You can find a complete listing of all the articles on this site here. They are listed in reverse chronological order, and are all clickable links. Twenty-five articles are displayed per page, with the publication date included. To find older articles, click on the page numbers at the bottom.
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Johan Nieuhof’s Pioneering Travels In China
Johan Nieuhof was one of the most accomplished Dutch travelers of the seventeenth century. Although he made separate and independently valuable explorations in Brazil, India, and China, it was his experience in China that has made his name known to history. No serious student of Asian history and economic affairs can afford to overlook him…
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The Limits Of Predictive Power: Graham Allison’s “Destined For War”
The central thesis of Dr. Graham Allison’s Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap? is relatively straightforward to state. When a rising power (China) is confronted by a relatively declining power (the United States), the declining one often resorts to making war on its enemy. Allison’s term for this phenomenon is “Thucydides’s…
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A Jaguar Hunt On The Taquary, And The Precepts Of Pythagoras
Every man is a jumble of paradoxes. The same man can harbor sentiments of the noblest, most generous, and elevated type; and at the same time, he can retain the capability to deliver lethal blows for necessity or sport. It is almost as if the altruist or artist needs a bit of tempering with a…
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Russian Explorer Adam Johann Von Kruzenstern Circumnavigates The Globe
In these pages we have given the great explorers of Britain, Germany, Australia, the United States, and some other nations their due. We now discuss the life and career of Russia’s most accomplished nineteenth century explorer and adventurer, the Baron Ivan Fyodorovich Kruzenshtern (Иван Фёдорович Крузенштерн). Like many of the names celebrated here, his is virtually…
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The Hand Of Ibn Muqla: Do Not Envy Those Who Wield Power
There was once a government official and literary figure of the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad named Abu Ali Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Muqla al-Shiraz. He is known to history as Ibn Muqla, and he lived from about A.D. 885 to 940. According to his biographer Ibn Khallikan, Ibn Muqla began his government service career as…
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Starting Out With The Roosevelt-Rondon Expedition In Brazil
The naturalist Leo E. Miller published an engaging record of his South American adventures in 1918 entitled In the Wilds of South America. We have previously related one of his adventures in Colombia, his quest for the elusive “cock of the rock” whose nesting places were perched over inaccessible, cavernous waterfalls. While he was in…
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The Meaning Of Self-Denial: The Herdsman And The Monk
One of the primary virtues that Ibn Zafar believes a good leader should possess is the virtue of self-denial. In Arabic this word is زهد, or “renunciation” of worldly things. What he means by this is that no leader–or any other person, for that matter–can ever become truly great until he learns how to subordinate his…
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“On Duties” Is Now Available As An Audio Book
When Quintus Curtius’s translation of On Duties was first published in 2016, it achieved something few would have thought possible.
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The Roman Ceremony Of Deification
We read about how certain Roman emperors were “deified” after their deaths. Unfortunately it is not easy to learn the details about how this process was actually undertaken. I was fortunate to come across a rare description of how the deification (deificatio) ceremony took place in the humanist Biondo Flavio’s Roma Triumphans (Rome in Triumph). …
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Hunting For A Rare Bird In The Colombian Jungle
The naturalist Leo E. Miller was a participant in the famed Roosevelt-Rondon Expedition of 1913–1914 that explored Brazil’s unknown Rio da Duvida. He also had a distinguished career exploring the wilds of many different South American countries and cataloging various species of animal life; he would later record these experiences with the publication in 1918…
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The Tale Of The Two Foxes
Ibn Zafar’s well of wisdom provides us with another fable to ponder. How the reader relates it to his or her own life experience, or to the world’s current events, will be up to him or her to decide. While the narrative below is my own, I have also included some of Ibn Zafar’s quotes…
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The Tale Of Firuz, A King Of Persia
The following story is told by the political theorist Ibn Zafar (1104–1172?) in his treatise on the art of government. We have encountered him several times previously in these pages, and have discussed many of his ideas on leadership, governance, and the conduct of foreign affairs. There are times when anecdotes can bring certain principles…
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The Final Act Of All Is Never Considered Late
It is a feature of human nature to try to control our environment. We wish to exert some kind of influence over the outcome of events, and thereby enhance our own feelings of security and comfort. Yet there are many times when human labor will fall short; it will prove itself to be incapable of…
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Some Advice To A Recruit (Podcast)
I recently received an email from a man who is about to ship off to USMC boot camp. He wanted to know if I had any pieces of advice for him before he goes. This is a subject I could talk about for hours, so I had to force myself to boil things down to…
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The Tale Of The Two Ministers: Redemption Through Patience And Faith
The following tale is told by Ibn Zafar al-Siqilli (“The Sicilian”) in his political and ethical treatise سلوان المطاع في عدوان الأتباع (The Consolation of the Ruler in Dealing with His Subjects’ Hostility). The story’s purpose is to emphasize the importance that faith and endurance play in the fates of princes. We should note that Ibn…
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The Wisdom Of Ibn Tumart: Until You Can Change Things, You Must Endure Them
The founder of the Almohad movement–a puritanical reformist school originating in North Africa–was a man named Ibn Tumart (أبو عبد الله محمد ابن تومرت). The historians tell us that he was a Berber from the Atlas Mountains in what is now southern Morocco, and that he lived from 1080 to about 1130. The biographer Ibn…
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The Strange Travels Of Pietro Della Valle
Pietro Della Valle was an accomplished traveler as well as a literary figure in his own right. Other great names of Middle Eastern exploration came after him, but he was one of the very first pre-modern Westerners to gain first-hand experience in the region. As the reader will discover, he was also undoubtedly the most…
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Decisive Action In An Emergency Can Always Be Justified
There are some who take a relaxed view of human intervention in the events of Fate. They believe that nascent crises can be placed on the “back burner,” so to speak, and left to stew in their own juices until a reasonable solution presents itself. They say that one should monitor developments, stay informed of…
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The Importance Of Knowing What Boundaries Should Not Be Crossed
One of the characteristics of the fool is his inability to comprehend the idea of boundaries. He has failed to learn what rules of conduct can, and cannot, be broken. He flaunts his whims and desires without any care as to their consequences; he rates his own judgment above that of all others, and scorns…
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“I’m Losing My Focus And My Ambition” (Podcast)
A reader is worried about his persistent feelings of lethargy and aimlessness. He’s in a rut in his life, and his routine is becoming more and more oppressive. He’s not sure what the problem is, and wants to know the best way to deal with the situation.
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Some Battles Are Worth Fighting, And Others Are Not
Historical opinion is often divided on the subject of famous military commanders. The good favor of historians may be divided with regard to their abilities, their judgments, and their battlefield results; and this favor can shift with time as readily as sand drifts aggregate and dissipate in the desert. Douglas MacArthur is one example. Some…
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The Audiobook Of “Thirty-Seven” Is Now Available
First published in 2014, Thirty-Seven defied conventional categorization and quickly achieved classic status. This seminal work—both supremely relevant to the modern era yet fervently evocative of the glories of ages past—contained the elements of a worldview that would be expanded and elaborated in the author’s later works Pantheon, Pathways, and in other writings.
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Reversal Of Fortune: The Fate Of Al-Mu’tamid Ibn Abbad, Ruler Of Seville
Al-Mu’tamid ibn Abbad (المعتمد بن عباد) lived from 1040 to 1095 and was the last ruler of the Abbadid kingdom of Seville. He was raised under the fold of royalty, and enjoyed the pleasures and good fortunes that come to young princes. In 1069, upon the death of his father Abbad al-Mu’tadid, he inherited the…
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The Remarkable Travels Of Jonas Hanway, And What He Learned From Them
Travelers and explorers march on; and I march on with my retellings of their adventures and philosophies. I suspect that few readers will have heard of the great English traveler and philanthropist Jonas Hanway; yet his career and worldview embodies many of the values we have extolled here, as we will understand later in this…
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How Venice Solved Its Political Corruption Problems
Corruption is like a virus, or a noxious weed. If you turn your back on it for even an instant, you will find it has found creative ways to grow and spread. Like any human activity, it can never be completely eradicated; but it can certainly be tamed and curbed, and prevented from interfering with…
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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