Having spent my undergraduate years soaking in the documents of which Alan speaks here I can only say that they gave context to life. Pat Lang
RSS- Supreme Court oral arguments to be heard on April 25 about presidential immunity for official acts
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- The Wondrous Oak
- Three Seas Summit: Vilnius 2024
- Tit for tat until it all goes boom
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- Iran launches air attacks on Israel
- ISW on the developing Ukrainian defense industrial base and Russias strikes on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure
- Britain? Kaput! By Walrus.
Great read! I thought that some of the earliest cuneiform found was – not surprisingly – bemoaning the current generation. “I can’t believe the kids today…”
Re Thucydides: While I’ve read several translations of this, this might be my preferred. From the Melian Dialogue, Thucydides…..
Melians. It is natural and excusable for men in our position to turn more ways than one both in thought and utterance. However, the question in this conference is, as you say, the safety of our country; and the discussion, if you please, can proceed in the way which you propose.
Athenians. For ourselves, we shall not trouble you with specious pretences- either of how we have a right to our empire because we overthrew the Mede, or are now attacking you because of wrong that you have done us- and make a long speech which would not be believed; and in return we hope that you, instead of thinking to influence us by saying that you did not join the Lacedaemonians, although their colonists, or that you have done us no wrong, will aim at what is feasible, holding in view the real sentiments of us both; since you know as well as we do that right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.
http://www.wellesley.edu/ClassicalStudies/CLCV102/Thucydides–MelianDialogue.html
taters
I was taught about the Melian dialog by a great classics prof named Cary Tutwiler. He made it live and it has stuck with me since. pl
Are you people reading these in translation or in Greek and Latin? I liked William Arrowsmith (was always partial to cranky old coots), and wanted to become a disciple, but he left town.
Query:
How can you have civic virtue without civic spirit? How do you have civic spirit without ties to a place. How can you have ties to a place when you occupy (as opposed to live in) a pen for featherless bipeds (aka real estate) in a warren of same (aka development) till the job (not work) that pays the mortgage gets offshored and you need to move elsewhere do another job to support your [aaaarrrrgh!!!] “lifestyle” ???
All virtue is modeled. Without here-and-now paradigms how do we recognize “universal and timeless wisdom” ???
This is fodder for another rant – half-baked AND rewarmed.
Fugax can and should be made to stick.
Then there are Mendax and Nugax.
Sounds like a great prof., I recommend the Melian debate to anyone I care about who hasn’t read it. The same with Drinking the Kool-Aid.
A buddy of mine who’s a prof of classics at Cal – has a book his father, also a prof of the Classics wrote at Cambridge, called “A Guide To The Classics” – at the time no self respecting student of the Classics would be without it. It was actually a how to guide on betting on the Irish Sweepstakes, and other classic horse races!
Very interesting site I congratulate