A literary review of the new translation of Stratagems appeared on the Classical Wisdom substack on October 6, 2025. The review is entitled Rome’s Lost Art of War.
A Literary Review Of “Stratagems”
In The Same Meadow (Podcast)
In this podcast we take a quote from Seneca, discuss its meaning, and apply it to some modern life lessons.
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.
Continue readingThe Millennium Challenge Of 2002
In 2000, the U.S. Congress proposed a detailed joint-service war game that came to be called “Millenium Challenge 2002,” or, in military parlance, MC02. The idea was a sound one. Rapid technological and doctrinal changes in the preceding decades had generated uncertainty about the U.S. military’s ability to respond to a sudden crisis.
Continue readingA Miraculous Escape From Certain Death, And Retribution
This incredible story is found in the pages of The Book of Shipwrecks, Narratives of Maritime Discoveries, and the Most Popular Voyages, which was published in Boston in 1840. I relate it as it is described therein. Specific dates and names have been omitted, not by myself, but by the original author, who was a witness to the events. This discretion seems to be consistent with the regular practice of the era.
Continue readingFew Are Those Who Follow The Man, But Many Are Those Who Follow His Fortune
Around 1440, the Italian humanist Poggio Bracciolini composed an interesting dialogue entitled On the Unhappiness of Leaders (De Infelicitate Principum). It is styled on the classical model, in which notable figures debate the relative merits of different propositions.
Continue readingWho Frontinus Was, Why He Is Important, And Why You Should Read Him
I once heard someone pose the question, “Why didn’t the Greeks or Romans produce a military theorist like Sun Tzu?” The answer to this question is that they did, in fact, produce a theorist just as profound—arguably more profound—than the great Chinese sage. The problem is that you’ve never heard of him. His name is Frontinus. He lived from about A.D. 31 to about 104. Here I intend to explain who he was, what is found in his book Stratagems, and why his work is so important.
Continue readingThe New Translation Of Frontinus’s “Stratagems” Is Now Available
Fortress of the Mind Publications is very pleased to announce that Quintus Curtius’s new annotated translation of Frontinus’s Stratagems has been released. It is currently available in paperback and Kindle editions. The hardcover edition will be available very shortly, and the audiobook edition is expected in early November.
Continue readingThe Story Of Akulka’s Husband (Podcast)
In this podcast we discuss the story of “Akulka’s Husband,” which is found in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel The House of the Dead. What does the story mean, and what conclusions can be drawn from it?
Continue readingWhen Someone Else Has Control Of Your Work, Problems Inevitably Arise (Podcast)
When you give control of your work to third parties, you must take care that they do not alter, corrupt, or destroy what you have created. We use the story of the development and issuance of the M16 rifle in the U.S. military in the early 1960s as a tragic example.
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Quintus Curtius 
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