Carpe Diem, Quam Minimum Credula Postero

The line is believed to have come from Roman lyric poet Horace's (65 BC - 8 BC) Odes having nearest meaning, Seize the day (Enjoy the present moment), put little trust in tomorrow'. But probably the leitmotif of this hedonistic principle runs through entire civilization. Greco- Roman civilization is ripe with this philosophy.

Earliest Greek literature mentions Dionysus as one of the chief deities of Greek pantheon. Dionysus is the god of wine, merriment and gaiety. Dionysian, one of the chief Greek festivals, named after him is the festival of drinking wine, feasting and dancing. Epicurus is generally considered to be the founder of Greek hedonism and also in its mean form.

But as it is revealed, Anacreon, a sixth century Greek lyric poet embodies hedonism in crude form like drinking and dancing. Athenian acropolis had a statue of Anacreon singing and dancing drunkenly clearly in Dionysian tradition.  But contrary to wrongly portrayed and misunderstood as the proponent of wanton and rampant hedonism, Epicurus's is the hedonism of living happily and without suffering in sober, wise, moral, tranquil atmosphere.

His is sophisticated and articulated hedonism. It is a life of ataraxic (peace and freedom from fear) and aponia (absence of pain). According to Epicurus, drinking spree and revelries do not ensure pleasant life. He had low opinion of sex and marriage. But early Christianity characterized him as the exponent of drunkenness, gluttony and amoral sexual relationship.

Romans adopted and assimilated so many from Greek civilization including this carpe diem or enjoying the present idea. Horace was clearly influenced by Epicurus. But it is very plausible that same motif was present in earlier Mesopotamian civilization which influenced Greek literature. Sumerian civilization, especially epic of Gilgamesh (18th century BC) possibly portrays this carpe diem for the first time in that region.

To placate Gilgamesh and dissuade him from futile search for immortality, Siduri the alewife in charge of fermentation of beer and wine advices Gilgamesh to stop mourning and go back into normal pleasures of Mesopotamian life.

Hebrew civilization in its great achievement of Bible, could hardly escape deep Mesopotamian and Greek influences, though in religious viewpoint, it unequivocally espoused monotheism contrary to all sorts of polytheism prevalent in those regions. So is the Mesopotamian and Greek influence of carpe diem or pleasure seeking in Old Testament?

In Ecclesiastes or Qoheleth(collector or preacher of wisdom sayings) of Old Testament, the Carpe diem idea is very much pronounced.According to many scholars, anonymous Quoheleth believed to be King Solomon himself advises people to indulge in drinking, eating and merrymaking as there exists vanity or uselessness in everything  on earth. So he says that ' all we can do is to be happy and do the best we can while we are alive.

All of us should eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for. It is God's gift' (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13). The preacher Quoheleth asks young people thus ' Young people, enjoy your youth. Be happy while you are still young.  Do what you want to do, and follow your heart's desire'(Ibid.11:9).

Same hedonistic attitude of carpe diem is found in the poem ' De rosisnascentibus' attributed to both Virgil( 1st century BC Roman poet) and Ansonia's ( 4th century AD Roman poet) where at the close of the poem has the phrase 'Collige, virgo. rosas' - ' Pluck the roses, virgins.' One translation renders the two last lines thus' Gather, roses virgins,while they are new/ For, being past, no spring returns to you'. Clear call to maximum enjoyment of life is portrayed here.

Much earlier than Greco-Roman and biblical views on hedonistic philosophy, ancient Indian civilization was enriched with hedonistic views of life. Carvaka sutra and its foundational source, Brihaspatisutra was supreme manifestation of the viewpoint of atheism and worldly pleasures. Moreover Carvaka sutras promoted promiscuity. In Ramayana, such a carvaka philosopher sage Jabala a la Siduri to Gilgamesh tries to dissuade Rama from going to forest for 14 years and instead return home and enjoy life as there is no life, no soul, and no transmigration of soul after death.

Advent of Christianity and its spread in Europe kept hedonism at bay due to practice of Christian morality and asterism. But elsewhere especially in Persia, very conspicuous hedonism became manifest in the poems of mathematician Omar Khayyam (12th century AD). His Rubaiyat expressed finest sentiments of carpe diem.

European Renaissance continuously eroded Christianasterism in the society. Francois Rabelais( 1494- 1553?), great French writer, monk, doctor, humanist in his  Gargantuan and Pantagruel and other writing depicted a life of drinking, eating, laughing and using dirty jokes. Enjoy the present moment- carpe Diem idea was expressed in poems in different European countries. In English literature  Christopher Marlowe's ' The Passionate Shephard to his Love', Andrew Marvell's ' To his coy mistress', P.B. Shelly's ' The Flower that smiles today', Robert Frost's ' Carpe diem' reveals the idea.

Europe was sloughing off the bland, monotonous life of dark ages and was adopting the idea of living one's own life independently. In love, traditional seeking of love through marriage gave space to have freedom to find love. Edward FitzGerald's translated work ' Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam' gave a great stir in tranquil Victorian ideology of moderation and self-control. He became so popular that many clubs, tooth powder, playing cards bore brand name ' Omar'.A vitriolic comment went thus as to characterize Omar's Rubaiyat as the ' Bible of carpe diem religion'.

Karl Marx while criticizing division of labour says that  communist society ' makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.'

This in a veiled form mildly portrays sophisticated and enlightened hedonism of Epicurus. It is to be noted that Marx's doctoral thesis was related to Epicurean philosophy. Of course enjoyment of life in Marx's communist society is totally inclusive and applies to all members of the society.

Carpe diem- enjoy the present moment idea has its heyday in the present day world and gorges on the sentiments of people all over the world. One time use of multiple goods is virtually a trend. An airline has invented a cup which can be eaten along with coffee in it. Some year's back one time use cell phone was produced. Just make a call and throw it away.

In human relationship, particularly in sexual relationship, technological advancement has created unthinkable opportunity to gratify promiscuity through one night stand, a form of one time use of a special desire. No question of emotional attachment or romantic relationship in sex whatsoever and this is an extreme form of carpe diem, rather carpe noctem (seize the night). One night stand dating sites have more than 50 million visits a month. One can find personals ads of one night stand galore specially in developed countries.

Imagine a situation: Yuppies(Young urban professionals), business people take recourse to one night stand and others follow suit bit by bit. Women are reluctant to bear children so as to enjoy the present or carpe diem to the fullest extent. What will be the result for procreation? One can say, yes there is technological solution to the problem. Human cloning will be the answer. Societal science fiction? Who knows?

The writer is a retired Professor of Economics of Rajshahi University and he can be reached
at [email protected]