Life and Death

Echoes of Man is my month-long sojourn into antiquity. I plan on entering the ancient world and basking in its glory for the entire month of November.

During this time, I will be reading and reviewing literature of the time and posting about related topics. If you have anything you would like to add - a review, an informative post, etc. - let me know. I would love to have you join in!
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James Shirley (1596-1666) is not a well known poet, and I'm betting many have never heard this one, Death the Leveller, but I thought it a fitting introduction for the two points I want to make in this post: 1. Everyone dies and 2. Life must be lived.

The glories of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against Fate;
Death lays his icy hand on kings:
Sceptre and crown
Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.

Some men with swords may reap the field;
And plant fresh laurels where they kill;
But their strong  nerves at last must yield;
They tame but one another still:
Early or late
They stoop to fate,
And must give up their murmuring breath
When they, pale captives, creep to death.

The garlands wither on your brow;
Then boast no more your mighty deeds!
Upon Death's purple altar now
See where the victor-victim bleeds.
Your head must come
To the cold tomb:
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in their dust.

One of the themes I'm noticing in my readings of ancient literature is the heroic nature of kings. Agamemnon, Menelaus, Odysseus, Gilgamesh, these men were powerful rulers, and their heroism is tied to their position in society. And yet for each, death comes. This is probably most clear in Gilgamesh. At first he desires immortality through remembrance, attempting heroic deeds which will ensure his name live on long after he is gone. Upon witnessing the death of his beloved Enkidu, Gilgamesh determines to find the secret of ever-lasting life. But the gods he encounters on his journey all tell him the same thing. All men die.

Mimnermus, a poet who lived in Greece around 610 BCE, wrote a poem that has similar theme to Shirley's:

Short-lived is treasured youth
like a dream. And soon
the painful and ugly old age
looms above our heads,
hated and despised alike,
takes over men deforming
and making them unrecognizable,
damaging the sight, and mind.

The stories that I am reading do not, however, make death out to be just some sad loss; instead they turn their attention to life, focusing on how one should live rather than dwelling on death. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Siduri, a goddess, tells Gilgamesh:

When the gods created man they allotted to him death, but life they retained in their own keeping. As for you Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man.

Or look at the words of Alcaeus, 6th century BCE:

Zeus is pouring; heavy storm is coming from the sky,
and the water streams turn to ice.
Defeat the winter!
put on a big fire, fill up your glass with sweet wine
and lay your head on your soft pillow.

Death is inevitable, but how you  go about living with the certainty of death is what counts. Around 65 BCE, Horace composed a series of poems centered on this idea of living life while you can. The phrase "Carpe Diem" originated in these poems and has had a long life of popularity ever since. Horace writes:

Scale back your long hopes

to a short period. While we
speak, time is envious and

is running away from us.
Seize the day, trusting
little in the future. 

Most of the words of wisdom strongly suggest a focus on what today we refer to as "the simple things in life" and what then probably was more like "survival". Even the Bible tells us to "Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die" (Isaiah). While we may all be equal in death, we are not all equal in life; and so it is life which should concern us.
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Echoes of Man Image from ~darkmatter257 at deviant art
Goddess of Wine by uriska on deviant art
Carpe Diem at Psychology  Today