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A Solid Gold Colossus: Why Tyrants Spend Other Peoples’ Money – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Suda, Κυψελιδῶν ἀνάθημα At Olympia. Plato claims in the Phaedrus that a metal Colossos was set up next to the dedication of the Kypselids at Olympia. But they claim that this from Kypselos himself and not the Kypselids. Agaklutos speaks about this in his On Olympia. “An ancient temple of Hera, dedicated by the Skillians.…
The Strong and the Weak: Reading Some Thucydides For No Particular Reason – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
“These well-known speeches have so many unclear and odd phrases that they barely make sense….” Ipsae illae contiones ita multas habent obscuras abditasque sententias vix ut intellegantur-- Cicero, Orator 9.31 “One could easily count the number of people who are able to understand all of Thucydides, and even these people need to rely on a…
Reading (and Performing) Tragedy Online: Episode 2, Philoktetes – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
5 years ago we debuted the 2nd episode of Reading Greek Tragedy Online https://youtu.be/UtvR3TAuvbI A reading and discussion of Sophocles' Philoctetes. Tim Delap, Evelyn Miller, Paul O'Mahony, and Jack Whitam perform select scenes, with Joel Christensen (Brandeis) and Norman Sandridge (Howard) moderating the discussion. Reading Greek Tragedy Online is presented by the Center for Hellenic…
Only Bad Dudes Want Statues in the First Place – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Restore removed statues to return truth and sanity to American history? Plutarch, Precepts of Statecraft 820b (Full text on the Scaife viewer) “Cato, since Rome was then already getting full of statues, would not allow one of himself. He said, “I would rather have people ask why there isn’t a statue of me rather than why…
Back to RGTO: Reading Tragedy Together When Sheltering Alone – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Five years ago, a group of us got together and started reading Greek tragedies with actors and scholars and whoever else appeared. Over the next 3 years years, we aired 65 episodes, covering every tragedy, fragments, some comedies, original work, excerpts from epic, and eventually the Batrakhomuomakhia. We did a podcast about it and an interview…
A Secret Messaging Alternative to Signal – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Aeneas Tacticus, Fragments LI: on the Sending of Messages" “People who plan to work with traitors need to know how to send messages. Send them like this. Have a man be sent openly carrying some note about other matters. Have a different letter be secretly placed under the sole of the sandals of the person…
Another Plague: Profiteering – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
For more on how leaders make plagues worse, look around, or go here. Philo, On the Virtues 92 “They were so messed up in the mind and so obsessed with making money, they treated every kind of profit as if they were dying” εἰσὶ δ᾿ οἳ οὕτως ῥυπῶσι τὰς διανοίας προστετηκότες ἀργυρισμῷ καὶ δυσθανατῶντες περὶ…
Just Think Your Way Out of Sickness! – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
For more on plagues and leadership, see this post. Aelian, Varia Historia 13.27 “Remember that Socrates’ body was thought to be orderly and in control of wisdom for this reason too. When the Athenians were suffering a pandemic and some were dying and others were near death, Socrates was the only one who was not…
The Problem with the Ides of March: Not Enough Cicero, Not Enough MURDER – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Cicero, Epistulae Familiares 10.28.1 (To Trebonius) "How I wish that you had invited me to that most sumptuous feast on the Ides of March! We would now have no little scraps if you had. But now you have with them such difficulty in preventing that divine benefit which you bestowed upon the Republic from exciting some complaint.…
Obligatory Ides of March Post: Caesar Wanted to Go Out With A Bang, Not A Whimper – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Suetonius, Divus Julius Caesar 86-7 "Caesar left certain of his friends the impression that he did not want or desire to live longer because of his worsening health. This is why he ignored what the omens warned and what his friends revealed. Others believe that he dismissed the Spanish guards who accompanied him with swords…
Sappho’s Equal? Some Epigrams Assigned to the Poet Nossis – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Nossis is one of the best attested woman poets from the ancient world. Don't feel bad if you haven't heard of her. Greek Anthology, 6.353 “Melinna herself is here. Look how her pure face Seems to glance gently at me. How faithfully she looks like her mother in every way. Whenever children equal their parents…
A Woman’s Prudence? Letting her Body Serve the Needs of the State – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
The more things change... Phintys, fr. 1, On a Woman's Prudence by the Spartan Phintys, the daughter of Kallikrates the Pythagorean (=Stob. 4.23.61) “It is necessary that a woman be completely good and well-ordered. Someone could never be like this without virtue. For the virtue which is proper to each thing causes the object which welcomes it…
Gassy After Sex and Consuming Souls – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Two notes from Hippocrates' Epidemics 6.294 “There are those who get gassy when they have sex, like Damnagoras did. And others fart during sex.” Ἔστιν οἷσιν ὅταν ἀφροδισιάζωσι φυσᾶται ἡ γαστήρ, ὡς Δαμναγόρᾳ, οἷσι δ᾿ ἐν τούτῳ ψόφος. 6.317 “A person’s soul keeps growing until death. When the soul grows feverish because of a sickness, it…
Pickpockets of Words – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Quintilian, 8.3 (29-31) “Sallust is assailed by an epigram of no less repute: “Crispus, pickpocket of the words of Ancient Cato / and architect of Jugurtha’s history”. This is a pitifully minor concern—for it is easy for anyone and really poor because the composer will not fit words to facts but will introduce unrelated facts…
There’s Nothing (Ancient) Roman about a Nazi Salute – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Immediately following the inauguration of Donald Trump as president of the United States, Elon Musk addressed crowds at the parade congregated in the Capital One Arena. After thanking the crowd for showing up to re-elect the 45th president, he overshadowed the whole day by twice making a gesture that many have interpreted as the Nazi…
Tyranny, Terror, and Mutilation – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
CW: Violence, torture, killing Homer, Odyssey 22.474-477 “They took Melanthios out through the hall and into the courtyard. They cut off his nose and ears with pitiless bronze. Then they cut off his balls and fed them raw to the dogs; And they cut off his hands and feet with an enraged heart.” ἐκ δὲ…
The Evidence from Madness: Aristotle on the Mind-Body Problem – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Aristotle, Physiognomics 808b “[in this case] the soul and the body would experience things together, but they would not have the same reactions as one another. But, now, it is entirely clear that one follows another. This is especially obvious from the following. For madness seems to be a matter of the mind; doctors, however,…
Rich and Poor Among the Dead, Play a Song for Me – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
P. Oxy. xv. 1921, no. 1795, p. 113, lines 18-30 “While I live, I love to sing these songs and when I die Put a pipe above my head and a lyre near my feet. Play a song for me. Who could find a limit to wealth or cure for poverty? Or who among the…
It Is Their Fault They Suffer – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
the antiquity of malice Libanius, Oration 23.1-2 “We are all hearing the reports that everywhere is filled with corpses—the fields, the roads, the hills, crests, caves, peaks, groves, and trenches—and that some of the corpses are feasts for birds and beasts while the rivers carry others to the sea. I am sometimes surprised by this…
Anticipating the News – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Homer, Iliad 18.2-17 [for more on this passage, go here] “Swift-footed Antilokhos came as a messenger to Achilles. He found him in front of the straight-prowed ships, Considering through his heart what things could have happened. He was deeply troubled then and spoke to his own great heart: “Oh, my heart, why are the long-haired Achaeans…
The Death of the Individual and the Life of the Whole – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Philo, The Worse Attack the Better 206 “When some musician or scholar has died, then their music or writing dies with them; but their basic contributions persist and, in some way, live as long as the universe does. Those who are scholars and musicians now or who will be in the future will continue to…
The One Who Needs Forgiveness – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Seneca, Agamemnon 260-267 “Aegisthus, why do you push me again into the deep And re-kindle my rage which was just cooling down? The victor has indulged himself a bit with a captive girl— It befits neither a wife nor a mistress to acknowledge it. The law for the throne is different from the one for…
The Illegal, Murderous Rapist: Herodotus Subtweets a Tyrant – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Herodotus, Histories 3.80 “Otanês was first urging the Persians to entrust governing to the people, saying these things: “it seems right to me that we no longer have a monarchy. For it is neither pleasing nor good. For you all know about the arrogance of Kambyses and you were a party to the insanity of the…
The Body that Is Our Home – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Plotinus, Ennead 2.9 “This would be similar to two people who lived in the same house and one of them despises the structure and the person who built it but still stays there any way. The other does not hate it but claims that the builder made it most skillfully, even though he longs for…
Better to Have No Reason Than Use it for Harm? – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Cicero, De Natura Deorum, 3.77–78 “These kind of things belong to poets; we, moreover, want to be philosophers, masters of facts not fables. And yet, these gods of poetry, if they know that these things would be ruinous for their children, would be considered to have sinned in conferring a favor. It is just as…
Donkeys and Mares: Tinder for Misogynists – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Plutarch, Parallel Stories, 29 “Aristonomos the son of Demostratos hated women and used to have sex with a donkey. After some time, the donkey gave birth to an extremely beautiful girl named Onoskelis. Aristokles reports this in the second book of his Unbelievable Things. Fulvius Stellus used to have sex with a horse because he…
“May He Suffer What He Did To Others” – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Historia Augusta, Commodus Antoninus 19 “Let the memory of murderer and gladiator be destroyed; have the statues of the murder and the gladiator be destroyed. Let the memory of the disgusting gladiator be destroyed. Send the gladiator to the butcher-block. Listen, Caesar: have that killer dragged with the hook. Have that senate-slayer dragged with a…
The Ship of State, Operated by Fools – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Schol. ad. Od. 8.17 (On why Odysseus is only responsible for the companions in his particular ship) “According to the proverb “Common ship, common safety” κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν “κοινὴ ναῦς κοινὴ σωτηρία,” Sophocles, Antigone 175–190 (Creon speaking) “It is impossible to really learn a man’s mind, thought and opinion before he’s been initiated into the offices and…
The Tyranny is Our Fault Too – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Anonymous of Iamblichus 12-14 "Tyranny happens—even though it is so great an evil in scope and kind—from nothing else but lawlessness. All people who think incorrectly believe that tyranny develops from some other cause and that people lose their freedom without being responsible for it because they were forced by the tyrant who came to…
Cheesy Positions: The Shameful Lioness on a Kitchen Knife – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Suda, Tau 1197 “Turoknêstis: a cheesegrater. A type of knife. There is also a proverb: “I will not position myself like a lioness on a cheese-grater”* This means “in the way a lioness would”, and it is a shameful and whorish sexual position. A cheese-grater is a knife. On the hilts of some kitchen knives…
“We Are Not Born for Ourselves”: Cicero on Private Property – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Cicero De officiis 1.21-22 “There is, moreover, no private property naturally, but it develops either through ancient possession—as when people came into empty territory long ago—or through conquest—as when people possess it in war—or through law, contract, purchase, or lot. This is why the land of Arpinas are said to be of the Arpinates and…
Did Coronavirus Write This Book? – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Introducing Storylife Storylife comes out officially today January 14th. Here is its amazon page. Here is the link to the company doing the audiobook and here is the press page. Here's a link to me talking about the book with Dr. G. and Dr. Rad of the Partial Historians. Like many others, I spent the…
Despite All Our Rage, We Are Still Just Birds in a Cage – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
(Scholars hating scholars. And themselves) Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 1.22 "You know that somewhere Timo the Philasian calls the Museum a birdcage as he mocks the scholars who are supported there because they were fed like the priciest birds in a big cage: Many are fed in many-peopled Egypt, The paper-pushers closed up waging endless war in the…
A Solid Gold Colossus: Why Tyrants Spend Other Peoples’ Money – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Suda, Κυψελιδῶν ἀνάθημα At Olympia. Plato claims in the Phaedrus that a metal Colossos was set up next to the dedication of the Kypselids at Olympia. But they claim that this from Kypselos himself and not the Kypselids. Agaklutos speaks about this in his On Olympia. “An ancient temple of Hera, dedicated by the Skillians.…
Presocratic Healthcare Plan: Everyone a Doctor, Everyone a Sage – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
A Letter to Hippocrates: Ps.-Hipp. Epist. 23 (9.392–93 Littré) “Democritus writes to Hippocrates on the nature of human beings: “Hippocrates, all people should know the art of medicine, since it it is noble and also advantageous for life and it is a special possession of those people who have deep experience in education and argumentation. I think…
Don’t Blackmail Sick People for Money, A Healthcare Plan – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Corpus Hippocratica, Precepts 4.10 “The way you address a patient requires some kind of a theory too. For, if you begin talking about payment, then something else occurs in every situation. You will leave the sick person with the kind of impression that you will abandon him and leave if there is no agreement and…
On (the many) Signs of Rain – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Lykophron, Alexandra 79-82 "That was the time when Zeus rained over the whole earth and his flood destroyed everything. Their towers were thrown to the ground and the people started to swim once they saw their own destruction." ὅτ᾿ ἠμάθυνε πᾶσαν ὀμβρήσας χθόνα Ζηνὸς καχλάζων νασμός· οἱ δὲ πρὸς πέδῳ πύργοι κατηρείποντο, τοὶ δὲ λοισθίαν νήχοντο…
Death, Sleep, and Our Bodies’ Recyclable Clay – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Plutarch, Moralia. A Letter of Condolence to Apollonius, 106e-f “For when is death not present among us? Truly, as Heraclitus says, “living and dying is the same and so is being awake and asleep or youth and old age. For each turns back into the other again.” Just as someone can make shapes of living…
The Worst Part of a Plague: Despair – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Thucydides 2.48 "Let each person who understands something about this, whether a doctor or a private citizen, speak about what its likely origin was and whatever causes he believes likely of such a great change. I will only say what kind of a disease it was and how someone might recognize it and be able…
Death, A Pre-existing Condition – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 3.1076-1094 “Finally, what great and vile desire for life compels us To quake so much amidst doubts and dangers? Mortals have an absolute end to our lives: Death cannot be evaded—we must leave. Nevertheless, we move again and still persist— No new pleasure is procured by living; But while what we…