Rise From The Earth, And Fly As A Victor

The progress of duncery is geometric, while knowledge and understanding advance, if at all, with arithmetic slowness.  He who demands acute perception from the overwhelming mass of humanity will find himself crushed in disappointments, and immersed in doleful ruminations.

Continue reading

Press Your White Hairs With A Helmet

In book nine of the Aeneid, the Rutulian warrior Numanus Remulus makes a famous declamation, in which he speaks the following lines:

Continue reading

The Bull Of Chrysame, And The Gold Of Pythopolis

The reckless pursuit of advantage and material gain inevitably leads the unwise to ruin.  It is a truth antique with age, yet fleeting in historical memory.  Two compelling tales buried in the forgotten pages of the historian Polyaenus (VIII.42—43) remind us of the lesson’s permanence.  We now resurrect them for our amusement and edification. 

Continue reading