Author: Quintus Curtius

René Caillié: To Timbuktu And Back Alive

Quintus Curtius Travel & Exploration , ,

The modern traveler has little conception of the hardships and expense that were involved in the journeys of ages past.  Surrounded by comfort, his every whim catered to by a global tourism industry, he is blissfully unaware of the suffering and danger necessarily involved in travel to remote regions of the globe before the modern consumer age.  His chief preoccupations are the adjustment of his body to new time zones, the temperature of his air-conditioning, and the quality of his accommodations.  Perhaps it is well that this is so:  for nothing so unbalances the complacent mind than the realization that its perspective is based on narrow, parochial experience.  Knowledge can both liberate and destroy.

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“Pathways” Is Now Available As An Audio Book

Quintus Curtius Current News , , ,

My essay collection Pathways is now available as an audio book.  You can click on the icon above for purchase information.  It is available on Amazon and iTunes.  The book contains my best short essays published in 2015 (56 essays in all), and is professionally read by Saethon Williams, who also produced the audio books for On Duties, Sallust, Thirty-Seven, and Pantheon.  I’ve found audio books to be a convenient way for busy people to enjoy good literary content.  You almost feel as if you are participating in a private seminar.

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Virtue Is A Sentinel (Podcast)

Quintus Curtius Podcast , , ,

The virtues have been a force promoting social cohesion and stability for thousands of years. As a society becomes more wealthy, it tends to neglect these virtues. The consequences are deeply destructive: loss of social cohesion, indiscipline, greed and moral corruption. History suggests that such societies become ripe for disorder, even collapse.

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On The Solitary Life

Quintus Curtius Thought , , ,

The scholar Petrarch once secured an audience with the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, who lived from 1316 to 1378.  His meeting with the emperor at Lombardy in 1354 is described in one of Petrarch’s luminous letters (Familiares XIX.3).  It was a charming custom of those days that kings and popes would occasionally seek out men of letters for the purpose of philosophical inquiry.  Perhaps kings preferred to talk with scholars because they were removed from the concerns of power, and could speak with a frankness that was lacking with the royal ministers and advisors.

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How To Sight-Read A Foreign Language With Speed And Efficiency

Quintus Curtius Language , , ,

One of the skills needed to acquire reading proficiency in a foreign language is “sight-reading.”  This is the act of reading a text quickly for information and comprehension.  I have found from experience that there are effective and ineffective ways of approaching this skill, and that some discussion of these points may prove to be useful.

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The Rose Of The Alhambra

Quintus Curtius Literature , , , ,

We will tell the tale of the Rose of the Alhambra.  For many years after the city of Grenada came under the control of the Spanish kings, it remained a quiet and secluded place.  Mute and desolate were its haunting spires; and, while every stone bore a secret, they contented themselves with accommodating the restless spirits of an Almoravid past.  But this changed with the accession of Philip V.  After his marriage to Isabella, he desired to visit Granada with his retinue.  The clatter of horses’ hooves, the blaring of courtly trumpets, and the cries of heralds and pages again resounded through the walls of the ancient city.

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“How Can I Help Someone With Anger Issues?” (Podcast)

Quintus Curtius Podcast , ,

A reader says that he has a family member with anger issues. Every time he tries to help the family member, the person lashes out and becomes defensive. Nothing he does seems to make the situation any better. The reader wants to know if there is anything he can do.

We discuss.

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Why We Should Forgive The Faults Of Our Heroes

Quintus Curtius Thought , , , ,

There comes a time in the life of every son or daughter when they begin to see their parents as flawed mortals.  Before this, they are still under the spell of their upbringing; they see their parents more as imposing authority figures than as anything else.  I am not sure exactly when, or how, this transition takes place; for some it may be one event, for others it may be a series of events, or an incremental process.  But it does happen, and the son begins to see the father as the human being he is, in all his definitive defects and foibles.

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Do Not Be Too Proud Of Your Generosity

Quintus Curtius Thought , ,

I have always counted myself fortunate when receiving the generosity of another.  I have never paused to ask questions about the circumstances of the giver, or to weigh the relative merits of a gift.  To be graced with the kindness of another is enough.  Perhaps what matters more is the sincerity of the giver; for a gift wrapped in cold anonymity is valued less than a benefaction derived from proximate familiarity.  We appreciate any generosity, but are more likely to cherish that which carries this aura.

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The Justice Of Malik Shah, Son Of Alp Arslan

Quintus Curtius History , , ,

Malik Shah I lived from about 1053 to about 1092, and was the sultan of the Seljuk Turkish Empire from 1072 to 1092.  His name in Turkish is given as Melikşah; and he succeeded his father, the renowned Alp Arslan.  According to his biographer Ibn Khallikan, Malik Shah was famous for his sense of justice and equity; he was said to have been untiring in his efforts to correct wrongs that were in his power to cure.  So known was he for this trait that some Arabic historians took to calling him الملك العادل (al-malik al-a’adil), which means “the just king.”

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