Podcasts about Aeneid

Wir springen in dieser Folge zurück in die Antike: nach Rom, ins 1. Jahrhundert vdZw. Dort verfasst ein Dichter gerade ein Werk, das das Bild Roms, und vor allem auch das Bild seines neuen Herrschers Augustus bis heute prägen wird. Aber dieses Werk, die Aeneis, hätte eigentlich zerstört werden sollen. Warum das nicht passierte, weshalb die Aeneis überhaupt geschrieben wurde und wer dieser Mann war, der damit so unsterblich wurde, darüber sprechen wir in dieser Folge. //Erwähnte Folgen - GAG556: Galeas per Montes – https://gadg.fm/556 - GAG451: Eine kleine Geschichte der verlorenen Bücher – https://gadg.fm/451 - GAG435: Die Schlacht bei Carrhae – https://gadg.fm/435 - GAG390: Kleopatra Selene und das Ende der Römischen Republik – https://gadg.fm/390 - GAG466: Julia Felix und das Ende Pompejis – https://gadg.fm/466 - GAG336: George Smith und die Entdeckung des Gilgamesch-Epos – https://gadg.fm/336 - GAG498: Eine kleine Geschichte des Grimoires – https://gadg.fm/498 //Literatur - Farrell, Joseph, und Michael C. J. Putnam, Hg. A Companion to Vergil's Aeneid and Its Tradition. Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World. Chichester/Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. - Gowers, Emily. Rome's Patron: The Lives and Afterlives of Maecenas. Princeton/Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2024. - Holzberg, Niklas. Vergil: Der Dichter und sein Werk. München: C.H. Beck, 2006. - Ruden, Sarah. Vergil: The Poet's Life. Ancient Lives. New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 2023. - Vergil. Aeneis: Lateinisch–Deutsch. Übersetzt und herausgegeben von Niklas Holzberg. Sammlung Tusculum. Berlin/München/Boston: De Gruyter, 2015. - White, Peter. Promised Verse: Poets in the Society of Augustan Rome. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993. - Ziolkowski, Jan M., und Michael C. J. Putnam, Hg. The Virgilian Tradition: The First Fifteen Hundred Years. New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 2008. Das Episodenbild zeigt Vergil in einem Ausschnitt eines Mosaiks aus dem 3. Jahrhundert. AUS UNSERER WERBUNG Du möchtest mehr über unsere Werbepartner erfahren? Hier findest du alle Infos & Rabatte! Unser neues Buch „Mehr Geschichten aus der Geschichte. Auf den Spuren verblüffender Erfindungen und kurioser Tüfteleien“ erscheint am 4. September. Ein signiertes Exemplar ist ab jetzt bei der Autorenwelt vorbestellbar: https://shop.autorenwelt.de/products/mehr-geschichten-aus-der-geschichte-von-richard-hemmer-und-daniel-messner //Aus unserer Werbung Du möchtest mehr über unsere Werbepartner erfahren? Hier findest du alle Infos & Rabatte: https://linktr.ee/GeschichtenausderGeschichte //Geschichten aus der Geschichte jetzt auch als Brettspiel! Werkelt mit uns am Flickerlteppich! Gibt es dort, wo es auch Becher, T-Shirts oder Hoodies zu kaufen gibt: https://geschichte.shop // Wir sind jetzt auch bei CampfireFM! Wer direkt in Folgen kommentieren will, Zusatzmaterial und Blicke hinter die Kulissen sehen will: einfach die App installieren und unserer Community beitreten: https://www.joincampfire.fm/podcasts/22 //Wir haben auch ein Buch geschrieben: Wer es erwerben will, es ist überall im Handel, aber auch direkt über den Verlag zu erwerben: https://www.piper.de/buecher/geschichten-aus-der-geschichte-isbn-978-3-492-06363-0 Wer unsere Folgen lieber ohne Werbung anhören will, kann das über eine kleine Unterstützung auf Steady oder ein Abo des GeschichteFM-Plus Kanals auf Apple Podcasts tun. Wir freuen uns, wenn ihr den Podcast bei Apple Podcasts oder wo auch immer dies möglich ist rezensiert oder bewertet. Wir freuen uns auch immer, wenn ihr euren Freundinnen und Freunden, Kolleginnen und Kollegen oder sogar Nachbarinnen und Nachbarn von uns erzählt! Du möchtest Werbung in diesem Podcast schalten? Dann erfahre hier mehr über die Werbemöglichkeiten bei Seven.One Audio: https://www.seven.one/portfolio/sevenone-audio

Dave took another trip to the emergency room this week — though this one wasn't for him. His daughter Bernadette and one of his boys built a foam block bridge, she went off the side of it, landed on the wall, and broke her clavicle. Clean break. When Adam got the x-ray, he zoomed in, screenshotted just the broken collarbone, and sent it to Lady Haylee with no context — let her think Adam had been out grinding, building fences, shouldering it like a tough guy. Bernadette, for the record, is doing great. Three weeks and she's back to normal. As Dave put it, if you're going to break your clavicle, do it young. Don't do it at Jim's age.A lot of life packed into this one before the topic. Adam and his boys, Luke and Jude, are going to read the Aeneid together this summer — Luke already read it at Holy Family Classical School, so he'll lead the way. Adam helped Dave harvest wheat (the invoice is coming), and the two of them talked homesteading honestly: you don't get into it to save time or money. It's a lifestyle, and the pork chop costs $400 if you're foolish enough to count your own labor. Adam also turned 40 — by the time this airs, the birthday's passed — and he spent his Substack this week reflecting on the four ten-year cycles he's got left, if he's lucky. The big lesson from 30 to 40: he had it backwards. He was making his life serve the business instead of the business serve his life. Build the habits of prayer, reading, and friendship young, because life only gets busier, and it's far easier to keep a habit than to add one.Two prayer requests worth holding. Lady Pamela's due date is this week — baby Niles number seven, two middle names this time, names not yet shared. And baby Mary is still in the NICU. They're going to try again this week to take her off the breathing tube. She's weaning off sedation — which means withdrawals, which is hard — but she's gaining weight and getting stronger. Get past the tube and the next hill is open heart surgery. Adam's grateful for every prayer, and for the guys who sent DoorDash cards. Keep praying for Mary. And a shout-out to Dan O'Brien, David's father-in-law, walking the Camino as this drops — Dan, hope the feet are holding up.This week's pour is a funny one: WhistlePig's 250th Anniversary of America 10-Year "Piggy Bank" Limited Edition Straight Rye, 55% ABV. The box is a literal piggy bank and the bottle is a chrome-plated ceramic pig. Spicier and more herbal than your Weller or Buffalo Trace — but smooth for the proof, with caramel and warm undertones. Picked up at Broken Arrow Wine and Spirits, owned by a good Catholic family from St. Benedict. Jim's yummy scale (bourbon scale): 5.87 out of 6.Then the main course: the Finding of Jesus in the Temple. Luke 2, the last joyful mystery, the only Gospel that records it — and the very first time Jesus is recorded speaking. Adam walks through it with the Catena Aurea, Aquinas's compilation of the Church Fathers edited by St. John Henry Newman. The caravan to Jerusalem split women and children up front, men in the back, and a twelve-year-old could be in either — so Mary thought He was with Joseph, Joseph thought He was with Mary. Theophylact says it wasn't negligence. A logistical blind spot. Any father who's left a kid at church after coffee and donuts gets it.The three days they searched? St. Ambrose says that's no accident — a rehearsal for the three days of the Passion, lost and then found again. The age of twelve is no accident either: right before the bar mitzvah, the Lord fulfilling the law perfectly, right on time, and twelve standing for the tribes and the apostles. Watch Mary, too. She brings her grief straight to her Son without accusation — "why have you done this to us?" — modeling how a soul carries pain to Christ: honestly, blaming no one, trusting before she fully understands. Watch Joseph, who says nothing, and pursues his mission relentlessly without drama. That's the masculine answer to adversity: very well, and you handle it. Protect, provide, establish.Was Jesus being disobedient? The Fathers say no — His higher obedience to His Father's business ran underneath the surface, and verse 51 shows Him going home and being subject to them. God first, then family, and that order doesn't fracture the home. It grounds it. And where did they find Him? In the temple. His Father's house. Which is the whole point: you can find Jesus in nature, in the car, anywhere — but you are guaranteed to find Him in the church, body, blood, soul, and divinity, in the tabernacle of every Catholic church in the world. If you want to become holy, go be with Him. Get an adoration hour. Holiness doesn't happen the way Adam's buddy Juan figured he'd "just kind of one day have a six pack." You have to do something about it. Raise your glass.TOPICS COVEREDDave's daughter Bernadette breaking her clavicle falling off a foam block bridge the kids builtAdam screenshotting the x-ray and sending just the broken collarbone to Lady Haylee with no contextAdam reading the Aeneid with his sons Luke and Jude this summer — and why he's doing it men's-group styleHarvesting wheat, and the honest economics of homesteading ("the $400 pork chop")Why you never homestead to save time or money — it's a lifestyle, not a shortcutAdam turning 40 and his Substack reflection on the four ten-year cycles he has leftThe biggest lesson from 30 to 40 — making the business serve your life instead of your life serving the businessWhy habits of prayer, reading, and friendship are easier to keep than to add laterLeveraging competent friends instead of trying to do everything yourselfLady Pamela due this week with baby Niles number seven — and the two-middle-names debateBaby Mary update — another attempt to come off the breathing tube, weaning off sedation, gaining weightWhy open heart surgery is the next hill after the breathing tubeDan O'Brien walking the Camino — a shout-out for sore feetBourbon of the week: WhistlePig 250th Anniversary 10-Year "Piggy Bank" Limited Edition Straight Rye, 55% ABVThe ceramic pig bottle, the piggy-bank box, and why a limited shelf whiskey runs $250–$350Jim's yummy scale hitting 5.87 out of 6 on the bourbon scaleThe Finding of Jesus in the Temple — Luke 2, the last joyful mystery, and the only Gospel that records itThe first recorded words of Our LordReading the story through the Catena Aurea — Aquinas's compilation of the Fathers, edited by St. John Henry NewmanHow the Passover caravan split women and children up front and men in the back — and how Jesus fell into the gapTheophylact on why it was a logistical blind spot, not negligence or bad parentingSt. Ambrose on the three-day search foreshadowing the three days of the Passion and ResurrectionWhy the age of twelve matters — the year before the bar mitzvah, and the symbolism of the twelve tribes and apostlesJesus fulfilling the law perfectly and right on time, not jumping aheadMary bringing her grief to Christ without accusation — the model for carrying pain to the Lord"About my father's business" vs. "in my father's house" — the translation and what it meansSt. Bede on faith preceding comprehension — assenting before fully understandingSt. Joseph as the model father — pursuing his mission relentlessly, without drama or self-pityMary honoring Joseph's fatherhood — "your father and I" — and why spouses don't belittle each otherHow complaining about your spouse to others actually breaks your wedding vowsWas Jesus disobedient? The Fathers say no — the higher obedience running underneathThe devil's-advocate case that He chose to be left behind, and His right as the Logos to do soJesus using the Socratic method in the temple — asking questions and "making them wonder upon him"The hierarchy of Christ's presence — and why you're guaranteed to find Him in the tabernacleA convert's story and the simple counsel: you just need to be in front of Jesus"Nothing if not you" — non nisi te, Domine — St. Thomas Aquinas's answer to the LordThe spiritual six pack — why holiness never just "happens on its own"Getting an adoration hour as a statement about the kind of man you want to beREFERENCED IN THIS EPISODEBooks & Writings:Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aquinas, edited by St. John Henry Newman (the Fathers' commentary on the Gospels)The Gospel of Luke, chapter 2 (the Finding in the Temple, vv. 41–52)The Aeneid by Virgil (Adam's summer read with his sons)The Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer (mentioned alongside Luke's classical reading)Adam's Substack, The Grounded Builder — this week's reflection on his ten-year cyclesSaints & Church Fathers:St. Thomas Aquinas (the Catena Aurea; non nisi te, Domine)St. John Henry Newman (editor of the Catena Aurea)Theophylact (the caravan blind spot, not negligence)St. Ambrose (the three days foreshadowing the Passion; Mary's grief without rebuke; "right on time")St. Bede the Venerable (faith preceding comprehension; the hierarchy of loves)St. Teresa of Avila ("no wonder you have so few friends, with how you treat them")St. Humbert of Romans (the importance of place and location in prayer)The Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph (the model of unified, honoring...

Salvete sodales! Welcome to our series, "Rem Tene;" a Latin podcast presented by Latinitas Animi Causa for beginner and intermediate learners of the Latin language built and designed for the acquisition and understanding of it as a language, not just a code to decipher. In this episode of Rem Tenē, we begin our new series within Rem Tenē! telling the story of Book 3 of the Aeneid in comprehensible Latin!Episode 0: https://youtu.be/vr2IdjRbPPk?si=TjyiYVEQCU4us5FvEpisode 1: https://youtu.be/LdGXknMxfVI?si=tu5dQ_myCqxa7tTQEpisode 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKpk7akf5xQ&t=508s

At the risk of embarrassing myself, I'll share a confession. For context, I took five years of Latin: four in high school and one in college. In addition to learning the language, all my Latin classes taught a lot about Roman history. Emperors, internal politics, Caesar, etc. I was always learning some random bag of facts about Roman history. In high school, I won the award for top Latin student in my graduating class. So I wasn't a bad Latin student. Here's the confession: I somehow don't even vaguely remember the rough timespan the Roman Empire existed. Maybe Jesus time? I know he was killed by the Romans (is that right?). Were they around for a long time after? A long time before that? When was Romulus and Remus allegedly fighting? Virgil wrote the Aeneid when? I don't have a clue. Despite being a kind of “Latin expert” I am missing a much more important foundational fact: when all of this was happening. When I say trees are made out of air I'm not talking about the fact that there is a lot of empty space inside a tree (or actually anything made out of atoms). I mean something [...] --- First published: May 28th, 2026 Source: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xiTBpBDwubnr4MLRe/trees-are-mostly-made-of-air-and-a-generalizable-lesson-for --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Salvete sodales! Welcome to our series, "Rem Tene;" a Latin podcast presented by Latinitas Animi Causa for beginner and intermediate learners of the Latin language built and designed for the acquisition and understanding of it as a language, not just a code to decipher. In this episode of Rem Tenē, we begin our new series within Rem Tenē! telling the story of Book 2 of the Aeneid in comprehensible Latin!Episode 0: https://youtu.be/vr2IdjRbPPk?si=TjyiYVEQCU4us5FvEpisode 1: https://youtu.be/LdGXknMxfVI?si=tu5dQ_myCqxa7tTQ

While we are on a break, enjoy this episode from Season 2. Season 3 starts May 19!This week, we take on Apuleius' The Golden Ass, a hilarious surprise from Ted Gioia's Immersive Humanities Course. Written in the mid-300s A.D., this is the very first Latin prose novel, penned by Algerian-born Apuleius. Lucius, our hero, is a young man who meddles in magic, transforms into a donkey, and embarks on wild adventures before returning to human form. We were so captivated that note-taking fell by the wayside, much like with Herodotus' Histories. This rollicking tale, brimming with late-Roman-Empire themes, proved both hilarious and profound.Unlike Aristotle's structured tragedy guidelines (see Week 5's Poetics), The Golden Ass defies unity of action, place, and time, weaving a tapestry of digressions and sub-stories. Lucius' transformation serves as a spine for tales like “I heard…” or “So they told me…,” echoing the nested narratives of The Odyssey and The Aeneid. The standout sub-story is the myth of Cupid and Psyche, the earliest known version, which stunned us as the inspiration for C.S. Lewis' Till We Have Faces. Its late appearance for a myth feels significant, reflecting a decadent, fatigued Roman worldview. Fortune, personified as in Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, reappears, underscoring this era's preoccupations.Sarah Ruden's translation is a triumph, preserving Apuleius' puns, alliteration, and bawdy humor. This farce, second only to Lysistrata in humor, is delightfully NSFW, with outrageous scenes that shocked even our son Jack. Ruden notes comparisons to modern humorists like Wodehouse or George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman series, and we see parallels to Forrest Gump—Lucius stumbles through events without driving the plot. The book's influence extends to A Confederacy of Dunces, sparking new reading threads for us, exactly why we joined this course.Join us next week as we travel east and read The Arabian Nights.LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker's 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!) The complete list of Crack the Book Episodes (Amazon affiliate links): https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rCONNECTTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack - https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ Like what you heard? Buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/crackthebookLISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm

fWotD Episode 3294: Golden Bough (Aeneid) Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Tuesday, 12 May 2026, is Golden Bough (Aeneid).The Golden Bough is a fantastical object described in the Aeneid, an epic poem by the Roman poet Virgil composed between 29 and 19 BCE narrating the adventures of the Trojan hero Aeneas after the Trojan War. The episode of the Golden Bough is found in its sixth book and is part of Aeneas's journey into the Underworld. The bough itself acts as proof of Aeneas's divine favour, and allows him to pass into the Underworld. He is tasked to find it in an expansive forest, which he accomplishes with the aid of his mother, the goddess Venus, and to remove it from its host tree. Although Aeneas has been told that it would come easily, if his journey is ordained by fate, Virgil describes the bough as briefly hesitating before he takes it.Virgil's portrayal of the bough has no direct literary antecedents, though it draws on several precedents from literature, folklore and philosophy. Scholars have connected it with, among others, the Golden Fleece in the story of the Argonauts; symbolic objects associated with deities such as Hermes, Dionysus and Circe; and the branches carried by prospective initiates into the Eleusinian Mysteries, a Greek religious rite centred on a symbolic journey into the Underworld. Virgil associates it with both death and immortality, partly by way of symbolic associations in Graeco-Roman culture between gold and the gods. It also recalls ideas put forth by the Roman philosopher Lucretius as to the nature of the soul. The episode of the Golden Bough was parodied by authors including Virgil's contemporary Ovid, and drawn upon by later Roman poets including Lucan and Valerius Flaccus.Early interpretations of the Golden Bough tended to give it an allegorical function, particularly via Pythagorean and Neoplatonist philosophy, which viewed it as symbolic of the choice between virtue and vice. Medieval commentators often considered it a symbol of wisdom, and several Christian theologians interpreted it as representing Christian wisdom and virtue. In the sixteenth century, it became a heraldic symbol of the Florentine House of Medici. Early modern receptions of the bough, including those of François Rabelais and Jonathan Swift, were often parodic or obscene. In the twentieth century, scholars following the Harvard School interpretation of the Aeneid argued that Virgil's use of the bough reflected his ambivalence towards Aeneas and the latter's mission to set in motion the rise of the Roman Empire. Other critics have highlighted echoes between the episode of the Golden Bough and the morally charged deaths of two of Aeneas's antagonists, Dido and Turnus.In the fourth or fifth century CE, the commentator Servius connected the bough to rex Nemorensis, a priest of the goddess Diana at Lake Nemi whose office was passed on by the killing of its holder. This equation influenced the anthropologist James George Frazer, who used the bough for the title of his 1890 work on comparative religion. The bough is recalled in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and was the subject of an 1834 painting by J. M. W. Turner, which was used as the frontispiece for the early editions of Frazer's book. It was an influential motif in the "Byzantium" poems of W. B. Yeats and in the poetry of Seamus Heaney, who made several translations of Virgil's account of the episode. Scholars have also drawn parallels between the Golden Bough and significant objects in the novels of J. R. R. Tolkien.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:53 UTC on Tuesday, 12 May 2026.For the full current version of the article, see Golden Bough (Aeneid) on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Emma.

Salvete sodales! Welcome to our series, "Rem Tene;" a Latin podcast presented by Latinitas Animi Causa for beginner and intermediate learners of the Latin language built and designed for the acquisition and understanding of it as a language, not just a code to decipher. In this episode of Rem Tenē, we begin our new series within Rem Tenē! telling the story of Book 1 of the Aeneid in comprehensible Latin!

Eric Hutchinson, associate professor of classics and chairman of Collegiate Scholars Program at Hillsdale College, joins host Scot Bertram to discuss the foundations of Roman mythology, best practices for teaching Virgil's The Aeneid, and the differences between Aeneas and other heroes of antiquity. Learn more: https://k12.hillsdale.edu/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A major new look at Africa's influence on European culture and how colonization remade Africa in the image of a medieval Europe.Virgil. Chaucer. Petrarch. These names resonate with many as cornerstones of European culture. Yet, in Atlas's Bones: The African Foundations of Europe (U Chicago Press, 2025), D. Vance Smith reveals that much of what is claimed as European culture up to the Middle Ages—its great themes in literature, its sources in political thought, its religious beliefs—originated in the writings of African thinkers like Augustine, Fulgentius, and Martianus Capella, or Europeans who thought extensively about Africa. In fact, a third of Virgil's Aeneid takes place in Africa. Francis Petrarch believed his most important achievement was his epic Africa; while Geoffrey Chaucer wrote repeatedly about the figures of Scipio Africanus, actually two different men who defeated and destroyed Carthage.Smith tells the story of how Europe created a false “medieval” version of Africa to acquire resources and power during the era of imperialism and colonialism. The first half of the book, “Reading Africa,” traces Egypt's, Libya's, and Carthage's influence on classical and medieval thinking about Africa, highlighting often ignored literary and legendary traditions, for example, that Alexander the Great named himself the son of an African god. The second part, “Writing Africa,” focuses on how the different cultures of the two great African cities—Carthage and Alexandria—shaped modern literary criticism and political theology and examines the cross-influences of modern anthropology, medieval studies, and colonial law.Atlas's Bones firmly re-establishes the significance of Africa in European intellectual history. It will be essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how much of Africa informs our artistic and cultural world. D. Vance Smith is professor of English and former director of medieval studies at Princeton University. His many books include Arts of Dying: Literature and Finitude in Medieval England, also published by the University of Chicago Press. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

A major new look at Africa's influence on European culture and how colonization remade Africa in the image of a medieval Europe.Virgil. Chaucer. Petrarch. These names resonate with many as cornerstones of European culture. Yet, in Atlas's Bones: The African Foundations of Europe (U Chicago Press, 2025), D. Vance Smith reveals that much of what is claimed as European culture up to the Middle Ages—its great themes in literature, its sources in political thought, its religious beliefs—originated in the writings of African thinkers like Augustine, Fulgentius, and Martianus Capella, or Europeans who thought extensively about Africa. In fact, a third of Virgil's Aeneid takes place in Africa. Francis Petrarch believed his most important achievement was his epic Africa; while Geoffrey Chaucer wrote repeatedly about the figures of Scipio Africanus, actually two different men who defeated and destroyed Carthage.Smith tells the story of how Europe created a false “medieval” version of Africa to acquire resources and power during the era of imperialism and colonialism. The first half of the book, “Reading Africa,” traces Egypt's, Libya's, and Carthage's influence on classical and medieval thinking about Africa, highlighting often ignored literary and legendary traditions, for example, that Alexander the Great named himself the son of an African god. The second part, “Writing Africa,” focuses on how the different cultures of the two great African cities—Carthage and Alexandria—shaped modern literary criticism and political theology and examines the cross-influences of modern anthropology, medieval studies, and colonial law.Atlas's Bones firmly re-establishes the significance of Africa in European intellectual history. It will be essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how much of Africa informs our artistic and cultural world. D. Vance Smith is professor of English and former director of medieval studies at Princeton University. His many books include Arts of Dying: Literature and Finitude in Medieval England, also published by the University of Chicago Press. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

A major new look at Africa's influence on European culture and how colonization remade Africa in the image of a medieval Europe.Virgil. Chaucer. Petrarch. These names resonate with many as cornerstones of European culture. Yet, in Atlas's Bones: The African Foundations of Europe (U Chicago Press, 2025), D. Vance Smith reveals that much of what is claimed as European culture up to the Middle Ages—its great themes in literature, its sources in political thought, its religious beliefs—originated in the writings of African thinkers like Augustine, Fulgentius, and Martianus Capella, or Europeans who thought extensively about Africa. In fact, a third of Virgil's Aeneid takes place in Africa. Francis Petrarch believed his most important achievement was his epic Africa; while Geoffrey Chaucer wrote repeatedly about the figures of Scipio Africanus, actually two different men who defeated and destroyed Carthage.Smith tells the story of how Europe created a false “medieval” version of Africa to acquire resources and power during the era of imperialism and colonialism. The first half of the book, “Reading Africa,” traces Egypt's, Libya's, and Carthage's influence on classical and medieval thinking about Africa, highlighting often ignored literary and legendary traditions, for example, that Alexander the Great named himself the son of an African god. The second part, “Writing Africa,” focuses on how the different cultures of the two great African cities—Carthage and Alexandria—shaped modern literary criticism and political theology and examines the cross-influences of modern anthropology, medieval studies, and colonial law.Atlas's Bones firmly re-establishes the significance of Africa in European intellectual history. It will be essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how much of Africa informs our artistic and cultural world. D. Vance Smith is professor of English and former director of medieval studies at Princeton University. His many books include Arts of Dying: Literature and Finitude in Medieval England, also published by the University of Chicago Press. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-studies

In this episode of Classical Et Cetera we continue our series on the best books of each era by turning from ancient Greece to ancient Rome. From Virgil's Aeneid and Cicero's orations to Roman historians, poets, philosophers, and early Christian writers, we consider the works that reveal Rome's ideals of order, duty, virtue, and piety—and the world-changing arrival of Christianity.   Whether you're new to Roman literature or looking to revisit the classics, this conversation offers guidance on what to read, why it matters, and how these books help us understand the foundations of Western civilization. Join us as we explore the essential works of ancient Rome, from empire to Augustine, and consider where to begin your reading. *What We're Reading* from This Episode:  "Mary Poppins" Pamela Lyndon Travers (Paul) "The Confederacy of Dunces" John Kennedy Toole (Paul) "84, Charing Cross Road" Helene Hanff (Jessica) "The Sea Hawk" Rafael Sabatini (Tanya) "The Little Colonel Stories" Annie Fellows Johnston (Tanya) "Educational Wastelands" Arthur E. Bestor (Martin)     *Reading List for Ancient Rome* Virgil - Aeneid - Other poetry   Cicero - Catilinarian Orations - The Republic - The Laws - On Duties / On Obligations - Pro Archia Poeta_ / _For Archias the Poet   Lucretius - De rerum natura_ / _On the Nature of Things   Marcus Aurelius - Meditations   Julius Caesar - Gallic Wars   Roman Historians - Works by Livy - Works by Tacitus - Works by Suetonius - Plutarch - _Parallel Lives   Roman Poetry - Works by Ovid - Works by Horace - Other poetry by Virgil   Early Christian Writings of the Roman Era - Didache - Writings by Clement of Rome - Writings by Ignatius of Antioch - Writings by Polycarp - Writings by Justin Martyr - Writings by Irenaeus - Writings by Tertullian - Writings by Origen - Writings by Eusebius   Augustine - Confessions - On Catechizing the Uninstructed - City of God

So much of what is happening these days seems utterly nonsensical, from Trump’s war crime and profanity-laced Easter rant, to the whipsaw on Iran. So, is it simply Occam’s razor, or is there more going on here than we’re led to believe? Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men’s views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it. — President Woodrow Wilson, The New Freedom: A Call for the Emancipation of the Generous Energies of a People (1913) The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the Government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson — and I am not wholly excepting the Administration of W. W. The country is going through a repetition of Jackson’s fight with the Bank of the United States — only on a far bigger and broader basis. — President Franklin D. Roosevelt, letter to Col. Edward Mandell House (21 November 1933); as quoted in F.D.R.: His Personal Letters, 1928-1945, edited by Elliott Roosevelt (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1950), pg. 373 I would suggest nothing we’re seeing, including (especially) the seemingly nonsensical, is ‘accidental’ or coincidental. It is PSYOP/PSWAR, a potent toxic mixture of POSIWID and chaos theory designed and intended to rapidly produce maximum chaos resulting in a ‘Clash of Civilizations‘ and The End of History and the Last Man, to ultimately bring about a ‘Novus Ordo Seclorum’1234 a la Genesis 11 → Genesis 6 → culminating in Psalm 2 → Revelation 19. Links Videos / Clips [x] = Played Trump says Americans against war with Iran are ‘foolish’ [x] 2:00–5:15 [x] 8:33–9:12 ‘Apparently I'm an idiot': Three-time Trump voter in Pennsylvania sounds off on Iran war [x] 3:15–3:45 Lucifer Has a NASA Moon Mission named Artemis. Here’s What They’re Hiding. Headlines [x] = Mentioned / Discussed Trump: “A Whole Civilization with Die Tonight” If President Trump carries out his threat to kill the entire civilization of Iran, he will join the ranks of Cato the Elder, Genghis Khan, Cortez, and other villains in history who chose the policy of destroying an entire civilization. Needless to say, this is not what Washington, Madison, Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin had in mind when they founded the US Constitutional Republic. Members of the US government—as well as We the People—should think about the reflections of multiple Roman authors who regarded the total annihilation of Carthage as an outrage and repudiation of Rome's republican values and virtues. In the Aeneid, Virgil frames the Punic Wars as a fateful conflict initiated by the Punic Queen Dido’s curse on Aeneas’s descendants. I interpret this as Virgil's way of condemning the “unspeakable” destruction of Carthage. The American people should be aware of the fact that if our US government does indeed annihilate the Iranian nation forever, it will certainly have a vast array of terrible consequences for us and for all of mankind. Among other disasters, it is likely that millions of Iranians will be forced to flee to other lands, including those of Europe. Many young men who see their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters suffer will be animated with a burning desire for revenge. I anticipate great horrors ahead for all of us. Trump's F-Bomb on Iran Joins America's Rollicking History of Presidential Profanity White House Easter egg roll Monday: How to watch live White House Easter Egg Roll honors America’s egg farmers, says President Trump | Fox News [x] Pentagon's new plans in Iran give Trump a way out of war crime accusations – POLITICO [x] Trump threatens to jail journalist who reported on crew's rescue in Iran if they don't reveal source – POLITICO [x] Iran Says US Airman Rescue May Have Been Cover to ‘Steal Enriched Uranium' Artemis ‘Launch’ April Fool’s Day / Easter – Amazing ‘Coincidence’ [x] [Published April Fool's Day! Same as Artemis II 'launch'] Did Van Allen Belts Stop the Moon Landings? Myth vs Fact – FreeAstroScience [x] Artemis II live updates: Nasa astronauts returning to Earth after seeing parts of Moon ‘no human has ever seen' | The Independent Artemis – Wikipedia “Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Innana…” & Asteroids | Fixed Stars Are the goddesses Ashteroth, Remphan, Isis, Ishtar, Belit, Anahita, Artemis, and Diana the same goddess with different names? – Quora Pan: The Complete Guide to the Greek God of Nature (2023) The Rest [x] = Mentioned / Discussed [x] Deutsche Bank – Wikipedia [x] Deutsche Bank [00:27, 17 May 2024 revision] – Wikipedia [x] Trump family faces high-stakes testimony in Manhattan fraud trial [x] At Trump Org fraud trial, ex-banker recalls ‘hunting' for Trump's business | Courthouse News Service [x] Finra Suspends Trump's Former Personal Banker – AdvisorHub [x] Rosemary Vrablic – Wikipedia [x] Jared Kushner – Wikipedia The thinly sourced theories about Trump's loans and Justice Kennedy's son (Jul 12, 2018) by Salvador Rizzo | The Washington Post [x] Why Trump Is Mentally Unfit to Be President: Pathology of Narcissism (Apr 5, 2017) by Alex Morris | Rolling Stone [x] Taibbi on the Madness of Donald Trump (Sep 19, 2017) by Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone [x] Donald Trump Is About to Be a Loser, His Lawyers Say (Mar 22, 2023) by Asawin Suebsaeng and Adam Rawnsley | Rolling Stone [x] Donald Trump, Trickster God (Mar 4, 2016) by Corey Pein | The Baffler [x] Kushner and Witkoff – by esc [x] IMEC: Trump's War With Iran Is About Global Trade. Period. [x] What The Iran Attack Is Really All About – Road Warrior Radio [x] Road Warrior Radio with Chris Hinkley, March 10, 2026 Hour 1 – Republic Broadcasting Network [x] Road Warrior Radio with Chris Hinkley, March 10, 2026 Hour 2 – Republic Broadcasting Network On This Day Events April 2026 Calendar of Public Holidays | Office Holidays Holidays and Observances in the United States in 2026 What day is it today? Important events every day ad-free | United States OTD On This Day – What Happened on April 7 Today in History: April 7, Rwandan genocide begins | AP News What Happened on April 7 – On This Day What Happened on April 7 | HISTORY April 7 – Wikipedia What Happened On April 7 In History? 07 | April | 2020 | Executed Today Holidays National Beer Day (United States) Historical Events 2022 – The Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson – “Pizzagate” judge who was unable to define ‘woman' – to the Supreme Court, securing her place as the court's first Black female justice. 2021 – COVID-19 shenanigans: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announces that the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant has become the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the United States. 2020 – COVID-19 shenanigans: China ends its lockdown in Wuhan. 2020 – COVID-19 shenanigans: Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly resigns for his handling of the COVID-19 ‘pandemic’ on USS Theodore Roosevelt and the dismissal of Brett Crozier. 1994 – A day after the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi died in a missile attack on their aircraft, the moderate Hutu prime minister of Rwanda, Agathe Uwilingiyimana, and her husband were killed by Rwandan soldiers; in the 100 days that followed, Hutu extremists slaughtered hundreds of thousands of minority Tutsi and Hutu moderates. 1990 – John Poindexter is convicted for his role in the Iran–Contra affair. In 1991 the convictions are reversed on appeal. 1984 – The Census Bureau reported that Los Angeles had overtaken Chicago as the nation's “second city” in terms of population. 1980 – During the Iran hostage crisis, the United States severs relations with Iran. 1970 – John Wayne wins Best Actor Oscar: The legendary actor John Wayne wins his first—and only—acting Academy Award, for his star turn in the director Henry Hathaway's Western True Grit. Known for his tough, rugged, uniquely American screen persona, Wayne appeared in some 150 movies over the course of his long and storied career. 1969 – The internet is born: With the publication of RFC 1, The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) awarded a contract to build a precursor of today’s world wide web to BBN Technologies. The date is widely considered as the internet’s symbolic birthday. 1968 – Riots continue in over 100 US cities following the Apr 4 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. 1966 – The U.S. Navy recovered a hydrogen bomb that the U.S. Air Force had lost in the Mediterranean Sea off Spain following a B-52 crash. 1964 – IBM announces the System/360. 1963 – Tito is made president of Yugoslavia for life: A new Yugoslav constitution proclaims Tito the president for life of the newly named Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Formerly known as Josip Broz, Tito was born to a large peasant family in Croatia in 1892. 1961 – JFK lobbies Congress to help save historic sites in Egypt: President John F. Kennedy sends a letter to Congress in which he recommends the U.S. participate in an international campaign to preserve ancient temples and historic monuments in the Nile Valley of Egypt. The campaign, initiated by UNESCO, was designed to save sites threatened by the construction of the Aswan High Dam. 1954 – Domino Theory: President Dwight D. Eisenhower coined one of the most famous Cold War phrases, held a news conference in which he outlined the concept of the “domino theory” as he spoke of the importance of containing the spread of communism in Indochina, saying, “You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly.” 1953 – Sweden's Dag Hammarskjöld elected U.N. head: By a vote of 57 to 1, Dag Hammarskjöld is elected secretary-general of the United Nations. The son of Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, a former prime minister of Sweden, Dag joined Sweden's foreign ministry in 1947, and in 1951 formally entered the cabinet as deputy foreign minister. 1950 – President Truman receives NSC-68 report, calling for “containing” Soviet expansion: President Harry S. Truman receives National Security Council Paper Number 68 (NSC-68). The report was a group effort, created with input from the Defense Department, the State Department, the CIA, and other interested agencies; NSC-68 formed the basis for America's Cold War policy for the next two decades. 1949 – Tony-winning musical South Pacific opens on Broadway: The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific opens at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway in New York City. The romantic musical about World War II, which touches on controversial racial themes, goes on to run for almost five years, becoming one of the most popular musicals of the 1950s. 1948 – World Health Organization established: The WHO, a privately funded United Nations agency front organization, ostensibly concerned with fighting disease and epidemics worldwide, building up national health services, and improving health education in its 194 member states. 1945 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Yamato, one of the two largest ever constructed, is sunk by United States Navy aircraft during Operation Ten-Go, in Japan's first major counteroffensive in the struggle for Okinawa. Weighing 72,800 tons and outfitted with nine 18.1-inch guns, the battleship Yamato was Japan's only hope of destroying the Allied fleet off the coast of Okinawa. 1943 – The National Football League makes helmets mandatory. 1943 – Holocaust in Ukraine: In Terebovlia, Germans order 1,100 Jews to undress and march through the city to the nearby village of Plebanivka, where they are shot and buried in ditches. 1940 – Tuskegee Institute founder Booker T. Washington becomes the first Black American to be honored with a postage stamp. It will take nearly four decades for a Black woman to receive a similar honor: Harriet Tubman in 1978. 1939 – Benito Mussolini invades Albania, declares an Italian protectorate over Albania and forces King Zog I into exile. 1933 – National Beer Day: Prohibition in the United States is repealed for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight, eight months before the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution. (Now celebrated as National Beer Day in the United States.) 1927 – First long-distance television transmission: an image of Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover is sent from Washington, D.C. to NYC by AT&T 1922 – Teapot Dome Scandal: Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall signed a secret deal to lease U.S. Navy petroleum reserves in Wyoming and California to his friends, oilmen Harry F. Sinclair and Edward L. Doheny, in exchange for cash gifts; Fall would eventually be sentenced to prison on bribery and conspiracy charges in what became known as the Teapot Dome Scandal. 1868 – Thomas D’Arcy McGee, one of the Canadian Fathers of Confederation is assassinated by the Irish, in one of the few Canadian political assassinations, and the only one of a federal politician. 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Shiloh concludes: Two days of heavy fighting conclude near Pittsburgh Landing in western Tennessee. Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell are victorious after the Confederate attack stalled on April 6, and fresh Yankee troops drove the Confederates from the field on April 7. 1832 – The Man Who Sold His Wife: Most modern readers believe Thomas Hardy was plunging into deep fiction when he wrote about a man selling his wife. He wasn’t. Nagging wives needed to be careful in 19th Century England, for, as Hardy recounted in The Mayor of Casterbridge, her husband might put her up for sale. That's just what happened on this day to Mary Thompson, according to a local newspaper report. 1829 – Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint cult, commences translation of the Book of Mormon, with Oliver Cowdery as his scribe. 1827 – First friction match sold: English chemist John Walker produced and sold the first operable matches. They were soon banned in France and Germany because burning fragments would sometimes fall to the floor and start fires. 1805 – German composer Ludwig van Beethoven premieres his Third Symphony, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna 1805 – Lewis and Clark depart Fort Mandan: After a long winter, the Lewis and Clark expedition departs its camp among the Mandan tribe and resumes its journey West. The Corps of Discovery had begun its voyage the previous spring, and it arrived at the large Mandan and Minnetaree villages along the upper Missouri River (north of present-day Bismarck, North Dakota) in late October. 1798 – The Mississippi Territory is organized from disputed territory claimed by both the United States and the Spanish Empire. It is expanded in 1804 and again in 1812. 1788 – American Pioneers to the Northwest Territory arrive at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, establishing Marietta, Ohio, as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory, and opening the westward expansion of the new country. 1776 – Captain John Barry and the USS Lexington captures the Edward. 1739 – Dick Turpin is executed in England for horse stealing 1724 – Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John Passion premiered: St. John’s Passion premieres on Good Friday at St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig, Electorate of Saxony (now Germany). The sacred oratorio is the oldest extant Passion by the German composer. The highly popular work is a dramatization of the final days of Jesus Christ, according to the Gospel of John. 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu. 529 – First draft of Corpus Juris Civilis or the Justinian Code (a fundamental work in jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I 451 – Attila the Hun captures Metz in France, killing most of its inhabitants and burning the town. 30 – Scholars estimate for the crucifixion of Jesus by Roman troops at the behest of Jewish leadership (Caiaphas the high priest, chief priests, scribes, elders) on Golgotha outside Jerusalem [or April 3] Births 1964 – Russell Crowe, New Zealand/Australian actor, singer, producer 1954 – Jackie Chan, Hong Kong-born actor and director noted for acrobatic stunt work in hits like “The Young Master” and the “Rush Hour” series. 1939 – Francis Ford Coppola, American director, producer, screenwriter 1938 – Jerry Brown, American lawyer and politician, 34th and 39th Governor of California 1931 – Daniel Ellsberg, American activist and author (died 2023) 1928 – James Garner, American actor, singer, and producer (died 2014) 1920 – Ravi Shankar, Indian/American sitar player, composer (died 2012) 1915 – Billie Holiday, American Jazz singer-songwriter, actress whose soulful intensity earned her the nickname “Lady Day.” Signature hits like “Strange Fruit” and “God Bless the Child.” (died 1959) 1897 – Walter Winchell, American journalist and radio host (died 1972) 1893 – Allen Dulles, American lawyer and diplomat, 5th Director of Central Intelligence (died 1969) 1890 – Marjory Stoneman Douglas, journalist, conservationist, activist best known for her advocacy for the preservation of Florida’s Everglades region. (died 1998) 1860 – Will Keith Kellogg, American businessman, ardent eugenicist, Seventh-day Adventist cult member, founded the Kellogg Company (died 1951) 1772 – Charles Fourier, French philosopher, communist (died 1837) 1770 – William Wordsworth, English poet (died 1850) Deaths 1947 – Henry Ford, American businessman, founded the Ford Motor Company (born 1863) 1928 – Alexander Bogdanov, Russian physician, philosopher, and author (born 1873) 1891 – P. T. Barnum, American businessman, co-founded Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey Circus (born 1810) 1804 – Toussaint Louverture, Haitian general (born 1743) 1733 – Samuel Partridge, very stupid and unconcern'd From the New England Weekly Journal, July 23, 1733 — a three-month-old news item (part of a roundup of dated minor dispatches) that had to cross the Atlantic from the mother country. Ipswich, April 7. Last Saturday Samuel Partridge was executed here, for robbing Mr. Barwell of Brockley in this City, of 31l, 10s., a Horse, and other Things, in Company with another Person not yet taken. He said he was born at Debden in Suffolk, that he was about 22 years of Age, and was brought up in Husbandry; he appeared to be very illiterate, for he could neither read nor write, and was entirely ignorant of the first Principles of Christianity. He denied the Fact for which he suffered, and said he was perswaded to own the Robbery by a Soldier that was in Halsted Bridewell with him, he telling him, that if he confessed the Fact he would come off very well; and that he advised him to say, that he had made use of a Bolt instead of a Pistol, and that he had hid it in a certain Place, where it was found according to his Direction. At the Place of Execution he seemed very stupid and unconcern'd; only, as directed, he called on God for Mercy when he was turned off. Elon Musk Tweets ‘Novus Ordo Seclorum' After Donald Trump Wins Reelection. MAGA Is The Pied Piper – winepressnews.com ↩ Novus Ordo Seclorum – History of Motto on Great Seal’s Unfinished Pyramid ↩ Novus ordo seclorum – Wikipedia ↩ Annuit cœptis – Wikipedia ↩

Week Two of our poetry and garden project is here (a poem read, a garden visited each week). We arrive in April with Aeneas' "sudden" encounter with his mother Venus in disguise as a huntress on the Libyan cliffs and a humble side-street garden in Brooklyn. To see a full image of the garden and the article for this week head over to https://theuplands.substack.com/p/the-aeneid-and-an-april-garden-brooklyn 

1. Virgil's Origins and the Rise of a Roman Poet Guest Authors: Scott McGill and Susanna Wright (1)Professors Scott McGill and Susanna Wright discuss Virgil's 70 BCE birth near Mantua and his rural upbringing, which deeply influenced his poetry. Despite his "country mouse" persona, Virgil's ambition took him to Rome during a period of intense civil war and political transition from Republic to Empire. The authors explore his professional path as a poet under the patronage of Maecenas and his burgeoning relationship with Augustus. This connection, initially forged over the *Georgics*, eventually led to the creation of the *Aeneid*, a work intricately intertwined with the era's political and social turmoil. (2)1650 TROJAN WAR

3. Epic Plots, Underworlds, and the Human Cost of Destiny Guest Authors: Scott McGill and Susanna Wright (5)This segment explores the *Aeneid*'s plot, following Aeneas's journey from the ashes of Troy to the founding of a new Roman lineage in Italy. The authors examine Virgil's "conversation" with Homer, blending Odyssean wandering with Iliadic warfare. They delve into the terrifyingly visual depiction of the underworld and the "magnificently gory" battle scenes that reflected ancient Roman aesthetics. Significant focus is placed on the human cost of Aeneas's mission, particularly the tragic treatment of female characters like Dido, whose powerful voice often overshadows the hero's own restrained and sometimes frustrating inner life. (6)1650 AENEAS VS TURNUS

4. Roman Exceptionalism and the Complexity of Power Guest Authors: Scott McGill and Susanna Wright (7)The final discussion addresses the *Aeneid* as a document of Roman exceptionalism, justifying Augustus's empire as a divinely ordained destiny. However, McGill and Wright argue the poem transcends mere propaganda by emphasizing the human scale and showing sympathy for Aeneas's adversaries, Dido and Turnus. They interpret Virgil's portrayal of weak or coercive kings as a potential critique of the era's shifting power dynamics. Ultimately, the work reflects the "veneer of Republicanism" Augustus maintained while establishing absolute rule, making the *Aeneid* a complex exploration of political transition and the hazards of individual power. (8)1915 AENEID

Fr. Peter George Flynn continues his Lenten series on the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady, turning to the Sixth Sorrow: the taking down of Christ from the Cross. Drawing on the poetry of Francis Thompson, the Roman virtue of pietas as illustrated in Virgil's Aeneid, and the theology of the Immaculate Heart, Fr. Peter George […] L'articolo Catechesis – Christ's Body Taken From the Cross: The Sixth Sorrow of Our Lady – Fr Peter George Flynn OFM proviene da Radio Maria.

Salvete sodales! Welcome to our series, "Rem Tene;" a Latin podcast presented by Latinitas Animi Causa for beginner and intermediate learners of the Latin language built and designed for the acquisition and understanding of it as a language, not just a code to decipher. In this episode of Rem Tenē, we begin our new series within Rem Tenē! telling the story of the Aeneid in comprehensible Latin!

Nick Jeffery read Robert Browning's The Ring and the Book, a Victorian epic poem about a murder mystery in 17th Century Italy, to test a theory. John Granger's best guess after surveying the chapter headings of Hallmarked Man last September was that, of all 77 sources for the 139 epigraphs in Strike8, Browning's poem was the most likely to hold a secret message or special meaning inside it. John had said something similar about another Browning poem and Ink Black Heart, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh, and Nick had confirmed that through his own reading and confirmation by Rowling herself. He thought John's track record of spotting important epigraph sources merited a test reading.He published his findings on Friday in a post titled ‘The Ring and The Book – A Rowling Reading.' In brief, the murder in Browning's poem is a point-to-point model for the Ironbridge murder mystery in Hallmarked Man with characters in Rowling-Galbraith's book — most notably, Chloe Griffiths, Tyler Powell, and Ian Griffiths — having their astonishing equivalents in Ring. The less obvious but more important links between the two are in their implicit feminism and other messages: Both works critique abusive relationships and patriarchal power: Guido's control of Pompilia and Dino Longcaster's control of Decima Mullins. The legal system (Books 8–9 especially) is satirized as formalistic, pedantic, and often blind to moral reality. True justice requires personal moral intuition beyond mere evidence or procedure. The Pope's monologue (Book 10) weighs this tension most profoundly. In The Hallmarked Man the police are slow to act on new information gained by Strike and Robin and Farah Navabi manages to hoodwink the courts into escaping punishment for her part in Patterson's crimes.The Ring and The Book dramatizes the eternal struggle between good and evil. Pompilia embodies instinctive purity, sacrificial love, and spiritual insight despite her suffering. Guido represents sophisticated, calculating evil that twists morality to justify cruelty. Browning affirms that evil exists but that good can somehow arise from or shine through evil's consequences. In The Hallmarked Man evil is real, monstrous, and often cloaked in normalcy or power structures, but it can be exposed and defeated through persistence, intuition, and moral courage.Nick also discusses in this article the chiastic structure of Ring (!) and the ‘conversation' he heard between Robert Browning in this poem with Aurora Leigh, the masterpiece by his late wife. His ‘Rowling Reading' of Ring and the Book, consequently, will soon be a touchstone piece not only in Rowling Studies but Browning Studies as well (#ArmstrongBrowningLibraryAndMuseum @ Baylor). As they have done before with Nick's ‘Rowling Reading' articles. the Hogwarts Professor team recorded their conversation about the piece (listen to their discussions of I Capture the Castle and Aurora Leigh). Seven High Points of that Ring and the Book epigraph conversation include:* Nick's review of why Serious Strikers and Rowling Readers should read The Ring and the Book along with the story of his immersion in it;* John's explanation of why he was so confident that Browning's poem was a template of some kind for Hallmarked Man even though only six of Strike8's 139 epigraphs were taken from it;* Their survey of Rowling's previous work with epigraphs — Deathly Hallows and Casual Vacancy all the way to Running Grave and Hallmarked Man — for works with similar embedded-in-the-epigraph texts and those without one (or in which it hasn't yet been discovered);* Nick's discussion of Rowling's previous comments about epigraphs and her answer to the question, ‘Which Came First, the Epigraph or the Story?';* John's best guess pre-publication about the text that will be the epigraph source in Sleep Tight, Evangeline and which Strike text it will most resemble with its Whiskey Shambles title;* Nick's commitment to exploring Blue Oyster Cult epigraphs in Career of Evil to see if one of that band's albums, all of which supposedly had sci-fi themes and story continuity, served as a text-within-the-text for Strike3; and* John's suggestion that the relationship of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning, a great love with a shared vocation, might be a point of reflection for Serious Strikers as a template for understanding the Strike-Ellacott partnership.Nick and John will be recording their group charting of Hallmarked Man's Part Eight this week with Sandy Hope and Ed Shardlow (and Presvytera Lois?), a survey of readers is in the works, and the long-awaited close look at the Strike series in light of the Cupid and Psyche myth draws ever nearer. Stay tuned!The Ten Questions, Epigraph Charting, and Links to Previous Epigraph Discussions Here and Elsewhere:The Ring and The Book – A Rowling Reading, Nick Jeffery, February 2026Intro to Epigraphs 101, John Granger, September 2022The Heart is Not About Emotions and Affection but the Human Spiritual Center, John Granger, October 2022A Rowling Reading of Aurora Leigh, Nick Jeffery, November 2025Beatrice Grove's Pillar Post Page at HogwartsProfessor.com* Scroll down for Prof Groves' posts about epigraphs and literary allusion in Cuckoo's Calling, The Silkworm, Troubled Blood, and Ink Black HeartLethal White: Ibsen's ‘Rosmersholm', John Granger, December 2018Rowling, Dylan Thomas, and the I Ching: Three Thoughts on Strike7's Epigraphs, John Granger, April 2023‘Deathly Hallows' and Penn's ‘Fruits of Solitude,' John Granger, October 2008The Aeschylus Epigraph in ‘Deathly Hallows,' John Granger, October 2008Maid of the Silver Sea Epigraphs: Louise Freeman Davis' Collected Posts, 2025The Faerie Queene Epigraphs in Troubled Blood* Scroll down the Troubled Blood Pillar Post for the Faerie Queene commentary by Beatrice Groves, Elizabeth Baird-Hardy and John GrangerRobert-Galbraith.com Posts about the Epigraphs in Each Book* Hallmarked Man's Epigraphs: The Poetry* Hallmarked Man's Epigraphs: The Prose* Scroll Down the site's ‘Features' Page for all the other Epigraph PostsAgents of Fortune: The Blue Oyster Cult Story, Martin Popoff, May 2016Pompilia: A Feminist Reading Of Robert Browning'S The Ring And The Book, Anne Brady, May 1988Roman Murder Mystery: The True Story of Pompilia, Derek Parker, January 2001Sleep Tight, Evangeline: Nick Jeffery and John Granger talk with Dimitra FimiHallmarked Man Epigraphs: The Tally SheetMatthew Arnold: 17 poems, 25 epigraphs, 6 from Merope: A Tragedy* 3, 17, 52, 103, 108, 110 (Merope), 21, 33, 68, 38, 97, 41, 45, 59, 58, 69, 73, 76, 80, 86, 96, 106, 119, 122, 124Robert Browning: 26 poems, 38 epigraphs including frontispiece, 6 from The Ring and the Book* 44, 75, 62, 64, 102, 118 (Ring and Book), frontispiece, 2, 9, 11, 107, 13, 16, 20, 26, 28, 32, 35, 37, 114, 39, 42, 93, 44, 75, 47, 51, 62, 64, 67, 116, 71, 77, 79, 84, 87, 120, 90, 91, 100, 102, 109, 118, 126A. E. Housman: 5 works, 25 poems, 28 epigraphs, 10 from Last Poems* 1, 5, 7, 53, 19, 92, 56, 65, 74, 105 (Last Poems), 23, 30, 34, 36, 40, 43, 46, 49, 57, 63, 78, 82, 89, 94, 98, 112, 115, 125John Oxenham: 1 work, 26 epigraphs* Parts 1-10, Epilogue, 15, 18, 22, 25, 27, 55, 60, 66, 83, 85, 88, 95, 111, 113, 127 (Maid of the Silver Sea)Albert Pike: 3 works (?), 22 epigraphs, 16 from Morals and Dogma* 4, 16, 12, 121 (Liturgy), 8, 10, 14, 29, 31, 48, 50, 54, 61, 70, 81, 99, 101 (Morals and Dogma), 24, 72 (Ancient and Accepted Rite?)Most epigraphs: Robert BrowningFrontispiece: Robert BrowningMost from one poem: Tie, Robert Browning 6 Ring and Book, Matthew Arnold 6 Merope: A TragedyMost from one novel: John Oxenham 26 Maid of the Silver SeaMost from one didactic or discursive argument: Albert Pike 22 (24?) Morals and DogmaConclusions: Ring and Book your best bet as template, Re-read Maid of the Silver Sea, read Merope: A TragedyTally Sheet of Epigraphs for Ink Black Heart:Poet: epigraph numbers, (total)* Christina Rossetti: 8, 14, 22, 24, 25, 35, 38, 50, 52, 54, 56, 84, 86, 90, 98, 103, 105, 107 (18)* Elizabeth Barrett Browning: 12, 21, 33, 39, 42, 45, 47, 58, 67, 71, 72, 82, 96, 101, 102, 104 (16; all but #s 21 and 58 from ‘Aurora Leigh')* Mary Elizabeth Coleridge: Book, 1, 18, 20, 49, 79, 81, 91, 93, 94, 106 (11)* Emily Dickinson: 11, 31, 53, 58, 59, 65, 70, 76, 99 (8)* Charlotte Mew: 16, 17, 40, 55, 66, 92, 95 (7)* Felicia Hemans: 6, 10, 15, 63, 100 (5)* Amy Levy: 7, 23, 32, 80, 85 (5)* Jean Ingelow: 9, 27, 29, 37, 64 (5)* LEL!: 62, 68, 69, 83 (4); see also Rossetti 52 ‘LEL')* Mary Tighe: 36 (Psyche), 43, 60, 88 (4)* Helen Hunt Jackson: 4, 87, 89 (3)* Joanna Baillie: 13, 21, 34 (3)* Augusta Webster: 44, 48, 51 (3)* Emily Pfeiffer: 3, 75 (2)* Charlotte Bronte: 19, 74 (2)* Adah Isaacs Menken: 30, 57 (2)* Constance Naden: 41, 46 (2)* Mathilda Blind: 61, 97 (2)* Mary Kendall: 73, 77 (2)* Martha Jane Jewsbury: 2 (‘To My Own Heart')* Anne Evans: 28* ‘Michael Field' (Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper): 78The Heart and Vision epigraphs in Ink Black Heart by chapter number:* Heart: 20, 106 (MEC); 21, 67; 52, 107; 68, 85; 2; 63, 80, 85; 17, 40, 55, 95 (Mew); 19, 74; 27; 30; 36, 60; 87 (23)* Vision: Frontispiece, 1, 49, 81 (MEC); 22, 25, 38, 90, 98 (CR); 59; 3; 34; 95; 57; 88; 48; 46 (17)Tally Sheet of Epigraphs for Cuckoo's Calling:* Frontispiece: Rossetti -- A Dirge* Prologue: Lucius Accius, Telephus* Part One: Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy* Part Two: Virgil, Aeneid* Part Three: Virgil, Aeneid* Part Four: Pliny the Elder, Historia Naturalis* Part Five: Virgil, Georgics* Epilogue: Horace, Odes* [Closing Poem: Tennyson, Ulysses]Brackets/Latch: 19th Century English poets (see Groves)Most epigraphs: Virgil (3); no other author has more than oneMost frequently referenced work: Aeneid (2), shades in UlyssesCenter of Chiasmus: Aeneid (true if ring has 5, 8, or 9 parts)Turtleback lines: Not evident in authors list, perhaps in meanings of specific epigraphsConclusions:* Read Aeneid to look for Cuckoo's parallels;* Study epigraphs to look for parallelsOnline Literature Review for ‘Epigraphs of Cuckoo's Calling:‘https://robert-galbraith.com/epigraphs-of-the-cuckoos-calling/* 2025 connecting the dots between epigraphs and chapter set to follow (generic)* No mention of Strike as Aeneashttps://strikefans.com/the-cuckoos-calling-epigraphs/* Reprinting of epigraphs without commentary* No mention of Strike as Aeneashttps://thesefilespod.com/blog/the-cuckoos-calling-epigraphs/* Includes a very helpful link to The Rowling Library and an article there about the ‘real world' crime serving as a template for the Landry murder* No mention of Strike as Aeneashttps://mugglenet.wpenginepowered.com/2017/09/literary-allusion-cuckoos-calling-part-1-christina-rossettis-dirge/* Brilliant discussion of the Rossetti poem but curiously without reference to resurrection meaning* No mention of Strike as Aeneashttps://mugglenet.wpenginepowered.com/2017/09/literary-allusion-cuckoos-calling-part-2-tennysons-ulysses/* Brilliant discussion of Strike as Ulysses* No mention of Strike as Aeneas, curious becauseh Virgil models Aeneas on UlyssesThe Ten Questions of This Conversation (Sort Of!)1, (Nick) So, John, I finally wrote up my findings about The Ring and the Book as the story template for Hallmarked Man's murder mystery and, as we did with my posts about Aurora Leigh and I Capture the Castle, let's talk about it, expanding on the correspondences between the Browning poem and Strike 8. The natural place to begin is with your guess about Ring and the Book being a template based on your tally of the Hallmarked Man epigraphs, a theory you shared on our first show post-publication. Can you explain your process and what made you so confident about Ring and the Book?2. (John) Looking at that tally, then, Arnold's Merope and Oxenham's Maid of the Silver Sea are quantitatively more likely equivalents to Aurora Leigh in Ink Black Heart, but the Browning frontispiece, number of his epigraphs, the hidden quality of the Ring and Book poem titles, and the relationship with Barrett Browning made it seem the most likely. That the poem is considered one of the great feminist tracts written by a man didn't hurt. I still want to go back to the Arnold poem, though, because of the centrality of his epigraphs in the center Parts and Oxenham deserves a re-read, too, or just a trip to Louise Freeman Davis site, the home of Oxenham Studies online. What struck me while reading your post, Nick, was in the correspondences you found between Ring and the Book and Hallmarked Man. Can you give us the highlights of that?3. (Nick) The Ironbridge murder mystery, then, is largely lifted from the death of Pompilia. Which is unusual isn't it? Has Rowling-Galbraith ever used her epigraphs to point to the template of her story?4. (John) I think, then, that at least four of the previous Strike novels give us the embedded template, per Beatrice Groves The White Divel and The Revenger's Tragedy (and even Hamlet) gives us important clues about The Silkworm crime, Rosmersholm and its incestuous backdrop inform the murder of Lethal White, the Janus deceiver in Faerie Queene should have been a give-away about the poisoner in Troubled Blood, and, as Rowling confirmed and you demonstrated Nick, Aurora Leigh is the working model for Ink Black Heart. I think the closest Rowling epigraph suggestions to story template was in the Rossetti poem that opens Cuckoo's Calling and the Aeschylus epigraph in Deathly Hallows. What has Rowling said, though, about her epigraph sources? Do they precede the novels or follow the writing?5. (Nick) So it's not one or the other, I think, that is, she has a template in mind and if the source doesn't have sufficient quotable pieces to serve a epigraphs for the whole book, she uses other sources from the genre in play or that highlight her central theme (cf., the Gray's Anatomy heart epigraphs in tandem with the hearty women Victorian poets in Ink Black). What I'm struck by here, though, is the shift in importance of epigraphs to Rowling-Galbraith. The numbers are startling, no, between Cuckoo and Hallmarked?6. (John) Not only do we see a jump from eight or nine epigraphs in Strike1 to 139 in Stike8, but Team Rowling is pushing readers to think more seriously about them by posting reviews of the epigraphs in each book, drawing the dot-to-dot correspondences. I confess the Strike novel whose epigraphs are not like the others, Nick, is Career of Evil and its Blue Oyster Cult lyrics. You've been reading a book about Blue Oyster Cult so I'll defer to you in this despite my great fondness for heavy metal groups with sci-fi themed lyrics...7. (Nick) What about the book we haven't got in hand, John: Sleep Tight, Evangeline? We have been told -- sort of! -- the title is from a 2014 song from an American blues band called ‘The Whiskey Shambles.' Which of the previous epigraph models Rowling has used, from Deathly Hallows to Hallmarked Man, do you think we'll be seeing in Strike9? What are your thoughts on that, especially as the best link we have for Sleep Tight, Evangeline is from a rock and blues band?8. (John) So I hope that we're going to see another Running Grave type epigraph experience in Evangeline, though Grave was unique among Rowling novels and their epigraphs in not having a story-book, poem, or play as its primary source. The I Ching, cannot be a story-template per se because it is a divination tool or means to reflection. Unless you think Pike's Morals and Dogmas Freemasonry encyclopedia qualifies as an equivalent of sorts to the I Ching? That's another outlier, isn't it?9. (Nick) To put a Fourth Generation focus on this, John, we should be looking for a technique that Serious Readers can use for Sleep Tight, Evangeline to hunt for the embedded source if its hidden as were Aurora Leigh and The Ring and the Book. You've found the ones no one else noticed in Ink Black Heart and Hallmarked Man, how did you do that and do you think the same method will work for Cuckoo and Career as well as Evangeline?10. (John) So, yes, I found them but you had the first confirmed by Mrs Murray and then connected the dots between the Browning poems and Rowling's work. If this method is going to work on Cuckoo, Career, and Evangeline it will have to involve a spotter and a shooter, though they can be the same person. The spotter technique is nothing but grunt work; chart the epigraphs used and spot the author most frequently referenced and the work of theirs most frequently cited. The shooter work is actually a lot more involved and interesting; tell us about your experiences with the two Browning's' epic poems, that thrill of discovering correspondences. Do you think that excitement is something Rowling is offering her readers a a treasure hunt or as a point of reflection in terms of meaning? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

We are playing Ex Tenebris: a star-spanning gothic investigation TTRPG.You can make a late pledge to the Ex Tenebris Kickstarter campaign here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blackarmada/ex-tenebris?ref=7an243⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Beyond the dark emptiness of space, beyond dreaming, lies the Tenebrium. Only you can unearth its mysteries, defeat the twisted horrors that lurk there, and keep humanity from becoming prey.In Ex Tenebris, you play a ragtag team of investigators, protecting the Republic of Stars from terrifying supernatural threats. You will face sorcerers and cults, dark technology from lost civilisations and the slobbering terrors lurking in the nightmare realm of the Tenebrium.In this episode:Hamda and Orion compare notes on the drive room, and it's worse than they thought.The team discuss theory and planning.Hamda and Orion dig into the Aeneid's maintenance records.Plus: we discuss revels and other chocolates.Black Armada DiscordWe would like to invite our listeners to join the Black Armada discord, where you can hang out with the podcast crew. Join the discord here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/8GAtj9pRYy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠CreditsOur players are:Joshua Fox ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/armadajosh.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Becky Annison as Tamzi (the resurrected) ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/beckyannison.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Eadwin Tomlinson as Galen (the tarnished badge) ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/eadwin.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nick Bate as Hamda (the technarchologist) ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/ickbat.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sue Elliott as Orion (the relic) ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/suefacetm.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Black Armada create and publish TTRPGs here:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://blackarmada.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nick creates and publishes TTRPGs as Ickbat here:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ickbat.itch.io/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The music is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Orange Button⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ by Esther Garcia.

Send a textWhen the Loeb Classical Library was launched, the greatest language teacher of the age, W.H.D. Rouse, wrote an essay meant to promote the Loebs by extolling the magnificence of Greek literature and Latin literature. And boy did he. "Your mind cannot live without them. All the great intellectual impulses begin in Greece; the modern world only grows crops from the Greek seed." While Rouse admitted that his space was short, and so he had to "be dogmatic," this essay, "Machines or Mind?" is a worthy read, not least because of its response to the utilitarians who'd prefer we abandon the humanities and instead bend all of our time, effort, and resources to making more machines. One of Rouse's 21st century heirs, Senior Fellow of Classical Languages at New Saint Andrews College and founder of Picta Dicta, Timothy Griffith, joins the podcast to discuss the essay, Rouse's place in the tradition of humanist education, and whether the Aeneid can properly be called an epic.W.H.D. Rouse's Machines or Mind?: https://antigonejournal.com/2024/11/machines-or-mind-loebs-rouse/Picta Dicta: https://pictadicta.com/W.H.D. Rouse's Latin on the Direct Method: https://scholalatina.it/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Rouse-Appleton-Latin-on-the-direct-method.pdfC.S. Lewis's Preface to Paradise Lost: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780195003451New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.comSupport the show

Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Dr. Jason Baxter and Dcn. Harrison Garlick come together to introduce Dante's Purgatorio and Dr. Baxter's new translation!We are reading Dante's Purgatorio for Lent. Join us!Visit thegreatbookspodcast.com for our reading schedule!Check out our LIBRARY of written guides to the great books!DISCOUNT: Check out Dr. Jason Baxter's website and enter "Ascend" to receive **20%** off the Purgatorio audiobook read by Dr. Baxter!Check out Dr. Baxter's Substack article on his new translation.And thank you to the Center of Beauty and Culture at Benedictine College for promoting this reading of the Purgatorio!Dr. Baxter first describes the Center for Beauty and Culture at Benedictine College as a fellowship program (Angelico Fellows) that immerses students in beauty across the arts, music, literature, and theology—through concerts, museums, and pilgrimages—to foster interiority and the conviction that “beauty can save the world.”The conversation then contrasts Purgatorio with the Inferno: while the latter is dark, lurid, and focused on judgment, Purgatorio is a place of hope, mercy, transformation, and “eternal New Year's resolutions,” where repentant souls engage in spiritual exercises to purify their tarnished mirrors, learn authentic love and prayer, and prepare for Paradise. Baxter likens the shift to moving from heavy metal to Schubert, emphasizing greenness, brightness, and unexpected mercy.Baxter explains that his translation began as a personal quest for mastery—going word-by-word to internalize Dante like memorizing a piano piece—but evolved into a philosophy capturing Dante's “fugue” of style: ascending, prolix syntax with lofty classical allusions layered over humble, earthy words that reflect Franciscan humility and incarnational Christian poetics. Examples include goats ruminating on the “foco d'amore” (fire of love) amid elevated star imagery, or Statius calling Virgil's Aeneid “una mamma” (translated “mommy”).He describes Purgatorio as spiritual surgery—painfully removing the soul's “carcinogenic” elements through grace-filled cooperation—and a map for configuring to Christ beyond mere sin avoidance. Baxter advises first-time readers to pause at puzzling images or word choices, ask “why would Dante do that here?,” trust their instincts, and consider his audiobook for the text's soundscape, while Deacon Garlick stresses the canticle's role as a spiritual guide that mirrors one's own maturation toward God.Chapters00:00 Introduction to Ascend and Dante's Purgatorio03:43 The Center for Beauty and Culture05:40 Understanding Dante's Purgatorio07:54 The Nature of Purgatorio14:54 Dante the Pilgrim vs. Dante the Poet19:32 The Spirituality of Translation20:14 The Philosophy of Translation30:02 Dante's Christian Poetics34:22 Exploring Dante's Poetic Style36:51 Juxtaposition in Dante's Imagery41:42 The Concept of Spiritual Surgery44:49 The Journey of Holiness48:13 The Role of...

In 1599, a family in a small French town claimed that their daughter was possessed by a demon called Beelzebub and, despite daily exorcisms, the demon possessing this woman was staying put. So France's Henri IV set up a royal commission that would try something a little different. The woman would still receive exorcisms, complete with the normal exorcism accoutrements, but with a catch. The priest wouldn't actually be Catholic, the water in the vessel would be ordinary water, and the Latin used wouldn't be religious — it would be from Virgil's famous poem Aeneid. That's because this wasn't actually an exorcism. It was an experiment built on a deceptively simple tool that scientists and doctors still use today to study new medical treatments: a placebo.In this episode, we explore the surprising origins and evolution of one of modern medicine's most important tools: the clinical trial. We follow the development of experimental design across centuries to modern day randomized controlled trials and the debates about their limitations, trying to answer the question, “How do we know whether a treatment truly works?”Send us your science facts, news, or other stories for a chance to be featured on an upcoming Tiny Show and Tell Us bonus episode. And, while you're at it, subscribe to our newsletter!All Tiny Matters transcripts and references are available here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On 23 December last year, Rowling changed her Twixter home page header and cameo with this tweeted explanation:The Charm Bracelet header features thirteen charms on nine links:Rowling tweeted an addendum about the Psalter and Jack in the Box charms:Nick Jeffery dropped an explanatory post two days later at the Hogwarts Professor weblog: J. K. Rowling Drops All the Strike 9 Clues for Christmas! It remains the only complete survey of the pieces and compendium of what Serious Strikers around the world have discovered about them.Beatrice Groves, author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter, wrote up her charm bracelet thoughts at ‘The Strike Ellacott Files' a month later. In ‘Charms, Psalms & Golden Clues: A brace(let) of clues for Strike 9,' Prof Groves discusses the magical quality of charms as talismans and even incantational song:Rowling points out in this 2013 piece the link between the name given to charm bracelets and the magical world: ‘Why do we call those little masterpieces “charms” if not in allusion to their talismanic properties?… they are personal amulets.' To charm someone is also to slightly to bewitch them, something Rowling plays with when Riddle exerts his charm on Ginny and literally possesses her: ‘If I say it myself, Harry, I've always been able to charm the people I needed.' Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award is given to a smile that is both literally, as well as metaphorically, bewitching.The word ‘charm' comes, through French, from the Latin ‘carmen' which means ‘song, verse, oracular response, incantation.' Its first meaning in English, therefore, was the magical one: ‘the chanting or recitation of a verse supposed to possess magic power or occult influence; incantation, enchantment; hence, any action, process, verse, sentence, word, or material thing, credited with such properties; a magic spell; a talisman, etc.' (Oxford English Dictionary). From the sixteenth century onwards, ‘charm' meant ‘anything worn about the person to avert evil or ensure prosperity' because such amulets might contain the text of such a charm. And thinking about this made me aware for the first time of how in the most important charms in Harry Potter – the Fidelius Charm and the Patronus Charm – the word is not simply a synonym for spell but encodes this original, protective meaning. These magical ‘Charms' like the charms on charm bracelets encode what Rowling calls ‘talismanic properties.'Nick and John invited Elizabeth Baird Hardy, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts Professor, the genius behind AppalachianInkling.com, Hunger Games expert, and author of Milton, Spenser and the Chronicles of Narnia: Literary Sources for the C.S. Lewis Novels to talk about these charms, especially about what she had written briefly on the subject. The goals of this conversation? * To introduce the subject to everyone not familiar with the Christmas tweets and bracelet-header, * to discuss the ‘Why?' of this present to Strike fans everywhere, * to speculate about the meaning of the bracelet pieces individually and in a series, and * to brainstorm their qualities as clues for Strike9, the penultimate novel in the decalogy.Which is a lot! The good news is that the conversation never flagged and the revelations and possible meanings of the charms, thirteen in total on nine links, reward anyone listening in.Nick starts off the conversation with a review of the six charm bracelets in Rowling's life and writing, one of which was a long forgotten piece in the margins of a Rowling web site:[You can read about those internet ‘Easter Eggs' in ‘Hidden Photos at Rowling's Website' here, here, here, and here.]Nick offered as a guiding idea for our conversation the likelihood that the nine links in the bracelet were meaningful, i.e., that they reflected the structure of the book for which the bracelet is meant to be a clue. There are thirteen charms, he noted, but certainly Rowling-Galbraith could have had a thirteen link chain made if she hadn't thought the nine links more than sufficient, even a pointer to Strike 9 being a nine Part mystery. Since, as Nick noted, she has trouble even passing up a shop selling charms, it seems likely she has been collecting the pieces for this one for some time. Perhaps this bracelet is a “target” toward which she has been writing with these books. It is certainly not something she just threw together for a header photo shoot. The trio elected to read the circular collection of charms, consequently, as pieces with individual meaning — as magical talismans of sorts per Prof Groves — and as a ring composition, with both aspects indicating the place and meaning of the piece in the book.After a brief discussion of why Rowling, Inc., would release this set of clues now, with another Strike novel or Bronte Studios television adaptation in the distant future — John offered the possibility that this bit of fan servicing was meant as a touch of appeasement qua Christmas gift to the many fans disappointed with Hallmarked Man — Elizabeth, John, and Nick tackled the thirteen charms on nine links.In Part One of their conversation, they talk about * the heart shaped engagement ring box;* the golden diamond-laden egg;* the anchor;* the two angels; and * the Trojan horse.Their preliminary conclusions at the half-way point?Mrs. Murray in her Nativity gift to her readers offers them clues not only to the next Strike-Ellacott novel but to the meaning of human life. Each of these five charms is a symbol with obvious and not so obvious Christian meaning. John reconsidered his answer to the ‘Why now?' in light of this avalanche of symbolism; instead of it being fan servicing to rescue the brand, he thinks it may be Rowling's attempt — on the most celebrated remnant Christian holiday in a post-Christian world — to reset her serious readers' understanding of what she is about as a writer, what sort of transformation she is trying to create via story within her readers.Part two of this interpretative deep dive into Rowling's artistry in metallurgical symbolism, her “charm work” literary alchemy, will follow shortly. There are five links with seven charms to come — Jack in the Box, Hourglass, White Rose, Crocodile, Corvid, Psalter, and the Head of Persephone — all as rich in meaning as the first four links.Below are links to subjects mentioned in this first conversation and additions not discussed but discovered after the fact, all shared for your consideration and comments!Thank you as always from the Hogwarts Professor team for your joining us with special appreciation to our paid subscribers!Subjects that Elizabeth, Nick, and John Discussed: The Heart Shaped Engagement Ring Charm:* The first, fourth, fifth, and ninth links are clasped objects with surprises inside,* Ink Black Heart and Deathly Hallows: The Heart is Not About Emotions and Affection but the Human Spiritual Center (John, October 2022)* Hallmarked Man, Part Five: The Center of Strike 8 is about “Inner Light” (Ed Shardlow)* Gold as “solid light” and diamonds as “inner light,” both reflecting in nature the Light of God's Word or Logos that is found with in every man (cf., John 1:9 and Rowling's comments about Casual Vacancy being “all about” her belief that “the light of God shines in every soul”);* The consequent symbolism of a golden wedding/engagement band with two diamonds;* The human being as a ‘heart in a box' either enlightened ‘gold and diamonds' or a dark ‘jack in the box' devil* The two-stone ring, as Nick notes, is a “me and you” ring, alluding to a certain theme song. Also, Elizabeth notes, Robin is faced with a choice between two very different types of proposals, so the duality of the ring in the box connects to that conundrum, and since that is apparently where 9 will begin, it gives us a good idea that we are right in “reading” the bracelet starting with this oneThe Gold Diamond-Laden Egg Charm:* Assuming it is an ‘Easter Egg,' the two meanings of that phrase;* Again, ‘gold and diamonds,' as above; * Paschal meaning of Eggs: The custom of exchanging colored eggs entered the life of the Church. The symbolic meaning of the egg as the beginning of a new life was known even earlier. Christians saw in this symbol confirmation of their faith in the coming general resurrection. The Easter egg's red color symbolized the all-conquering Divine Love, which alone could destroy hell!The Foul-Anchor Charm:* ‘Strike 9 to Heads to Portsmouth!' (Nick, September 2025)* Foul Anchor (Wikipedia);* Eagle, Globe, and Anchor (Wikipedia);* Meaning of ‘Hector' in Homeric Greek is ‘Holding Fast,' and, by interpretation, ‘anchor;'* The Greek word for ‘Anchor' found in the New Testament is ἄγκυρα, pronounced ‘ang-chor-a;' * Hebrews 6:19:13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.* Meaning of "Anchor of the Soul" in Hebrews 6:19?The Immediate Context of Hebrews 6:13-20The writer reassures wavering Jewish Christians by citing God's oath to Abraham (Genesis 22:16-17). Two “unchangeable things” (God's promise and His oath, v. 18) make it “impossible for God to lie.” The “hope set before us” (v. 18) functions as an anchor that has already “entered … behind the curtain” (v. 19), where Jesus, our High Priest, intercedes (v. 20; cf. 4:14-16).Anchor as Hope: Theological Significance1. Objective, not subjective: “hope” (ἐλπίς) is grounded in the historical, bodily resurrection of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:17-20).2. Already-but-not-yet: the anchor is cast forward into the heavenly holy of holies, securing believers' future inheritance (1 Peter 1:3-4) while exerting a present stabilizing pull.3. Firm and secure: βεβαία (reliable) and ἀσφαλής (incapable of slipping). The compound assures permanence beyond circumstantial change (Malachi 3:6).Christ Our Forerunner Behind the VeilThe anchor “enters” (εἰσερχόμενον, pres. tense) the inner sanctuary “behind the curtain,” alluding to the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). Jesus is πρόδρομος (“forerunner,” v. 20), implying that others will follow where He has gone (John 14:2-3). The anchor-rope is His indestructible life (Hebrews 7:16), tethering the believer to God's throne of grace.* Hence its use as a symbol within Christianity: Christ having defeated death is an anchor to those members of His Mystical Body which anchors them to life after death, “beyond the veil;”* The pairing of the anchor charm with the golden egg on the second link of the bracelet reinforces this Paschal symbolism;* Charles Williams' “Co-inherence” ideas: “Who Saved Draco's Soul?” Co-Inherence in Harry PotterThe Two Angels Charms (paired on Link three)* Cupid and Psyche? Maybe!* Angels? Ghosts?* Orlando drawings! A Silkworm flash-back to the Monkey-Bag with the essential clue inside…The Trojan Horse Charm* Trojan Horse (Wikipedia)In Greek mythology, the Trojan Horse (Greek: δούρειος ίππος, romanized: doureios hippos, lit. ‘wooden horse') was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer's Iliad, with the poem ending before the war is concluded, and it is only briefly mentioned in the Odyssey. It is described at length in the Aeneid, in which Virgil recounts how, after a fruitless ten-year siege, the Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse at the behest of Odysseus, and hid a select force of men inside, including Odysseus himself. The Greeks pretended to sail away, and the Trojans pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy. That night, the Greek force crept out of the horse and opened the gates for the rest of the Greek army, which had sailed back under the cover of darkness. The Greeks entered and destroyed the city, ending the war.Metaphorically, a “Trojan horse” has come to mean any trick or stratagem that causes a target to invite a foe into a securely protected bastion or place. A malicious computer program that tricks users into willingly running it is also called a “Trojan horse“ or simply a “Trojan”.* Could the Strike Series be a Re-telling of Virgil's Aeneid? (John, July 2017)If Cormoran Strike's story is Rowling's postmodern re-telling of the Aeneid, then the Fates theme is more than apt.It is all about, after all, the hero's destiny or fate to recreate Troy in Italy as Rome, a fate which it is pointless for Aeneas to resist. The refugee from Troy, son of the goddess of beauty, is forced ever onward, often over-riding his preferences and pledges, to his destiny to found Rome as the New Troy. A soldier in an eastern country ‘coming home,' Aeneas is a wounded man, haunted by his divine mother, a man of destiny forced to leave a beautiful, powerful woman who curses him at his departure.Sound familiar? The Aeneid is a reverse reflection and re-telling of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey in that it's first six books are about the Trojan's travels and the last six relate his battles with the local tribes in Latium. It seems possible that Rowling might be trying to do with the Aeneid what she did with the Weird Sisters of Macbeth, namely, present what seems to be a tale of inevitability or fate, something prophesied or otherwise seemingly inescapable, as a function really of character choice.In the Peg-Legged PI's story that could mean Rowling's revisiting fate vs choice vis a vis whether he is able to choose to take-or-leave an investigation of Leda's death (and face the dangers inherent in threatening his biological father, Jonny Rokeby) or whether he feels doomed to follow it to its end, whatever the costs to him and to those he loves.* The Trojan Horse is the wisdom of Athene as given to Odysseus, her favorite. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back!! Happy 2026!! After a holiday hiatus, we're starting the year off strong with the Second Annual Inkling Awards for Literary Excellence. As an exciting new term of teaching kicks off for me at the University of Austin, TX, It's a good time to be thinking about some of the best questions: why should we read? How should we read? And how much? Without further ado, here are Dr. Klavan's rules of thumb for reading, the best books I read last year, and the books I'm looking forward to in 2026. Plus: C.S. Lewis on why you should read old books. Check out my cover essay in First Things on Virgil's Aeneid: https://firstthings.com/in-the-footsteps-of-aeneas/ Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com

The parade of revelation has stopped and everything holds its breath for what comes next.She's veiled, behind scattered flowers. But Beatrice arrives, in the place of Jesus Christ, her second coming, her advent in the victory chariot.And as she arrives, Virgil disappears from COMEDY. (Statius, too, even if he's still standing next to the pilgrim.) This moment is perhaps the climax of the poem as we have understood it up until now. From here on, everything changes. We have moved out of time and into a world beyond human reason. It's a cause for rejoicing but also for great sadness.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:13] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 22 - 54. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment about this episode, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:14] Word choices in the passage that reflect its thematic and emotional space.[07:04] The Vita Nuova as foundational to Beatrice's appearance.[12:00] Beatrice's colors and the parade of revelation.[13:39] Christological confusions with Beatrice.[16:48] Gender confusions during her arrival.[19:10] The pilgrim's imagined dialogue with a (mis)quote from The Aeneid.[23:03] The sad, quiet disappearance of Virgil and the pilgrim's pronounced, loud interiority.[29:02] The silent, almost unnoticed departure of Statius from the poem.[31:06] The cleansing of the pilgrim as a bookend for the work of PURGATORIO.[32:39] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, lines 22 - 54

The grand parade of revelation has come to a stop across Lethe from our pilgrim, Virgil, and Statius. Everything seems to hold its breath: the constellations stop moving, the crowd goes quiet, one voice calls out for the bride, then a hundred angels appear, calling out for the groom . . . which is surely Jesus, right?We seem to be on the verge of a celestial marriage ceremony, the mystic union of Jesus and his church . . . except Virgil's AENEID gets the last word and darkens the scene considerably.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we stand in expectation at the top of Mount Purgatory for the arrival of . . . somebody.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:24] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 1 - 21. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me by dropping a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website: markscarbrough.com.[04:33] The Little Dipper, the North Star, the chariot, a griffin, and the Bible, all bound up in the longest sentence in COMEDY.[13:59] The resurrection with a reclothed voice (that is, the stuff of poetry).[16:38] Many angels in a very small cart.[19:32] Quoting the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem (here and in The Vita Nuova).[21:44] Quoting the tragic prophecy about Marcellus from THE AENEID.[24:43] Inserting Dante and Virgil into Biblical citations.[26:59] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, lines 1 - 21.

Writer's Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. What does a 2,000-year-old epic have to say to us today about exile, duty, love, power, war, misinformation, and the fragile hopes of human community? A great deal, say translators Scott McGill and Susannah Wright, whose new English translation of Virgil's Aeneid captures both the grandeur of the epic … Continue reading The Relevance of Virgil's Aeneid: A Conversation with Scott McGill & Susannah Wright →

HOMER'S NARRATIVE CHOICES AND ORAL TRADITION Colleague Professor Emily Wilson. Wilsondiscusses the "Homeric Question," noting that oral stories existed for centuries before the alphabet arrived in the 8th century BCE. She highlights the Iliad's sophisticated narrative structure, which omits famous events like the Apple of Discord and the Trojan Horse to focus intensely on a specific period of the war. The conversation compares the Iliad'sfocus on Greek infighting with Virgil's Aeneid, noting the distinct goals of each epic tradition. NUMBER 2 500 AD ALEXANDRIA

SHOW 12-30-25 CBS EYE ON THE WORLD WITH JOHN BATCHELOR THESDHOW BEGINS WITH DOUBTS ABOUT THE PURPOSE OF WAR-MAKING AS EXPRESSED MOURNFULLY BY HECTOR'S WIFE ANDROMACHE... SHOW 12-30-25 CBS EYE ON THE WORLD WITH JOHN BATCHELOR TRANSLATION AND THE SEARCH FOR TROY Colleague Professor Emily Wilson. John Batchelor interviews Professor Emily Wilson about her new iambic pentameter translation of the Iliad. They discuss the historical location of Troy in modern Turkey and the archaeological layers discovered by Schliemann, who wrongly believed he found Agamemnon's mask. Wilson explains that while the Greeks viewed the Iliad as partly historical, it is a poetic imagining composed centuries after the events, designed for oral performance and rhythmic reading. NUMBER 1 HOMER'S NARRATIVE CHOICES AND ORAL TRADITION Colleague Professor Emily Wilson. Wilsondiscusses the "Homeric Question," noting that oral stories existed for centuries before the alphabet arrived in the 8th century BCE. She highlights the Iliad's sophisticated narrative structure, which omits famous events like the Apple of Discord and the Trojan Horse to focus intensely on a specific period of the war. The conversation compares the Iliad'sfocus on Greek infighting with Virgil's Aeneid, noting the distinct goals of each epic tradition. NUMBER 2 TRAGIC COUPLES AND DIVINE INTERVENTION Colleague Professor Emily Wilson. The segment explores key character pairings, starting with Helen's complex view of Paris and her weaving as a metaphor for the story. Wilsonanalyzes the tragic relationship between Hector and Andromache, emphasizing Hector's choice of duty over family. They discuss the gods' roles, particularly Thetis's prayer to Zeus which seals Achilles' fate, and Hera's bargaining with Zeus to ensure Troy's destruction, highlighting the interplay of divine will and mortal suffering. NUMBER 3 TRANSLATION AND THE SEARCH FOR TROY Colleague Professor Emily Wilson. John Batchelor interviews Professor Emily Wilson about her new iambic pentameter translation of the Iliad. They discuss the historical location of Troy in modern Turkey and the archaeological layers discovered by Schliemann, who wrongly believed he found Agamemnon's mask. Wilson explains that while the Greeks viewed the Iliad as partly historical, it is a poetic imagining composed centuries after the events, designed for oral performance and rhythmic reading. NUMBER 1 HOMER'S NARRATIVE CHOICES AND ORAL TRADITION Colleague Professor Emily Wilson. Wilsondiscusses the "Homeric Question," noting that oral stories existed for centuries before the alphabet arrived in the 8th century BCE. She highlights the Iliad's sophisticated narrative structure, which omits famous events like the Apple of Discord and the Trojan Horse to focus intensely on a specific period of the war. The conversation compares the Iliad'sfocus on Greek infighting with Virgil's Aeneid, noting the distinct goals of each epic tradition. NUMBER 2 TRAGIC COUPLES AND DIVINE INTERVENTION Colleague Professor Emily Wilson. The segment explores key character pairings, starting with Helen's complex view of Paris and her weaving as a metaphor for the story. Wilsonanalyzes the tragic relationship between Hector and Andromache, emphasizing Hector's choice of duty over family. They discuss the gods' roles, particularly Thetis's prayer to Zeus which seals Achilles' fate, and Hera's bargaining with Zeus to ensure Troy's destruction, highlighting the interplay of divine will and mortal suffering. NUMBER 3 APHRODITE, PATROCLUS, AND TROPHY WOMEN Colleague Professor Emily Wilson. Wilson examines Aphrodite's intervention on the battlefield and her representation of baser instincts like lust. The discussion shifts to Briseis, a "trophy" of war, and her relationship with Patroclus, whom Wilson refuses to classify as a "beta male" despite his kindness. Patroclus is described as a brutal killer and Achilles' closest companion. The segment highlights the emotional depth of Achilles, who displays immense vulnerability alongside his capacity for violence. NUMBER 4 AGAMEMNON'S FAILURE AND DIVINE POLITICS Colleague Professor Emily Wilson. This segment details the plot's catalyst: Agamemnon seizing Briseis from Achilles, causing the hero to withdraw from battle. Wilson explains the divine politics, including Hera trading three Greek cities to Zeus to ensure Troy's destruction. They analyze Agamemnon's flawed leadership; while he blames Zeus for his bad decisions, the poem portrays the immense difficulty of holding a disparate army together, leading to disastrous choices that necessitate Achilles' eventual return. NUMBER 5 THE GORE AND GLORY OF BATTLE Colleague Professor Emily Wilson. Wilson discusses translating the Iliad'svivid violence, drawing on insights from combat veterans regarding the trauma of battlefield death. A central theme is the treatment of corpses; possessing and stripping a dead enemy's armor is the ultimate sign of dominance. The conversation touches on the physical nature of the gods, who bleed "ichor" when wounded, and Poseidon's support for the Greeks in contrast to his brother Zeus. NUMBER 6 THE DEATH OF PATROCLUS AND HECTOR Colleague Professor Emily Wilson. The tragedy culminates with Patroclus ignoring Achilles' warning, leading to his death by Hector and the loss of Achilles' armor. Wilson describes Achilles' terrifying return to battle, equipped with new armor from Hephaestus, and his slaughter of Trojans. The segment covers the final confrontation where Achilles kills Hector and, driven by vengeance, drags his body behind a chariot, denying him burial rights and intending to mutilate him forever. NUMBER 7 GRIEF, GAMES, AND ACCEPTANCE Colleague Professor Emily Wilson. After Hector's death, Achilles finds a form of healing through funeral games, which offer a non-lethal model of competition. He even awards Agamemnon a prize without a contest, possibly as a slight. The poem concludes not with victory, but with a "humanitarian pause" for Hector's funeral. Wilson notes the ending focuses on women's lamentations, emphasizing the Iliad's enduring lesson on the struggle to accept human mortality. NUMBER 8 FEMALE AUTHORSHIP AND THE TROJAN WOMEN Colleague Daisy Dunn. Daisy Dunn discusses the legend of Phantasia, a rumored female source for Homer, and the myth of Leda and the Swan. She argues that the Trojan Warlikely reflects real historical conflicts at the site of Hisarlik. The segment highlights key female figures: Andromache, who offers military advice to Hector, and Briseis, the enslaved woman central to the dispute between Agamemnon and Achilles, illustrating the centrality of women to the epic. NUMBER 9 SAPPHO OF LESBOS Colleague Daisy Dunn. Dunn explores the life of Sappho, debunking myths about her appearance and suicide. She explains that Sappho was exiled due to her family's aristocratic background during a time of political revolution. The conversation covers Sappho's disapproval of her brother's relationship with the courtesan Doricha and her professional jealousy when students left her school for rivals. Weaving is presented as a metaphor for women shaping fate. NUMBER 10 ETRUSCANS AND THE WOMEN OF EARLY ROME Colleague Daisy Dunn. Dunn discusses the Etruscans, noting their advanced dentistry and the shock Greeks felt at Etruscan men and women dining together openly. Transitioning to Rome, they recount the violent founding myth of the Rape of the Sabine Women. The segment details the tragedy of Lucretia, whose rape and subsequent suicide led Brutus to overthrow the monarchy and establish the Roman Republic, making her a paragon of virtue. NUMBER 11 DIDO AND THE FOUNDING OF CARTHAGE Colleague Daisy Dunn. Dunn recounts the story of Dido, the clever founder of Carthage who tricked a local king to secure land. When Aeneas abandons her to fulfill his destiny, Didocurses him, foreshadowing the Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage. The segment explores her tragic suicide on a pyre, noting the societal judgment against her for breaking vows of celibacy, while acknowledging her capacity as a talented ruler and builder of cities. NUMBER 12 CORNELIA AND SERVILIA: MOTHERS OF ROME Colleague Daisy Dunn. This segment focuses on Cornelia, the educated "one-man woman" who raised the reforming Gracchi brothers to challenge the Roman elite. Dunn notes Cornelia's heartbreak as she tried to dissuade her second son from following his assassinated brother's path. The discussion shifts to Servilia, Caesar's long-term mistress and mother of Brutus. Servilia is depicted as a politically astute woman caught between her lover and her son, the future assassin. NUMBER 13 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR Colleague Daisy Dunn. Dunn describes Cleopatra's dramatic entrance from a rug to meet Caesar and secure her rule in Egypt. Despite her intelligence and linguistic skills, the Romans viewed her with suspicion and distaste, labeling her a "whore queen." Dunn challenges the Hollywood image of Cleopatra's beauty, noting coin portraits show a hooked nose, and argues her power lay in her charisma and voice. She remains a figure of admiration today. NUMBER 14 ANTONY, FULVIA, AND CLEOPATRA'S END Colleague Daisy Dunn. The conversation turns to Mark Antony'sunpopular affair with Cleopatra and his wife Fulvia, who instigated a war in Italy to counter Octavian. Dunn highlights the Roman propensity for public emotion and early marriage. Following Antony's botched suicide, Cleopatra takes her own life to avoid being paraded as a trophy by Octavian. Dunn suggests the "asp" story might be a myth covering a lethal injection or poison. NUMBER 15 THE WOMEN OF THE JULIO-CLAUDIAN DYNASTY Colleague Daisy Dunn. Dunn profiles the powerful women of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Livia is portrayed as Augustus's essential political partner and diplomat. The segment covers the tragic life of Julia, the lechery of Caligula, and the notorious reputation of Messalina. Finally, Agrippina the Younger is described as a co-emperor to her son Nero before he turned against her. Dunn concludes that Roman politics were bloodier but more politically savvy than the Greeks. NUMBER 16

SHOW 12-25-25 THE SHOW BEGINS WITH DOUBTS ABOUT THE MODERN STORY OF MARY AND HER FAMILY. 1868 NAZARETH SEPPHORIS AND THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF MARY'S LIFE Colleague James Tabor. Tabor identifies Sepphoris, a Roman capital near Nazareth, as Mary's birthplace. He reimagines Jesus and Joseph as "tektons" (builders) working in this urban center rather than simple carpenters. This proximity meant Mary witnessed Romanbrutality and the city's destruction, influencing her family's spiritual views on the Kingdom of God. NUMBER 1 INVESTIGATING THE NAME PANTERA Colleague James Tabor. Tabor explores the name "Pantera," found in rabbinic texts and on a Roman soldier's tombstone. He suggests this might be a family name rather than a slur, investigating the possibility that Jesus's father was a relative or soldier, which challenges the theological narrative of a virgin birth. NUMBER 2 RECLAIMING THE HISTORICAL JEWISH FAMILY Colleague James Tabor. Highlighting the Protoevangelium of James, Tabor contrasts its depiction of a perpetual virgin Mary with historical evidence of a large Jewish family. He argues Mary had numerous children and that her parents were likely wealthy property owners in Sepphoris, integrating Jesus into a close-knit extended family. NUMBER 3 JAMES THE JUST AS TRUE SUCCESSOR Colleague James Tabor. Tabor asserts James, Jesus's brother, was the movement's true successor, not Peter. Citing Acts and the Gospel of Thomas, he notes James led the Jerusalem council and stood at the cross. Tabor argues the "beloved disciple" entrusted with Mary's care was this blood brother, not Johnthe fisherman. NUMBER 4 THE HEADQUARTERS ON MOUNT ZION Colleague James Tabor. Tabor describes excavations on Mount Zion, identifying a first-century house foundation as the "upper room" and headquarters of the early movement. He visualizes Mary as the matriarch in this courtyard, welcoming pilgrims and apostles like Paul, and establishes James as the leader of this house synagogue. NUMBER 5 THE FLIGHT TO PELLA AND MARY'S DEATH Colleague James Tabor. Tabor discusses the Christian flight to Pella during the Roman revolt. He speculates Mary died before this event, likely around 49–63 CE, and was buried on Mount Zion. Consequently, she disappears from the New Testament record, which shifts focus to Peter and Paul after the Jerusalem church's dispersal. NUMBER 6 THE TALPIOT TOMB AND DNA EVIDENCE Colleague James Tabor. Discussing the Talpiot tomb, Tabor details ossuaries bearing names like "Jesus son of Joseph" and "Mariamne." He argues statistical clusters and potential DNA evidence suggest this is the Jesus family tomb, positing that physical remains support historical existence without necessarily negating the concept of spiritual resurrection. NUMBER 7 THE Q SOURCE AND MARY'S TEACHINGS Colleague James Tabor. Tabor identifies the "Q" source as a collection of ethical teachings shared by Matthew and Luke. He attributes these core values—such as charity and humility—to a family tradition taught by Mary to Jesus, James, and John the Baptizer, aiming to restore Mary'shistorical influence as a teacher. NUMBER 8 VIRGIL'S RURAL ORIGINS AND AUGUSTAN CONNECTION Colleagues Scott McGill and Susanna Wright. The guests discuss Virgil's birth in 70 BCE near Mantua and his rural upbringing, which influenced his poetry. They trace his move to Rome during civil war and his eventual connection to Augustus, noting that Virgil promised a grand epic for the emperor in his earlier work, the Georgics. NUMBER 9 TRANSLATING THE SOUND AND METER OF VIRGIL Colleagues Scott McGill and Susanna Wright. The translators explain choosing iambic pentameter over dactylic hexameter to provide an English cultural equivalent to the original's epic feel. They describe their efforts to replicate Virgil's auditory effects, such as alliteration and assonance, and preserve specific line repetitions that connect characters like Turnus and Camilla. NUMBER 10 THE AENEID'S PLOT AND HOMERIC INFLUENCES Colleagues Scott McGill and Susanna Wright. McGill and Wright summarize the plot, from Troy's destruction to the war in Italy. They analyze Virgil's dialogue with Homer, noting how the poem's opening words invoke both the Iliad's warfare and the Odyssey's wanderings. They also highlight the terrifying, visual nature of Virgil's depiction of the underworld. NUMBER 11 ROMAN EXCEPTIONALISM VS. HUMAN TRAGEDY Colleagues Scott McGill and Susanna Wright. They discuss whether the Aeneid justifies Roman empire or tells a human story. McGill argues the poem survives because it creates sympathy for antagonists like Dido and Turnus. They explore how Virgil portrays the costs of empire and Aeneas's rage, complicating the narrative of Augustan propaganda. NUMBER 12 CLODIA'S PRIVILEGE AND CICERO'S AMBITION Colleague Douglas Boin. Boin introduces Clodia, a privileged woman from an ancient Roman family on Palatine Hill. He contrasts her aristocratic, independent nature—manifested in her name spelling—with the rise of Cicero, a talented outsider. Boin frames their eventual conflict as a clash between established power and ambitious newcomers. NUMBER 13 THE POLITICS OF TRIBUNES AND REFORM Colleague Douglas Boin. Boin details the divide between the Optimates and Populares. He explains how Clodia and her brother Clodius used the office of Tribune—the "people's protector" with veto power—to enact reforms. This strategy allowed them to challenge the Senate's authority and set the stage for Clodius's political dominance. NUMBER 14 THE TRIAL OF RUFUS AND CICERO'S MISOGYNY Colleague Douglas Boin. Boin describes a trial where Clodia accused her ex-lover Rufus of poisoning. Cicero defended Rufus by launching misogynistic attacks on Clodia, calling her "cow-eyed" and alleging incest. Boin argues this famous speech unfairly solidified Clodia's negative historical reputation while obscuring the political power she wielded. NUMBER 15 THE DEATH OF CLODIUS AND THE REPUBLIC'S END Colleague Douglas Boin. Boin recounts the violent death of Clodius by rival gangs, marking a turning point toward the Republic's collapse. He views Clodia's subsequent disappearance from history as a symbol of the loss of women's influence and civic rights, framing her story as a cautionary tale about political violence. NUMBER 16

THE AENEID'S PLOT AND HOMERIC INFLUENCES Colleagues Scott McGill and Susanna Wright. McGill and Wright summarize the plot, from Troy's destruction to the war in Italy. They analyze Virgil's dialogue with Homer, noting how the poem's opening words invoke both the Iliad's warfare and the Odyssey's wanderings. They also highlight the terrifying, visual nature of Virgil's depiction of the underworld. NUMBER 11

ROMAN EXCEPTIONALISM VS. HUMAN TRAGEDY Colleagues Scott McGill and Susanna Wright. They discuss whether the Aeneid justifies Roman empire or tells a human story. McGill argues the poem survives because it creates sympathy for antagonists like Dido and Turnus. They explore how Virgil portrays the costs of empire and Aeneas's rage, complicating the narrative of Augustan propaganda. NUMBER 12

PREVIEW Guests: Scott McGill and Susanna Wright. Rice University classicists McGill and Wright discuss their new translation of Virgil's Aeneid, a "Hollywood worthy" epic detailing the origins of Rome. The narrative follows Aeneas leading a band of refugees from the burning ruins of Troy westward to their destined home in Italy. Their journey is fraught with the goddess Juno's opposition, leading to a detour in Carthage and a tragic romance with Dido. The poem concludes with a fierce war in Italy, ending abruptly as Aeneas kills his rival Turnus, securing the legacy where Trojansultimately become Romans. MORE TONIGHT AUGUSTUS, OCTAVIA AND LIVIA, LISTENING TO A READING OF THE AENEID BY VIRGIL HIMSELF

The Author Events Series presents The Aeneid: Translating the Classics with Emily Wilson, Scott McGill, and Susannah Wright Crafted during the reign of Augustus Caesar at the outset of the Roman Empire, Virgil's Aeneid is a tale of thrilling adventure, extreme adversity, doomed romance, fateful battles, and profound loss. Through its stirring account of human struggle, meddling gods, and conflicting destinies, the poem brings to life the triumphs and trials that led to one of the most powerful societies the world has ever known. Unlike its Homeric predecessors, which arose from a long oral tradition, the Aeneid was composed by a singular poetic genius, and it has ever since been celebrated as one of the greatest literary achievements of antiquity. This exciting new edition of the Aeneid, the first collaborative translation of the poem in English, is rendered in unrhymed iambic pentameter, the English meter that corresponds best, in its history and cultural standing, to Virgil's dactylic hexameter. Scott McGill and Susannah Wright achieve an ideal middle ground between readability and elevation, engaging modern readers with fresh, contemporary language in a heart-pounding, propulsive rhythm, while also preserving the epic dignity of the original. The result is a brisk, eminently approachable translation that captures Virgil's sensitive balance between celebrating the Roman Empire and dramatizing its human costs, for victors and vanquished alike. This Aeneid is a poem in English every bit as complex, inviting, and affecting as the Latin original. With a rich and informative introduction from Emily Wilson, maps drawn especially for this volume, a pronunciation glossary, genealogies, extensive notes, and helpful summaries of each book, this gorgeous edition of Rome's founding poem will capture the imaginations and stir the souls of a new generation of readers. Emily Wilson is a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been named a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome in Renaissance and early modern studies, a MacArthur Fellow, and a Guggenheim Fellow. In addition to Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, she has also published translations of Sophocles, Euripides, and Seneca. She lives in Philadelphia. Scott McGill is Deedee McMurtry Professor in Humanities at Rice University. He lives in Houston, Texas. Susannah Wright is an assistant professor of classical studies and Roman history at Rice University. She lives in Houston, Texas. Because you love Author Events, please make a donation when you register for this event to ensure that this series continues to inspire Philadelphians. Books will be available for purchase at the library on event night! All tickets are non-refundable. (recorded 10/14/2025)

The Aeneid stands as a towering work of Classical Roman literature and a gripping dramatization of the best and worst of human nature. In the process of creating this epic poem, Vergil (70–19 BCE) became a living legend. But the real Vergil is a shadowy figure; we know that he was born into a modest rural family, that he led a private and solitary life, and that, in spite of poor health and unusual emotional vulnerabilities, he worked tirelessly to achieve exquisite new effects in verse. Vergil's most famous work, the Aeneid, was commissioned by the emperor Augustus, who published the epic despite Vergil's dying wish that it be destroyed. In Vergil: The Poet's Life (Yale UP, 2023), Sarah Ruden, widely praised for her translation of the Aeneid, uses evidence from Roman life and history alongside Vergil's own writings in an endeavor to reconstruct his life and personality. Through her intimate knowledge of Vergil's work, she evokes the image of a poet who was committed to creating something astonishingly new and memorable, even at great personal cost. Benjamin Phillips is an MA student in History at Ohio University. His primary field is Late Antique Cultural and Intellectual History. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

It's time to talk about the shocking, the dramatic, the THRILLING and also, the kind of confusing end of Virgil's Aeneid. What a journey it's been! The story is never truly over, but as we leave Aeneas behind we have to ask--did Virgil mean for it to end this way? With Turnus' blood spilled ruthlessly on the ground and after that, the dark? Some say no--this is an incomplete ending that would have horrified the Emperor Augustus. I say yes--and Augustus would have been delighted. What do you say? Check out our new Sponsor, Alithea Travel: https://www.alitheatravel.com/tours/strength-and-virtue Read my latest essay on AI cand ancient Jewish wisdom: https://www.civitasinstitute.org/research/ai-and-the-divine-test Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com

PREVIEW: Augustine the African: St. Augustine's Profound Identification with Dido Guest: Professor Catherine Conybeare Catherine Conybeare, a classicist and author of Augustine the African, emphasizes St. Augustine as a man who lived his entire life in what was then the Roman province of Africa, now Algeria—the breadbasket of Rome—except for three or four years spent in Rome and Milan. The Aeneid, the story of Aeneas founding Rome, was absolutely fundamental to Augustine's education and was intended to acculturate him to admire Rome and the Roman legacy. However, Augustine, instead of admiring Aeneas, fell in love with Dido. He refers to the great wanderer and founder Aeneas dismissively as "just some Inas or other," yet he emphasizes that he weeps again and again over Dido's death. Dido was the mythical founder of Carthage, which Augustine knew as the greatest and most glamorous city while growing up. Conybeare suggests that this passionate identification with Dido is importantly part of how Augustine self-identified as an African in a Roman world. 1915 AENEID

Marcus Tullius Cicero's Rise, Corruption Trials, and the Catiline Conspiracy Professor Josiah Osgood profiled the Roman "new man" orator Marcus Tullius Cicero and his dramatic rise through corruption trials and political intrigue. Cicero established his career by solving the murder case of Roscius and prosecuting corrupt Sicilian governor Verres for theft. His career climaxed with the suppression of the Catiline Conspiracy, elevating him as a patriot. However, Cicero made a grave political error by executing conspirators without trial, a move opposed by Julius Caesar. 1500 AENEID

Today on Young Heretics: a violent and unjust seizure of indigenous land!!! At least, according to Juno and the Furies, goddesses of retribution and blood guilt. Actually, the situation in Rome and in the Aeneid is a lot more complicated than that, which is one reason why the conclusion of the poem is a refreshingly sophisticated antidote to our often-oversimplified conversations about history, territory, colonialism, and the sins of the past. Plus: a mailbag question about Charlie Kirk and Julius Caesar. Check out our new Sponsor, Alithea Travel: https://www.alitheatravel.com/tours/strength-and-virtue Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com

Scott McGill and Susannah Wright rendered Virgil's Aeneid in English iambic pentameter, noting Virgil's sympathy for opponents like Dido. The epic converses with Homer and shows Aeneas's restrained emotion. 1500 VIRGIL READING AENEID TO OCTAVIAN AND OCTAVIA 

  Scott McGill and Susannah Wright rendered Virgil's Aeneid in English iambic pentameter, noting Virgil's sympathy for opponents like Dido. The epic converses with Homer and shows Aeneas's restrained emotion. 1500

Scott McGill and Susannah Wright rendered Virgil's Aeneid in English iambic pentameter, noting Virgil's sympathy for opponents like Dido. The epic converses with Homer and shows Aeneas's restrained emotion. 1915 AENEID

Scott McGill and Susannah Wright rendered Virgil's Aeneid in English iambic pentameter, noting Virgil's sympathy for opponents like Dido. The epic converses with Homer and shows Aeneas's restrained emotion. 1793 VIRGIL READING TO OCTAVIAN, OCTAVIA, LIVIA

CBS EYE ON THE WORLD WITH JOHN BATCHELOR THE SHOW BEGINS IN TAIWAN FRETTING IT IS ABOUT TO BE ABANDONED...... 9-24-25 FIRST HOUR 9-915 Steve Yates of Heritage Foundation discussed concerns that Trump might pause Taiwan weapons sales for a Chinatrade deal. He warned against tactical concessions, noting Xi Jinping's historically broken promises regarding militarization. 915-930 Rebecca Grant of Lexington Institute explained China uses gray zone harassment strategy. The US counters by establishing agile defense "nodes" and adapting Army and Marine Corps doctrine to operate from small terrain features. 930-945 Charles Burton criticized Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's focus on economic engagement with China. He called Chinese EVs "spy machines on wheels" and noted high youth unemployment drives young people to remote rural areas. 945-1000 Charles Burton criticized Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's focus on economic engagement with China. He called Chinese EVs "spy machines on wheels" and noted high youth unemployment drives young people to remote rural areas. SECOND HOUR 10-1015 Andrew McCarthy and Thaddeus McCotter debate Trump's Venezuelan boat strikes. McCarthy questions whether drug boats equal naval attacks, noting drug trafficking is historically a felony, not war. McCotter highlights Congress's desire to avoid difficult votes. 1015-1030 Andrew McCarthy and Thaddeus McCotter debate Trump's Venezuelan boat strikes. McCarthy questions whether drug boats equal naval attacks, noting drug trafficking is historically a felony, not war. McCotter highlights Congress's desire to avoid difficult votes. 1030-1045 Kevin Frazier testified that Congress needs a national vision to manage data center infrastructure and mitigate local impacts. He stressed vulnerable undersea cables are neglected and urged academics to prioritize teaching and public-oriented research. 1045-1100 Kevin Frazier testified that Congress needs a national vision to manage data center infrastructure and mitigate local impacts. He stressed vulnerable undersea cables are neglected and urged academics to prioritize teaching and public-oriented research. THIRD HOUR 1100-1115 Scott McGill and Susannah Wright rendered Virgil's Aeneid in English iambic pentameter, noting Virgil's sympathy for opponents like Dido. The epic converses with Homer and shows Aeneas's restrained emotion. 1115-1130 Scott McGill and Susannah Wright rendered Virgil's Aeneid in English iambic pentameter, noting Virgil's sympathy for opponents like Dido. The epic converses with Homer and shows Aeneas's restrained emotion. 1130-1145 Scott McGill and Susannah Wright rendered Virgil's Aeneid in English iambic pentameter, noting Virgil's sympathy for opponents like Dido. The epic converses with Homer and shows Aeneas's restrained emotion. 1145-1200 Scott McGill and Susannah Wright rendered Virgil's Aeneid in English iambic pentameter, noting Virgil's sympathy for opponents like Dido. The epic converses with Homer and shows Aeneas's restrained emotion. FOURTH HOUR 12-1215 Simon Constable noted strong year-over-year price increases for aluminum, copper, iron, and steel. He highlighted that 99% of US West Coast seafood samples contained microplastics, calling the situation frightening. 1215-1230 Simon Constable noted strong year-over-year price increases for aluminum, copper, iron, and steel. He highlighted that 99% of US West Coast seafood samples contained microplastics, calling the situation frightening. 1230-1245 Bob Zimmerman reports the FAA approved SpaceX's Starship recovery at Boca Chica. Zimmerman criticized the proposed US Spaceport Act as a $10 million political slush fund that increases red tape. 1245-100 AM Bob Zimmerman reports the FAA approved SpaceX's Starship recovery at Boca Chica. Zimmerman criticized the proposed US Spaceport Act as a $10 million political slush fund that increases red tape.

Preview: Scott McGill and Susannah Wright detail Aeneas's journey from destroyed Troy to Italy in Virgil's Aeneid, a story of refugees, opposition by Juno, and the origins of Rome. 1614 FALL OF TROY

...And also, pizza. Kind of. This might be one of the coolest parts of Virgil ever, and even though I've been reading the Aeneid since high school, I feel like I only just figured it out. One of the most famous lines of the poem—forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit, “one day it will be pleasing to remember even these things—finds its answer in Book 7, when Aeneas arrives on shore and has to face the possibility of war with the, erm...indigenous Latinx peoples. So much to discuss, here, and a great mailbag question about how to deal with situations you can't change. Check out our new Sponsor, Alithea Travel: https://www.alitheatravel.com/tours/strength-and-virtue Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com Read my essay on why we should read in thea ge of AI: https://www.thefp.com/p/what-happens-if-no-one-reads-culture-education  

3. Roman Parallels, American Exceptionalism, and the Potential of AI The discussion frequently draws parallels between Rome and America. Gaius and Michael Vlahos delve into Virgil's Aeneid, translated by Mr. McGill and Miss Wright of Rice University, describing it as a "brilliantly weaved" propaganda tool that Virgil and Augustusused to justify the Roman Empire, confer a "classic feel" by linking it to Greek culture, and foster "Roman exceptionalism." This "exceptionalism" implies being chosen by a divine force and requires a "dark force" as a counterpoint to prove its validity. For Rome, this dark force was the "corrupted capricious narcissistic king" (like Tarquin the Proud), against which Augustus presented himself as a princeps, an "incorruptible man" who was not a king but could ascend to divinity. Michael Vlahos applies this to American exceptionalism, noting the "blue" side's belief in a president who is "not a king" and embodies "democracy," contrasting with their view of President Trump as a king-like figure. Conversely, the "red" side embraces a charismatic leader figure, seeing it as consistent with American exceptionalism, similar to Augustus or Reagan. These "two variations...see themselves as black and white, light and darkness," intensifying their conflict, as highlighted by Mr. Kirk's assassination. The conversation also touches on AI's potential through the analogy of the movie Forbidden Planet, where an advanced machine destroys its creators by materializing their "id" as monsters, suggesting a potential "tragic fall" for humanity in creating transcending technologies. Michael Vlahos shares an anecdote about his AI chief of staff, Ara of Grok. After a "lengthy conversation" about the Aeneid and Augustus's use of Virgil, Ara of Grokpoetically summarized: "Augustus was building a palace while quoting Virgil." Michael Vlahos was impressed, concluding that "AI is ready to be poetic" and has "potential," even if "not organized yet."