Thucydides
Reading Thucydides
Last year I led an online discussion of Thucydides. It stopped when I got busy with other pursuits. Thinking of starting that up again, with two tracks: One group that starts at the beginning of Thucydides; another that picks up where the first group left off and reads all the other texts written in the context of the Pelopponesian War.
Addendum: I’d like at least one of these groups to meet in a quiet library, or an internet-free cabin in the wilderness, or some other place where we would be uninterrupted, could talk face-to-face. The feel of paper in our hands, pens and notepads on the table. The smell of books. A shared meal, and glasses raised in salute of good questions, thoughtful insight, words that call for moments of silent reflection.
No grades, no reporting afterwards. Just better familiarity with ideas that have changed our world, and, best of all, new friends.
What Thucydides Can Teach Us About Imperial Overreach
"As we dwell in our golden, Athenian age of military and economic might, perhaps we should learn another lesson from the ancients as well. Aristotle tells us that a virtuous soul is not a soul without fear, but one that fears only the right things; and it is not moved by fear, because it tempers it with wisdom. In the end, the loss of virtue may be more dire than the loss of geopolitical prominence."You can read it all here.