Year: 2020

Conscience As The Theater Of Virtue: The Justice Of Saladin

Quintus Curtius History, Thought , , ,

I very much like the following maxim of Cicero’s:

Nevertheless, no theater for virtue is greater than one’s conscience. [1]

What he meant by this was that one’s own conscience should guide the performance of good works.  He was expressing his disapproval of those who did things for the purpose of gaining public favor, instead of following that inner voice which represents man’s instinctive sense of justice.  What should be paramount in one’s mind are not specious public displays, or a craving for shameless notoriety; what should be controlling are the dictates of one’s own conscience.

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Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard” (Podcast)

Quintus Curtius Podcast , ,

This podcast is a reading of Thomas Gray’s poem Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard.  It is a stately meditation on mortality and glory, themes that appear frequently in Stoic writings.

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Washington’s Debts, And The Necessity Of Tact

Quintus Curtius History, Thought , , ,

George Washington was keenly aware of the psychological pressures of being in debt.  He once advised a nephew on the subject:

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Do What You Love, Because Life’s Going To Kick You In The Head No Matter What You Do (Podcast)

Quintus Curtius Podcast , ,

A reader asks if he’s making the right decision by leaving his corporate job and going to law school.  He is uninspired by his current job, feels restless, and wants to fight against the injustices he sees around him.  He is intelligent, organized, and motivated to change. I offer some thoughts on his decision.

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Remedies, Detriments, And Moral Factors

Quintus Curtius Thought, Travel & Exploration , , , ,

The jurist, poet, and scholar Baha Al-Din Ibn Shaddad (بهاء الدين ابن شداد) was born in the city of Mosul, Iraq in 1145.  He was a close friend of the famed commander and statesman Saladin, and wrote a highly valued biography of that eminent conqueror.  He served for a time as the qadi (judge) of Aleppo, and in this capacity had much opportunity to acquaint himself to the realities of human behavior; it seems that, no matter the country or culture, career lawyers and judges make remarkably astute observers.  Ibn Shaddad’s biographer Ibn Khallikan says that the judge often liked to quote this line of verse from the poet Ibn Al-Fadl (known as Surr-Durr):

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The Indian Rope Trick

Quintus Curtius Thought, Travel & Exploration , , ,

The traveler Ibn Battuta visited north India in the early 1330s  to seek the employment of the sultan Mohammad Ibn Tughluq.  At some point during his residence in the city of Delhi, he had occasion to observe the practices of the Indian holy men, whom he called jugis (i.e., yogis).

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Virtue Is Not Exacting In Her Admittance

Quintus Curtius Thought , ,

There is an interesting passage in the writings of Valerius Maximus (III.3) that is open to different interpretations.  It reads as follows:

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The Multimixer Moment (Podcast)

Quintus Curtius Podcast , , ,

In life there are certain crisis points that may lead to fateful decisions.  Recognizing these points, and acting decisively when they are reached, is the mark of a true man of action.  When you are on a track that you don’t want to be on, you will eventually have to choose one of two options:  accept your present circumstances, or take dramatic action to break out of your situation.  This crisis point, this moment of decision, what I call the “Multimixer Moment.”  It’s a reference to a scene in the 2016 film The Founder, a movie about how a traveling salesman named Ray Kroc founded the McDonald’s franchise.

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The Sultan’s Two Goblets

Quintus Curtius Thought, Travel & Exploration , ,

The medieval Arab traveler Ibn Battuta passed through Persia during his many years of wanderings.  One of the regions he visited there was Lorestan, which is today a province in western Iran, situated in the Zagros mountains.  Lorestan was at that time ruled by Muzaffar Al-Din Afrasiyab, a member of the Hazaraspid dynasty, which was a line of Kurdish Sunni composition.  The sultans who ruled this country carried the title atabek, a hereditary Turkic and Persian title of nobility.

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Seven Pillars Of A Noble Youth

Quintus Curtius Thought , ,

It has been said, my son, that a society which neglects its youth is a society unworthy of survival.  For while libraries and museums may be repositories of our cultural heritage, it is the youth that embody our sentient aspirations, and, through their activities, redeem our errors with the vitality of innocence.  Yet surging waters require dams and embankments to control their flows; their energies must be checked and directed into proper channels, lest this raw force of effluence create a destructive tide.  To this end I offer some words of advice.  I have drawn up seven of them; there are probably many more, but certainly there are none less.

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