II · Archai 02 / 07
POLYGONAL SPIRAL
Justice
One of the oldest surviving sentences of philosophy is about justice: things pay one another back what they owe, in the order of time. The polygonal spiral turns by the same angle at every corner — the plainest picture of fairness.
The hidden text
Ἐξ ὧν δὲ ἡ γένεσίς ἐστι τοῖς οὖσι, καὶ τὴν φθορὰν εἰς ταῦτα γίνεσθαι κατὰ τὸ χρεών· διδόναι γὰρ αὐτὰ δίκην καὶ τίσιν ἀλλήλοις τῆς ἀδικίας κατὰ τὴν τοῦ χρόνου τάξιν. In English, my rendering
Out of those things from which existing things are born, into those they perish too, according to necessity; for they pay penalty and retribution to one another for their injustice, according to the assessment of time.
Anaximander of Miletus, fragment 1 (Simplicius) Public domain — ancient text, c. 550 BC
This is exactly what the sheet carries. The reader returns it letter for letter.
Measurements
- Words
- 31
- On the sheet
- 342 bytes
- Capacity
- 1308 bytes
- Fill
- 26%
- Line length
- 1.76 m
- Data rungs
- 2,617
- Paper
- A4 · 210 × 297 mm
Prints
Archival pigment print, signed and numbered. Choose a size: