How To Get Over A Breakup: An Ancient Guide To Moving On, by Ovid. Translated and introduced by Michael Fontaine. Princeton University Press, 2024. Available in hardcover, Kindle, and audiobook.
Ovid is the most famous of the amorous poets of Rome’s literary Golden Age. What distinguishes him from his approximate contemporaries Tibullus and Propertius is his depth of insight, and this is why we still read him today.
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According to the biographer Ibn Khallikan, the poet Ibrahim Al-Suli (?—857 A.D.) was once employed by a caliph to compose a threatening letter to some rebellious subjects. The letter contained the following words:
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Some people think the only thing that matters is what a teacher or instructor says, not what their character is. I don’t agree with this. In choosing a teacher or instructor, we have to remember that character and integrity are all-important. Nothing good can ever come from moral corruption, as Cicero has said. You have to look carefully at a man’s track record, background, and conduct to get an accurate assessment of his character. In this podcast, we probe into this subject.
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In this podcast, we discuss a very revealing video that appeared on YouTube a few weeks back. Someone who prioritizes materialism and appearances is confronted by another man who has a very different value system. The resulting clash between the two of them is highly revealing.
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The following tale is found in Ibn Zafar’s political treatise, The Consolation For The Ruler During The Hostility Of His Subjects. Because it is likely to unfamiliar to most readers, I will paraphrase it here.
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Abraham Lincoln’s literary powers were a product of his life experiences and his innate abilities. From a young age, his exposure to tragedy had been personal and continuous. The death of his mother, the death of Ann Rutledge, and various other hardships had given him an acute sensitivity to the meaning of loss. In the writing of letters of consolation, Lincoln was able to harness these sentiments and express them in ways that gave specific tragedies a timeless and almost cosmic significance. We have already here discussed the famous Bixby Letter. Two other letters of consolation from Lincoln’s hand, much less well-known, merit our attention as models of compassion and heartfelt sympathy.
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This is a podcast reading of my essay Let Us Never Despair, which was published here on May 18, 2024. What is the origin of despair? And how may it be confronted? We provide some answers to these questions, and related ones, in this podcast. The man of virtue and fortitude will never abandon himself to despair.
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There is an inscription in the Bayeux Tapestry which reads Isti mirant stella, or “these men wonder at the star.” The scene in which it appears depicts a group of men pointing to a highly stylized image of Halley’s Comet, which made an appearance around the time of the Norman conquest of England.
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I had a great conversation yesterday with Lance, the proprietor of DVX Publishing, a publisher dealing with books in the areas of political science, history, leadership, and military affairs. It was a free-flowing discussion that covered a lot of ground in moral philosophy, ethics, and current events. I also encourage you to follow him on X. You can hear the entire one-hour discussion on YouTube by clicking here.
It has been clear for some time that neither the American political right, nor its counterpart on the left, has capably embraced the leadership challenges of twenty-first century modernity. Even a cursory survey of the political landscape reveals a dismal picture. On the right, we find the mouthpieces of corporatist and plutocratic reaction, mixed with an assortment of cranks, religious ideologues, demagogues, and rogues; while the left, which once represented the interests of the working classes, has been almost entirely overwhelmed by a venomous and destructive obsession with identity, race, and gender politics, which accomplishes nothing except to corrode the fraternal bonds essential for the maintenance of a healthy social order. The inevitable result of this acute polarity has been a debilitating paralysis. Congress can hardly accomplish anything except token and toothless half-measures, which succeed only in delaying problems, instead of solving them.
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Quintus Curtius 
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