Maybe they weren’t sure to ask.

”There’s so many names! I don’t think I can rememeber all of them!”

Cratylus: “You’re wondering what good are names anyways, aren’t you?” asked Cratylus.

Hermogenes responds in an argumentative way. “Oh, not this again. Here we go again… with the ‘importance’ of names.”

”Anyways, forget Hermogenes, what are ‘your’ names?”
“If they wanted to give you their names don’t you think they would have offered them?” 

“My name is Aleon.”


…

….
“… since the precipitous fall of man from heaven has left his mind in a vertiginous whirl and since according to Jeremiah, death has come in through the windows to infect our hearts and bowels with evil, let us call upon Raphael, the heavenly healer that by moral philosophy and dialectic, as with healing drugs, he may release us. When we shall have been restored to health, Gabriel, the strength of God, will abide in us. Leading us through the marvels of nature and pointing out to us everywhere the power and goodness of God…”
“… he will deliver us finally to the care of the high priest Michael. He, in turn, will adorn those who have successfully completed their service to philosophy with the priesthood of theology as with a crown of precious stones.”
“Dialectic will compose the disorders of reason torn by anxiety and uncertainty amid the conflicting hordes of words and captious reasonings. Natural philosophy will reduce the conflict of opinions and the endless debates which from every side vex, distract and lacerate the disturbed mind. It will compose this conflict, however, in such a manner as to remind us that nature, as Heraclitus wrote, is generated by war and for this reason is called by Homer, “strife.””
“Natural philosophy, therefore, cannot assure us a true and unshakable peace.”
“To bestow such peace is rather the privilege and office of the queen of the sciences, most holy theology.”
“Natural philosophy will at best point out the way to theology and even accompany us along the path, while theology, seeing us from afar hastening to draw close to her, will call out: “Come to me…””
-Quoted from (?)wiki

…

---

2. [part 2 of ‘The House of Agathon’] Agathon’s Garden

‘Agathon’s Garden’

Heraclitus is in many ways a conventional thinker, but also a revolutionary one. He speaks of the unity of opposites, and how “everything flows.” He regards himself as self-taught, and left behind his life of luxury and privilege for a lonely one as a philosopher. He was often speaking already about how he thinks everything is composed of, at base, a thing which is akin to FIRE. Then there was Solon, a famous statesmen, who established important laws, and then Critobulus, who was there standing with his rival, Hermogenes, who both seemed overly concerned with names, people’s names, as well as simply the names for things, and “why they are such? Why thus, and not thus?” Who decided the names? and was there some kind of ancient logic to this ‘naming’ by thier ancestors?
Many of the individually dispersed conversations seemed to address paradoxes.
In addition to paradoxes They also liked to tell and solve riddles.
Anaxagoras was overheard saying, “Or you can get a copy of my book, ‘How everything came from air.’” Anaximander, not to be confused with Anaxagoras, famously predicted an EARTH quake (Thales predicted an eclipse, tracing moon-tides: or WATER. Thales, who believed everything was ultimately composed at its rudiment of water. He noticed the dew that accumulates in the mornings, and then he saw babies being born, he said out loud, by all the mammals he saw, were born with water accompanying, and therefore he deduced that all of the ‘beginnings’ of things must be involved somehow with water; thereby, he determined, we all, materiality, are begat by water, even the rocks in the caves next to us.

Heraclitus wore a cloak, and seemed to be very dignified. He appeared to be some kind of learned master, and his two acolytes beside him, Cratylus and Hermogenes, always seemed to be locked into a debate with eachother, hardly even noticing the rest of the party around them as they deliberated.Move to introduction of Heraclitus***

Cratylus, one of the satyrs concerned with names and naming, nodded and smiled.
I’m Aleon, but you can call me AL. This is my sister… Molly, who’s name is short for Molladonna, which itself is short for Molladomina, …
Reaff didnt say anything, which was characteristic of him to do. But the trio was really these three, at it’s heart: Aleon, Molly, and Raeff… and they had a couple of others with them for this occassion, but there’s already enough names involved in the story already.

”If my compatriots wish to give out their names, freely, then I’ll leave that for them to divulge freely, as so though they wish.”

”Why, I think that’s a fine asortment of names!” said Cratylus, beaming. The satyr had a facial expression of deep thought, with a forefinger and thumb pressed upon his face. He had his other hand rubbing on his chin, he was in the classic thinking man’s pose, “or even a-lion, that would be pretty cool, you’d probably like us to think of you as paired with that little monicker, would you? Yes, well, a child certainly would… Lions are powerful… Lions are the king of the jungle…”

”Aleon… Molly… and Raeff,” Hermogenes, the other satyr who likes to concern himself with names, and to argue with Cratylus about the uses for them, analyzes the names to himself awhile.
Then he spoke loudly, “sounds a bit like ‘alien;, or maybe ‘Aeon’, that would sound significant, but either way it’s a strange name.”

…
Fire, Water, Earth, and Air

Heraclitus’ philosophy of the fundamental particle of matter was fire. Thales argued it was something akin to water.

Marsyas and Democritus laughed at the descrepency of their opinions and hypothesis, and then Thales and Heraclitus attacked them back, wondering at the discrepency between Marsyas, and Silenus,
bringing up their respective origin stories from Greek mythology,
and how one, for our purposes here, represents Comedy and the other Tragedy.
It was argued as legitimate, wisest, to view the two as the union of opposites, which is fitting and good in regards to honoring the god,
the deity who presides over the Theater, the performance of writing, accompanied by music, of which all citizens of Athens would attend. The beauty of a great play was universally recognized.

…


”Thales says,” started to explain Hermogenes, “these loves for paradoxes come at a price, but it seems, and as you, Cratylus, maybe like our master Heraclitus, are considered a misanthrope–who is subject to depression–and later, isn’t it true you are becoming more and more as a ‘weeping philosopher, in the style also befitting the lessons of your philosophy master, Heraclitus, who famously came to be known as ‘The Weeping Philosopher.’” I feel Heraclitus has led you, Cratylus, into ruin.”
“Hmm, perhaps you speak true enough.”
“And Democritus, by contrast,” continued Hermogenes “is beloved by the people, and loves the people; and this is why he’s known as “The Laughing Philosopher, to us, and consequently, as he will be known to future generations.”
Heraclitus was, as a rule, always speaking about FIRE, and Thales was always talking about WATER.
Heraclitus was always going on about the basis for everything in matter being fire, or held within the principle of fire, he thought, as he explained it was kind of like how many of us subatomic thoerists think of energy, today.
Anaxagoras says that ‘HE’ believes that everything’s made from air?).
“But yeah, Anaxagoras doesn’t believe reality is composed of any one particular thing. He said the atom was EARTH, and was an assortment of the FOUR primary elements,” elaborated Silenus, to us.
“Anaxagoras says it’s none of this, and it’s actually a kind of seed or germ which contains all of these things, but isn’t indivisibly anyone one of them. All things are composed of all things, says Anaxagoras. There is a little bit of all four ‘elements’ in all things. But Anaxagoras isn’t here, so let’s not speak about him anymore.”
The allegory of hair. How does hair grow out of something that is not hair (the head)? There must be a little bit of the material that will become the hair, within the head, he reasons, as a prerequisite, like the seeds of the crop, or of one thing which was inherent within the other.
“All other things have a portion of everything, but Mind is infinite and self-ruled, and is mixed with nothing but is all alone by itself.” Marsyas proposed masterfully.

“Most things are governed by consensus, and just as it was decided by our country that my brother, Callias, should receive all of my father’s inheritence–my father, Hipponicus, being once considered the wealthiest man in our entire confederation, and also a military commander of some repute–and that I should receive none… of the inheritence, that is. And that was decided by all of us… and so…”

Alcibiades… always at the heart of the trouble-making. Heraclitus, known as ‘The Obscure One’ due to his love of cryptic utterances, remember he’s the fire one, is a rationalist yet also somehow a mystic. He loves wordplay, and playing around with paradoxical philosophies. Heraclitus was standing with his pupils Cratylus and Hermogenes… Since, he suggests, most things were formed by an agreement of people among themselves, Hermogenes, the student of Heraclitus, chimes in, that all words of a language are also formed in this way, and that he notices all things are decided by cosensus.

“Well, your father made most of his money by owning many slaves,” working in the silver mines, it was true, “Best not profit by such means,” Interjected Cratylus, who was the usual opponent to Hermogenes. 

”The only other family that could rival your family’s wealth, with the help in productive capablity of those slaves, were maybe the ‘Tyrants of Syracuse?’

More of the strange philosophical beast-men now started to enter the yard. It was already difficult to remember all of their names, now becoming nearly impossible, so we wouldn’t even try. We must simply sit back, and take it all in. Parmenides, Heraclitus, and Thales took up the heart of the dialogue. So there was Heraclitus, Cratylus, Thales, Gorgias, and Phaedrus who were seated, Agathon, Silenus and Marsyas arrived with us, and added to us was this intrusive Alcibiades, another man named Empedocles, 



(and then cheers for Solon at the end, as the statesmen are introduced… )

The children come from or the place of permanence , and impermanence, whereas their realm is total impermanence. They’re shutting the damn game off all the time.
Agathon introduces Thales, the first of the philosophers, whom some, such as Aristotle, call the father of science. He was known for breaking from mythology as explanation for worldly phenomenon. Thales taught that water was the most basic thing of reality, the arche… and he is making many contrasting and contradictory statements to Heraclitus in there, notices Alcibiades aloud, trying to start a fight.

…


Quoted from ‘Plato’s Laughter,’ by Sonja Madeleine Tanner

“Although I have treated comedy and laughter as though they are separable from elements of tragedy for the sake of giving comedy its own hearing, they are more fundamentally intertwined than I suggest here. At the same time, I have also been very hesitant to designate any of the dialogues as “comedies” or “satyr plays,” even on compelling evidence that Plato is making quite heavy use of such risible forms. A label such as “comedy,” if this book is right in its assessment, itself needs revision before it can more accurately describe the “serious,” philosophically meaningful laughter of Plato’s dialogues. It is not the aim of this book to undertake an explicit revision, so much as to suggest its need and, perhaps, to sketch some of the contours of what is needed. Plato, thus, may well be the elusive writer of both tragedy and comedy referred to at the end of the Symposium, as Clay claims, but, oddly, this makes him neither tragedian nor comedian nor ironist per se. He is all of these, but not exclusively of one another. It is in this spirit, then, that this book acknowledges but a few of its own many limitations. The book is but the shaggy hide of a satyr covering over what it clumsily hopes to reveal: a few golden treasures, due not to me, but to the alternatingly luminous, exuberant, perplexing, and philosophical dimensions of Plato’s laughter.”

…

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