Those who have held leadership positions know that there are times when a group can become gripped by a sudden wave of panic or consternation. It can happen without warning; there may even be no readily discernible reason for this collective psychological seizure. Unless a leader takes stern and decisive measures without delay, such a panic can spiral out of control and plunge the group into disaster.
Continue reading
Year’s end is a time of reflection. We survey the landscape, and evaluate the passage of time. The ten most popular articles of 2022 are listed below. Some of them are surprises; others, less so. If you have not had a chance to check these pieces out, now might be a good time. The list below is arranged in order of the number of views, starting at the top.
Continue reading
A young woman from a conservative culture asks a relationship question. She is very fond of her boyfriend, an American man. She wants to move things in the direction of marriage, but the young man is ambivalent. He keeps putting her off. She wants to know what she can do to deal with the situation.
Continue reading
The following tale is related by Aelian in his treatise On Animals (X.48). In very ancient times the region of Emathia in northern Greece had a king name named Lycaon. This king’s son was named Macedon; and it is from this name that the word for the country called Macedonia has come about.
Continue reading
We turn now to the wisdom of those who are able to extricate themselves from the ensnaring brambles of theological thickets. The scholar and theologian Abd Al Rahman Ibn Al Jawzi, or more commonly Ibn Al Jawzi (ابن الجوزي), was born in Baghdad around 1115, and died there in 1201.
Continue reading
The rhetorician Libanius, who lived from about A.D. 314 to 392, wrote a letter of consolation to the emperor Julian after the city of Nicomedia was devastated by an earthquake in A.D. 358. The letter contains the following sentence:
Continue reading
A reader asks a question about the 1982 movie First Blood. Why, he asks, was Sheriff Teasle so hostile to John Rambo? What could have been his reasons? We offer some explanation. We then move into another related subject: an opossum in my backyard, and how I dealt with it.
Continue reading
We find a stirring anecdote in the history of Valerius Maximus that does not appear in any other ancient source. There was once a centurion named Mevius who fought for Octavian (who would eventually become Caesar Augustus) during the civil war between him and Antony. Of Mevius we know very little; even his full name has eluded history.
Continue reading
Sybaris was an ancient city of Magna Graecia in southern Italy. Its ruins are located in the modern Italian province of Calabria. The historians tell us that it was founded around the year 720 B.C., and that it persisted as a community until around 440 B.C.
Continue reading
Gavan Daws, in his Prisoners of the Japanese, recounts many harrowing stories of suffering and survival in the Asian prison camps of the Second World War. I recall one anecdote.
Continue reading
Quintus Curtius 
You must be logged in to post a comment.