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.

To search the site by subject, topic, or name, you can use the “Search” function on the right sidebar.

_______________________________

 

  • 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.  

  • 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. 

  • 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.

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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.”

  • 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;…

  • 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:

  • 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…

  • Synesius’s Wise Advice On Kingship

    By 400 A.D. the Roman state was struggling with severe problems both internal and external.  In 395, the Goths, a foreign nation Rome had unwisely permitted to settle within the empire’s borders, initiated an armed revolt, and laid waste to the provinces south of the Danube.  “[They] boldly avowed the hostile designs,” says Gibbon, “which…

  • Italica

    The Battle of Ilipa was fought in Spain in 206 B.C. between a Roman army commanded by P. Cornelius Scipio (Scipio Africanus) and Carthaginian forces under Hasdrubal Gisco and Mago, the brother of the renowned Hannibal. 

  • Vegetius Discusses The Importance Of The Martial Virtues

    We know almost nothing of the life and career of the Roman military writer Vegetius.  Historical references in his books suggest that he flourished in the late fourth century A.D.  His work on Roman military affairs, De Re Militari (On Military Science) is a revealing window on the state of the empire’s military preparedness in…

  • The Leadership Principles Of Iphicrates

    History distinguishes the Athenian general Iphicrates for the superlative quality of his leadership, the extent of his martial innovations, and his understanding of the psychological dimension of war.  He lived from about 418 B.C. to 353 B.C.  We will discuss some of the leadership principles that may be distilled from the writings of two ancient…

  • Better Exile Than Submission: The Passion Of Dante Alighieri

    Dante Alighieri was born in 1265 to Bella and Alighiero Alighieri.  His mother died in Dante’s infancy, and his father passed away when the poet had barely reached fifteen.  It was not a wealthy family by any measure; although Dante’s Florentine lineage was distinguished, his family was unable to convert pedigree to lucre.

  • Alexander And Porus Speak On Fortune And Glory

    Alexander the Great’s incursions into the Indian subcontinent brought him into conflict with local rulers unwilling to submit to Macedonian rule.  One of these rulers is known to history by the name Porus.  The sources are vague and contradictory, but he apparently controlled the Punjabi region bordered by the Jhelum and Chenab rivers. 

  • The Bad Acts Of Others Do Not Excuse Our Own

    The adventures of the Armenian king Papa, who lived from A.D. 353 to about 375, are described by the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus (XXX.1).  Gibbon gives the king’s name as Para; other sources variously spell his name as Pap or Papa.  We nod at all these spelling variations, and suggest the reader choose the one…

  • The Most Odious Of All Treacheries

    There is an instructive historical anecdote that appears in the writings of both Frontinus (Stratagems IV.4) and Valerius Maximus (VI.5).  It describes an incident that took place in 394 B.C. during the consulship of Camillus. 

  • The Irrepressible Adaptation Of The Mind

    Several days ago I read one of Edgar Allan Poe’s lesser-known stories, “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether.”  It was first published in 1845.  Readers may not be familiar with the story; but as it seems to offer a useful commentary on contemporary affairs, I wanted to share my thoughts about it. 

  • On Why A Slovenly Appearance Is A Form Of Muted Hostility

    The Roman writer Aulus Gellius, in his Attic Nights (XIII.22), records the following anecdote.  Gellius was once conversing with his teacher, one Titus Castricius, whom he describes in glowing terms as “a man of the greatest prestige and dignity.” 

  • The Terrible Loss Of The “Rothsay Castle”

    Today only historians of the sea have heard of the horrific loss of the steam packet Rothsay Castle in 1831.  Yet in its day, the tragedy aroused considerable public indignation and mourning in England; and it remains one of the most unsettling of the nineteenth century’s long list of maritime calamities.  We will retell the…

  • Convenience Leads To Dependence, And Then To Ruin

    It often happens that, in the affairs of states and princes, conveniences lead to dependency, and from dependency to ruin.  What may first appear to be advantageous, may in time prove to be only the first link of a chain forged for the purpose of bondage.  History abounds with examples of this slide into servitude,…

  • Two Immortal Speeches Delivered By The Emperor Julian

    The Roman emperor Julian, wary of the encroaching borders of the Persians, undertook a military campaign against the Persian Empire in March of A.D. 363.  Despite some initial successes, the operation resulted in a defeat for Roman arms and Julian’s own death in battle.  Yet the field of conflict yielded more than just a litany…

  • The Inviolability Of The Artist’s Work (Podcast)

    The world recently learned that the estate of British author Roald Dahl actually allowed a team of censors to purge words and phrases from the author’s works that they deemed “offensive.” This is a terrifying escalation in the left’s war on the literary record and on artistic expression in general. The idea that censors would…

  • Lose Your Subsistence, Surrender Your Liberties

    Deprivations of property or liberty may proceed by guile or force, or by an admixture of the two.  The trickery of a malicious sovereign must be matched, and exceeded, by the vigilance of his subjects; and no sentinel on the battlements of liberty can afford to relax his guard.  Assurances of benign intentions carry no…

  • The Artificial Man, And The Man Of Substance

    Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Man That Was Used Up” was first published in 1839.  The plot line of the story is as follows.

20160812_162948

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