When thou risest from sleep with reluctance, remember that it is according to thy constitution and according to human nature to perform social acts, but sleeping is common also to irrational animals. Marcus Aurelius. Meditations. Book 8.
Image: Bronze head of Hypnos, the god of Sleep, 1st - 2nd century CE Roman copy of a Hellenistic original, found at Civitella d'Arno (near Perugia, Italy), now in the British Museum, courtesy of Carole Raddato.
Note: Hypnos first appears in mythology in the works of one of the earliest Greek poets, Hesiod (lived around 700 BCE), where Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death) were the terrible sons of Nyx (Night). Hypnos was, however, generally viewed as benevolent to mankind. The god was frequently mentioned in literary sources, and associated with poppies and sleep-inducing herbs. Hypnos' wings allowed him to move swiftly over land and sea, and to fan the foreheads of the weary until they fell asleep. His son was Morpheus, the personification of dreams. - H.B. Walters, Catalogue of bronzes, Greek, R (London, 1899)
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