pickHis various letters are illuminating, his Philippic against Antony is furious & damning, and his expositions on Duties & Old Age are still relevant today. The style in his written letters & essays may be more accessible to modern readers than his speeches, which can get long in the tooth. But stick with it. As a window into Ancient Rome & into the mind of the most celebrated orator of his time, his insight is still penetrating & meaningful.
"Life's course is invariable - nature has one path only, and you cannot travel along it more than once. Every stage of life has its own characteristics: boys are feeble, youths in their prime are aggressive, middle-aged men are dignified, old people are mature. Each one of these qualities is ordained by nature for harvesting in due season." - from On Old Age
"Consider the paradox of a person who admits the wickedness of tyrannizing a country....but who nevertheless sees advantage in himself becoming its tyrant if he can....Who, in God's name, could possibly derive advantage from murdering his country? Of all murders that is the most hideous...even when its perpetrator is hailed, by the citizens he has trodden underfoot, as 'Father of his Country'."
"So everyone ought to have the same purpose: to identify the interest of each with the interest of all. Once men grab for themselves, human society will completely collapse."
"...neglect of the common interest is unnatural, because it is unjust... nature's law promotes and coincides with the common interest."
So even in Cicero's day, "competition [was] the law of the jungle, but cooperation [was] the law of civilization." (Pyotr Kropotkin)
so-soThere were parts where the poetry was moving, but minus: the story of Dido; the sea voyage Aeneas has; and some sobering war scenes, this mostly read like a piece of propaganda, but I would read again. This time I read Robert Fagles verse translation, I found it to be an easy read.
#Fiction #books #readaway2024 #eBook #Romance #mythology #war #epic poetry
"For honesty is not particularly virtuous when there is no one with the ability or ambition to corrupt it."
pickMy favorite part of the new office I moved into today— everyone should have a cozy blanket and a basket of books in their space.
Rereading Ovid because my friend is (of course) so we can talk about it. I have this v pretty edition right up front next to my Tristram Shandy ♥️✨
A still life of prep for the Psyche & Eros Bridgerton analysis that‘s up on now YouTube.
https://youtu.be/8VxtpAxVcm4
I sing of arms and of the man, fated to be an exile, who long since left the land of Troy and came to Italy to the shores of Lavinium; and a great pounding he took by land and sea at the hands of the heavenly gods because of the fierce and unforgetting anger of Juno. #firstlinefridays @ShyBookOwl
