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The Object Of Unceasing Pursuit
One of Poe’s lesser-known stories, The Domain of Arnheim, seems to offer his theory of aesthetics. I say “seems to,” because the dream-like quality of the story leaves the reader with more than a residue of ambiguity.
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The Delusion Of Indispensability
More futility than nobility is found in the wars of the emperor Justinian. His capable general Belisarius reconquered Africa and Italy, humbling the strutting pride of the Vandals and Goths; but these fugacious victories only hastened the West’s final ruin.
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Your Own Lying Eyes
Edgar Allan Poe’s short story The Sphinx is not one that readers may be immediately familiar with. Despite having been composed in 1850, its lesson resonates powerfully in the age of social media and unrelenting news cycles.
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The Necessity Of Unity And Cohesion
In 1870 an obscure French army officer and military theorist named Charles Jean Jacques Joseph Ardant du Picq died from wounds he received during an engagement of the Franco-Prussian War.
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The New Translation Of Cicero’s “On The Nature Of The Gods” Is Now Available (Podcast)
Last week the new translation of Cicero’s On The Nature Of The Gods was published. It is available in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle. An audiobook version will come out next month. This podcast explains what the book is about, why it is important, and the special features my translation has. I also read the translation’s…
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Ancient Contacts Between The Roman Empire And China
The curious mind may be puzzled by the apparent paucity of commercial and cultural contacts between the Roman and Chinese empires. That these two mighty states seem to have had such meager intercourse with each other, for so many centuries, is one of the oddities of antique history.
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The New Translation Of Cicero’s “On The Nature Of The Gods” Is Now Available
The new, annotated translation of Cicero’s classic On the Nature of the Gods (De Natura Deorum) is now available in paperback, hardcover (with classic dust-jacket), and Kindle editions. An audiobook edition will follow in October.
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Benjamin Franklin’s Levee: A Warning Against Concentrations Of Power
Readers may not be aware that one of the meanings of the word levee is an assemblage of visitors before a sovereign. It was in this sense of the word that Benjamin Franklin composed a short but pointed commentary on an Old Testament parable from the Book of Job, which he entitled “The Levee.”
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The “Excessive Questions Warrior”
There is a certain personality type that anyone offering a service is aware of. I call him the Excessive Questions Warrior. This is someone who peppers you will extended, excessive questions about their issue, with an inordinate focus on your capabilities. The purpose is to exert control or dominance over the interaction. Such people are…
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Some Business And Money Advice From Benjamin Franklin
The fecund pen of Benjamin Franklin has conveyed, in the realm of personal and professional advice, numberless treasures to posterity. Recently, while engaged in research for an upcoming translation project, I was directed to an old volume of Franklin’s writings. In it appeared the short composition presented below.
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Lack Of Compliance With The Small Things Spells Trouble With The Big Things (Podcast)
If you are in a job where you have to deal with clients or the general public, be alert to the small clues or “tells” that reveal a person’s state of mind and attitude. If a prospective client fails to show a willingness to comply with reasonable, basic rules, it almost always means the person…
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Podcast With The Bonner Report
I recently had a great podcast with scholar and historian Dr. Michael Bonner, who can be found on X (formerly known as Twitter) by clicking here.
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“Oppenheimer”: A Movie Review (Podcast)
In this podcast, we discuss Christopher Nolan’s masterful Oppenheimer (2023), and explore its strengths and minor flaws. As a character study, the film is highly instructive; it paints a picture of a brilliant man who failed to appreciate the role of emotions and personalities in human affairs, a fact which caused him to fall victim…
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The Chessboard Of Sissah
Ibn Khallikan’s Biographical Dictionary contains an entry (III.68) for one Abu Bakr Al Suli, who is described as an accomplished scholar, biographer, and enthusiast of the game of chess. He was so good at this game, we are told, that his name entered the roll of Arabic proverbs in the saying, “He plays chess like…
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The Torrent Does Not Precede The Rain
The noted jurisprudent, polymath, political scientist, and theologian Ali Ibn Muhammad Ibn Habib (علي إبن محمد إبن حبيب) was a native of Basra, Iraq, and lived from about A.D. 974 to 1058. He is more commonly known by the name Al-Mawardi (الماوردي).
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A Pig Cannot Teach Minerva
There is a saying referenced in Cicero’s Academica (I.5) that touches on our practical inability to give instruction to power. The reference is as follows:
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The Past Never Leaves Us
Ambrose Bierce remains the only major writer who actually experienced, and survived, combat in the American Civil War. Henry James and Mark Twain chose to sit out the war. Twain’s actions in particular look very much like the behavior of a deserter. Walt Whitman served as a nurse, but he did not fight.
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The Mysterious Onager Of Bahram Gur
An enigmatic story is contained in Ibn Khallikan’s biographical summary of the life of the seventh century Basran poet Ibn Mufarrigh. The story is one of the few times that the biographer, speaking of himself in the first person, relates an incident connected with his own life.
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Thorinquiry: A Conversation With Thorin On Current Events, Movies, And Culture (Podcast)
I had a great conversation recently with Thorin (Twitter: @Thorin). This is a must-listen podcast.
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Service Is Our Purpose (Podcast)
Service to others is what gives life meaning. We were put on this Earth to contribute, to share, and to pass on what we know for the benefit of mankind. Every person has an instinctive, fundamental desire to teach and help others, and we should develop this instinct. Doing this will contribute to the positive…
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We Must Be Bold In All Our Designs
We will relate two anecdotes that appear in the historian Polyaenus’s Stratagems (V.14—V.15). There once was a young man named Thrasymedes who fell in love with the daughter of Peisistratus, an ancient tyrant of Athens. One day, as the girl was walking in an official processing through the streets of the city, Thrasymedes boldly approached…
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Hooke’s Law And The Problem Of Longitude
The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word elasticity in the following way: “Of material substances, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous: that spontaneously resumes (after a longer or shorter interval) its normal bulk or shape after having been contracted, dilated, or distorted by external force.”
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The Betrayal And Fall Of Acrocorinthus
Aratus of Sicyon was a Greek politician and military commander who lived from 271 to 213 B.C. He was forced to flee his native city of Sicyon at seven years of age when his father, a prominent politician, was murdered by a rival. Raised in Argos, he distinguished himself as an athlete and a leader;…
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The Gift Does Not Reveal The Intentions Of The Giver
There is a passage in Cicero’s On the Nature of the Gods that is worthy of reflection and discussion. It is found in III.28 of the treatise, and reads as follows:
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The Qualities Of The Good Attorney
The practicing attorney must play a variety of roles. The personalities and needs of his clients, and the circumstances of each case, will compel him to hone a specific set of human relations skills. I imagine this holds true for many professions. I want to describe briefly some of the more recurring roles that I…
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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