CELEBRATING THE PAST: HORACE’S ODES AS AIDE MÉMOIRE

  • S. Thom Stellenbosch University

Abstract

In Travels with Herodotus Ryszard Kapuscinski writes: Herodotus admits that he was obsessed with memory, fearful on its behalf. He felt that memory is something defective, fragile, impermanent – illusory, even. That whatever it contains, whatever it is storing, can evaporate, simply vanish without a trace. His whole generation, everyone living on earth at that time, was possessed by that same fear. Without memory one cannot live, for it is what elevates man above beasts, determines the contours of the human soul; and yet it is at the same time so unreliable, elusive, treacherous. It is precisely what makes man so unsure of himself ... In the world of Herodotus, the only real repository of memory is the individual (2008:75-76).
Published
2012-03-30
Section
Articles