@@> On Apr-27-98 Frank Masingill wrote to  David Martorana
 @@> on  "Self exploring goats"
 
 DM>> Just Reread "Ecclesiastes 12" .....and Yes it IS rich in thought
 DM>> provoking "getting-old" symbologies (nice senior citizen poem)! Pretty
 DM>> much how I'm starting to feel !!!
 
 DM>> The "Preacher's" beware comment on the still unborn Plato:
 
 DM> "..... My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books
 DM> there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh............"
 DM> Eccl. 12:11
 
 FM> David, you seem to be assuming that Ecclesiastes was written prior
 FM> to the appearance of Plato in the "other" culture.  I believe a
 FM> considerable scholarship would place that book quite late in the
 FM> Hellenistic Age (circa 300-0 (grin) BCE.  The notion of authorship
 FM> by the historic Solomon isn't, as far as I know, given much credence
 FM> except by fundamentalists.
 
   ....I think the quoted advice would remain essentially the same
   coming from a "fundamentalist" early or a "considerable scholarship"
   late!
 
   FM> That verse you quoted could be matched by some of the writings
   FM> of our age of Enlightenment and also by the late third millenium
   FM> or early second millenium Egyptian writings you would find in
   FM> Pritchard's _Ancient Near Eastern Texts_ (_Song of the Harper_,
 
     Was unable to find the "Song of the Harper" in my old copy
 
   FM> e.g).  Skepticism, disenchantment, resignation and nihilism are
   FM> possibilities in any age where philosophical moorings of a
   FM> dominant culture have been lost.
 
   .....Just commenting on the "getting older" text and the preachers
   advice not to trust in ungodly (philosophy) books! 
                          _^
                       _/ @@\_ ... Dave
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