ARTICLES ARCHIVE

 

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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  • Anger Does Not Look Ahead

    Of all the emotions that palpitate the breast of man, none is so potentially destructive as anger.  It comes in many flavors and varieties; but the common thread running through all of them is a ruinous loss of control that renders a man incapable of exercising rational judgment. 

  • Some Points On Reading And Understanding The Ancient Historians

    Anyone who has bothered to open the works of ancient Greek and Roman historians will notice marked differences between them and modern historians.  The differences are not trivial.  In how they express themselves, in what they emphasize or ignore, in how they view their responsibilities, and in various other ways, the ancients are simply different. …

  • Do Things Stay Professional, Or Do They Get Personal? (Podcast)

    I receive an email asking about the personal and professional aspects of litigation. Do things stay professional, or can things get personal? I offer some thoughts and comments from the trenches of the legal world.

  • The Greatest Movies Of The 1990s

    The 1990s is in some ways a unique decade. Sandwiched between the last gasp of Cold War mania (the 1980s) and the global “war on terror” (the early 2000s), it was a time of relative peace and prosperity. The internet had not yet permeated every facet of life; the isolation and atomization of the current era had…

  • You Have To Embrace Your Failures! (Podcast)

    A reader emails me with a question about a painful failure he just experienced. He wants to know if I’ve experienced similar setbacks, and how I’ve handled them. I give my thoughts on the subject, and arrive at some general rules.

  • Stop Being Afraid Of Everything! (Podcast)

    So many people today are totally possessed by their fears. Our society encourages this way of thinking. They take counsel of their fears, they stoke their fears, and they let their fears control their minds. The result is permanent stagnation. Stop being ruled by worry and fear. Break free of this mentality, and learn to have the confidence that…

  • The Greatest Movies Of The 1980s

    It isn’t easy, of course, to reduce an entire decade to convenient encapsulations.  But it is possible to put our finger on its corporeal pulse.  The 1980s did not have the grim, disillusioned, bitter flavor of the 1970s; nor did the decade have the self-satisfied triumphalism of the 1990s.  In some ways the 1980s was…

  • Do You Believe In Yourself? (Podcast)

    A reader asks a question about his personal situation. He feels like he’s working harder and harder, but not getting ahead. He also feels underappreciated by his in-laws, for whom he has done a lot. But instead of worrying about the opinions of others, maybe he should be focusing on his own opinion of himself. And then, he’ll know…

  • The Greatest Movies Of The 1970s

    More than any other decade, the 1970s laid the foundations of modern cinema.  The 1960s were no better a decade for film than the 1950s; its experimental excesses could not compensate for a shockingly meager output of quality work.  But something magical happened in the 1970s.  Perhaps it was the arrival on the scene of…

  • The Top Ten Essays Of 2023

    The following were the most viewed essays of those published here in 2023. They are listed in declining order, based on the number of views. There are some surprises here. If you haven’t had a chance to read some of them, now would be a good time to take a look:

  • “What You Need Is Strength Equal To Theirs”

    We recently discussed some words spoken by the Greek mercenary general Charidamus to the Persian king Darius III on the eve of the Battle of Issus in 333 B.C.  But we discussed only a small part of his speech.  His complete comments are worthy of our meticulous consideration.

  • Words Do Not Retreat

    There is an anecdote told about the prelude to the Battle of Issus in 333 B.C.  This momentous contest, which involved the armies of Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia, was to decide the fate of Asia. 

  • Sometimes The Game Is Rigged Against You (Podcast)

    Sometimes the game is fixed against you. In fact, sometimes what appears to be a level playing field turns out to be a rigged game. What can be done in such situations? How does a man maintain his honor and dignity? We discuss.

  • The First Fruits Of Virtue And Character Are To Displease The Corrupt And Ignorant

    In the 1340s the Italian scholar Petrarch composed a long letter to the poet Homer.  He enjoyed these imaginary exercises in which he could “communicate” with some of the great literary figures of the past; there exist letters to Cicero, Livy, and some other ancient writers.

  • The Duel Of Conway And Cadwalader

    In the early years of the American Revolutionary War, there existed a loose association of military men who lacked faith in George Washington’s ability to lead the Continental Army, and who were convinced he should be replaced.  Although Washington’s position was never seriously in jeopardy, these undercurrents of discontent eventually broke through the surface, taking…

  • The Cruel Wreck Of H.M.S. Nautilus

    The island of Cerigo, modernly called Kythira, is situated off one of the southern-jutting fingers of the Greek peninsula.  Greece’s rocky shores have without doubt claimed more than their fair share of shipwrecks; and in 1807, near the end of the Napoleonic wars, they became the scene of a terrible tale of maritime suffering and…

  • A Selection Of Latin Readings (Podcast)

    In this podcast, I offer a short selection of Latin readings from Cornelius Nepos, Cicero, and Sallust, at the request of a follower on Twitter (@DingoStar64).

  • The White Towel

    The Soviet defector and writer Victor Suvorov published a book in 1987 called Spetsnaz:  The Inside Story of the Soviet Special Forces.  Suvorov, whose real name is Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun, was himself a Spetsnaz veteran and a Soviet intelligence officer.  I enjoyed his book Inside the Soviet Army as well; and he has written other…

  • The Audiobook Of The New Translation Of Cicero’s “On The Nature Of The Gods” Is Now Available

    We’re pleased to announce that the audiobook of the new translation of Cicero’s On the Nature of the Gods is now available on Amazon’s Audible. To take a look at it, and hear a audio sample, you can click here. Audiobooks add a whole new dimension to the learning experience. The translation is available in…

  • The Nightmare Wreck Of The “Nottingham Galley”

    Would a captain deliberately wreck his own ship, or turn it over to privateers, in order to collect insurance money?  This is one of the central questions surrounding the strange and controversial story of the British merchant ship Nottingham Galley, which was wrecked off the coast of Maine in December of 1710.  It is a…

  • Into A Dark Forest

    In very ancient times there was a dense, feared, and trackless forest that separated the territory of Rome from that of Etruria.  It was called the Ciminian Forest (Silva Ciminia), and it was a region that the Romans avoided. 

  • Anecdotes Related To Ya’qub Ibn Al-Laith Al-Saffar, Founder Of The Saffarid Dynasty

    Ya’qub Ibn Al-Laith Al-Saffar was the founder of the Saffarid Dynasty of Sistan.  He lived from A.D. 840 to 879, and rose from humble origins in Afghanistan to conquer an immense area comprising parts of Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. 

  • The Bixby Letter

    Those who have seen the movie Saving Private Ryan (1998) will recall a scene where the actor playing General George Marshall reads to his staff an eloquent and moving letter of condolence written by President Abraham Lincoln to a Mrs. Lydia A. Bixby during the Civil War.  This justly famous epistle, now known as the…

  • Gratitude Links To Attitude (Podcast)

    Gratitude is what determines our attitude and outlook on life. When we are imbued with a sense of thankfulness, when we look at the world from this perspective, doors open up for us. But if we see everything from a negative, grievance perspective, then we are unable to make progress–and in fact go backwards. We…

  • The Leadership Of Captain Thrupp

    Tales of superlative leadership abound in naval history. Through the study of historical examples, we are instructed in the qualities and characteristics of proper command. In early 1871 the British Admiralty sent a detachment of soldiers and marines to Australia aboard the iron screw frigate Megaera.  The ship carried 42 officers, 44 marines, 180 seamen,…

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Original copy of Cicero’s De Officiis (On Duties) published in Holland in 1642.  From the collection of Fortress of the Mind.