WHEN I was a boy I came upon the line from Ecclesiastes, “Let us now praise famous men.” In succeeding decades I have found myself running its implications through my mind.
Early on I wondered why exactly it was thought appropriate, let alone necessary, to praise famous men. If such men as were to be praised were already famous, as the Biblical injunction presupposes, then would they not disdain as either redundant, or immodest, the solicitation of more praise than they had already? It seemed, in that perspective, just a little infra dig to enjoin such praise.
Comments