I was grateful to have been invited to speak (via Zoom) at the 2024 Stoicon in Melbourne Australia. I was asked to say a few words about Cicero’s Stoic Paradoxes, which I had translated in 2015. The video of my presentation is below:
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Quintus Fulvius Flaccus was a commander and politician of the Roman Republic who ascended to the consulship in 179 B.C. There is an interesting story about him found in the ancient historians, which we will relate here.
The political philosopher Ibn Zafar, in his masterful treatise Consolation for the Ruler During the Hostility of his Subjects, states as follows:
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There is an unintentionally amusing passage in a letter Petrarch sent to his brother Gherardo in 1349. In it, the harried scholar pours out his frustration at the antagonistic and insulting behavior of his servants:
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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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The historian Edward Gibbon, in Chapter LII of his history, offers an instructive quotation alleged to have been spoken by the first emir of Cordoba, Abd Al Rahman III. This prince ruled a considerable part of Spain for a period of thirty-two years, from A.D. 929 to 961. Upon the death of this laborious and tolerant caliph, the following rumination was found among his writings:
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In September 2023, I was fortunate enough to participate in a webinar to discuss some aspects of Cicero’s On the Nature of the Gods. It really was a great discussion. The participants were Dr. Michael Fontaine of Cornell University, Anya Leonard of classicalwisdom.com, and myself.
You can view the entire webinar here:
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In this podcast, I offer a short selection of Latin readings from Cornelius Nepos, Cicero, and Sallust, at the request of a follower on Twitter (@DingoStar64).
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We’re pleased to announce that the audiobook of the new translation of Cicero’s On the Nature of the Gods is now available on Amazon’s Audible. To take a look at it, and hear a audio sample, you can click here. Audiobooks add a whole new dimension to the learning experience. The translation is available in four different formats: Kindle, paperback, hardcover, and now audiobook.
If you have questions, please email me at qcurtius@gmail.com.
One of Poe’s lesser-known stories, The Domain of Arnheim, seems to offer his theory of aesthetics. I say “seems to,” because the dream-like quality of the story leaves the reader with more than a residue of ambiguity.
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Quintus Curtius 
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