The War That Made the Roman Empire Review: Turning the Tide of History
By Arthur Herman, April 1, 2022, WSJ
(David P.)" wrote:--------------
‘The War That Made the Roman Empire’ Review: Turning the Tide of History
By Arthur Herman, April 1, 2022, WSJ
David, posting yard long articles is not the way UseNet works, an no
one is going to read them. Please just make YOUR point in a
relatively brief statement, and if appropriate post one or two BRIEF
cites supporting your point.
El Castor wrote:A brief reply ... PLONK.
(David P.)" wrote:--------------
The War That Made the Roman Empire Review: Turning the Tide of HistoryDavid, posting yard long articles is not the way UseNet works, an no
By Arthur Herman, April 1, 2022, WSJ
one is going to read them. Please just make YOUR point in a
relatively brief statement, and if appropriate post one or two BRIEF
cites supporting your point.
In another newsgroup, someone else responded like this:
Thanks for posting this, looks like a good read. I was just this
morning reading Seneca's ancient assessment of Mark Antony:
"Those who could never be defeated in battle have been vanquished by
drink.
What was it that destroyed Mark Antony, a man of noble character and >exceptional talent? Was it not drunkenness that drove him to foreign
habits and the most un-Roman vices? That, and his love of Cleopatra,
which was only increased by wine. It was this that made him an enemy to
the state, that made him a lesser man than his enemies. It was this
that made him cruel, when he used to have the heads of leading statesmen >brought to him at dinnerwhen amid his elaborate feasts and the splendor
of kings he would view the hands and faces of the proscribed. Even
though he was loaded with wine, he thirsted for blood. It would have
been bad enough if he had been drinking as he did such things; that he
did them when already drunk is still more intolerable.
A devotion to drink generally does bring cruelty in its train, for ones >soundness of mind then becomes flawed and uneven. Just as long illness
causes people to become peevish and difficult and prone to take offense
at the slightest thing, so continual drunkenness causes the mind to
become brutish. For since they are frequently not themselves, the habit
of insanity becomes ingrained, and faults acquired under the influence
of wine thrive even without it.
In your speech, then, tell us why the wise person ought not to become >intoxicated. Show us by examples, not words, how ugly a thing it is,
how unreasonable its demands. The easiest course is to prove that when
our so-called pleasures get out of bounds, they become punishments
instead. For if you attempt to argue that the wise man is not affected
by large amounts of wine, that the upright character of his mind
persists even through dissipation, then you might as well conclude that
he would not be killed by drinking poison, would not be put to sleep by
a sleeping draft, and would not vomit or expel the contents of his
bowels after taking a dose of hellebore. But if his? gait is unsteady
and his speech is slurred, why should you consider him to be drunk in
one part of himself and sober in another?"
---Seneca, Moral letters to Lucilius/Letter 83 63-65 AD
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