Several days ago I received a warm email from a young guy in Brooklyn who had read one of my recent articles here. The story, told in the form of a fable, underscored the importance of taking the initiative in matters of love. His questions were these: How do I know when to take the initiative? How can I develop my “initiative-taking” spirit?
At one point in the Gothic War during the reign of Justinian, the Romans (or as we would now call them, “Byzantines”) under Belisarius were besieging a Gothic garrison at the town of Osimo in Italy. The blockade of the town was very effective, and the inhabitants had been reduced to eating almost anything to stay alive. But they were hoping to get some relief from the siege; their plan was to beg the Gothic commander Vittigis at the city of Ravenna to come to their aid.
The biographer Ibn Khallikan tells the following amusing anecdote about the Abbasid caliph Al-Mu’tadid (المعتضد بالله). He lived from about 860 to 902 A.D. The story makes the point that one must be decisive in matters of love and seduction. To hesitate with a beautiful woman can be ruinous.
The Confidence-Man was Herman Melville’s last novel. By some weird cosmic joke it was (perhaps suitably) published on April Fools’ Day in 1857. It is a difficult and in some ways ambiguous work, but yields up rich rewards for those willing to stay in the race to the end.
The historian Procopius relates some unusual combat injuries of the Gothic War, which took place from 535 to 554 A.D. as part of the emperor Justinian’s attempt to bring back the Italic peninsula and its environs back into the Roman fold. A few incidents stand out as worth of relation here. In our modern age of firearms and high-velocity projectile weapons, we forget that battlefield wounds from swords, javelins, and spears had their own bizarre qualities.
I didn’t post any reviews last week because I didn’t have any time to watch movies. I did have some time this week. Here are the results.
A recent experience reminded me that we often don’t appreciate the struggles that others have gone through, or the burdens that they may be carrying. Perspective is one of the first lessons of philosophy, and we should make an effort to get outside our own skin and see things from the perspectives of others. Being too quick to judge others is a fault that many of us must work to overcome.
Any fortress can be stormed, and any city can be taken. It is a matter of using the correct tactics, combined with daring and imaginative leadership. Some citadels fall to guile, and others to brute force; still others yield to a combination of the two. We will consider the fall of Naples, an event that took place during the Gothic War (A.D. 535-554). This was one of the emperor Justinian’s wars to reassert imperial control over Italy from the occupying Goths.
There are two foundational chowder recipes to be familiar with: fish chowder and clam chowder. We have already dealt with fish chowder in an earlier article, and will now talk about its sibling relation. The clam chowder I know best is the classic New England clam (or quahog) chowder; this recipe was adapted from one found in Jasper White’s 50 Chowders, a book I highly recommend for the serious enthusiast.
Abu Ma’ashar al-Balkhi (A.D. 787-886) was a Persian philosopher and astrologer who flourished during the time of the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad. Educated in the usual manner of his day with logic, jurisprudence, rhetoric, and the religious sciences, he turned to astrology late in life at the age of 47. We cannot quite call him an astronomer, for in his day that science was still in its embryonic stage; but he did assemble some astronomical tables that added to the collective wisdom in the field. Just as alchemists eventually contributed to chemistry, so did medieval astrologers serve a function as a bridge between superstition and reason.
Quintus Curtius 
You must be logged in to post a comment.