Excerpted from a Forbe's review of About Time by David Rooney, available online HERE:
Ancient Romans were well aware of the coercive effect of clocks on daily life. Shortly after the first sundial was installed at the Forum, writers attacked it, damning “the man who first discovered the hours”. Characteristically for a culture fixated on cuisine, the greatest criticism concerned the timing of meals. “When I was a boy, my stomach was the only sundial,” complained the playwright Plautus. “But now what there is, isn’t eaten unless the sun says so.”
It's hard to imagine a life without clocks, but their lives were not greatly different than our own. Somehow they went to school, went to work, went to church, waged wars, imposed taxes, and everything got done.
And, of course, that reminded me of this:
No comments:
Post a Comment