Black Magic: The Elizabethans, III
One thread connecting Renaissance magic with our own New Age magic is the belief in secret brotherhoods and perfect societies, such as the lost continent of Atlantis.
The Fleming Foundation Cultural Commentary
Reconsidering the Odyssey, I
Christopher Nolan’s new film “version” is out, and although I have not yet seen it, I am going to put up some sections of a long-promised but never delivered set of lectures on the Ancient Greek Mind. This first section takes up the question of “who were the Greeks?”, though I have eliminated most of the historical details of the lectures.
Greek I.42
I have been completely tied up the past few weeks with our Summer School. Besides, a little vacation from time to time refreshes the brain and the appetite to learn. Irregular Comparison of Adjectives Many I-E languages have irregular comparative forms of adjectives, often for very common adjectives. Greek is no exception. Many of the irregular forms can be explained as derived from a different stem, such as good/better, bad/worse. First step for this lesson is to review the regular forms from the previous lesson. Now learn the irregular forms of paragraphs 259 and 260. Then study the Dative of...
Italian IV.4
Our Summer Program is finished, and I am on the road to recovery. Watch this space for the next lesson.
Wednesday’s Child: Opus Signinum
Continuing last week’s ruminations about things that endure and are to be celebrated for their virtue…
Wednesday’s Child: Vicissitudes
On other occasions I have shared with the gentle reader my experience of the precariousness characteristic of an unemployed writer’s life…
Lower Than Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity
For all the social forces and political and cultural battles contributing to what Christianity has taught about sex and marriage, what seems undeniable is that the religion Christ founded lifted family life onto an entirely new plane, through the teaching that marriage is sacred and that the bond between husband and wife is indissoluble until death.
For all the social forces and political and cultural battles contributing to what Christianity has taught about sex and marriage, what seems undeniable is that the religion Christ founded lifted family life onto an entirely new plane, through the teaching that marriage is sacred and that the bond between husband and wife is indissoluble until death.
Italian III.3
It is time to work on the subjunctive. This is taken up by Olga Ragusa on p. 109. Plus a poem of Carducci.
Naive Conservatives Put Their Trust in Princes, Again
I am a little puzzled by the Conservatives’ reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold birthright citizenship.
Wednesday’s Child: Maybe it’s the Heat
I analyzed the “Twitter herd” instinct in this space before, but the heat has now made it truly Gadarene. The swine, in fact, quite possibly leapt into the Sea of Galilee because they wanted to cool off.
Darkness Visible, The Elizabethans, Part III
One thread connecting Renaissance magic with our own New Age magic is the belief in secret brotherhoods and utopian societies ruled by adepts in Hermetic magic, such as the lost continent of Atlantis.
