There was a moment when I was reading The Iliad that I thought to myself, “This is it. This is what the epic is really all about.” Somehow it all seemed to come down to one particular scene and all the rest was just leading up to it. Why I
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Scripturient: The Penguin Classics Book
Did you know there is a card game played in Japan at the New Year, called uta-garuta, where 100 cards have a full poem on each — traditionally taken from their classical poets — and another 100 have just the final line. Players take turn reading the poem from the
Continue readingPostArctica: Via by Caroline Bergvall
An inventory of translations of the opening lines of Dante’s Inferno. VIA By Caroline Bergvall 48 Dante Variations Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita mi ritrovai per una selva oscura che la diritta via era smarrita The Divine Comedy – Pt. 1 Inferno – Canto 1 – (1-3) 1.
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: Love Poems of Ovid
Love Poems of Ovid selected and translated by Horace Gregory, Mentor Books, Toronto, 1964Ovid (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovid) – full name Publius Ovidius Naso – is considered one of the greats of Latin literature, up there with Virgil and Hor…
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: Love Poems of Ovid
Love Poems of Ovid selected and translated by Horace Gregory, Mentor Books, Toronto, 1964 Ovid (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovid) – full name Publius Ovidius Naso – is considered one of the greats of Latin literature, up there with Virgil and Horace. Certainly his ‘Metamorphosis’ is a great work, one that has influenced many other
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: Love Poems of Ovid
Love Poems of Ovid selected and translated by Horace Gregory, Mentor Books, Toronto, 1964Ovid (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovid) – full name Publius Ovidius Naso – is considered one of the greats of Latin literature, up there with Virgil and Hor…
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: The Emperor’s Handbook
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus was considered the last of the “Five Good Emperors” of the Roman Empire. He lived 121-180 CE and died while on campaign in Germany. Like many Roman thinkers of his day, he followed the popular Stoic philosophy and his writing became an important document in the
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Taoist Lessons for Politicians
Those who look down upon this world, will surely take hold and try to change things. So begins verse 29 of the 4th century BCE Chinese classic (Jonathan Star translation*), the Tao Te Ching. That verse suggests that those who feel themselves superior to the world and to others, who feel their actions, thoughts,
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