The implications of the word jewel—precious little thing, delicate though not necessarily fragile, easy to transport, translucency that can also be impenetrable, ageless flower—make it pertinent here. I know of no better qualification for Achilles's paradox, so indifferent to the definitive refutations which have been nullifying it for over twenty-three centuries that we can already declare it immortal. The repeated tours of the mystery proposed by such endurance, the fine ignorance it has visited upon humanity, are gifts we have no choice but to accept gratefully. Let us revive it once more, if only to convince ourselves of perplexity and arcane intimations. I intend to devote a few pages—a few moments—to its presentation and most noteworthy revisions. Its inventor, as is well known, was Zeno of Elea, disciple of Parmenides, who denied that anything could happen in the universe.
5/12/14
Selected Non-Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges
The implications of the word jewel—precious little thing, delicate though not necessarily fragile, easy to transport, translucency that can also be impenetrable, ageless flower—make it pertinent here. I know of no better qualification for Achilles's paradox, so indifferent to the definitive refutations which have been nullifying it for over twenty-three centuries that we can already declare it immortal. The repeated tours of the mystery proposed by such endurance, the fine ignorance it has visited upon humanity, are gifts we have no choice but to accept gratefully. Let us revive it once more, if only to convince ourselves of perplexity and arcane intimations. I intend to devote a few pages—a few moments—to its presentation and most noteworthy revisions. Its inventor, as is well known, was Zeno of Elea, disciple of Parmenides, who denied that anything could happen in the universe.