"almost before the actors who have striven from them has passed from the stage."

[Cholo234]

<<almost before the actors who have striven from them have [not has] passed from the stage.>>

What does "passed from the stage" mean? The notion of "actors striving . . . " is also puzzling. The subject sentence is taken from a quote by jurist Harlan F. Stone:

"Wealth, power, the struggle for ephemeral social and political prestige, which so absorb our attention and energy, are but the passing phase of every age; ninety-day wonders which pass from man’s recollection almost before the actors who have striven from them have passed from the stage."

 

[owlman5]

Stone uses "actors" to refer to the individuals who play roles in various struggles over social and political prestige. Stone mentions that most of these once-famous struggles quickly disappear from public awareness. They disappear so quickly that they have already been nearly forgotten by the time that the "actors" die or fade into obscurity.

This looks like fairly standard metaphorical language, Cholo234. Perhaps you found it puzzling because you are trying too hard to understand an extended metaphor as some sort of literal language.

 

[Cholo234]

Thanks for the insights!

 

[velisarius]

The world represented as a stage and the people as mere players, or actors, is a very common metaphor.

All the world's a stage - Wikipedia