If someone were to ask me why I read history, my reply would be in three words: solace, advice, and examples for our edification. Let me explain further.
Continue readingLone Founts
Thought
The Decline Of Poetry
Poetry is not the “draw” it once was. In the nineteenth century, it was relatively common for poetic works to be taught in schools, to be memorized in whole or in part, and to be the subject of public readings. No longer. One would today be hard-pressed to name any modern poets who have achieved the same level of notoriety that successful writers of prose have attained. We no longer hear of poets commemorating notable events or celebrating public figures; school children are not required to memorize verses; and a general air of archaism seems to hover over the literary form. What is produced seems bereft of recognizable meter, allure, or skill in creation.
Continue readingThe Banners Of The King Of Hell Go Forth
In the thirty-fourth canto of Dante’s Inferno, our intrepid tourists Dante and Virgil find themselves at the very bottom of Hell’s ninth circle, known as Judecca, a name derived from Judas Iscariot. With his enthusiasm for classification and categories, Dante has given us names for the different parts of the ninth circle, in which are housed particular types of traitors: Caina (for traitors to family), Antenora (for traitors to country), Ptolomaea (for betrayers of guests), and Judecca (for traitors to benefactors).
Continue readingThe Zero Sum Game
I read recently a fascinating tale of nautical survival. In 1965, six teenage Tongan boys were shipwrecked on the uninhabited island of Ata in the Tongan Archipelago of Polynesia. After stealing a boat, they had encountered a storm which deposited them on the island without any means of communication with the outside world.
Continue readingNe Plus Ultra
Canto XXVI of Dante’s Inferno takes place in the eighth bolgia (ditch) of the Eighth Circle of Hell. Here reside those guilty of providing fraudulent or deceitful counsel. In life, these souls used their persuasive abilities to harm or destroy others; and, in keeping with Dante’s attention to the principle of contrapasso, their punishment in Hell fits their crimes during life. As they once used their tongues for malicious speech, so in the afterlife are their souls “tongued” forever with flame.
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Deep 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 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 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 readingWhen The Sleeper Wakes
We are told that the word dystopia first entered the lexicon in 1868, when John Stuart Mill used it in a parliamentary speech. The first dystopian novel is somewhat open to debate, but many consider H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine, first published in 1895, to be a strong candidate.
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Quintus Curtius 
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