At one time, the Exalted One was living in Jeta Grove. A certain diety of astounding beauty approached the Exalted One and said:
Many dieties and humans
have pondered on blessings.
Tell me the blessings supreme.
The Buddha replied:
To associate not with the foolish,
to be with the wise,
to honor the worthy ones
this is a blessing supreme.
If you remember this particular pair of Harpies, then your childhood had a gem of having watched the 1963 film, “Jason and the Argonauts”.
The term is often used metaphorically to refer to a nasty or annoying woman. In Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, Benedick spots the sharp-tongued Beatrice approaching and exclaims to the Prince, Don Pedro, that he would do an assortment of arduous tasks for him “rather than hold three words conference with this harpy!”
Revelation 22:11-15. “Four Horsemen of Apocalypse,” by Viktor Vasnetsov. Painted in 1887. (Image credit: Wikipedia)
Revelation 22:11-15
New International Version (NIV)
(11) “Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.”
John Reinhard Weguelin, Horatius defending the Sublician bridge, from the 1881 edition. Credit: Wikipedia.
Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay
“Lays of Ancient Rome” (1842)
Photo By Universal Pictures
“If we have souls, they’re made of the love we share. Undimmed by time, unbound by death.” – Jack Harper (Tom Cruise), “Oblivion” (2013 film)