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Your Guardian Deity
Plutarch’s essay On Socrates’s Personal Deity (593A-594A) contains an idea that I find appealing. He proposes that every man has a “personal deity” that looks out for him and helps him in a time of need. We can think of this deity as a kind of guardian angel. The personal deity is an experienced attendant-god or…
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The Strange Adventures Of Antonio Marques Da Sylva
Toby Green’s excellent book Inquisition: The Reign of Fear contains an interesting story that highlights how uncertain and adventurous life could be in ages past. The story concerns one Antonio Marques da Sylva, a Brazilian man who lived in seventeenth century Bahia. In 1647 he was married to Maria Figeuira de Abreu. He had children…
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How To Read A Book
I often get questions on book recommendations. People will ask me, “What book do you recommend for learning about XYZ historical event?” Or they will say, “What book do you recommend for learning about XYZ philosophy?” Or whatever. And this is fine. I always am happy to give my opinion. I like to discuss, to…
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Michael Collins: The Irish Prophet Of Urban Guerrilla Warfare
Few figures in the history of guerrilla warfare have been as influential and successful as Michael Collins (1890-1922), the Irish revolutionary leader. His tactical and strategic mastery of urban guerrilla techniques showed what a determined minority could do against an oppressive system of domination. His career is said to have been studied carefully by such…
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An Excerpt From The Upcoming “Stoic Paradoxes”
This fall, I will be releasing a translation of Cicero’s Stoic Paradoxes. The book deals with some of the major questions on life and conduct that every man must confront. The book came about in response to the many questions I received asking for good introductory texts on Stoicism. I feel that this little book is…
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On Making Setbacks Appear To Be Advances
Conflict surges back and forth. There will be advances, and there will be reverses. It is inevitable: no one who is actively engaged in the games of life will be able to avoid reverses. But then the question becomes: how may reverses be characterized as gains? If you believe that this is not a question…
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Paul Von Lettow-Vorbeck: The Greatest German Commander Of The Great War
The leadership principle of “economy of management” holds that we should strive to do more with less. If the ability to do much with limited resources is a measure of greatness, then few field commanders in twentieth century military history are greater than Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. His name is relatively unknown today, but a recounting…
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Take The Initiative And Do The Unexpected
Your enemies are slothful, satisfied, and unwilling to tolerate pain and discomfort. They wish to be comfortable, to enjoy their privileges, and to spend their days in leisure. They would rather hate on you than do any work to improve themselves. They are cozy in their little domains. You, on the other hand, are…
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The Fable Of Aridaeus of Soli
Plutarch’s essay On God’s Slowness to Punish (563C et seq.) relates a vivid fable on the punishments meted out to those to commit evil acts in their lives. It also relates to us the requirements and possibilities for moral redemption. The fable takes the form of an out-of-body experience that has much to say about…
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Great Leaders Usually Emerge In Crises
The current batch of presidential candidates leaves me feeling nothing. I don’t feel inspired by any of them. I don’t feel interested in any of them. All I feel is…nothing, a generalized emptiness that edges into contempt. All of them are complete nothings, nonentities. You may feel the same way. When it comes to politics,…
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Seeking Peace Of Mind: A Letter
We cannot always choose our circumstances, but we can adapt our minds and attitudes to the circumstances we are presented with. Plato, in the Republic (604c5 ff.), famously compared life to a game of dice that was structured at two levels: the throw of the dice (over which we have no control), and the way…
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Some Thoughts On The Use Of Words, Gathered While Eating Bolinhos De Bacalhau
I was sitting last night (and early this morning) at a locally well-known restaurant in Rio de Janeiro named Cervantes (it’s in Copacabana, near Leme). I was eating some of the best bolinhos de bacalhau I had ever had, and talking with a girl I’ve known for a while here. As the flow of…
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Your Defiance Is Your Abundance
We hear a lot, here and there, about creating a “mentality of abundance.” We read much about how we need to create an “abundance mindset.” Abundance! Abundance! Abundance! Scream the hype-men, the carnival-barkers, the chest-beaters. It is a tiresome pantomime. All under the circus big-top. Step right up, ladies and gentlemen! Which is fine,…
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What Is The Best English Translation of Sun Tzu’s “Art Of War”?
My article this week at Return of Kings deals with Sun Tzu’s Art of War. Sun Tzu’s The Art of War is one of the most widely read of the military classics. A very large number of translations exist, of decidedly uneven quality. Some of these “translations” omit large portions of the original text’s…
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The Apple Of Empress Eudocia
I came across a poignant little tale yesterday, languishing in a forgotten volume of history on the reign of the Roman emperor Theodosius II (A.D. 401-450). The book is the Chronographia of the ecclesiastical historian John Malalas (c. 491-578).
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Coming This Fall: Stoic Paradoxes
Stoicism has proven itself to be an enduring and influential philosophy. It may not have attracted the greatest number of adherents when compared to other schools of philosophy, but the men that it did attract tended to be the best men. Cicero, whose name is synonymous with eloquence, wrote a great deal on Stoicism. I will…
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The Ethic Of Prison Camp Survival
One of the greatest accounts of suffering and survival that I’ve read is the book Prisoners of the Japanese by writer Gavan Daws. It’s a compendium of anecdotes, stories, and harrowing accounts of Allied prisoners taken by the Japanese Army in the Pacific. More than this, it is a painstakingly-assembed oral record of the men–almost all…
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Back To The Basics: The Educational Teachings Of John Comenius
I’ve recently learned something about the theories and works of a little-known philosopher and educationalist named John Comenius (1592-1670). He was a Czech cleric perhaps best remembered for his progressive theories on universal education. Some exposure to his ideas made me realize just how out of focus the educational system is here in the United States.…
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“Do What I Say, Not What I Do”
We live in times where our “leaders” at the top lecture us on duty and responsibility, yet aggregate to themselves a larger and larger portion of the pie. They grow fat on your labor, and on your backs; and yet you have very little to call your own. And in their spare time, they sweep away…
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Stephen Mitchell’s “The Iliad”
I like to listen to audiobooks when driving around. News doesn’t interest me as much as in years past, and I can get what I want from websites. I recently rented Stephen Mitchell’s new translation of The Iliad from my city’s library, thinking I would give the old tale another chance. I had read bits and…
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Delusion Is The Enemy Of Precision
I’m not a big Sherlock Holmes fan. Some of the stories are amusing, but I never really warmed to the character. (I do like Arthur Conan Doyle’s science fiction and suspense stories, but that’s a separate conversation). Anyway, about Sherlock Holmes. He used to have a saying that “Passion was the enemy of precision.” And…
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Beauty Seeks Beauty, And Ugly Seeks Ugly
Essayist and Japan observer Alex Kerr wrote a very perceptive collection of essays on Japanese culture and his experiences with it. The book was released in the 1990s and was called Lost Japan. I admire the book very much. The essays in the book are unified by one theme: his quest for the hidden beauty…
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Adding Much-Needed Variety To Your Fitness Routine
Everyone knows that physical fitness is crucial. It is the bedrock that supports the other activities of the body and the mind. But it’s often necessary to change things up a little. It’s too easy to slip into a rut, to fall into a trap of feeling that we’re well-rounded, when we may not be.…
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7 Reasons Why You’re Not Reaching Your Foreign Language Learning Goals
Language acquisition and learning are subjects that I’m interested in. Over the years, I’ve worked very hard to acquire knowledge a detailed knowledge several foreign languages. I’ve lived in several countries, and have never had a problem conversing in the local language. And I’m not just talking about rattling off a few survival phrases, either.…
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Ruthless: A Memoir By Jerry Heller
[My article this week at Return of Kings is about my impressions from reading Jerry Heller’s 2006 book Ruthless: A Memoir. It’s a fascinating journey into the world of N.W.A., the seminal rap group that became a sensation in the late 1980s and early 1990s.] I still remember the time I first listened to N.W.A.’s Straight…
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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