The Roman historian Sallust, in his Conspiracy of Catiline, reminds us that
Continue readingAuthor: Quintus Curtius
Rights That Have Been Won, Do Not Automatically Remain Won (Podcast)
Rights and liberties that have been won by past generations will not remain won without active and forceful advocacy by successive generations. Why? Systems of power and control will inevitably regroup and counterattack, and seek to roll back the clock. This is happening all around us now. Those who are unwilling to assert their rights, and unwilling to protect what past generations earned, will find themselves stripped of their patrimony.
Continue readingDeep Memories Yield No Epitaphs
Chapter 23 of Moby-Dick is entitled “The Lee Shore.” It offers some philosophical commentary on the need for travel and direct experience. Melville reflects on the restless, roaming nature of a sailor named Bulkington:
Continue readingThe Gettysburg Address
Let us tell the story of the greatest speech ever delivered by an American president.
Continue readingNowhere Is Rome Less Known Than At Rome
In a letter written to Giovanni Colonna in 1337 or 1341—scholars are uncertain of the precise date—Petrarch says as follows:
Continue readingThe Audiobook Of The New Translation Of Frontinus’s “Stratagems” Is Now Available
Fortress of the Mind Publications is pleased to announce that the audiobook of the new translation of Frontinus’s Stratagems is now available. The link to Amazon Audible can be found here. The book is read by narrator Saethon Williams, whose expert audio renditions have featured in Quintus Curtius’s other translations. Besides Amazon Audible, the audiobook can be found at a number of retailers, library platforms, and streaming services:
Continue readingPress Your White Hairs With A Helmet
In book nine of the Aeneid, the Rutulian warrior Numanus Remulus makes a famous declamation, in which he speaks the following lines:
Continue readingYou Have No Right To Turn Away (Podcast)
In an 1842 letter to Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Scottish writer Thomas Carlyle chastised Emerson, saying, “A man has no right to say to his generation, turning away from it, ‘Be Damned!’ It is the whole past and the whole future, this same cotton-spinning, dollar-hunting, canting and shrieking, very wretched generation of ours. Come back into it, I tell you.” What did he mean by this? And what importance does Carlyle’s admonition have for us today? It turns out that it has a great deal of importance. We discuss.
Continue readingThe Loss Of The “Boston,” Which Was Burned By Lightning
No one should doubt the extraordinarily destructive power of lightning. A dramatic illustration of this power occurred in 1830, when the packet ship Boston was hit by a bolt of lightning in the Atlantic and burned to the waterline, with the loss of one unfortunate passenger.
Continue readingThe Expedition Of Antoine d’Entrecasteaux
The French naval officer and explorer Antoine Bruni d’Entrecasteaux was born at Aix-en-Provence in 1739. He enlisted in the French Navy in 1754; but he must have shown promise to his superiors, for they granted him an officer’s commission two years later.
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Quintus Curtius 
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