We are afflicted by different vices in different periods of life. While much energy is spent in discussing the pitfalls and failings of youth, it is just as important to be mindful of the pitfalls of old age. It seems to me that these are especially difficult to correct if not identified for what they are; and just as ivy may slowly encroach on a neighboring plant and choke the life out of it, so may the vices of old age bring what may once have been an admirable life to a miserable conclusion.
Herodotus spends more time discussing Egypt than any other nation in his Histories. One gets the feeling that he very much enjoyed himself there. The amiable and curious Greek had a talent for getting along with nearly everyone; he seems to have fallen into conversation with priests and merchants in every country he visited.
We all know that the ability to think on one’s feet is an important skill. There may even be times when this ability makes the difference between survival and execution. The amusing anecdote that follows appears in Ibn Khallikan’s biographical sketch (IV.200) of a government official and administrator (مولى) named Yazid Ibn Abi Muslim, who served under an Umayyad governor of Iraq named Al-Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf (c. 661—714 A.D.).
After reading Charles Leerhsen’s excellent biography of baseball player Ty Cobb (Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty), it’s clear that each of us is responsible for making sure that misinformation and lies do not go unanswered. Even if you are not a baseball fan–maybe especially if you are not a baseball fan–there are very important life lessons to be learned here.
In this podcast, we discuss two films: “Joker” (2019), and “The Killing Fields” (1984), both of which I recommend.
One of the fables of Aesop concerns Hercules and Athena. One day, Hercules was proceeding along a pathway in the mountains when he spotted an apple lying on the ground. Irritated at its presence, he decided to smash it with his club; and when he tried to do so, the apple doubled in size. Shocked, he swung his club at it again, this time determined to crush it completely.
In this podcast we discuss two movies: “Never Look Away” (2018), a German coming-of-age drama directed by Florian von Donnersmarck, and “Ad Astra” (2019), the space drama starring Brad Pitt and directed by James Gray.
In studying the writings of scholars of ages past, one often begins to suspect that they were aware of more things than we generally give them credit for. We begin to understand that the progress of knowledge is not always “upwards” in a steadily sloping straight line; there are periods of setbacks, stagnation, and decay. And very often we perceive that men of great ability can be trapped in environments that are hostile to the development of their talents.
My fully illustrated and annotated translation of Cornelius Nepos’s Lives of the Great Commanders was published on September 20, 2019. It is available in paperback, hardcover, audiobook, and Kindle editions.
I was recently reading some of Cicero’s letters to Atticus, and came across this sentence in one of them:
Quid enim sumus, aut quid esse possumus? Domis an foris?
[Epistulae XIII.10]
Quintus Curtius 
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