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A Fire Destroys H.M.S. “Bombay”
Fire both fascinates and terrifies man. It has nurtured man’s ascent from savagery to civilization by cooking his food, keeping him warm, and smelting his metals for war and agriculture; and yet nothing else so triggers his instincts of panic and terror when trapped in its presence. Fires in large buildings and aboard ships at…
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Carry All By The Sword: Stephen Decatur Burns The “Philadelphia”
We have noted elsewhere that the young United States went to war against the Barbary principalities of northern Africa in 1801. President Jefferson found the continued payment of tribute to these piratical opportunists to be obnoxious, and resolved to punish the corsairs militarily. Tripoli returned the favor by declaring war on the Americans. Sword and…
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The Gradual Slide Into Moral Corruption (Podcast)
In this podcast we discuss Alexandre Moratto’s 2021 film Seven Prisoners. The movie describes the experience of a young man named Matheus, who is basically sold into a modern form of industrial serfdom in Sao Paolo. He tries to rebel at first, but quickly learns the futility of resistance. But being ambitious, he gradually begins…
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Memory Of The Fallen: The Work Of Fabian Ware
Continental Europe is dotted with serene and beautiful cemeteries from the First and Second World Wars. They are also found in the Dardanelles, holding the fallen of the Gallipoli campaign. They are ordered, serene, well-kept, and dignified with the solemnity that supreme sacrifice confers. Tourists now visit them frequently, strolling among the chiseled headstones that…
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A Chivalric Duel Transcending Death: The “Constitution” Clashes With The “Java”
William Bainbridge ranks among the very greatest of the early American naval commanders. Born in Princeton, New Jersey in 1774 to a father who was a prominent physician, he was apprenticed to the sea at the ripe age of fifteen. Even as a teenager, his actions and deportment marked him as fated for great things.
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Maneuvering Is Not A Substitute For Direct Action
Winston Churchill, like most statesmen, was known to have little patience for pettifoggery and pirouetting around a problem. His mind instinctively sought the core of a problem, and was able to slash through brambles and thickets to find it. His biographer William Manchester wrote, “[He] cared little for obtuse political or social theories; he was…
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The “Tusculan Disputations” Audiobook Is Now Available
The audiobook of my translation of Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations is now available. Narrated smoothly and beautifully by Saethon Williams (the same narrator of my other translations), this audiobook is a complete and unabridged version of the print edition published in August 2021. Mr. Williams has brought his own authority, sparkle and polish to the dialogues,…
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Increased Opportunities, Increased Temptations (Podcast)
When it comes to learning, were things better back in the 1980s and 1990s, or are they better now? How has the internet contributed to the “instant gratification” mentality? What are the parameters of the tension between the availability of resources, and the ease of gratifying our baser desires? We discuss.
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The “Constitution” Escapes Certain Capture
The fabled USS Constitution is still the oldest commissioned vessel in the US Navy. Just the sight of her in Charlestown drydock is enough to quicken the pulse of any man entranced by feats of heroism and valor. A relic from an era when warships circled each other at sea like snarling dogs, she tallied…
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All Opportunity For The Good, Yet None For The Unworthy
Philo of Alexandria wrote a relatively obscure essay entitled On the Prayers And Curses Uttered by Noah When He Became Sober. His translator has fortunately shortened this unwieldy title to the compact De Sobrietate, or On Sobriety. It contains the following passage of importance:
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The New York City Doctors’ Riot
The grave of William Shakespeare is located in the Church of the Holy Trinity at Stratford-upon-Avon. Its epitaph contains this dire warning against those who would disturb his remains:
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Never Mind What Others Think…What Do YOU Think? (Podcast)
Far too often, we base our opinions on what we absorb from others. But if you have done the homework, if you have done the heavy lifting, and if you know the material, you should have the confidence to form your own thoughts. People read your writings because they want to know what YOU think,…
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Perry Captures The British Fleet At Lake Erie
A glance at a map of Lake Erie quickly reveals its strategic importance to the belligerents of the War of 1812. The lake sits atop what was then the western boundary of the United States. The British were in control of Canada; with the waters of Lake Erie at their disposal, they would be able…
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The Defense Of The “General Armstrong”
Samuel Chester Reid was born in 1783 and first went to sea at the age of eleven. Various adventures, including time as a captured prisoner of the French at Basse-terre in the Carribbean, honed his resourceful instincts; and privateering seemed a logical choice of career. Upon the outbreak of the War of 1812, Reid assumed…
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A Well-Timed Ruse: The “Peacock” Captures The “Epervier”
The naval actions of the War of 1812 are instructive for several reasons. These derive from the particular circumstances of the war, and from the nature of armed conflict in general. In the War of 1812, the United States was at a significant disadvantage to her British adversary; the British navy was the best in…
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The Almond, The Virtues, And Liberty Of Conscience
The philosopher Philo of Alexandria relates the following anecdote in his short treatise On the Life of Moses (II.23.178). The prophet Moses, we are told, had appointed his brother to the office of high priest. His decision had been based on his brother’s merits, but there was inevitably some grumbling by people who believed that…
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The Strength Of Organized And Cumulative Effort
When studying the history of the exploration of the African continent, one is struck by the relative recentness of our acquisition of its geographic details. Ancient man undoubtedly mounted expeditions here and there, but none of them has left a lasting modern mark. Egyptians, Carthaginians, Greeks, and Romans eventually contented themselves with an awareness of…
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Thomas Boyle Attacks Four Opponents At Once, And Beats Them All
Privateers were used extensively by the United States during the War of 1812. The young American Navy did not have the money, resources, or manpower to conduct naval operations along the entirety of its vast coastline; it found it expedient to commission private parties to carry out some of its objectives.
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Tusculan Disputations: What It Is About, And Why It Is Important (Podcast)
In this podcast I discuss my new translation of Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations. The work deals with five critical problems that face all of us: the fear of death, how to endure pain, how to alleviate mental distress, the various disorders of the mind, and why virtue is important for living a happy life. (A review…
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Bertha’s Grave
The following tale appeared in an old volume of forgotten maritime lore. Its author, the indefatigable historian Edward R. Snow, relates that he first heard in as a young man in Bristol, England. He frankly notes the difficulty of substantiating its details, but suggests that, like many sea-yarns, it may contain the seeds of actual…
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“I’m Thinking Of Publishing A Memoir” (Podcast)
A veteran of Afghanistan has a memoir he is trying to put together. He’s asking for some tips on how to publish it. We offer some suggestions and comments.
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Charlemagne Instructs On The Moral Requirements Of Leadership
We do not know the precise location of Charlemagne’s birthplace. He donned the crown at the ripe age of twenty-nine in 771 A.D. upon the death of Carloman II. From that moment he became embroiled in an almost ceaseless series of military campaigns designed both to expand his frontiers and safeguard them; in this turbulent…
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“Tusculan Disputations” Is Now Available
After nearly two years of preparation, my annotated, illustrated translation of Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations is now available in hardcover , paperback, Kindle , and audiobook.
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Anecdotes From The Court Of Charlemagne
The chronicler known to posterity as Notker the Stammerer (“Notker Balbulus”) was born in what is now Switzerland around A.D. 840. He seems to have come from a family that had the means to provide him with the best education his era could offer. We find him in adulthood as a monk at the monastery…
Original copy of Cicero’s De Officiis (On Duties) published in Holland in 1642. From the collection of Fortress of the Mind.
Quintus Curtius 
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