The Dialogue of Pessimism

the Obliging Slave

Anonymous / tradition · c. 10th century BC (approximate; exact date and even the intended tone remain debated) · Babylon (Iraq) · philosophy

A master proposes a course of action, his slave agrees and gives a reason, the master reverses himself, and the slave agrees with that too, until the pattern collapses into a bleak or comic argument that no course of action, including suicide, is actually better than any other.