http://ukadventureracing.co.uk/createuser/ A nice review, intelligently written as always, by Tony Grafton of Stephen Greenblatt’s book on the discovery of Lucretius by my favorite humanist Poggio Bracciolini. Poggio struck me from the first time I encountered him in the form of his deeply sympathetic and humane letter describing the sadistic and dishonorable burning of Jerome of Prague […]
Category Archives: Ancient History
Lucretius, Poggio, Greenblatt, Grafton.
03-May-12Plutarch on Lycurgus.
05-Dec-11mutually Human life used to be significantly more varied than it is now, as this little snapshot from Sparta shows. Lycurgus was the lawgiver who gave Sparta its distinct character, which it maintained for centuries. Now this is a truly radical program of reform: After the creation of the Senate, his next task, and indeed, the […]
Plutarch on Timon of Athens.
22-Nov-11From the Life of Antony. Antony, at the end of his life, his hopes shattered, said that he just wanted to end his days living the life of Timon of Athens. Plutarch thus digresses: This Timon was a citizen of Athens, and lived much about the Peloponnesian War, as may be seen by the comedies […]
The name of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq has recently come to my attention, and now I’m very curious to lay my hands on a real copy of the Epistulae Turcicae in Latin. Apparently, while de Busbecq was in Turkey he transcribed the famous Monumentum Ancyranum, which contains the text in Greek and Latin of Augustus’s […]
Demosthenes Talking to a King.
19-Nov-11Philip, King of Macedon, in this case, who would shortly conquer Greece: It was evident, even in time of peace, what cause Demosthenes would steer in the commonwealth; for whatever was done by the Macedonian, he criticized and found fault with, and upon all occasions was stirring up the people of Athens, and inflaming them […]
Yet another remarkable story from Plutarch. The similarities to the sacrifice of Isaac are remarkable, and in general, whether or not religious precepts should be exposed to this kind of treatment, as opposed to taken at face value, is one of the perennially relevant theological questions; and whether or not the virtue of actions may […]
Reading a fair amount of Plutarch recently, the lives of Timoleon, Aemilius Paulus, Pelopidas, and Marcellus. What a superb man. Below is very nearly a summa of the highest, deeds-oriented (as opposed to eloquence-oriented) Classicism. You can hear how much he shaped the writerly outlook on Montaigne fifteen centuries later – what a thought, that […]
Harvard’s 1869 Entrance Exam.
25-Sep-11Of course I think it’s great, because I could probably pass it. But admittedly all it is now is an indication of how much American higher education has changed in 150 years. This without a doubt resembles exams from 169 A.D. more than the current SAT. http://spectrum.columbiaspectator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/harvardexam.pdf Full blog post of which it is a […]
A Little Plato for Pleasure (and Pain).
09-Aug-10On entering we found Socrates just released from chains, and Xanthippe, whom you know, sitting by him, and holding his child in her arms. When she saw us she uttered a cry and said, as women will: “O Socrates, this is the last time that either you will converse with your friends, or they with […]
Plutarch on Augustus and the Man with the Ass.
22-Nov-11Just before the Battle of Actium: Of Caesar they relate that, leaving his tent and going round, while it was yet dark, to visit the ships, he met a man driving an ass, and asked him his name. He answered him that his own name was Fortunatus, “and my ass,” he said, “is called Conqueror.” […]