A subject not often discussed is the topic of how to repair strained or broken relationships. It is one that comes up in everyone’s life, so it will be useful to make a few suggestions about it here. We will talk about relationships involving friends, family, and lovers.
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In medieval times there was a Syrian poet known for his acrid wisdom in verse, as well as for his distaste for dealing with nonsense. Time and convenience has mercifully shortened his lengthy name (which we will not trouble the reader with here) to Ibn Munir al-Tarabolusi, or more commonly Ibn Munir.
Readers may be familiar with the Seinfeld television show episode where the George Costanza character resolves to do the opposite of everything he normally does. The idea actually has a legitimate pedigree, at least with regard to ancient medical science.
Seneca had a word for men who were consumed with the chase after worldly riches and pleasures to the exclusion of everything else. He called them occupati, the past participle of the verb occupare. They were so busy in this obsessive, single-minded pursuit of the phantoms of prosperity that they never properly set aside time for themselves. The word occupati means engrossed, preoccupied, or obsessed. And I think this word is a fitting description.
In a recent article we discussed Celsus’s ideas on treatment for depression and melancholy. We now look at his prescription for dealing with the common cold, an ailment that until this day has defied a consistent cure. What is interesting about his treatment suggestions is that they seem to be about as effective as anyone could give a cold sufferer today. Judge for yourself. The following information is taken from his De Medicina (IV.5).
Ibn Abi Duwad was a judge (القاضي) who was born in Basra around A.D. 776. He lived during the reign of the eighth Abbasid caliph Al-Mu’tasim. An Arabic historian relates the following wise sayings of his, along with an amusing anecdote. We will relate them here.
What did the ancients think about depression, and how to cure it? We will look at the views of Celsus, who wrote the most complete medical guide that has survived from Roman times (excluding the writings of Galen).
Peroz I (or Pirouz) was a Persian king who wore the royal diadem from about A.D. 459 to 484. The Greek historian Procopius (I.4.18) relates a great fable about him and his pearl, which we will reproduce here. As is often the case with these enchanting old tales, the reader will be asked to suspend his credulity as to the fable’s literal truth, while being mindful of its deeper purpose as a moral exemplar.
We all desire to retain a sense of connection to the past. It is part of human nature. Too sudden a break with tradition can produce something very much like insanity; in individuals we call this a broken mind, and in nations we call it revolution. And both of these reactions are destructive. And at the same time, we need to feel we can project ourselves into the future, somehow. We want to escape the limitations of this frail physical life, with its miserly duration and inconstant rewards.
I am an admirer of the author Victor Suvorov. I wish I could meet and speak with him. He served for thirty years as an officer in the Soviet Army before defecting to the West in the 1980s. In his book Inside The Soviet Army, he tells the following anecdote:
Quintus Curtius 
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