The Greeks and the Irrational

The Greeks and the Irrational by E. R. Dodds

A book on a somewhat loose and heterogeneous collection of concepts.  Then,  it was to combat the pop culture image of the Greeks as the perfect culture of rationality that the Enlightenment is so blameworthy for coming up with.  (The middle ages get the equally and oppositely ridiculous image of the world of irrationality; for that I recommend C. S. Lewis's The Discarded Image.)  To be sure, it uses the loose-goosey, pop culture notion of what's rationality and irrationality, but then, so does the image.

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high summer pomps

Dingy little birds, too high up to see clearly, except that they fly nearly into the path of the sunlight, and their wings are suddenly brilliantly white as the light comes glinting through.

Something the only form the cloud has is a graceful curve, as smooth and as soft and as gray as the breast of a dove.

A bush of bright red berries -- I don't know what kind -- but the sun behind them makes the berries glow like stained glass.

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