[Original Latin Title: Cato Maior de Senectute] A treatise extolling the virtues of mental pursuits and horticulture in defense of old age against its alleged disadvantages, “first, that it withdraws us from active pursuits; second, that it makes the body weaker; third, that it deprives us of almost all physical pleasures; and, fourth, that it is not far removed from death.” Cicero and his friend Atticus, to whom he dedicated […]
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“On Friendship” by Cicero
[Original Latin Title: De Amicitia] For I am indeed moved by the loss of a friend such, I believe, as I shall never have again, and—as I can assert on positive knowledge— a friend such as no other man ever was to me. But I am not devoid of a remedy, and I find very great consolation in the comforting fact that I am free from the delusion which causes […]
Read more“On Divination” by Cicero
[Original Latin Title: De Divinatione] Dreams When, therefore, the soul has been withdrawn by sleep from contact with sensual ties, then does it recall the past, comprehend the present, and foresee the future. For though the sleeping body then lies as if it were dead, yet the soul is alive and strong, and will be much more so after death when it is wholly free of the body. Hence its […]
Read more“Sophocles I” by Sophocles
The Theban Plays by Sophocles (aka the Oedipus Cycle) consist of three plays: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone. Oedipus was a King of Thebes in Greek mythology who was prophesied by Apollo to kill his father and marry his mother unwittingly, based on whose story Freud developed the concept “Oedipus Complex”. The main theme of Sophocles’ plays, however, is not patricide nor incest, but the tragic lack […]
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“The Republic and The Laws” by Cicero
[Original Latin Titles: De Republica; De Legibus] A lawyer by trade, statesman by calling and philosopher by hobby, Cicero was the ideal candidate to draw from the political philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, combine it with an examination of the constitution and civic laws of his own country Rome, the most powerful state of his time, and propose a political theory both philosophically grounded and legitimately sound. Like the ancient […]
Read more“Oresteia” by Aeschylus
All three Greek tragedians, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, have written plays related to Oresteia, a tragic tale of the seemingly relentless misfortunes of the House of Atreus, descendants of Tantalus. What distinguishes Aeschylus’ trilogy from the others, imo, is the use of the mystic character Cassandra and the depiction of the Eumenides, both are essential to the main theme of the trilogy, namely justice, from executing vengeance to trial by […]
Read more“Electra” by Sophocles
Quotes: “Deceit was the plotter, Lust the slayer, two dread parents of a dreadful phantom, whether it was god or mortal that did this deed.” And then think what manner of days I pass, when I see Aegisthus sitting on my father’s throne; when I look on him wearing the very robes which my father wore and pouring libations at the hearth where he killed him; and when I see […]
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